The U.S. Has Decided To Relinquish It's Dominant Control Of The Internet -- What Are The Military And National Security Consequences?

Customers surf the web at an internet cafe in Beijing. Icann, the body that oversees web addresses, has ended its agreement with the US. Photograph: Greg Baker/AP

US Relinquishes Control Of The Internet -- The Guardian

• Icann ends agreement with the US government
• Move will give other countries a prominent internet role

After complaints about American dominance of the internet and growing disquiet in some parts of the world, Washington has said it will relinquish some control over the way the network is run and allow foreign governments more of a say in the future of the system.

Icann – the official body that ultimately controls the development of the internet thanks to its oversight of web addresses such as .com, .net and .org – said today that it was ending its agreement with the US government.

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My Comment: For the past few years every military and national security pundit that I know of has been talking about the strategic and military importance of the internet .... but the U.S. has now decided to give up it's control of the web. While doing this, there has been a void of reaction or analysis on what will be the strategic and national security consequence from such an action.

I find this to be one of the most important (but under reported) stories for this year .... and I do not know why the media and the defense establishment has been silent. Other countries are under no delusion on the importance of the web in military and national security infrastructures. That is why talk about setting up an alternative web has been on the front burner for countries like China and Russia who are all too aware of the importance of the web in their own communication and information networks.

I personally never took their talk seriously. The amount of money and resources necessary to set up an alternative web would be too expensive, and the end product would be limited in its scope and reach. But this talk has been successful for the U.S. to change what has been a consistent and stable policy that has served the interests of the U.S. for the past few decades, a change that has produced zero debate from Congress and not one comment from the President himself.