A Monroe Doctrine for the Internet

InklingBooks writes "An article in Foreign Affairs suggests that in a tersely worded statement the United States has issued a 'Monroe Doctrine' for the Internet. The Monroe Doctrine was a unilateral declaration by the U.S. that it would not permit European powers to establish new colonies in the Western Hemisphere." From the article: "Everyone understands that the Internet is crucial for the functioning of modern economies, societies, and even governments, and everyone has an interest in seeing that it is secure and reliable. But at the same time, many governments are bothered that such a vital resource exists outside their control and, even worse, that it is under the thumb of an already dominant United States. Washington's answer to these concerns -- the Commerce Department's four terse paragraphs, released at the end of June, announcing that the United States plans to retain control of the Internet indefinitely -- was intended as a sort of Monroe Doctrine for our times. It was received abroad with just the anger one would expect, setting the stage for further controversy."

Comments

Not everything

[scheme]

We invented, we govern it. Simple. If they want to create their own version and write the bridges, they can go ahead, but it was our tax dollars (DARPA) that developed it in the first place.

Well, I guess we can just wish the web goodbye since it was created by people at CERN (Center for European Nuclear Research). I think other bits and portions of the net were created by others as well so your argument doesn't fly.