Hi,
An interesting read.
http://is.gd/uOc9pY - Islamists Seek Censorship of Internet Domain Names
I find it strange that the Obama Administration declined to renew the contract with ICANN and from what I could find it appears that Silicon Valley tech companies and internet activist groups consider this a good thing as they don’t think it’s reasonable to have a single government performing oversight for a global resource or should I say commodity?
However, it appears from this article “that two legislative bills are now in the works to prevent the Obama Administration from moving oversight of ICANN out of US hands” until further studies can be completed to identify the implications of undertaking such as move.
The concerns are justified as they highlighted in the article “what entity is qualified to assume this function or whether ICANN might wind up without an oversight body altogether” but if this correct, how does ICANN remain impartial to pressure from other governments and special interest groups?
Example:
Tomorrow morning I check to see how my websites/domains are performing and find out 3 of them have been shut down because people have posted comments and articles about the Nigerian girls that were recently abducted and because these views are anti whatever I am forced to remove them before my websites/domains are made accessible.
I then check my email and find a notification from ICANN requesting I contact them to discuss why my websites/domains are not accessible. I contact ICANN to discuss what has occurred and they advise me “that because the content is of a “sensitive nature” and our government advisory committee has objected to your content that it must be removed before your website/domains are accessible again.”
Could you imagine if things like started to occur on an international scale?
I suppose it already does but it doesn’t affect us unless you’re attempting to make contact with a person whose internet is censored in countries such as China, Iran, Syria or nowadays I suppose Australia is classified as an ‘enemy of the internet’ due to censorship and surveillance projects.
Imagine if ICANN oversight responsibilities were managed by Russia…
Cheers!
An interesting read.
http://is.gd/uOc9pY - Islamists Seek Censorship of Internet Domain Names
I find it strange that the Obama Administration declined to renew the contract with ICANN and from what I could find it appears that Silicon Valley tech companies and internet activist groups consider this a good thing as they don’t think it’s reasonable to have a single government performing oversight for a global resource or should I say commodity?
However, it appears from this article “that two legislative bills are now in the works to prevent the Obama Administration from moving oversight of ICANN out of US hands” until further studies can be completed to identify the implications of undertaking such as move.
The concerns are justified as they highlighted in the article “what entity is qualified to assume this function or whether ICANN might wind up without an oversight body altogether” but if this correct, how does ICANN remain impartial to pressure from other governments and special interest groups?
Example:
Tomorrow morning I check to see how my websites/domains are performing and find out 3 of them have been shut down because people have posted comments and articles about the Nigerian girls that were recently abducted and because these views are anti whatever I am forced to remove them before my websites/domains are made accessible.
I then check my email and find a notification from ICANN requesting I contact them to discuss why my websites/domains are not accessible. I contact ICANN to discuss what has occurred and they advise me “that because the content is of a “sensitive nature” and our government advisory committee has objected to your content that it must be removed before your website/domains are accessible again.”
Could you imagine if things like started to occur on an international scale?
I suppose it already does but it doesn’t affect us unless you’re attempting to make contact with a person whose internet is censored in countries such as China, Iran, Syria or nowadays I suppose Australia is classified as an ‘enemy of the internet’ due to censorship and surveillance projects.
Imagine if ICANN oversight responsibilities were managed by Russia…
Cheers!
