The days of the United States acting as the steward of internet freedom are coming to an end. Unfortunately, the Obama administration isn’t doing anything to protect the internet from authoritarian regimes. Some day we can tell our kids and grandkids about the time when the internet was free. It was nice while it lasted.
We’re at the midpoint between the Obama administration’s March announcement that it would end U.S. protection of the open Internet and September 2015, when the change is supposed to happen. During this time, there has been no progress finding an alternative for protecting the Internet from authoritarian governments.
That’s no surprise—except to Obama administration officials who apparently never considered how hard it would be to replace U.S. stewardship.
Since the Clinton administration, the U.S. Commerce Department has overseen key operations of the Internet, preventing other governments from politicizing the Internet outside their borders. Bill Clinton opposed the Obama plan soon after it was announced, warning: “A lot of people who have been trying to take this authority away from the U.S. want to do it for the sole purpose of cracking down on Internet freedom.” (Read More)
All the administration has to do is renew the contract with Icann, but they refuse to do so, and have not responded to Freedom of Information Act requests for the legal justification for acting without the consent of Congress. Gee, doesn’t that sound familiar?