Obama Gives Away Keys To The Internet

Discussion in 'West Mall' started by Clean, Mar 18, 2014.

  1. Clean

    Clean 5,000+ Posts

    Late last Friday, when no one was listening, Obama's Commerce department very quietly announced that it would cede control of the Internet domain name servers to an International body called ICANN, Internet Corp. for Assigned Names & Numbers, a private organization.

    The Internet was invented in the U.S. (but not by Al Gore) and the U.S. has always retained control of it. Everything about the Internet, the programming languages, the Internet addresses, the instructions, etc. have always been in English.

    But ICANN has been pushing for years for internet addresses to be allowed to be in Arabic script and the like. Now they'll be able to implement whatever policies they want. ICANN will be pushed by China, Iran, Russia and others to implement their policies, which may mean that the freedom of speech that the Internet has always enjoyed may be lessened. Who knows, internet usage could be taxed.

    The U.S. built it and the World came. Now Obama, the Globalist, is giving it away.

    The Link
     
  2. Hornius Emeritus

    Hornius Emeritus 2,500+ Posts

    This is such *********.

    As a former network administrator (for almost 20 years), I can say that anybody who buys into this "Obama is giving away the Internet" crap is delusional about the way the Internet works.

    1) The US has not "always retained control of it." If the US controls the internet, why can't I access Google in China?

    2) We've subcontracted IANA functions to ICANN since 1998. ICANN itself is an international non-profit organization. The CEO is a citizen of Egypt and Lebanon. Look at its roster of employees, which is on its website: names like Yan Agranonik, Carlos Alvarez (native of Columbia), Yaovi Atohoun, Akram Atallah etc....

    3) When the US subcontracted IANA functions to ICANN 16 years ago (in 1998), the plan was ALWAYS to transfer those IANA functions away from the US government. It's right there in the Commerce Department's June 1998 policy statement: "the U.S. Government is committed to a transition that will allow the private sector to take leadership for DNS management."

    4) From ICANN itself:

    "The transition of the US Government stewardship has been envisaged since the early days of the IANA functions contract [in 1998]. This transition is now feasible due to the maturity of the Internet technical organizations involved in performing their respective roles related to the IANA functions, and ICANN will facilitate a global, multi-stakeholder process to plan for the transition."

    5) No country controls the internet. People who talk about "US control" of the internet are laughably ignorant as to the way the internet works. The internet is certainly not "controlled" by the United States. It's not under the control of any government, which is why China, Russia, Iran etc... can censor content, and why hackers and others can circumvent that censorship.

    6) Why would "conservatives" be against the transferring of government functions to the private sector? This should be celebrated, not protested against.

    7) The WashingtonTimes was founded by the Reverand Sun Myung Moon and exists solely to promote a one-sided agenda.
     
  3. Clean

    Clean 5,000+ Posts

    You seem to think this is a right wing conspiracy theory hatched by the washington Times. Maybe you should go read a few other articles about it on the interwebs, Mr. "Look At Me I Was A Network Administrator".



     
  4. Hornius Emeritus

    Hornius Emeritus 2,500+ Posts

    Clean,

    Did you not read anything I wrote or did you not understand it?

    Read about it on the interwebs? Hell, I lived it until 4-5 years ago.

    Again, read the Commerce Department's policy statement from 16 years ago, when it contracted IANA functions to ICANN. Then read ICANN's statement.

    This has been an ongoing process for 16 years. It was always the plan. It was hatched during the Clinton administration, progressed during two Bush administrations, and is being implemented by the current one.

    Lord, there's so much real stuff to criticize Obama over and yet the Washington Times (read the titles of all the other editorials on that page) chose this to go after him on? And then cites noted Internet expert Newt Gingrich?

    AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

    And if it's true, as you claimed, that the US has "always retained control" of the internet, why can't I access Google when I'm in China?


    It's always amazing to me, what partisans are willing to believe.
     
  5. dalhorn1

    dalhorn1 1,000+ Posts

    obligatory tldr; Bushs' fault....
     
  6. Hornius Emeritus

    Hornius Emeritus 2,500+ Posts


     
  7. AustinBat

    AustinBat 2,500+ Posts

    Just to be clear, if it was hatched under the Clinton administration, there was only one Bush administration after that. The other Bush administration was before Clinton. I'm sure you know that and that's what you meant. Right?
     
  8. Clean

    Clean 5,000+ Posts

    Of course, H. Emeritus, when I said that the U.S. has "always retained control" of the internet", I was referring to the functions of ICANN, controlling domain names, addresses, etc. Everybody knows that N.Korea, China, Russia, etc. can shut off the internet in their countries.

    Another good article

    The Link
    In reply to:

     
  9. Michtex

    Michtex 1,000+ Posts


     
  10. Clean

    Clean 5,000+ Posts

    So, Michtex, why don't you actually add something to the debate and give us the MSNBC version of this so we'll have fair and balanced coverage. Oops, sorry, didn't mean to offend your Lefty sensabilites with Fox's slogan.
     
  11. Horn6721

    Horn6721 10,000+ Posts

  12. mojo17

    mojo17 1,000+ Posts

    I would like to know what we gain from this change of control. I have heard the bad and now I would like to hear from the supporters of this what improvement does it make in our lives. It was after all developed with tax payer money through the defense department
     
  13. Larry T. Spider

    Larry T. Spider 1,000+ Posts

    First of all, it was invented by Al Gore. If we cant get that basic fact right then there is no point in this discussion. We should ask him what do to with it.
     
  14. Horns11

    Horns11 10,000+ Posts

    I'm not sure what the author thinks "control of the Internet" even is.

    "The U.S. Government's current responsibilities to be transitioned include the procedural role of administering changes to the Domain Name System's (DNS) to the authoritative root zone file - the database containing the lists of names and addresses of all top-level domains – as well as serving as the historic steward of the unique identifiers registries for Domain names, IP addresses, and protocol parameters."

    So... what? Muslims are going to hijack domain names? It'll be tougher for white Americans to read Arabic website addresses? Oh, how dangerous.

    As far as the "lack of Congressional oversight from the beginning" thing, what does he think ICANN is going to do? Start charging countries for the Internet? Come up with some sort of International FCC to govern the thing? Why would American have to abide by any of that?

    He even said it himself: "It’s rarely a good idea to put the federal government in charge of anything." I'm not sure what he thinks the "good" part of the American system of DNS and IP addresses entails. This is a bunch of politicized ********* that really doesn't warrant outrage, especially considering the valid points made by H.E. And the fact that this has been coming for 16 years with no pushback from any GOP squawk boxes until Newt opened his hole.

    "I have heard the bad"

    What? What bad? State the harms.
     
  15. mojo17

    mojo17 1,000+ Posts

    The bad=taxing the internet. UN getting its hands on it. Less freedom from dictators just some of the stuff I have read I am sure there is more. This administrations uncanny ability to screw things up.
     
  16. Horns11

    Horns11 10,000+ Posts

    I'm having trouble figuring out what the UN and evil dictators could do with DNS management or IP address protocol. It's not like they're taking over proprietary information or anything like that. It's literally just how the addresses and domains are named and the protocols for how.
     
  17. Hornius Emeritus

    Hornius Emeritus 2,500+ Posts


     
  18. Clean

    Clean 5,000+ Posts


     
  19. Roger35

    Roger35 2,500+ Posts


     
  20. Clean

    Clean 5,000+ Posts


     
  21. Dionysus

    Dionysus Idoit Admin

    Will I still have hot singles in my area?
     
  22. Hornius Emeritus

    Hornius Emeritus 2,500+ Posts


     
  23. Dionysus

    Dionysus Idoit Admin


     

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