June 30, 2005 9:10 PM PDT
U.S. to retain control of Internet domain names
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At the moment, the U.S. government maintains control of the Internet's "root"--the master file that lists what top-level domains are authorized--but has indicated in the past that it would transfer that responsibility to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.
The new principles, outlined by Assistant Commerce Secretary Michael Gallagher, say the U.S. government will "maintain its historic role in authorizing changes or modifications to the authoritative root zone file." In addition, the principles say, the U.S. government will continue to maintain "oversight" of ICANN and prevent its "focus" from straying from technical coordination.
Gallagher's blunt announcement to a wireless conference in Washington, D.C.--just a few days before ICANN's next meeting in Luxembourg--hints that the Bush administration would like to keep the Marina del Ray, Calif.-based nonprofit group on a short leash. ICANN has become the target of criticism as its budget has zoomed upward from $7 million in 2003 to around $16 million today.
Thursday's announcement also represents an effective snub to a United Nations process that is set to culminate in a summit in Tunisia in November. One gripe of the summit participants has been that poorer nations should have more say in the way the Internet is operated.
At one level, the Bush administration's announcement is largely symbolic: While in theory the United States can influence what country codes are permitted and who will run each, it's unlikely to make any procedural changes. But the more assertive tack promises to vex nations like Pakistan and Brazil that have been outspoken critics of the United States' influence online.
About five years ago, the Commerce Department told the European Commission that "these remaining powers retained by the United States DoC regarding ICANN should be effectively divested," according to a European government report.
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The primary reason is stabilization. There have been many
attempts, on parts of the internet, that have been made that
have threatened the vision it originally generated. It does not
matter if the corporation is a USA based one or not. Every
person on this planet knows that all corporations have their own
agendas, and every corporations' first goal is their own existence
and viability.
I am a USA citizen, and I believe a true patriot. This country has
been divided by the Bush administration, not just the world.
Remember, this is a HUGE country, not a conglomeration of
seperate countries. In that lies our power and our achilles heel,
and the course of our country, and the worlds, is always affected
by the control of whatever current administration is in power.
However, trying to politicize something as vital, and
fundamental, as the root file is just plain ridiculous, and
threatens the internet itself. Let's not mess with something so
important to ALL of us.
The foundation is the TCP/IP stack, the nodes, communications
are all the foundations that were built by ARPA. HTML is
merely a stack on top of that. HTML was the impetus for the
explosion of use of the internet. YES, the United States DID
invent the internet. No point in being stupid.
The popularity and commercial viability of the internet can be
attributed to un-praised individuals throughout the world.
These people should not be forgotten for their contributions.
God/Allah/Jehova/Zeus KNOWS that not a single corporation on
this planet would have done any good for the internet in its'
early stages. Its SUCCESS is a WORLD-WIDE effort, directly due
to the vision and un-selfish contributions of the WORLDS
community.
That being said, it would be the stupidest thing in the world to
give up the root file for political reasons. There is no good
reason to do so, and every bad reason to do so.
I think this decision will bring the idea of a multi rooted internet forward, and that could lead to interresting developpements, as long as people are free to choose which root servers they want for their domain lookups.
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the US invented the internet like Louis Lumiere (a French guy) invented the motion picture camera. It does not prevent peoples from other nations from using or enhancing the original invention.
Looks like you (and the Bush administration) hate France, and if they act on this, they might eventually cut the '.fr' TLD or block all root accesses from there if/when the French disagree with the invasion of ... Iran. So having their own roots (or a pan-European root) would perfectly make sense.
- The Internet is the best gift ever from the USA
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by ShrimpCrackers
November 3, 2005 1:34 PM PST
- Those that hate America, you can go online and bash it all you want. Heck, even the Al-Qaida uses the internet.
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Reply to this comment
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See all 42 Comments >>Those that love America, can go online and express all your opinions about anything you want.
Those that don't care, at least appreciate this awesome resource that we here all share.
The internet is like the best gift ever from the USA.