Today, Senator Ted
Cruz and Representative Sean Duffy introduced the
“Protecting
Internet Freedom Act,” which would prevent the U.S. government from
relinquishing oversight of the Internet domain name system without Congressional
approval.
In 2014, the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced
that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the
organization responsible for the Internet domain name system, would transition
from U.S. oversight to a global multi-stakeholder model. Many critics of the
transition, including
Senator Cruz, have stated that relinquishing oversight to a global
multi-stakeholder model likely will allow repressive foreign governments to impose
Internet censorship.
Not only could the
global multi-stakeholder model violate First Amendment principles by giving
control to repressive foreign governments with a history
of Internet censorship, but the transition violates rule of law norms because
it bypasses Congressional approval. As proposed, the “Protecting Internet Freedom
Act” would prevent the NTIA from furthering this transition, and it would
require Congressional approval for any future decisions regarding oversight of
the Internet domain name system.
It is important
that Congress consider legislation like that introduced by Senator Cruz and Representative
Duffy as soon as possible!
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