https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/29/obama-administration-to-relinquish-control-of-inte/
After opponents lost the spending battle in Congress, four Republican attorneys general in Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada and Texas filed a lawsuit Thursday. In their complaint, they say the administration decided to give away government property without congressional approval, even though a nonpartisan government report recently concluded otherwise.
If the government allows its contract to expire, they say, “plaintiffs will lose the predictability, certainty, and protections that currently flow from federal stewardship of the internet and instead be subjected to ICANN’s unchecked control.”
The lawsuits says ICANN might take “unilateral actions” that adversely affect what’s known as the authoritative root zone file, opening the door to “unchecked” changes to .gov or .mil addresses, including ones used by the attorneys general themselves.
“If you control the authoritative root zone file, you can control what websites appear on the internet,” Cruz spokesman Phil Novack said. “Can you directly make changes to content on a specific site? No. But can you determine who gets a site, the policies governing those sites, and which sites get to operate and which sites get shut down? Absolutely.”
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump recently sided with Mr. Cruz’s position, despite their well-documented feuds, in a rare foray for the mogul into arcane government policy.
Lawrence E. Strickling, the Commerce Department official in charge of the switchover, said reneging on the transition plan that started in 2014 would actually embolden “authoritarian regimes to intensify their advocacy for government-led or intergovernmental management of the internet via the United Nations.”
“Among the most persistent misconceptions is that we are giving away the internet,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee this month. “That is simply not true. To be crystal clear, the United States does not control the internet. No one country or entity controls the internet. The internet is a network of networks that operates with the cooperation of stakeholders around the world.”
This one right here….
“If you control the authoritative root zone file, you can control what websites appear on the internet,” Cruz spokesman Phil Novack said. “Can you directly make changes to content on a specific site? No. But can you determine who gets a site, the policies governing those sites, and which sites get to operate and which sites get shut down? Absolutely.”
https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/blogging-citizen-journalism/2017/2574266.html
Whoever controls the so-called ‘address book’ controls who gets and keeps an address book entry. ICANN’s new bylaws will provide ICANN with the ability not only to coordinate the allocation and assignment of names in the root zone of the Domain Name System (DNS), but also to coordinate the development and implementation of policies concerning the registration of second-level domain names in generic top-level domains as a way to facilitate the openness, interoperability, resilience, security and/or stability of the DNS including generic top-level domain registrars and registries. In short, ICANN will have the ability to set the governing polices for the entire Internet ecosystem. Foreign governments and global corporations will have an increased voice within ICANN moving forward instead of only being able to set and enforce restrictive policies at the edge of the Internet.”
After a failed attempt to block it in Congress, four state attorney generals urgently filed a lawsuit to halt the changeover, stating it was an unlawful transfer of government property. But alas, the case was dismissed and the transition prevailed.
court case
State of Arizona et al v. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) et al (3:16-cv-00274)
Courts Texas Southern District Court
Filed: Sep 28, 2016
Judge: George C Hanks, Jr
Nature of Suit: Other Statutes - Administrative Procedure Act/Review or Appeal of Agency Decision
Cause: 05:702 Administrative Procedure Act