US cuts cord on internet oversight
US cuts cord on internet oversight
AFP•October 1, 2016
Washington (AFP) - The US government on Saturday ended
its formal oversight role over the internet, handing over management of the
online address system to a global non-profit entity.
The US Commerce Department announced that its contract
had expired with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which
manages the internet's so-called "root zone."
That leaves ICANN as a self-regulating organization that
will be operated by the internet's "stakeholders" -- engineers,
academics, businesses, non-government and government groups.
The move is part of a decades-old plan by the US to
"privatize" the internet, and backers have said it would help
maintain its integrity around the world.
US and ICANN officials have said the contract had given
Washington a symbolic role as overseer or the internet's "root zone"
where new online domains and addresses are created.
But critics, including some US lawmakers, argued that
this was a "giveaway" by Washington that could allow authoritarian
regimes to seize control.
A last-ditch effort by critics to block the plan -- a
lawsuit filed by four US states -- failed when a Texas federal judge refused to
issue an injunction to stop the transition.
Lawrence Strickling, who heads the Commerce Department
unit which has managed these functions, issued a brief statement early Saturday
confirming the transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).
"As of October 1, 2016, the IANA functions contract
has expired," he said.
Stephen Crocker, ICANN's board chairman and one of the
engineers who developed the early internet protocols, welcomed the end of the
contract.
"This transition was envisioned 18 years ago, yet it
was the tireless work of the global Internet community, which drafted the final
proposal, that made this a reality," he said in a statement.
"This community validated the multi-stakeholder
model of Internet governance. It has shown that a governance model defined by
the inclusion of all voices, including business, academics, technical experts,
civil society, governments and many others is the best way to assure that the
Internet of tomorrow remains as free, open and accessible as the Internet of
today."
The Internet Society, a group formed by internet founders
aimed at keeping the system open, said the transition was a positive step.
"The IANA transition is a powerful illustration of
the multi-stakeholder model and an affirmation of the principle that the best
approach to address challenges is through bottom-up, transparent, and
consensus-driven processes," the group said in a statement.
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