AUGUST 19, 2015
NTIA delays Internet giveaway
FAIRFAX, Va. – Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to the decision by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to delay for one year the transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions administering the domain name system to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and global multistakeholders:
"Rep. Sean Duffy and Sen. Ted Cruz's work to stop the Internet giveaway have been instrumental in creating this delay. Unfortunately, some leaders in Congress have been posturing that they oppose giving away the Internet while actually supporting it.
"There is no 'right' way to create a global monopoly to administer the domain name system with ICANN at its center, with no competition or accountability, and perhaps most importantly, no First Amendment protections that the current U.S. contract by NTIA affords. No proposal presented thus far provides any judicial remedy in federal court should the domain name system ever be used to engage in censorship. Ceding the IANA functions is simply to dangerous in a world where not even the White House and Joint Chiefs of Staff are secure against hacks by Moscow and Beijing.
"We applaud the delay, and urge Congress to take this decision out of the Obama administration's hands permanently. The last thing anyone should want is such a controversial decision that does not even serve U.S. interests or protect critical Internet freedoms coming in a lame duck administration. Better to leave this to the next president, whoever he or she may be."
To view online: http://getliberty.org.
