Fantastic Donald Trump

Published in Le Temps
(Switzerland) on 18 December 2015
by Anouch Seydtaghia (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Megan Cohen. Edited by Bora Mici.
Donald Trump is fantastic. The Republican-nomination candidate in the 2016 election repeatedly hammered the necessity to shut down parts of the Internet if necessary. “We have to see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what’s happening. We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some way,” affirmed the businessman.

Suspecting his proposal would attract numerous critics. Donald Trump pretended to anticipate them by declaring: “Somebody will say, ‘Oh freedom of speech, freedom of speech.’ These are foolish people.”

That is what’s clear. What is less [clear] is how the politician plans to “close parts of the Internet.” In fact, it is nearly impossible. Certain countries are capable of isolating themselves from the rest of the planet. Others are capable of filtering certain foreign services — a regular example of this is Turkey. But shutting down whole parts of the Internet … even the United States, which possesses significant power in supervising the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, cannot do this so easily. Little by little, ICANN has to see its power shared with other countries, making shutting down the Internet even less possible.


Donald Trump est fantastique. Le candidat à l’investiture républicaine pour la présidentielle américaine de 2016 a martelé à plusieurs reprises la nécessité, le cas échéant, de fermer des parties d’Internet. «Il faut que nous voyions Bill Gates et d’autres gens qui comprennent vraiment ce qui se passe. Il faut leur demander, peut-être dans certains endroits, de fermer Internet en partie, d’une manière ou d’une autre» a affirmé l’homme d’affaires.

Donald Trump, se doutant bien que sa proposition attirerait de nombreuses critiques, a fait mine de les anticiper en déclarant: «Certains vont hurler à la liberté d’expression. Ce sont des idiots».

Voilà qui est clair. Ce qui l’est moins, c’est comment le politicien compte «fermer des parties d’Internet». De facto, c’est quasiment impossible. Certains pays sont capables, eux-mêmes, de s’isoler ainsi de la planète. D’autres sont capables de filtrer certains services étrangers, à l’exemple de ce que fait régulièrement la Turquie. Mais fermer des pans entiers d’Internet, mêmes les Etats-Unis, qui possèdent un pouvoir important en supervisant l’ICANN, ne peuvent le faire si facilement. Et ce d’autant moins que l’ICANN doit petit à petit voir son pouvoir partagé avec d’autres pays.
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