Thursday 28th of March 2024

US Government holds the keys to all internet domains

I received an email from a friend which disturbed me. Here it is.

Found out some interesting but disturbing information today.

Recently, the US decided not to hand over the ICANN activities to the independent body. They cite 'security and stability' as their reasons for retaining control of the main Internet root servers. Under these conditions, the US could 'remove' any tld they didn't like and stop access to those sites. Whole domains (eg .org) could be removed. If the US continues to hold control, the effects in five years time may be disastrous for independent thinker/activists who use the web for grass roots democratic purposes. Yikes.

U.S. Government to Retain Oversight of the Internet's Root Servers

Concentration of power

Similar theme here -  

Big Media Interlocks with Corporate America

A research team at Sonoma State University has recently finished conducting a network analysis of the boards of directors of the ten big media organizations in the US. The team determined that only 118 people comprise the membership on the boards of director of the ten big media giants. This is a small enough group to fit in a moderate size university classroom. These 118 individuals in turn sit on the corporate boards of 288 national and international corporations. In fact, eight out of ten big media giants share common memberships on boards of directors with each other.

At Slashdot - U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS On July 2nd, 2005 with 351 comments

At The Register -

Bush administration annexes internet

But what is most disturbing about Gallagher's presentation, is how it endlessly refers to the president. The first slide has a picture of George Bush. The second begins "Thanks to the president's policies, America's economy is strong". The next slide is "The president's broadband vision". The next slide leads with a quote from Bush and two pictures of him. And on and on it goes. There is barely a single slide that doesn't quote from the president. Clearly the internet has entered the Bush administration's vision and the resulting DoC statement - which boldly tells the rest of the world that the US will continue to run the Internet and everyone will just have to lump it - is very in keeping with how the US government is currently run.

Freedom Of Netspeech

I'm concerned enough right now with the internet censorship that can be applied at will by the raising and lowering of content filter effectiveness.

I ran into it a fair bit "before the war was over", as did a number of other people I know who were trying to get points of view into print.. A combination of four or so sensitive words, such as "Korea, Missile Iraq and terrorist" would get a letter bounced straight back from ISP as suspicious content..   It very rarely happens now.

Given that most potential saboteurs wouldn't be so stupid as to communicate their moverments by email, the main people that  would have been effectively gagged  were anti-war writers.

I'm trying to find the link to an article I was reading the other day claiming that all the Al Qaeda "websites" emanated from Houston ISPs.

The concentration of net output will always be a problem.  Last year the FBI was able to shut down a number of Indymedia sites worldwide by seizing equipment from one U.S. office.

The internet is never going to be truly global until it's no longer dominated by the United States, which will occur the day after snow falls on Uluru.

Eternal optimist

Snow on Uluru …… it will happen one day. :)

Just like we had hail on the westside of the
Island last week, the size of golf balls.

Locals who have been here for a long, long time can’t remember ever having seen anything like that.

No-one can remember that happening ever before.

So, snow on Uluru will happen as well one day!

And I look forward to that day, if it happens in my lifetime!

Freedom of the Internet belongs to the Empire who owns one

Round Up of Note: The creation of global networks is taking a back seat to wrangling over control over the Internet Is U.S. Telling ICANN It Can’t? ; Going against previously stated policy, the United States Department of Commerce has decided not to hand over control of DNS (Domain Name System) services Icann might have staked out domain for red-light district, but it will have to wait for green light via Google ICANN needs international rescue Jozef Virtual Reference

Ach and Ouch

Talk about lack of accountability Where has all the money gone? Jozef Virtual Reference

Free-ish enterprise

If it does not suit the US government whim, them free trade or free enterprise is not... We know that don't we? Reasons? Terrorism? Money? Control? Imperialism? Bad will? Top bunk bully? Private US interests? Copyrights? Ownership? Corruption? Well I say who cares as long we can fiddle and blog until we create a new independent system if we need one, including jungle drums.... See, If I am correct, the French had developed the Minitel before the Internet was invented. There must be a new way to bypass anything thing the US can eventually throw at us... If I am correct too I believe Broadband was a frog invention via Alcatel... But may be we should start jamming the system... Remember that the US spy agencies automatically analyze about 130 trillion items of information per month on their satellites networks, to chase bad boys... The Europeans analyze about 6 million items in the same period. But I would say it's better quality... Better targeted. In the meantime let's move fast at making this web site known to the rest of the world including all the Politicians in Canberra and the states and territories of this country... Let's shake the apple tree a bit more... The US government may lose its grip on the branches... Monkey numero uno might drop...

Semaphore

... Canberra? .....Canberra ... didn't we have an ambassador there once? Right next to Hungary.