steven36 Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 A slew of internet organizations have come to the support of the US government in a last-minute lawsuit designed to prevent the handover of critical internet functions at midnight on Friday. The Internet Association – which represents Google, Amazon, Facebook et al – plus the Internet Society, Internet Infrastructure Coalition, NetChoice, ARIN and a number of individuals have filed an amicus brief [PDF] in Texas court on the eve of a hearing seeking a temporary restraining order against the Department of Commerce (DoC). The lawsuit, brought by four states' attorneys general, seeks to stop the handover of the IANA contract from the US government to non-profit ICANN at the stroke of midnight in Washington DC on September 30 – when the current contract ends. The lawsuit claims that the move would put at risk the First Amendment online, and could lead to ICANN simply deleting critical parts of the internet's naming systems at some future date. However, the internet organizations argue that those claims are based on "fundamental inaccuracies regarding how the relevant Internet technologies work and the role that IANA functions have played." The DoC agrees, and in its own filing [PDF] has also argued that the states' attorneys general do not have standing. The hearing – which is happening at the time of writing – could delay the planned transition and possibly pull it past the elections in November, if the judge, George C Hanks, Jr, decides there is a case to answer. If the restraining order is approved, it could disrupt the entire transition that has been two years in the making; if it is not, ICANN will assume control of the critical IANA functions on Saturday morning. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/30/internet_orgs_us_government_iana_icann/ Results Internet Oversight Transfer Clears Hurdles To Take Place Saturday (Reuters) – A long-planned transfer of the internet’s technical management from the U.S. government to a global community of stakeholders is expected to take place on Saturday despite last-minute attempts by conservative politicians and officials to delay the changeover The U.S. Department of Commerce is due to cede stewardship of ICANN, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, as scheduled after a lawsuit seeking to halt the transition was denied by a federal judge in Texas on Friday. The U.S. government has been the primary manager of the internet’s address book since 1988 largely because it was invented in the country. Critics of the handover have attempted to block or delay it on grounds it could jeopardize free speech online, claims that the Obama administration and technology companies have said lack merit. The lawsuit filed on Wednesday against the federal government by the Republican states of Arizona, Texas, Nevada and Oklahoma argued the handover was unconstitutional and required congressional approval. ICANN, a California-based nonprofit, manages the database for top-level domain names such as .com and .net and their corresponding numeric addresses that allow computers to connect. After the transfer, ICANN will be governed by a collection of academics, technical experts, private industry and government representatives, public interest advocates and individual users around the world, in what it calls a “multi-stakeholder process.” Federal officials began discussing a plan to move ICANN under international oversight in the 1990s, and rolled out a formal plan in March 2014. Conservatives in the U.S. Congress, led by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, sought to prevent the handover earlier in September by attaching an amendment to an unrelated stop-gap funding bill for the U.S. government. Cruz called the transfer a “giveaway to Russia” and other governments, but his effort failed to gain traction. A delay would have backfired by undermining U.S. credibility in international negotiations over internet standards and security, the Obama administration and technical experts have said. : Asked whether the four states which had sued the administration would appeal Friday’s court ruling, Monica Moazez, a spokeswoman for Nevada’s attorney general, responded in an email that they were weighing options. The other states could not be immediately reached. The transfer is “a symbolic, but important step in preserving the stability and openness of the Internet, which impacts free speech, our economy and our national security,” Ed Black, chief executive of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, said in a statement. Source: http://fortune.com/2016/09/30/internet-oversight-transfer-saturday/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Internet Oversight Transfer Clears Hurdles To Take Place Saturday (Reuters) – A long-planned transfer of the internet’s technical management from the U.S. government to a global community of stakeholders is expected to take place on Saturday despite last-minute attempts by conservative politicians and officials to delay the changeover The U.S. Department of Commerce is due to cede stewardship of ICANN, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, as scheduled after a lawsuit seeking to halt the transition was denied by a federal judge in Texas on Friday. The U.S. government has been the primary manager of the internet’s address book since 1988 largely because it was invented in the country. Critics of the handover have attempted to block or delay it on grounds it could jeopardize free speech online, claims that the Obama administration and technology companies have said lack merit. The lawsuit filed on Wednesday against the federal government by the Republican states of Arizona, Texas, Nevada and Oklahoma argued the handover was unconstitutional and required congressional approval. ICANN, a California-based nonprofit, manages the database for top-level domain names such as .com and .net and their corresponding numeric addresses that allow computers to connect. After the transfer, ICANN will be governed by a collection of academics, technical experts, private industry and government representatives, public interest advocates and individual users around the world, in what it calls a “multi-stakeholder process.” Federal officials began discussing a plan to move ICANN under international oversight in the 1990s, and rolled out a formal plan in March 2014. Conservatives in the U.S. Congress, led by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, sought to prevent the handover earlier in September by attaching an amendment to an unrelated stop-gap funding bill for the U.S. government. Cruz called the transfer a “giveaway to Russia” and other governments, but his effort failed to gain traction. A delay would have backfired by undermining U.S. credibility in international negotiations over internet standards and security, the Obama administration and technical experts have said. : Asked whether the four states which had sued the administration would appeal Friday’s court ruling, Monica Moazez, a spokeswoman for Nevada’s attorney general, responded in an email that they were weighing options. The other states could not be immediately reached. The transfer is “a symbolic, but important step in preserving the stability and openness of the Internet, which impacts free speech, our economy and our national security,” Ed Black, chief executive of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, said in a statement. Source: http://fortune.com/2016/09/30/internet-oversight-transfer-saturday/
steven36 Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 US Government To Hand Over Internet 'Address Book' To Nonprofit ICANN: No, It Won't Lead To An Online Doomsday The United States government is set to hand over the "address book" of the internet to non-profit organization ICANN. Republican lawmakers are looking to block the transition, warning of possible doomsday scenarios that could happen. The United States government is set to hand over the "address book" of the internet to non-profit organization Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers on Oct. 1, a move that many Republican lawmakers are calling as an "internet giveaway." A tiny branch of the Commerce Department of the United States will assign the oversight of the root zone, which is the highest level of the domain naming system structure of the internet, to ICANN, a non-profit created in 1998. ICANN will be running the database after the oversight contract of the United States government ends, and it will become accountable not just to the country but also to international stakeholders of the internet. These will include a governmental advisory committee, an industry committee, a technical committee, telecommunications experts and average internet users. Republican lawmakers, however, have been trying to block the handover, which is strongly supported by internet companies such as Google and Facebook and the outgoing administration of President Barack Obama. "Today our country faces a threat to the Internet as we know it... If Congress fails to act, the Obama administration intends to give away the Internet to an international body akin to the United Nations," said Texas senator Ted Cruz in a speech on the senate floor. The campaign of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump shared the same sentiments, calling for the American people to support the Republicans in Congress in their fight to "save the internet." Republican attorneys general have even filed a lawsuit in the federal courts as a last-ditch effort to block the handover of oversight to ICANN, seeking the judge to block the transition. The argument is that, without the oversight of the United States, foreign governments and hackers might be able to take over the internet, causing its infrastructure to crumble and leaving the internet in anarchy. However, ICANN, the Commerce Department and many others have scoffed at the assertions being made by Republicans over the matter. According to a statement by ICANN, the United States government never had the ability to set the direction of the non-profit organization's policy development work, which is what Senator Cruz seems to be suggesting. The government of the United States, along with any other government in the world, will not see an increase or decrease in their role on overseeing the internet. The doomsday scenarios that the Republicans are warning against will simply never happen, according to other government officials, companies in the tech industry and the architects who helped build the current internet system. The oversight of the United States on the internet is too small that handing over the duty will not have any great effect. In fact, even with the handover, the United States will still retain vast control over the internet, as the most popular top-level domains in the world, specifically .com, .org and .net, are based in the United States, which means that these organizations will still follow laws and court orders in the country. Source: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/180206/20160930/us-government-to-hand-over-internet-address-book-to-nonprofit-icann-no-it-wont-lead-to-an-online-doomsday.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.