Posted on 10/02/2009 6:51:07 PM PDT by NorwegianViking
After complaints about American dominance of the internet and growing disquiet in some parts of the world, Washington has said it will relinquish some control over the way the network is run and allow foreign governments more of a say in the future of the system. Icann the official body that ultimately controls the development of the internet thanks to its oversight of web addresses such as .com, .net and .org said today that it was ending its agreement with the US government. The deal, part of a contract negotiated with the US department of commerce, effectively pushes California-based Icann towards a new status as an international body with greater representation from companies and governments around the globe. Icann had previously been operating under the auspices of the American government, which had control of the net thanks to its initial role in developing the underlying technologies used for connecting computers together. But the fresh focus will give other countries a more prominent role in determining what takes place online, and even the way in which it happens opening the door for a virtual United Nations, where many officials gather to discuss potential changes to the internet. Icann chief Rod Beckstrom, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur and Washington insider who took over running the organisation in July, said there had been legitimate concerns that some countries were developing alternative internets as a way of routing around American control. "It's rumoured that there are multiple experiments going on with countries forking the internet, various countries have discussed this," he said. "...He added that the changes would prove powerful when combined with upcoming plans to allow web users to use addresses with names in Chinese, Arabic or other alphabets other than Latin...
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
You might not want to reference a protocol (WWW) developed by a british citizen in switzerland when we argue for continued U.S. control of ICANN. ICANN is not the world wide web, and www is not the internet.
ICANN’s role is to handle addresses (IP’s, domains, the root servers). The majority of the root servers are outside the United States. This really has no effect on our internet infrastructure domestically.
This is not “US Giving up control of the Internet”. That is a headline being used all over the place to attract attention.
Simply, ICANN is getting more autonomy to manage its own affairs. Does this mean foreign governments get any additional authority over ICANN. Nope. They get to sit on oversight panels. Does ICANN have to do what they say? Nope.
When it comes down to it, is it practical to NOT let ICANN do this?
You are right to be skeptical. The problem with headlines like this is it gives the impression that somehow the US Government had real control over ICANN.
ICANN != internet.
note
Ed thinks this is a democracy...cue the robot from “lost in Space”.
Be warned.
Still looking for some better info...
“ICANN gains independence from US”:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,39780163,00.htm?tag=mncol;txt
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old article year 2000, but good read “ICANN vs. ICANNwatch”:
http://www.inc.com/articles/2000/05/19216.html
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“master of my own free internet domain”:
http://my.opera.com/slackwrdave/blog/2009/06/21/master-of-my-own-free-internet-domain
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And completely unrelated but awfully interesting(LOL)—
“NASA watching perfect storm...”:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/1001-nasa-cosmic-ray.html?hpg1=bn
And now a word about verifying before one shares...sorry for posting crappy info in the heat of the moment. I’ll try real hard not to do it again.
I have verizon and I get cut off every few days, I have to call someone in pakistan to reconnect me
It never does. Not at first anyway...
Thanks for that excellent, and pertinent clarification.
Appreciated...
LOL.
The ramifications are .....China China China
A some have suggested a satellite based mega server free of government control would be ideal. With roaming severs that would change daily so that the man could not get control of them similar to pirate servers for porn and software downloads. would work. Other wise the free and open exchange of ideas will die under international control of the web. Use China or Iran as examples the have an iron fist on the net and will not let any free exchange if ideology to flow. I wold be like the under ground free presses of the 60’s.
No foreign power RECOGNIZES our Constitutional Rights! It does NOT square with them. WE just LOSE them.
bttt
Interesting.
Feels like to me what FR is serving as now.
Somewhere to get the truth despite all the propaganda everywhere else.
Thanks.
GP, I think you’re right.
However, I think . . . mostly . . . human efforts will fail . . . the oligarchy plus the fallen angels are more than prepared for human efforts.
They are not prepared for God Almighty’s surprises.
I don’t think God is going to leave HIS KIDS in the dark.
He may not tell us all we’d like to know in our natural humanness. He will tell us all we need to know in time to use it, imho.
Thanks for the new site! Hope your home sells soon and for the price that you are wanting. Looks like we are in for some wet weather.
Thanks for the ping!
"Up links and down links would be carefully controlled so that no government involvement is permitted."
One can say this only as a joke. You have only those rights that you can defend. If the Chinese government decides to "get involved" in your scheme, who is going to stop it and how?
Look for more “pirate servers” to be set up and that is where the free flow of information will go.
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