14 DAY TRIAL // Months after the world demanded that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) no longer be under the thumb of the United States, the government has stepped out again.
During a meeting, the US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said that the US would “not allow the global Internet to be co-opted by any person, entity, or nation seeking to substitute their parochial worldview for the collective wisdom of this community.”
While this proves the United States knows what the risks regarding control over the Internet are, it also begs the question of what exactly they have been doing all these years.
The United States National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) decided to help transition some parts of managing the Internet to the global multistakeholder community. The government said back in March that it was open to not renewing a contract with ICANN that expires next year.
ICANN is planning to hand a proposal fitting the bill to the US Department of Commerce next year. If the US government is satisfied, they would not renew the contract, said Fadi Chehade, chief of ICANN.
“Governments want to exert control over the sweeping transnational power of the internet that is affecting their policies, politics, social fabric, and/or their economic conditions. The other groups are large corporations concerned about security issues,” Chehade said.
The US wants to oppose any efforts to put govts in charge of Internet
Pritzker mentioned that at the International Telecommunication Union Conference in Korea there would be requests to put governments in charge of Internet governance. “You can rest assured that the United States will oppose at every turn,” he states.
Of course, control of the Internet is no small issue and there are many dangers ahead if various governments of the world try to take control of ICANN.
The fact that the US is slowly losing its grip on the Internet is due to the abuse the NSA has shown over the years and the complete disregard to people’s privacy. The International community has reacted to news based on Edward Snowden’s leaked NSA files, the general outcry forcing the US to say that they were going to relinquish some of its hold over ICANN.
In the end, it’s important that no government whatsoever, nor international groups such as the United Nations, ever have control over the Internet because freedom of speech would be at risk.
ICANN is currently holding a series of talks that will last through October 15, seeking to tackle various issues, such as whether the identities of those running websites should be public.