News: On Oct. 1, under a plan in place for two decades, the Commerce Department may cease to exercise contractual control over ICANN (International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers); the entity that approves the .com's, .gov's and other Internet domain names. According to this article, the Congress will be voting to make this decision by September 30th, 2016.
Background:
IANA (Internet Asigned Number Authority) was the governing body under the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) of the Internet Society that was under the U.S. government contract. They have overseen the allocation of Internet Protocol addresses to ISP's (Internet service providers) for the past 20 years. ICANN on the other hand, will be the organization that takes over control of the Internet after IANA expires on September 30th, 2016. ICANN is currently located in California and managed by the U.S Department of Commerce. ICANN was formed in the U.S because the U.S birthed the Internet. There are 7-keys that can be used to shutdown the worldwide Internet if a cyber attack were to happen. Currently, ICANN has total control of the 7 keys. These 7-key are held by 7 different people scattered around the world (mostly Americans). Since 2010, the key holders have been meeting 4 times a year (twice on the east coast of the US and twice here on the west coast) to perform the Internet ceremony/drill. The closest visual interpretation of ICANN's power was staged on the TV show; Prison Break. I know Prison Break only showed us what could happen if the U.S. government were to loose control, it still shows us the possible ramification.
My Perspective:
Why am I contemplating the idea of the U.S. ceding control of the Internet domain to a global agency? There are 2 main reasons for my trepidation on the transfer of Internet domain control to a global agency:
1. Who will the new ICANN members Comprise of?
What countries will makeup this new global agencies? Based on countries that makeup the G-8 summit, the U.N. will likely transfer control of ICANN to them. The G-8 countries are Russia, Germany, USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, France and Italy. These 8 countries have been responsible for governing the affairs of the world. They gather annually to discuss the current issues around the world and make decision on the next steps to resolve those issues.
My concern is; giving countries like Russia a key can be disastrous. Russia does not even have the keys to control the Internet now and they're causing people harm (e.g. DNC Hack). What if they have one of the 7-keys to control the web? What kind of regulation will the new ICANN put forth? Will we still have the same rights we have now? What happens to free speech? Will they monitor & control all our internet activities? There are so many unanswered questions.
2. The Upcoming Presidential Election.
Why do they want to transfer control of the Internet right before the presidential election? IANA have been the organization that governed the Internet for the past 20 years. However, the current IANA contract expires on September 30, 2016 unless the congress votes to extend the contract.
According to The Hill, "the United States cannot be assured that if any web site is hacked, the responsible party will be held accountable if the new global agency governs ICANN. We cannot be sure if a web site is valid. We cannot be sure if one country is being favored over another. These are all the things ICANN is responsible for and has worked perfectly since the Internet was created."
The question is; Why change something so critical just 6-weeks before the national election? Why can't we just extend the contract with IANA until the congress can discuss the implications before making the decision to transfer control of Internet domains to a global agency?
Conclusion:
We all have the power to make our opinions known by calling our state representatives and voicing our opinions to them. We all voted for our representatives so they can represent us in Washington. Please call your representatives (including the members of congress & your senators) to voice your opinion. You can always find the contact information for your state Representatives here.
Make your voice heard!
Appendices:
- ICANN - International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
- IANA - Internet Asigned Number Authority.
- IAB - Internet Architecture Board.
- ISP - Internet service providers
References:
- The Hill - http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/296840-changing-who-controls-icann-jeopardizes-our-presidential
- House of Representatives Contact Information - http://www.house.gov/representatives/
- Meet the seven people holding the keys to Internet Security - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/28/seven-people-keys-worldwide-internet-security-web
