A nonprofit representing tech and telecommunication companies like Google, Microsoft, and AT&T is warning Congress not to interfere with the planned transference of an organization that oversees key functions on the Internet, and says that effort would risk “alienating” America’s allies.
“While the positive impact the Internet has had on the economy and well-being of the 3.5 billion people who use it is practically unrivaled in human history, it has existed and succeeded without government regulation or excessive intervention from its beginnings,” Internet Society CEO Kathryn Brown said in a Monday letter addressed to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2599521
“This will not change after the transition,” the letter insisted. “In fact, the relative power held by governments within ICANN will actually decrease as the role of the private sector, civil society, the technical and security communities, and end users will be enhanced. Governments will be but one stakeholder among many, with no more or no less power than any of their counterparts.”
“Any delay would add a degree of instability and make the prospect of government control of the Internet more likely, not less,” the group added. “It would be a false signal to those countries that have been advocating for an enhanced role for governments in the management of the Internet that the U.S. government does not believe that this technology works as designed, and that the multistakeholder model of Internet governance that the U.S. has supported and promoted for decades has failed.”
The U.S. is set to cede control of the Internet Assigned Number Authority to an international body, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, effective Oct. 1. Congressional critics have said the move risks increasing the likelihood of online censorship, a worry dismissed by proponents of the transfer.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2592875
The Internet Society, a global organization that includes American companies like Adobe, Cisco, Comcast and Verizon, has a played a key role in the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group responsible for overseeing the transfer.
“In our expert capacity, based on years of global experience in the Internet ecosystem, we are confident that the time for the transition is now and that the safeguards, processes, and mechanisms put forward in the IANA transition plan provide the right way to do it,” Brown added in the letter. “The interests of all stakeholders, including the United States, will continue to be well-represented post-transition, and there is global consensus that completing this process is a positive step forward in the ongoing development of the open Internet.”
“Blocking or delaying the transition at this point will have negative implications for the Internet and the millions of Americans who rely on it every day,” she added. “The Internet Society urges you to ensure that there be no delay in the completion of this important work.”
