ICANN’ed, II
October 19, 2005As was to be expected– the US senate is trying to maintain the US control over the internet.
I already made myself perfectly clear that I do not want the US to have such control. The fact that the .xxx (porn) domain got blocked due to political and religious reasoning says it all. When a radical Muslim forces his wife to wear a bourka due to his religious beliefs, it’s all wrong and evil and bad, but when someone blocks a .xxx domain because of religious reasons, it’s suddenly all good!
Hippocracy. Yet again. The United States of Hippocracy.
And no, the US did not ‘invent’ the internet, nor the WWW, so you Americans do not own it. It came to be due to the work of many people from many countries, so it belongs to many people from many countries.
Thom, my database teacher at college used to say to us: “whoever controls the ‘information’, controls the world”. And Internet is nothing but an information highway.
It would be stupid for US to give control of the internet to anyone else. Your country would do the exact same thing if they had control of the internet and its dns. Is that a good thing? No, it is not for the rest of us. But at least we should give US the benefit of the doubt, that if our own country were in their position, they would do the exact same thing. I promise you that.
Comment by Eugenia — October 19, 2005 @ 5:17 pm
Your country would do the exact same thing if they had control of the internet and its dns.
If my country had that control I’d be as much against it as I am now, you’ll just have to take my word on that one.
A first step would be to share the control with the EU; the next step would be to expand the control to similar organizations in the rest of the world (they don’t exist yet, however). There’s no reason why the EU cannot have a say in all this. Isn’t it skewed that it took so long for the .eu domain to arrive?
Look, the US crossed the line with the .xxx domain disaster. I do not want the internet to be run by Christian extremists.
But at least we should give US the benefit of the doubt
I do not. After Guantanamo Bay, the Iraq war, the law in the US that legislates an invasion of my country and this .xxx stuff, they have lost that benefit.
Comment by Administrator — October 19, 2005 @ 7:00 pm
>A first step would be to share the control with the EU
Why?
>And no, the US did not ‘invent’ the internet, nor the WWW, so you Americans do not own it.
Americans DID create the internet. The Internet is derived from their 1969 military project and it first flourished in USA and its universities than anywhere else on the planet. We should not be changing history now just to help our causes, should we?
Why all of a sudden, is the internet control a “community thing”? It’s not. If others don’t like it, they should indeed seperate from the US internet and create their own. You should not expect USA or any other country to give up power on anything. No country would ever do that, for any topic.
Do *I* want the Internet to be shared with UN? Sure! But it won’t happen, and if I was an American citizen, I would not want it to happen. So, why “my” Government should do otherwise then? I don’t get that. The American government does exactly what they were ELECTED to do! So, stop slapping them like that for doing the RIGHT thing for THEIR CITIZENS.
You can go cry about it, but matter of the fact is, you are not an American (neither I am). Americans want to keep control, and I think that’s the right thing to do for THEM. They should fight to keep it theirs.
Does that help in the world peace and world community? No, of course not. But Information is POWER. And Power is not something you give away to only receive “love from our beloved neighboors”. The world and politics don’t work in that way my friend. Sadly.
So, it won’t happen, stop fighting for it.
Instead, create your own Internet, divide the market, let the americans be ALONE, and then they will come to YOU (U.N.) asking you for favors. That’s how it should work, that’s how Americans will get their lesson. Trying to bully them around, just won’t work.
Comment by Eugenia — October 19, 2005 @ 8:35 pm
>A first step would be to share the control with the EU
Why?
Because decisions made by the US government affect *us*. And that is simply unacceptable.
Americans DID create the internet.
The Americans created *a part* of the internet. Many other countries created parts too. The protocols and standards were invented by all sorts of people from all sorts of countries. And at one point, they thought, hey, let’s link all those parts, and thus the internet was born.
Compare it to this: England invented the train. How would the Americans feel if England had the control over US railways? “Nonsense,”, you say, “the US built their railways one their own. England wasn’t involved.” Exactly! Did the US build the network in Europe? In Asia? No? Then why should they control it?
Why all of a sudden, is the internet control a “community thing”?
It has always been a community thing, because more than one person, more than one institution, more than one university, more than one country was involved in its creation. *That* is why it is a community thing.
you are not an American
Heh, hell no :).
You should not expect USA or any other country to give up power on anything. No country would ever do that, for any topic.
Well, it’s actually what the EU is doing: we have given (too much?) control away to Brussels. And even though I’m not a huge fan of the EU, it did bring a lot of good to us. So, your assumption that no country would ever do that is nonsense. Your statement should read: “No *egocentric* country would ever do that”.
Instead, create your own Internet, divide the market, let the americans be ALONE
That is what’s going to happen, and with all my heart, I hope it will. It already happened with GPS– ESA is building a more advanced version of it, a version not subject to political whims (like it being turned off just because the US went off to wage another war).
Comment by Administrator — October 19, 2005 @ 8:50 pm
The Internet is a resource for the world. I agree it should be administered by the UN or another, independent international body.
Comment by Chris — October 19, 2005 @ 11:31 pm
Problem is that whoever gives up internet control to someone else is a guillible moron. And US ain’t guillible (however they are morons on some topics). US and China and UK and any other big country want more power, or enough power to keep them on their current status. It’s not on the best interest of the US to give up on this Power.
I *too* want Internet to be administered by an “independent international body”. But it just ain’t gonna happen no matter how much people shout about it.
So instead of spending your precious time debating what US should do, you (U.N) should have already started working on an independant, non-US internet standard. You see, if UN has not **already** started working on it, then I would be really unhappy about their performance, and I would have to congratulate instead the US government for doing *exactly* what they were elected to do. I just can’t blame them for it!
Comment by Eugenia — October 20, 2005 @ 12:09 am
But it just ain’t gonna happen…
How wrong you are. The US *people* might think they’re untouchable, and that they don’t need the rest of the world. But, when AND Europe, AND China, AND South America put weight behind this (which they inevitably will), then the US *will* comply. Why?
Because those are the biggest trading / strategic ‘allies’ of the US. Europe and China can exist perfectly fine with one another, there’s no need for the US. However, the US cannot exist without Europe and China.
So there you have it. If the countries mentioned above put a little more weight behind this, the US cannot do anything else but comply.
… no matter how much people shout about it.
It’s called the public opinion, Eugenia. If enough normal people get vocal about this, our governments *will* listen, and *will* put pressure on the US. *That* is why I’m vocal about this, and saying that that is useless, is very, very, dangerously shortsighted of you.
Comment by Administrator — October 20, 2005 @ 12:12 pm
Thom, US never cared about “public opinion”, I don’t think that they will start now. If they cared about it, they wouldn’t initiate wars. Most people are against wars, including US citizens. So, no, I don’t think I am “dangerously shortsighted”, but a bit more objective as to how US will react into a bully situation.
Comment by Eugenia — October 20, 2005 @ 6:34 pm
US never cared about “public opinion”…
First of all, the war on Iraq had the support of more than 50% of the American public the days it began. If this support were, say, 30%, Bush would have never went the path of war.
You can already see how Bush is responding to foreign matters now that his war in Iraq lacks support from the American public. He is now all about negotations, the UN, seeking the support and backing of the EU, etc. (ie. in matters such as North Korea and Iran).
…but a bit more objective as to how US will react into a bully situation.
I don’t think that the combined pressure of the two most economically powerful ‘countries’ (EU and China), plus other countries like Brazil and India constitutes as “bullying”.
You are underestimating the power of “the rest of the world”.
Comment by Administrator — October 20, 2005 @ 6:41 pm
>You are underestimating the power of “the rest of the world”.
And you are underestimating the fact that US is a “world of its own”. Most US citizens don’t even know where Egypt or Sweden is located on the map. They don’t care. They live in their own world. Do you think they will care if the “public opinion” of some Europeans doesn’t match their own? Pffft…
Comment by Eugenia — October 20, 2005 @ 7:37 pm
They live in their own world. Do you think they will care if the “public opinion” of some Europeans doesn’t match their own?
As I said earlier, a part of the US *people*, indeed, they live in their own world.
The US government, on the other hand? No, not really. And I gave the examples in my previous comment.
Comment by Administrator — October 20, 2005 @ 7:39 pm