A Free and Open Internet
In mid-March, the Commerce Department announced that it plans to relinquish control of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which oversees the technical side (the management of domain names such as .com, .edu, .gov, etc.) of the Internet. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Until 1998, the functions were managed by Jon Postel, a computer scientist at the University of Southern California, one of the early pioneers of the World Wide Web. Upon Postel's death in 1998, the Commerce Department issued a contract to ICANN to take over those functions, making ICANN the primary body in charge of setting policy for Internet domains and addresses.” This action would give control of the Internet to an entity comprised of multiple global stakeholders.
As noted by the Washington Post, “Pressure to let go of the final vestiges of U.S. authority over the system of Web addresses and domain names that organize the Internet has been building for more than a decade and was supercharged by the backlash last year to revelations about National Security Agency surveillance.” These revelations angered many around the world, including me.
However, we must be sure that bad practices don’t lead to bad decision-making and bad long-term consequences. An open Internet with a free exchange of ideas is crucial, but other governments don’t necessarily share our value in freedom of speech and take steps to limit free expression online. China, for example, is well known for its Internet censorship – a “Great Firewall,” if you will. Just days before nationwide elections, Turkey banned Twitter and YouTube, and also announced a similar ban on the coverage of certain content on television or the radio. Russia, too, has blocked access to websites critical of President Vladimir Putin and Kremlin policies, including sites connected with the Ukraine protest movement.
This is just to name a few – similar efforts have been undertaken by other governments as well. As L. Gordon Crovitz wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, the United States has used its control of the Internet “…to ensure that websites operate without political interference from any country and that anyone can start a website, organize on Facebook or post on Twitter without asking permission.”
But with ‘global stakeholders’ in control of the Internet, could nations such as China, Turkey, Russia, or even tiny Gabon one day determine what access Americans get to the Internet? Every nation gets a vote at the United Nations General Assembly. I can envision a similar circumstance with world control of the Internet with every nation getting an equal vote. The United States is the world’s great power, both on and off the Internet. Accordingly, other nations will sometimes vote just to annoy the United States. In my opinion, that has happened on occasion in the past in the United Nations General Assembly, and I fear the same could possibly happen regarding access to the Internet.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will be holding a hearing on this issue in early April. Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) wrote in a release announcing the hearing, “…changes to the current model should be approached with a cautious and careful eye.”
I agree. As a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I will monitor this situation closely.
An Amusing Note
Over the last several weeks, many tourists have come to Washington D.C. As a boy, I would never have thought a phone booth would become a tourist attraction. But just down the hall from my office in Longworth is what once was a bank of five phone booths. They don’t all still have payphones, but two still do. In passing by, I have recently noticed a number of tourists having their picture taken while pretending to make a call on a payphone.
My, how times have changed. A phone booth is a tourist attraction, and control of the Internet is a world controversy.
As always, if you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office by email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov.
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