U.S. Cedes Control of the Internet??????

"In a meeting that will go down in internet history, the United States government last night conceded that it can no longer expect to maintain its position as the ultimate authority over the internet."

All I can say is WOW!

www.theregister.co.uk...

I never thought the US would actually do it.
It is an especially interesting move-timewise- as the US is not very popular with just about anyone right now.
So under that understanding, we are ceding control of the internet.
I hope and pray it does not come back to bite us on the rear.


Mod Edit: CAP TITLE

[edit on 27-7-2006 by kinglizard]

What I hope is that NO ONE ends up with control over the internet, that it stays a place of wonderful anarchy and self rule, one of the last domains of free exchange of ideas. Hopefully, it will never again come under the dominion of any nation-state or entity.

I think this is much more sinister than it seems. This is laying the groundwork for local control which would be a “Freedom of Speech” disaster. Imagine having to pay by the minute to do research or talk on boards like this one. Follow the money. You won’t like where it leads.

This could also be a way around US laws making it far easier to monitor internet activity. International Organizations are harder to control and monitor. A “non-profit” organization can pretty much do whatever it wants without answering to anyone. It has all the advantages of a business without the regulation.

I’d say enjoy this wonderful thing we call the internet now while we still can because the end of it can’t be far away.

Originally posted by mrmonsoon
the United States government last night conceded that it can no longer expect to maintain its position as the ultimate authority over the internet."

Um, did I miss something?

When did the United States become the ultimate authority over the internet in the first place?

Originally posted by Blaine91555
I think this is much more sinister than it seems. This is laying the groundwork for local control which would be a “Freedom of Speech” disaster. Imagine having to pay by the minute to do research or talk on boards like this one. Follow the money. You won’t like where it leads.

This could also be a way around US laws making it far easier to monitor internet activity. International Organizations are harder to control and monitor. A “non-profit” organization can pretty much do whatever it wants without answering to anyone. It has all the advantages of a business without the regulation.

I’d say enjoy this wonderful thing we call the internet now while we still can because the end of it can’t be far away.

Hmm, good point. Never thought of it like that.

I think it is way more than suspicious that this meeting was held and concluded while everyone’s eyes were on the situation in Lebanon. The internet is the most powerful force for distributing information. I’m sure those in the government who made this decision did not make it as flippantly as the article would seem to indicate. Information is power and even fabulous wealth would pale in comparison to its value. It was not to long ago that it did not exist and I think it caught the powers that be off guard. George Bush Sr. was quoted as saying how shocked he was when he found out people actually had computers in their homes.

I'll be the first to say it... The Internet is selfaware, and ousted the US from its control. We're appeasing it only to not incurr its wrath.

EDIT TO ADD: Honestly, I'm not saying that to sound crazy or make a mockery. I seriously believe that the Internet is selfaware. Maybe it's more of a hope, I don't know. Either way, my deep seeded conspiracy theory belief has finally been unleashed to the public. Rejoice!

[edit on 7/27/2006 by cmdrkeenkid]

Originally posted by craig732

Originally posted by mrmonsoon
the United States government last night conceded that it can no longer expect to maintain its position as the ultimate authority over the internet."

Um, did I miss something?

When did the United States become the ultimate authority over the internet in the first place?

Become? Try Always has been in living memory! The Internet was created as an uninteruptable communications tool in the event of a Nuclear War with the Soviets.

Though in truth, the US lost this control in the 90s. I personally can't wait for the Wireless Internet. Lets see them try to control that! Mwahahaha...

[edit on 27-7-2006 by sardion2000]

Wireless still means it has to connect to a point from where it gets distributed to others...

Originally posted by zren
Wireless still means it has to connect to a point from where it gets distributed to others...

Not with Mesh Networking Each Access point can "Mesh" with up to 16 other Access points(at least First Generation WiMAX technology can do this). Max range for Home Reciever/Transmitters is around 100+ meters. Just think of it as a bunch of BBS' on Steroids all meshed together.

[edit on 27-7-2006 by sardion2000]

This is probably the same as Toyota giving American auto manufacturers info on hybrid systems: Give the underlings outdated technology since you already have something better.

The Internet is old, bogged, bloated, congested, and grumpy. IPV6 didn't help much. The Internet 2, once fully developed, will blow this Internet away. It would be inefficient and wasteful for the US to continue control of the top level domain nameservers for the Internet while simultaneously managing the Internet 2.

So let the rest of the world have control over their little corners. The Internet is becoming teh suk anyway. Be prepared for the costs of taking over authoritative control...

>

Max range for Home Reciever/Transmitters is around 100+ meters.

Actually I've shot 802.11B (haven't messed with G yet) 5 miles easy... just have to have clear line of sight and appropriate antenna.


[edit on 27-7-2006 by apc]

Originally posted by craig732
When did the United States become the ultimate authority over the internet in the first place?

Well, um, we invented it.

-- Boat

Originally posted by apc
The Internet is old, bogged, bloated, congested, and grumpy. IPV6 didn't help much. The Internet 2, once fully developed, will blow this Internet away. It would be inefficient and wasteful for the US to continue control of the top level domain nameservers for the Internet while simultaneously managing the Internet 2.

One of my Buds is does CompSci right now and he seems to think that INet 2 will be Industry/Research only. He seems much more positive on the prospects of an Ad Hoc Wireless Internet. Nintendo plans on building a network along those lines, in combination with Bittorrent-like technology.

Actually I've shot 802.11B (haven't messed with G yet) 5 miles easy... just have to have clear line of sight and appropriate antenna.


[edit on 27-7-2006 by apc]

Lemme guess, you used a Cantenna right?

hahaha no dishes and omnis. I used to sell links to customers that needed T1 speeds but couldn't swing the cost or it just wasn't practical.

ARPANet had the same start... and I dunno I can't see everything going wireless. Too much interference and inconsistent results. My cordless phone will cause my wifi to drop packets left and right. Microwave ovens too. Most things operating at or around 2.4Ghz will cause unintended interference. Wireless always has it's place, but I like my copper. Maybe fiber.

>
ooooh but if I remember right I think second gen 802.11A is up in 5Ghz... so only 5Ghz phones will interfere.

[edit on 28-7-2006 by apc]

Originally posted by sardion2000

Originally posted by craig732

Originally posted by mrmonsoon
the United States government last night conceded that it can no longer expect to maintain its position as the ultimate authority over the internet."

Um, did I miss something?

When did the United States become the ultimate authority over the internet in the first place?

Become? Try Always has been in living memory! The Internet was created as an uninteruptable communications tool in the event of a Nuclear War with the Soviets.

I guess I read Wikipedia too much.

Meanwhile, over the course of the decade, the Internet successfully accommodated the majority of previously existing public computer networks (although some networks such as FidoNet have remained separate). This growth is often attributed to the lack of central administration, which allows organic growth of the network, as well as the non-proprietary open nature of the Internet protocols, which encourages vendor interoperability and prevents any one company from exerting too much control over the network.

Source: en.wikipedia.org...

Can someone please go on Wikipedia and update their article?

It is certainly easy to read any Wiki too much.

But, to appease your Wikiness...

en.wikipedia.org...

en.wikipedia.org...

Review those to understand how the DNS system works, and focus on the TLD. Basically, there is a series of computer systems at the top of the hierarchy that determine where .coms, .govs, .orgs, etc are regulated. They also determine what IPs in what countries are authoritative over their country suffix (.uk, .it, .ro, etc). Last I worked with DNS there were 16 TLDs if I recall correctly, housed at various universities and government locations. I'm sure much has changed since then. But the necessity to have them centrally located on the base US arpa network has not... until now obviously.

Decentralizing the system brings immediate conflict issues and possible route problems. If you were to try to look up a host in some other country, normally your DNS request would be bounced around until it got to the TLD that told it to go to .xx country nameserver. If that country is in control over where that .xx nameserver is, the first TLD you encountered may not know the location. Basically, it's going to be a really big expensive headache to make sure everything stays synced up and works together properly. And that's not even getting into any ARPA TLD transitions... wow that's gonna be fun.