Republicans are holding out hope that a Texas court will issue a last-minute injunction to halt the Internet’s transition to a multinational group, scheduled to happen at the end of Friday.
“We’re probably going to see this play into the midnight hour,” Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn told the Washington Examiner. “My understanding is that they’re trying to push this forward to today get a ruling, and I would hope it would be a ruling in favor of the taxpayers and the United States of America in retaining our control.”
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2591826
The possibility of an injunction stems from a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the Southern District of Texas by state attorneys general in Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma and Nevada. Officials are asking the court to prevent the Department of Commerce from handing a core function of the Internet to the international Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, and for the first time ever, removing the Web from American legal jurisdiction.
Previewing what the future might look like after the transition, Blackburn noted the fact that the United States has traditionally had a different perspective on freedom than countries who would be participating in Internet governance under the new model.
“I have tremendous concern about other countries having the ability to weigh in on priorities, values and access to all content,” Blackburn said. “They were discussing putting an office in Istanbul for ICANN.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2592875
“These are people who, many times, will not wish us well, and may not appreciate free speech as we do. I have misgivings, and I have deep, deep concern over what this transition will represent,” Blackburn said.
Blackburn noted the possibility that the United Nations may seize greater control. “We have to realize the Internet was put into place as an information service, not a telecommunication service … That plays into it, too. How will it change? What will the assignment of names and numbers begin to look like? Who is going to be shown favor?
“Will the international telecommunication workers, through the U.N., be able to weigh in on how this is regulated and taxed, and thereby how it is accessed, and how the product is delivered?” she added.
“This, to me, is an incredibly bad day,” Blackburn said.
