Posted on 09/23/2016 2:48:26 AM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March
This is the quick way to explain why ICANN is so dangerous.
They essentially 'govern' the TLDs [top level domains].
Each TLD [such as .com or .org] runs its own 'phone directory'.
And ICANN controls them through 'Registry Operator Code of Conduct'.
Right now ICANN is subject to US law, mainly because its headquarters are in the US. But if ICANN's contract isn't renewed, it's free to move overseas [which it secretly plans to] and modify its 'Registry Operator Code of Conduct' for each dot-com or dot-org or ...
... theoretically even our military websites.
From October on through to a republican president, there's no telling how much the White House will coordinate with ICANN in the name of 'no controlling legal authority'.
[In other words -- Hillary will have her gatekeeper if she wins, and Obama might too for a few months.]
A President Trump would go a long way to stop or prevent that from impacting US websites. Even then it could mean lawsuits and judicial rulings ensnared in international law.
Long Term Hazard:
I’m just speculating here, but ...
ICANN could also legitimize a rival internet with its hub in China. [They already have the infrustructure and have already build facilities for ICANN.]
Each registry [such as .com or .org] could find itself up against a foreign ‘shadow TLD’. In other words — the worst cyber war yet in history. Imagine typing in to this forum and your computer downloads bugs and you see nothing but Chinese propaganda or the most perverse kind of porn or even snuff films.
We would need firewalls and completely isolate ourselves from the shadow registries.
Actually — China probably does not need ICANN’s direct support anymore. They’ve been building close friendships with each other for half a year now [or longer].
But what ICANN does is provide international legitimacy as well as act as a ‘security blanket’ for other foreign powers which are uncomfortable with challenging US dominance of the internet.
This was done to rape and steal from America.
The GOP was excited and paid appropriately
and helped the give away.
Given that the still-EXEMPT “US” Congress
already arms al QAeda and hates Americans
(keeping the border open, and EV-D68 and other
diseases entering EVERY SINGLE DAY), no surprise.
Swedish telecom chief to steer web body ICANN to independence [USA Internet control expires Sept 30]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3394704/posts
Europe is seeking to form of ‘internet ostracism’ to regulate ALL domain names [aka web addresses] throughout the world, and Obama is on board.
I wrote a long time ago:
“If McConnell really wants to hurt the Tea Party as badly as he claims, then this is the way to do it.”
And he does.
News Update ... [found by bushwon]
McConnell Stabs Free Speech in the Back
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3472322/posts
“... on Thursday Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., laid out a “clean CR,” a blueprint for a continuing resolution to fund the government from Oct. 1 through Dec. 9. It does not include a provision to delay the transfer.”
What would ever stop someone with ownership or access to an advanced telecommunications network (Verizon, for example) from setting up their own internet with their own extensions (.vzn, for example)?
One caveat ... career GOP congress critters are selling us out. Their leader is McConnell.
There are many in the GOP who oppose this scheme, such as Gohmert, Grassley, Sessions, Cruz, Mike Lee — just to name a few.
That’s actually a sharp question.
The only thing stopping them is US law.
The federal government legally empowered ICANN to oversee each TLD — such as the one you mentioned: (.vzn)
So it really helps a Free Range ICANN if the president is a tryrant who hates freedom of speech. Such as Obama and especially Hillary:
On January 27, 1998 — ten days after Matt Drudge broke the Monica Lewinsky story — Hillary Clinton told reporters at a White House press conference that the Internet needed an “editing function or gatekeeping function”.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1918104/posts
Nothing would stop the creation of a competing Domain Name Server by a major registry service like GoDaddy. It’s just a directory, something which maps a name (like FreeRepublic.com) to it’s IP address (the Internet equivalent of a phone number). Instead of resolving names against the ICANN directory, individual users can specify the GoDaddy directory.
ICANN can then get stuffed.
Cruz, Lankford, and Lee Raise New Concerns About ICANN’s Relationship with Authoritarian China
https://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=2603
[back in March]
It’s very ‘in-depth’ info about the way China had secretly facilitated ICANN — including buildings.
~~~
Strickling lied that ICANN is not moving overseas:
“Back in June 2014, ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade announced, in testimony to the French Senate, that the Board had authorized him to begin, as one of five major initiatives, the creation of a ‘parallel legal, international structure (maybe in Switzerland) for ICANN.’
“These changes were recommended even though some Members of Congress have explicitly opposed this outcome.”
— Rosenzweig [testimony at recent ICANN hearing]
‘Nothing would stop the creation of a competing Domain Name Server by a major registry service like GoDaddy.’
It depends on the government. For example, Obama’s regime or Hillary’s regime or China.
Our current legislation empowers ICANN to draft each TLD’s
‘Registry Operator Code of Conduct’. This restricts them.
Currently the these codes of conduct have little oversight. But that can change if Obama or Hillary bows to international law.
Trump Opposes President Obama’s Plan to Surrender American Internet Control to Foreign Powers
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3472196/posts
I see. I’m not an expert on this, but I’ve always figured that in an age of wireless technology these Federal regulations are going to become less relevant anyway.
Excellent foresight. Satellites are key.
And dueling signals competing with each other could scramble those satellite relays.
Currently the ICANN’s contract with the US is rock solid in international law. After the contract expires we are on the brink of anarchy.
I doubt much will happen on October 1. I expect them to lie low until after the election.
Actually, Trump could work on a much better plan than Obama that both accomodates freedom of speech as much as possible rather than the Swedish plan — which would most likely result in censorship through online petitions.
once upon a time,
I voted in some kind
of ICANN mail-in election.
..............
I trust ICANN a lot more
than Obama or the US Congress,
for internet issues.
Rocky
‘I trust ICANN a lot more than Obama or the US Congress ...’
This is Obama’s plan. You trust his plan?
Trust ICANN more than Trump? More than Sessions, Mike Lee, and Grassley?
How about this — do you trust ICANN more than congressman Louis Gohmert?
ICANN, a Pack of Liars
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3469994/posts
~~~
ICANN Transition Even Endangers ‘.gov’ and ‘.mil’
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3469586/posts
ICANN transition insider Paul Rosenweig warns:
1. Foreign powers will “indisputably have increased influence”.
2. Transition a “leap in the dark”.
3. ICANN planning to move overseas.
4. ‘.gov’ and ‘.mil’ “not assured by any enforeable mechanism”.
So no domain name is safe.
Who is Paul Rosenweig?
He was invited to testify at yesterday’s “internet giveaway” hearing
because of his involvement and extensive background:
1. Department of Homeland — deputy assistant secretary for policy.
2. Currently he runs a consulting organization for Homeland.
3. Rosenweig authored and edited numerous books on cyber-security
and freedom of speech. [He also produced DVDs on those subjects.]
4. As for his politics, He’s been writing Heritage Foundation
columns all the way back to 1977.
~~~
I don’t blame you for respecting ICANN’s founders. But the old timers lost their influence.
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Esther Dyson no longer commands their respect.
It's an interesting point. In the old days a large telecom company might run a major DNS server. But in reality it was a geek inside the company who set it up. There is zero profit in running DNS. It was the same with Usenet (predecessor to WWW). All the geeks running these servers had gentlemans agreements with all others. Many were at universities with the purpose of learning, collaborating, expanding the reach of the early internet, and not making any profit.
Now with the rise of profit those old timers have lost their influence like you say. There are still 13 root servers run by aging geeks at various US origin institutions. Here is Verisign's server: http://j.root-servers.org Verisign also operates "a". Here is "b" at USC: https://b.root-servers.org
These root servers are pretty much still not for profit, but click through "b" screens above and see things like "B-Root commits to respond to all productive DNS traffic. We filter out traffic we identify as non-productive or harmful as part of promoting good Internet operational practice, consistent with RSSAC-001 Root Service Expectations."
"B" is still a good internet overlord. Verisign went over to the dark side around 2000 or so, but they still can't make extra money mucking up their root servers. Also a mucked up server would affect their revenue in co-maintaining their TLDs so they would not go along with it.
As for your idea of cyberwar by DNS (other than the age-old denial of service attacks), I'll have to think some more about it. It would undoubtedly be in conjunction with "real" attacks. For example the mucked up DNS would redirect nearly everyone to sites disseminating trojans. Those would look and behave exactly like the real sites because our browsers always assume the DNS is honest.
OTOH, cyberwars work best by slow and stealthy infiltration. Mucking up the DNS is the opposite of that.
‘As for your idea of cyberwar by DNS (other than the age-old denial of service attacks), I’ll have to think some more about it.’
If this escalates outside of diplomatic talks ...
The key is in the satellites and their encryption.
Whoever controls the strongest network of communication satellites wins [unless their signals are scrambled].
China gained access to our encryption, and the NSA got hacked.
We could go ‘old school’ for a time — hardline connections like mine.
If it gets that bad.
Main thing — landline modems are easily destroyed by lightning. Even far away lightning causes a strong enough power surge to zap them.
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