Bush, Congress Defend Internet

http://today.reuters.com/PrinterFriendlyPopup.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=uri:2005-10-21T171310Z_01_ROB160456_RTRUKOC_0_US-CONGRESS-INTERNET.xml

Finally, the admistration is doing something right. An internet under UN control will never be as effective as it is currently. There are too many countries without traditions of freedom who will work tirelessly to restrain it. The US has always acted in good faith administering the internet domains - only now Third World countries are upset because they simply don't want the US in charge.

Below is an excerpt of a letter I sent to the White House and the Commerce Department earlier this month supporting US control. It is a little too deferential - but I was considering my audience.

Subject: International DNS Control and the Future of the Internet

...Now in 2005, a great issue is before this country and the world, and resolve is needed in great measure. The internet is buzzing about attempts from the EU and other members of the UN who wish to wrest control of the internet from the United States. Not simply because each country wants to control their own domains (.za, .nl, .is, .mz) - they already do, but because they don't like the idea of America controlling what they see as a global resource. Input in the corporation that governs the Internet, ICANN, is not enough - they just don't want the US in charge.

As a fellow Republican and conservative, I bristle at the thought of government of control of anything. But that bristling turns to a shudder when I reflect on things controlled by the Chinese, the EU, or the North Koreans when it comes to free speech resources. This is because in these societies, free speech is not a guaranteed right, and in China it isn't even a good idea. While the US is not perfect, it has acted in GOOD FAITH when administrating the internet. In fact, the internet is chiefly responsible for many political events in America:

- The impeachment of Former Pres. Clinton
- The rise of DNC Chairman Howard Dean
- Scandal over flag draped coffins from Iraq

These are only three issues that the internet made a reality - issues that I am sure the Chinese, the French, or the Russians would NOT have allowed to take place if they had any say. Yet in America, these things did happen, to the detriment of the party in office - but regulating the internet never became a solution to those issues. America has proven to the world that we are responsible enough to handle a resource that we largely created, and can continue to support it and let it grow unfettered.

The internet, more than any other resource, is truly America's greatest gift of freedom. It is the closest thing to a natural free market that has ever existed in human history. Access to goods and information from all over the world are at the fingertips of billions - all is needed is access to plug in. While international input is necessary for growth and collaboration - international control is not.

Mr. President, you stood against the world and did what [you saw] was necessary in Iraq. I ask you to do the same here, and demand that internet governance is the exclusive province of the United States of America...

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• Politics
• Technology