This is no April Fool's joke: here is a bill that is almost a caricature of what the rest of the world fears about U.S. control of the Internet DNS root and ICANN. Legislation unveiled today by Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, would require a Presidentially appointed cybersecurity advisory panel to ensure that national security would not be compromised before approving the renewal or modification of the contract between the U.S. government and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. According to a summary of the bill, it would “make sure that ICANN does not succumb to foreign pressure” to end its relationship with the U.S. government.
ICANN is only one part of a comprehensive and authoritarian approach to cybersecurity. According to the Center for Democracy and Technology, “The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 would…give the President unfettered power to shut down Internet traffic in emergencies or disconnect any critical infrastructure system or network on national security grounds.”
Read the proposed Cybersecurity Act of 2009.
