Linux, musical road-dogging, and daily life by Paul W. Frields
 
The meaning of fear.

The meaning of fear.

My Internet in the hands of the UN? I guess this means when someone poisons DNS they will send a sharply-worded letter, or maybe Hans Blix will come inspect the offender’s UNIX servers.

2 Comments

  1. You might consider starting an entry at R-N based off this unfortunate story. i think the “consortium” can only make a reasonable case for wresting control from the DoC if they can prove their interests (other than immediate financial windfalls made by unscrupulous types) are being injured. the author of the story cites Brazil’s relying on the ‘net for 90% of its tax collection… yet doesn’t explain how the US control of the root-level servers is harming this. i would counter that having the root-level servers in the hands of a large, open, and well-skilled entity like DoC makes a lot more sense than trying to decentralize it or worse – funding some int’l entity with a (surprise!) tax put on certain transactions. Europeans love levying taxes upon taxes.

  2. The CATO Institute’s website has this on its main page (links available therein):

    Struggle for Control of the Internet Heats Up

    Members of the European Union are again pushing to gain control of Internet operations, just ahead of next month’s UN-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunisia. The EU has called for a “co-operation model,” in the form of a currently unspecified international governing body, for the oversight of the Internet’s root servers and assignment of addresses, activities that are presently managed inside the United States. In making the case for international control, an EU spokesman in Geneva used the term “global resource,” despite the fact that much of the Internet is privately owned and operated.

    Largely decentralized, the Internet has, to date, required minimal governance. The struggle to gain control, essentially a battle between the United States and the international community, has gone on for many years despite this fact. Cato scholars have produced a number of works on the topic:

    * “The World Wide Web (of Bureaucrats?),” by Adam D. Thierer and Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., October 9, 2005.
    * “Everybody Wants to Rule the Web,” by Adam D. Thierer and Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., December 17, 2003.
    * “Caught in the Seamless Web: Does the Internet’s Global Reach Justify Less Freedom of Speech?,” by Robert Corn-Revere, Cato Briefing Paper no. 71, July 24, 2002.
    * “Nameless in Cyberspace: Anonymity on the Internet,” by Jonathan D. Wallace, Cato Briefing Paper no. 54, December 8, 1999.
    * Who Rules the Net?, edited by Adam D. Thierer and Clyde Wayne Crews Jr. (2003).

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