Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement responding to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) CEO Fadi Chehade’s proclamation that the transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will be complete by the end of 2015:
“The arrogance of Fadi Chehade is enormous even by Washington, D.C. standards. While Congress has defunded all NTIA actions to transition the IANA functions to ICANN or anybody else, Chehade thinks he is the king of the Internet by seducing countries around the world to support his coup. Chehade needs to understand one simple thing: The IANA functions are the property of the U.S. government. Says it right in the contract. He is a contractor. Nothing more, nothing less. Whose organization happens to make $300 million a year in revenue by virtue of that contract.
“While this contract ought to be renewed temporarily, our government including Congress should also reengage an open bidding process for the long term for other candidates who will not actively work against U.S. interests. Global Internet governance ends First Amendment protections and erases the firewall against censorship. One need only look to the Sony case of how a private entity will be pushed around by foreign dictatorships to understand the risks of giving away these critical functions.”
