By Robert Romano One of the most major problems to do with the transition of U.S. government oversight of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in 2016 was that it vested monopoly powers in ICANN over […]

By Robert Romano The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) sat on the most responsive documents to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Americans for Limited Government for almost 3 years on what the legal and policy justification was for transitioning the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) administering to a single entity, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN), creating a global monopoly over the the […]

By Robert Romano The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) final response to a March 2014 Americans for Limited Government Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request has revealed very cozy ties between the agency and Google vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf , co-inventor of the TCP/IP protocols — and of the government contractor that handled the Internet’s domain name system, the Internet […]

By Robert Romano Update: The federal district court has sided with the Commerce Department and refused to issue the injunction , paving the way for the transfer of U.S. oversight of the Internet at midnight. There is one last chance to stop the end of U.S. oversight of the Internet’s domain name system. Congress has already lost this battle after Republican majorities failed […]

By Robert Romano Today the Senate will vote on a continuing resolution that does nothing to stop the transition of U.S. oversight of Internet’s domain name system by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to the international community. However, there appear to be several key oversight […]

By Robert Romano “[Hillary] Clinton supports Obama’s plan to hand over control of the Internet to an international community of stakeholders, including Russia, China, and Iran. Just this week, [Donald] Trump came out strongly against that plan, and in support of free speech online.” That was Sen. […]

By Robert Romano “We Democrats cannot vote for that substitute and urge others to vote against it.” That was Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) explaining in no uncertain terms that the proposed continuing resolution by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is dead on arrival. The unexpected turn of events came as negotiations broke down between McConnell and his counterpart, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid […]

By Robert Romano “Can… Republicans dream up an any more obscure and irrelevant issue to stop the business of the American government? … I couldn’t believe it when they told me this could stop the CR.” That was Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in a Sept. 15 Washington Post-Bloomberg article all but threatening a government shutdown if Congress does not allow the Internet giveaway to […]

By Robert Romano On June 14, Americans for Limited Government in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request asked the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for “[a]ll records relating to legal and policy analysis developed by or provided to NTIA concerning antitrust issues for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names (ICANN) if NTIA relinquishes its responsibilities” over the domain name system. The agency contacted us and we […]

By Robert Romano On Aug. 16, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) published a Q&A on its proposal to cede oversight of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions — which connect easy to remember domain names with numerical IP addresses — to the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Normally, such a Q&A would not even […]