The World Wide Web and the Obama plan to give it away. It’s true. The last bastion of the ‘free’ free markets invented, owned and operated by the United States. This White House is poised to hand the keys over to the international community. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, manages the World Wide Web under contract with the U.S. government. As of the fall of next year, that contract will not be renewed. Instead, ICANN will become a global organization, with no U.S. oversight.
ICANN’s plan is to give “an equal voice” in governing the Internet people who have no commitment or interest in free speech and a free press. Why will things be better with Iran, North Korea, China and Russia and other autocratic regimes that have little or no transparency having an equal voice with a nation that champion’s free speech and has a more than 200 year commitment to the rule of law?
There are also defense and national security issues. Why give away an asset that America invented and built? Is Germany giving away BMW and Mercedes Benz? Is Japan giving away Lexus? Is Russia giving away its natural gas? Of course not! We share the Internet freely with the world. Why isn’t that good enough?!