The first two pieces might have as a common title “Information Wars: The Empire Strikes First.” -- Kieren McCarthy of The Register (“Biting the hand that feeds IT”) first reported on Jul. 1, in a piece entitled “Bush Administration Annexes Internet,” that “An extraordinary statement by the U.S. government has sent shockwaves around the internet world and thrown the future of the network into doubt.”[1] -- At a communications conference in Washington, D.C., on Jun. 30, Michael D. Gallagher, asst. secretary at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, announced new “U.S. principles” that would, if implemented, effectively place how the internet is run under U.S. control. -- A second piece, published Monday and also written by Kieren McCarthy, reports that European governments are outraged by this typically unilateral step -- in style as well as in substance -- on the part of the Bush administration.[2] -- (Gallagher’s announcement may relate to a passage that appears in a March 2005 DoD statement entitled The National Defense Strategy of the United States of America that reads as follows: “In the face of American dominance in traditional forms of warfare, some hostile forces are seeking to acquire catastrophic capabilities, particularly weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Porous international borders, weak international controls, and easy access to information related technologies facilitate these efforts.”) -- But rather than submit to this hegemonic U.S. move, says McCarthy, “European internet registries are preparing a fight-back against the U.S. government following the latter's surprise decision to keep overall control of the "root zone file" that defines the internet's basic set-up.” -- For some reason, a song written ten years ago by rocker Jackson Browne called “Information Wars” comes to mind.[3] -- The song is to be found on his “Looking East” album; it concludes: “Beyond the hundred million darkened living rooms/Out where the human ocean roars/Into the failing light, the generations go/Heading for the information wars.”[3] ...
1.
BUSH ADMINISTRATION ANNEXES INTERNET
By Kieren McCarthy
The Register
July 1, 2005
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/01/bush_net_policy/
An extraordinary statement by the U.S. government has sent shockwaves around the internet world and thrown the future of the network into doubt.
In a worrying U-turn, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC) has made it clear it intends to retain control of the internet's root servers indefinitely. It was due to relinquish that control in September 2006, when its contract with overseeing body ICANN ended.
The decision -- something that people have long feared may happen -- will not only make large parts of the world furious but also puts ICANN in a very difficult position. The organization has slowly been expanding out of its California base in an effort to become an international body with overall responsibility for the internet.
The U.S. government is professing its full backing for ICANN (which it created) at the same time that it awards itself control of the net's foundations, which will have the inevitable effect of pulling the organization back into the U.S.
This is particularly relevant at the moment as a U.N. review of internet governance will report later this year and indications are that the team is considering handing over elements of internet control to a U.N. body, possibly the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
In fact, it is the U.N. report that has most likely focussed the U.S. government's attention and prompted the statement, made yesterday at a communications conference in Washington D.C.
The decision is transparently a result of the culture permeating through Washington as a result of the Bush Administration's world philosophy. In an extraordinary presentation, assistant secretary at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Michael D. Gallagher, outlined new "U.S. principles" regarding the internet.
"The United States Government intends to preserve the security and stability of the Internet’s Domain Name and Addressing System (DNS). Given the Internet's importance to the world’s economy, it is essential that the underlying DNS of the Internet remain stable and secure. As such, the United States is committed to taking no action that would have the potential to adversely impact the effective and efficient operation of the DNS and will therefore maintain its historic role in authorizing changes or modifications to the authoritative root zone file," is the first of a four-point statement which can be found here.
The second point is that world governments can run their own country-code domains (like .uk for the UK or .de for Germany). The third says ICANN should be the organization running the internet. And the fourth that "there is no one venue to appropriately address [internet governance] in its entirety" -- which is basically a warning shot across the U.N.'s bows.
But what is most disturbing about Gallagher's presentation, is how it endlessly refers to the president. The first slide has a picture of George Bush. The second begins "Thanks to the president's policies, America's economy is strong." The next slide is "The president's broadband vision." The next slide leads with a quote from Bush and two pictures of him. And on and on it goes. There is barely a single slide that doesn't quote from the president.
Clearly the internet has entered the Bush administration's vision and the resulting DoC statement -- which boldly tells the rest of the world that the U.S. will continue to run the Internet and everyone will just have to lump it -- is very in keeping with how the U.S. government is currently run.
The big question now is whether the rest of the world will be cowed. ICANN has yet to release a statement on the DoC’s surprise declaration but it knows which side its bread is buttered on and so will probably make a careful and broadly supportive statement.
The vision of a U.S.-controlled internet infrastructure will be anathema to large parts of the world, however, and it is a demonstration of the U.S. administration’s failure to think globally that it doesn't recognize that there is surprisingly little preventing other parts of the world from creating a second Internet outside of U.S. control.
An already fractious situation has just got more difficult.
CENTR RESPONSE
CENTR -- an organization representing a large number of country-code domains -- has responded to the U.S. government's declaration. In a cautious welcome, it agreed that the root files needed to be run in a neutral manner and welcomed its support for ICANN, but pushed that ICANN should focus only on its "core function and limited remit."
Disingenuously, CENTR also says that the stated approach to be taken by the U.S. government "de-politicizes the role of the Root Servers and empowers the relevant local Internet Registries." And this, says CENTR will "minimize the need for any procedural intervention by other unrelated parties." CENTR doesn't care who runs the root, so long as they do so neutrally and in a purely technical fashion. As representative for country-code domains, CENTR will be delighted by the U.S. government's statement that it considers different countries as having complete rights over their own country domain.
That statement was a necessity to prevent the rest of the world's governments turning against the U.S., but it serves CENTR's ends.
2.
US GOVT INTERFERENCE IS A BIG DEAL, SAYS EUROPE
By Kieren McCarthy
The Register
July 11, 2005
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/11/centr_root/
European internet registries are preparing a fight-back against the U.S. government following the latter's surprise decision to keep overall control of the "root zone file" that defines the internet's basic set-up.
Despite an increasing number of newspaper articles -- all from U.S. media organizations -- claiming that the internet community is happy to let the U.S. government continue its role, a recent meeting of registries from across Europe begs to differ.
Instead, those registries have agreed to build, test, and install a new automated system for changing vital infrastructure information, thereby removing the U.S. government's ability to meddle in the process.
The process is being pushed by Paul Kane, the head of CENTR -- an organization representing the majority of the world's top-level domains. Kane was quick to point out that the U.S. government had done an excellent checking function on the internet's "root" since 1998 (when it first unexpectedly staked its claim), but noted that the U.S. government's new "principles" state quite clearly that rather than "check" the function of the root -- as it does now -- it will "authorize" it.
He also claimed that the U.S.' sudden change in position "has not gone down well in European government circles."
Kane asked the floor at a meeting of worldwide top-level domain owners whether they wished to have the ability to make changes to their own domains by themselves. Half the room raised their hands. He then asked who was willing to let the U.S. government authorize those changes on their behalf. Not a single hand went up.
The automation plan will use existing and proven technologies and protocols to depoliticize the root by making it a purely technical matter, Kane said. He added that 23 registries had already agreed to run a test-bed for the new service, which should be up and running by October this year.
ICANN's contract for running the root files (through organization IANA) ends in March 2006, by which point the world registries hope to have a full report on their alternative, automated process.
A website covering the while process will be set up at www.shared-responsibility.net soon.
3.
INFORMATION WARS
By Jackson Browne
Looking East
1996
lyrics.duble.com
Give us twenty minutes and we'll give you the world
We bring good things to life
The news you need from people you can count on
Doing what we do best
The heartbeat of America
Your true voice
You're in good hands
Now more than ever before
And in the flickering light and the comforting glow
You get the world every night as a TV show
The latest spin on the shit we're in, blow by blow
And the more you watch, the less you know
Beyond the hundred million darkened living rooms
Out where the human ocean roars
Into the failing light, the generations go
Heading for the information wars
Do people really spend millions upon millions
To make us think we care about the planet
At the same time polluting and looting the only world we've got
So they can maximize their profit?
People do.
The heartbeat of America
Your true voice
For the life of your business
It's everywhere you want to be
And there's a front row seat for the precious few
The latest war as a pay-per-view
Famine and disaster right in front of you
And the more you watch, the less you do
Beyond the hundred million darkened living rooms
Out where the human ocean roars
Into the failing light, the generations go
Heading for the information wars
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