Protect the Internet: Keep the contract with ICANN

[Commentary] It’s bad enough that China and Russia repress online expression within their borders. They should not be let anywhere near the governance of the Internet’s global infrastructure. Yet the Commerce Department is proceeding with a plan to relinquish supervision of one crucial element of world Internet governance to an international body, which may not be sufficiently resistant to influence from the world’s many would-be censors.

If the situation doesn’t improve, Commerce should halt the march toward a formal turnover. Commerce still holds a trump card: It can renew its contract with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The Obama Administration has said it will insist on adequate protections for freedom of speech before it lets go, and it must stick to that commitment. That could be hard: The Snowden revelations have put pressure on the Obama Administration. Yet the free and open Internet has thrived under existing arrangements. The United States should not allow other governments to use the leaks as a pretext to gain control of Internet governance.