US Government Wants to Give Up Internet Governance

The American government no longer wishes to concern itself with Internet governance. Washington wants to do away with the last part of the Internet that it still has control over at present, as reported by The Washington Post on Friday.

In the United States, the government, among others, still concerns itself with the production and allocation of domain names for websites, as well as the distribution of IP numbers, unique codes which computers receive upon connecting to the Internet. Through the non-profit organization ICANN, the American government has kept watch over various Internet-related issues since 1998. Next year, the contract with this company will come to an end.

Senator John D. Rockefeller IV has called the plan a good step towards “promoting a free and open internet.” Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, fears, however, for the “global internet community” taking over control. “This risks foreign dictatorships defining the internet.”

Critics who have an interest in stable Internet governance call the decision rushed and politically colored.