The GOP’s Plan to Keep Control of Internet Naming

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) said he “expects” language that would halt the transition of an Internet governing body away from US government control to make it into the upcoming continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government. “Right now they’re trying to work out what that would look like, what would be effective in terms of putting the brakes on this,” he said. “I don’t think that anybody feels that we’re ready yet for that transition to take place, and so the question is how do you make that happen?”

Chairman Thune said that he expects the planned transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority to be one of several issues that could push negotiations with Democratic Sens over the CR into next week. Meanwhile, the squabble over whether the US should follow through on the transition heated up Sept 13 as a report from the Government Accountability Office found that the upcoming transfer of power wouldn’t violate constitutional law.