ICANN, the group charged with overseeing the Internet's addressing system, has submitted a report to the US Department of Commerce in which it argues that the time has come to end US oversight. In October 2006, the Department of Commerce and ICANN signed the Joint Project Agreement, a three-year pact that extended Commerce's oversight of the body, while leaving open the possibility that the group would become independent as soon as April of this year. In the new report, ICANN argues that it has already met the requirements for independence and should therefore be freed from oversight.
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Member since:2006-01-06
Right, because as we've seen, a global organization such as the UN is a panacea, effectively manages conflict, and has no corruption... oh, wait ...
Member since:2006-12-16
You might want to do a bit more reading mate. The US has cast the most veto votes in the past 30 years, far more than all the other nations combined! That is not acting in the spirit of the United Nations, far from it. The US votes on keeping its interests alive, especially in the oil laden middle east. This is why it keeps vetoing the votes against Israel and the abominations that they are doing to the Palestinian provinces. The US doesn't care about peace, it cares about power and subverting every other nation to its will. The US completely renounced the World court decision re: Nicaragua. It has deliberately undermined governments in Haiti, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq just to name a few. It has sponsored a variety of state terrorists, and refused extradition requests to have them appear in other countries for crimes against humanity, and terrorist activities. The US has sponsored monsters like Suharto, and Hussein. The US has encouraged the oppression of freedom and democracy in other countries, when that said freedom/democracy does NOT mean US interests.
I suggest you stop being so blindly patriotic, and actually do some research. The sooner the rest of the world bands together and takes full economic sanctions against the US, the better imho.
I feel sorrow and pity for the US citizens, because many of them know how bad their government is, but are powerless to fix it. Bush Jr. has lied his way through both terms, cheated to get voted in his first term, interfered with and perverted US law, spied on his population, further weakened the medical and welfare systems in the US. He has allied himself with the extreme right religious Christian nuts, who'd rather screw everyone else, than have anyone else have a different religious viewpoint to that of Christianism. Worse, Bush and his regime are widely disliked by almost every nation across the world, and deservedly so. Clinton might have gotten a blowjob from Monica, but he was more of a person than Bush Jr, an airforce deserter, ever was.
Don't even get me started.
Dave
Member since:2005-07-06
To be fair to America, it hasn't done that badly at keeping the net a free platform.
If you made it an international organisation then it would be another bearpit for nationalistic issues. China for example due to its size and power would HAVE to be included, yet at the same time it is creating its 'great firewwall of china'. I personally wouldnt want someone so adept at stifeling speach to help run the internet
Member since:2005-07-06
sadly, icann cant really stop china from creating their great firewall, any more then it can help it.
as long as all chinese pages stay within the chinese top level domain, china can put up government border routers that filter or shut out all non-chinese pages.
and nothing about icann can do anything about that in either way.
Member since:2005-06-29
Definitely. They did make some mistakes here and there, but overall, they did a pretty good job, and I'm sure the EU (for instance) would have been hopelessly incompetent at managing something similar.
There is no need for it to be an international organisation. All that needs to be done is severe the tie between the US government and ICANN - ICANN can function just as fine without it.
I do agree, though, that some sort of disaster scenario must be in place, where, if needed because ICANN fcuks up majorly, the US government can re-establish the tie. That should not be easy though, but I have to admit it would probably be a wise thing to have something like that in place for our own peace of mind.
Edited 2008-01-25 12:06 UTC
Member since:2006-12-16
China has absolutely every right to do what it wants to the Internet within its "borders" (whether it's morally right is a different matter, but that's not a point of law or technical abilities). What gives the US the right to tell China what to do?
The US government has long preached one thing to its opponents, and done exactly that thing themselves, much to the dismay of the rest of the world. Worse, the US simply ignores international law, the Geneva conventions, and the the spirit of the United Nations (veto votes anyone?).
The US CANNOT be trusted with anything that has global ramifications imho - it will corrupt things to suit its own greedy needs. If you want to really know the truth about the US government, read anything by Noam Chomsky. Very enlightening stuff.
Dave
Member since:2005-07-06
Yes, because we know how good global organizations are at maintaining freedom...
I don't think the internet is safe in the hands of an organization that has to answer to China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc. There is far too great a risk of an international body bowing to pressure from these sorts of conservative societies and doing something stupid as a result.
Member since:
2006-12-16
It's time for the US to stop thinking that it's the center of the world - it isn't. The whole internet structure should be governed by a global organisation, not one country.
Dave