The Letter That Won US Internet Control

K-boy writes "Pushing my own scoop, but I think it's a valuable piece of Net history, I have come into possession of the vital letter sent by Condoleezza Rice to the EU over Internet governance. And posted it on the Web. The letter is pretty stern but you should also read it bearing in mind that letters of this type are not only very rare but they are always written in very, very soft diplomatic language. This was not. The result of the letter was that the EU dropped its plan for an inter-governmental oversight body for the Internet and we have ended up with the status quo (ICANN, US government control). The letter was never meant for publication."

Comments

true or not?

[bogaboga]

...that "Condi", as some call her, is one of the most intelligent black woman in the USA? Some have said she's the most intelligent. Having failed to combine playing the piano that well and doing politics, I am inclined to believe she's really intelligent.

By the way, is she married, any kids?

Re:true or not?

[lj535i]

We, too, are glad you don't live here.

What they failed to mention...

[s0abas]

was that included with the letter was a check from the U.S. government for an exorbitant amount of money.

Re:I'll set my mom on you!

[illumin8]

The Net was created by the US government, a whole bunch of US, Asian and Europeans built the hardware running it and a British guy invented the Web. Doesn't look like multicultural involvement has made it terribly unstable. I think China's Great Firewall is an excellent example of what happens when one government has too much control.

You know what? I am pretty much anti-anything that this current administration does, but I have to say that I don't see the problem in letting the US control ICANN. The plain and simple fact of the matter is that the US Department of Defense (through DARPA) created the internet. We invested millions and built the infrastructure that makes it possible for people like Tim Berners-Lee to create worthwhile applications (WWW) that ride on top of it. You don't like it? Tough. Create your own root and use it instead.

All of this whining by socialist Europeans that would rather see the internet turn into some type of global hippie commune where no commerce is transacted and those of us in the first world have to pay for internet connections for some tribal village in Africa that could care less about the internet is pretty much just that: whining.

The fact of the matter is that any other government could have invented the internet had they been willing to invest the time and money it takes to build new technology, but instead the entire world has benefitted from the investment that the US government made. We share the technologies with other countries freely, and we don't ask anything of them. Go ahead and run your own root nameservers, we won't even stop you. Just don't ask for control over ours.

Think this is unfair? Big bully US government won't share their toys? Tough, go get your own toys.

Summarizing Rice's letter

[QuietLagoon]

What is good for the U.S. is good for the Internet.

Re:FUCK THAT!

[painkillr]

2 links for vietnam war protests? you couldn't find something more recent?

the 3rd link was already addressed a few posts up from yours

Things I found Funny

[Secret Rabbit]

reinforce the continuing U.S. commitment to the Internet's security and stability

If I wasn't soooo tired because I just woke up, I'd probably be laughing on the floor right now. How many agencies in the US government have failed there IT security tests again?

LOL

We believe that ICANN is dedicated to achieving broad representation of global Internet communities and to developing policy through consensus-based processes.

Now when has a corp interest ever been (after a little time) trumpted by the common good?

I'll read this as, we have friends over there and we don't want them to lose such a prestigious position and ...

We have also expressed our interest in working with the international community to address legitimate public policy and sovereignty concerns with respect to country code top-level domains (ccTLD).

Because the US is oh so known for doing that. You know, taking in comments from other countries and using them to make an informed decisions *coughiraqcough*.

We wish to underscore that, in our statement of June 30, we supported ongoing dialogue on issues related to Internet governance across international forums.

I'll finish the statement.

So, that we can ignore them if we don't like what is being said like we always do.

We firmly believe that the existing Internet system balances the stability and security we need with the innovation and dynamism that private sector leadership provides.

Let me see, how many viruses have been released that take advantage of still unpatched security flaws. Wait to go private sector leadership!

for all our citizens

Hmmm.

we ask the European Union to reconsider its new position on Internet governance and work together with us to bring the benefits of the Information Society to all.

I'll read this as, shut up and we might let you have a cookie.

Useless article.

[heelios]

Nothing to see here.. Move along. The article is boring and the summary is misrepresenting.

how is this flamebait?

[zippthorne]

In Soviet Slashdot, Al-Jazeera = teh good but Foxnews = teh nazis.

How the heck a buncha hippie socialists justify supporting islamic fundamentalism is a mystery to me.

This is why I browse at +5 flamebait.