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Transfer of Internet Governance Will Go Ahead On Oct. 1 (computerworld.com)

An anonymous reader writes from a report via Computerworld: The U.S. says it will proceed with its plan to hand over oversight of the internet's domain name system functions to a multistakeholder body on Oct. 1. Computerworld reports: "The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), under contract with the U.S. Department of Commerce, operates the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) which enables the operation of the internet domain name system (DNS). These include responsibility for the coordination of the DNS root, IP addressing and other internet protocol resources. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency within the Commerce Department, said in March 2014 that it planned to let its contract with ICANN expire on Sept. 30, 2015, passing the oversight of the functions to a global governance model. NTIA made it clear that it would not accept a plan from internet stakeholders that would replace its role by that of a government-led or intergovernmental organization or would in any way compromise the openness of the internet. The transfer was delayed to September as the internet community needed more time to finalize the plan for the transition. The new stewardship plan submitted by ICANN was approved by the NTIA in June. NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling said Tuesday that the agency had informed ICANN that 'barring any significant impediment,' NTIA intends to allow the IANA functions contract it has with ICANN to expire as of Oct. 1, said Strickling, who is also assistant secretary for communications and information."

2 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Much rejoicing... by cryptizard · · Score: 4, Interesting

    No, not really. If you read the article you would find out that control is transitioning to multinational private sector stakeholders, so in reality Google, Amazon, Apple, etc. will have more say.

  2. Re:Much rejoicing... by Coren22 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Did you actually read what was written in the post you responded to?

    Darinbob was talking about the record of the US as a whole in fair and impartial governance, not ICANN or IANA. ICANN has its issues, but for whatever reason, the Internet has been able to remain above politics in the US.

    It is the massive number of countries calling for censorship that are really asking the US to give up governance. The first thing I expect will be regulated will be porn. Russia would rule that all gay porn should be outlawed, while the Muslim countries all agree, meaning half the world would vote to outlaw gay porn. The Muslim countries will feel that is not enough, all porn should be banned, as it is all sinful in their eyes. Pretty soon, porn is not allowed on the public internet.

    This is what we have to look forward to. After all, the famous quote starts "First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist." First it will be gay rights, which is a touchy subject in most of the world, but it won't stop there, who will speak out?

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?