I don't trust anything that comes out of this Regime; can someone smarter than me tell me if this is censorship of the Regime's enemies or something else.
Posted on 01/03/2015 6:38:50 PM PST by PROCON
It's time to mobilize Congress against Obama’s plan to relinquish our authority over the Internet.
When the new Congress shows up on Tuesday, it’s going to have lots to worry about, but there’s one serious problem at risk of being overlooked. And that really can’t be allowed to happen; it’s much too important:
In 2015, the Obama administration plans to hand over control of ICANN — the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers — to international governance. ICANN oversees the superstructure of the Internet, and the American Department of Commerce oversees ICANN. The plan for handing our authority to the global community would mean oversight by censors and despots in China, Russia, and Iran.
American governance of the Internet has been incredibly benevolent and altogether hands-off. Which other countries would you trust not to interfere with the free exchange of ideas? Dictatorships in the Far East? Dictatorships in the Middle East? Banana republics? Eastern Europe’s oligarchies?
What about Western Europe’s democracies? Every country in Europe, aside from Belarus, is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, which states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression.” But, it adds, this right “carries with it duties and responsibilities,” which make it subject, therefore, to “such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society.” And, of course, that freedom of expression can be curtailed, as necessary, in “the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.”
So, Europe has its own take on the timeworn cliché “Freedom isn’t free.” Which is why anti-sharia Dutch politico Geert Wilders — who’s under constant, credible threat of murder for his opposition to sharia — is constantly on trial for insulting sharia.
Even the U.K., once a bulwark against Europe’s dictatorial inclinations, has banned “insulting words or behavior.” In consequence, an Oxford undergrad was arrested for telling a policeman his horse was “gay,” and a teenager was locked up for carrying a sign that read “Scientology is a dangerous cult.” (Which it is.) In fact, under Britain’s Public Order Act of 1986, it’s illegal to say something “with intent to cause a person . . . distress.” And under the English–Welsh Malicious Communications Act of 1988, it’s illegal to transmit “communications” for the “purpose of causing distress or anxiety.”
It is a depressing but undeniable fact: Our Bill of Rights is unique; God bless America.
When the idea of an ICANN surrender was first floated by the Obama administration, it was instantly unpopular. This administration has a habit of presenting unpopular ideas as faits accomplis — Cuba, Bergdahl, the China climate deal (such as it was), any number of EPA regulations, executive amnesty, health-care rule changes, and so on. Congress has to start protecting America’s stake in ICANN right now, or it may not get the chance.
The Obama administration has been accused of consolidating government power in the federal government, and federal power in the executive branch. In fact, the administration is happy to relinquish power, so long as it isn’t relinquished to the American people. It wants to regulate the Internet like a utility — to ensure fairness — but it’s happy to let Putin and Beijing have a say in what organizations can function with “.com” addresses. That is ludicrous.
Mr. Obama’s foreign policy is steeped in naïveté. He’s done irreparable damage in Cuba, where the Castros were on their last legs. He’s done irreparable damage in the Middle East, where defeat was snatched from the jaws of Iraqi victory, and where lifting sanctions saved Iran’s foundering economy. He’s done irreparable damage in East Asia by genuflecting to Beijing’s dictators. He’s done irreparable damage in Europe by scrapping the Czech–Polish missile-defense system and gift-wrapping the Crimea. This fait-accompli phone-and-pen nonsense is incredibly serious.
But this time, Congress has advance warning. And it knows what’s at stake. If it does nothing, it will have done irreparable damage to the freedom of everyone who uses or is affected by the Internet. Which is to say, everyone. It will be Congress’s fault.
So write your congressman. Or better yet, go to his office and bang on the door till he answers.
I don't trust anything that comes out of this Regime; can someone smarter than me tell me if this is censorship of the Regime's enemies or something else.
Duh....
Duh....
++++
Indeed. This is not Rocket Science.
This is a big deal. And much more dangerous than Net Neutrality.
This is a genuine issue if concern. For those that need a URL for internet, either a forum like FR or a business, that URL will be issued by a political body outside the USA.
The idea of that is an outrage!
Bfl
I told you so.
This whole thing of blaming the Norks for the Sony Hacking was a “Reichstag Fire” meant to justify the government takeover of the Internet.
Can’t we just give the Panama Canal away again?
Neither was healthcare.
If anything happens to the Internet the democrats will pay at the polls with millennials.
The “free” internet died with the death of Usenet and analog phone systems.
Bttt.
Not true. Courts steal domain names all the time. Just ask the folks at PirateBay dot etc.
Why not just leave it like it is?
Seems to be working just fine right now, as it always has....
ICANN then endorsed The Montevideo Statement on the Future of Internet Cooperation was released on 7 October 2013 by the leaders of a number of organizations involved in coordinating the Internet's global technical infrastructure.
The statement was signed by the heads of the ICANN, the Internet Architecture Board, the World Wide Web Consortium, the Internet Society, and the five regional Internet address registries (African Network Information Center, American Registry for Internet Numbers, Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre, Latin America and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry, and Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre). In large part, the statement is seen as a response to the ongoing NSA surveillance scandal. The leaders of said organizations then decided to grab the keys to the Internet.
Maybe the USA has other aspirations and just as DARPA will have always kept its fingers on the keyboard, but they have new mission that doesn't involve the internet.
The 100 Year Starship (100YSS) is a joint U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) grant project to a private entity. The goal of the study is not to have the government fund the actual building of spacecraft, but rather to create a business plan that can last 100 years in order to help foster the research needed for interstellar travel.
Most of Grand Prairie is still served by an analogue phone system. Regular dial-up only gets to 31200 bps, on a REALLY good day. DSL tops out at 3 Mbps, inexplicably. I’m not even sure HOW they even wired it. Around here, most people have cable internet, or wireless 4G dial-up.
We’d all be shocked to learn just how many people in this country think it’s just fine that the government cotroll everything.
It’s coming. It will happen. The dictatorship is here. Just like with Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s version of congress was controlled by him. It’s now the same with Barrack Hussein.
Basically it’s to prevent or tone down an ISP (ATT,Verizon, Comcast...) from charging you extra to go to certain websites...like Free Republic.
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