I was struck by L. Gordon Crovitz's Opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal today [ Internet Governance Follies ], because we have forgotten how the Internet is managed and the politics that surround it. He is critical of how we came to be in a position of not supporting the the management function known as ICANN: " Normally, that would have prompted some rethinking by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which exercises its authority under a contract from the Commerce Department. Instead, two days later came the surprise announcement from the Obama administration that Icann was so “mature” that it no longer needed U.S. oversight, which the administration planned to end in September 2015."
The position we are in now has completely reversed, apparently partly because of a domain ".sucks" which Jay Rockefeller said would be trouble, 'will be used to unfairly defame individuals, non-profits and businesses,' which has turned out to be true. Gone is Fadi Chehade, recently chairman of ICANN. Contract issued by the Commerce Department has not lapsed and is back on.
This is a mess largely created by our own idea that the Internet should be free, when it is anything but. The Russians, Chinese, North Koreans, and Iranians rigidly control their Internet. Putin says it is "a CIA project." Many others, like Turkey, Syria and Egypt, try to control some of the content. We can't be free, when a plurality of Internet users control the content of the medium. They don't just want to control the content in their own countries; they want to control ours too.
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