Following up on mettle's post, "Capture that Internet!"

i've been posting on this since back in november 2005, when i reported on the world summit on the information society (wsis) in tunis, where there was a challenge mounted to the u.s. control of icann (internet corporation for assigned names and numbers)... then, in april last year, dhs took it into its head that it wanted the master key to the dns root zone...

from daily kos via raw story...

Slashdot and Cryptome report that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is demanding the master key for the DNS root zone - a demand that has other nations alarmed. With the master key, DHS would have control over the Internet, as Slashdot describes, quoting an "anonymous reader."

[...]

When other nations are worried, Americans, too, should be concerned. The Bush administration has demonstrated that it is unable to wield power responsibly. Therefore, its demand for Internet control should be viewed as an opportunity to abuse its authority to control a medium that has played a critical role in holding it accountable.

as i posted back in november 2005, this is undoubtedly part of the reason the u.s. was so adamant at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis about leaving ICANN in u.s. hands...

[T]he Internet status quo has been maintained, allowing the US-based ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), a non-profit private entity working under an agreement with the US government, to remain as the main governing body of the global computer network.

be afraid... be very afraid...

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