As the October 1 deadline approaches
for the US to turn over control of ICANN, the domain name nonprofit, to the
international community, several congressional Republicans are vowing to fight
the move because they say it's dangerous and premature.
Politico: GOP lawmakers have long warned that the administration's
plan to relinquish its authority over ICANN, the global nonprofit that manages
the internet's domain name system, could give authoritarian countries like China
and Russia an opening to make an online power grab.
Now, as the actual date of the
transition approaches — Oct. 1 — Republicans are looking at throwing up new
obstacles.
Sen. Ted
Cruz (R-Texas) is pledging to make
the issue his primary focus this month, beginning with a floor speech on
Thursday, in which he's expected to rail against the Obama administration's
strategy. Cruz has already launched a website claiming the president is “giving away the
internet," complete with a spinning countdown clock against a black
background. And he's scheduled a hearing of the Senate Judiciary oversight
subcommittee he chairs next week to “investigate the possible dangers” of the
plan.
Meanwhile, Senate Commerce Committee
Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.)
said Wednesday that language to delay the transition could be included in the
continuing resolution to fund the government past this month. And House
Republicans are considering their options in the coming appropriations bill, a
GOP aide confirmed this week.
“I don’t think the foundation has
been appropriately laid for this,” Thune said in an interview. “Some members
are adamantly opposed to transition, period, and a lot of them just think now
is not the time, and it really just hasn’t been vetted, and it’s not ready
yet.”
Can Republicans succeed in stopping the
transfer? They can definitely delay it – perhaps for a couple of years –
but the momentum for international control of the internet is very strong.
And tech companies are fully supportive of the giveaway. Most of
them have already made their peace with the dictators and willingly go along
with the censorship.
But a broader concern has to be
this: is the international community ready
for the responsibility? ICANN has
not demonstrated the independence necessary to resist individual countries from
imposing their will on the internet. The danger is that ICANN will become
a tool of powerful nations like China and Russia, which would threaten internet
freedom.
Obama refuses to follow the simple,
time-tested adage: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." This
transfer is being done to kowtow to Arabs, the Russians, and the Chinese, who
have their own ideas of what "internet freedom" means, and it's not
what our idea of the concept is.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/09/can_the_gop_stop_obamas_internet_giveaway.html
Comments
The Internet is the only free press
on the planet. If the US refuses to
protect free speech, we are doomed.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party
Leader
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