By Judi McLeod ——Bio and Archives--October 1, 2016
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Welcome to Day 1 of the World Wide Web under new--foreign--management.
As quickly as you could say Barry Soetoro the Internet was all but officially stamped ‘Made in China’ at midnight last night.
No notice of the dramatic change was made by the New York Times, Washington Post or any of the other mainstream media power brokers.
But Andrea Zelinski of the Houston Chronicle did report at 7:20 p.m., Friday that a federal judge had rejected Attorney General Ken Paxton’s 11th-hour attempt to keep the internet address book under U.S. control:“A federal judge on Friday rejected Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's attempt to block an Obama administration plan to allow a contract with a nonprofit that manages the internet's address book to expire. “U.S. District Judge George C. Hanks Jr. turned down the request by Paxton and attorneys general from Arizona, Oklahoma and Nevada, saying they had relied on "hearsay" about possible repercussions of the contract's expiration. The case, he ruled, lacked enough evidence to convince the court that harm would come from giving up oversight of the nonprofit.”To the judge Obama turning ‘the peoples Internet’ over to the Peoples Republic of China-controlled United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is a matter of “hearsay”. Nothing to see here, folks, just move along.
“The issue, which has garnered attention from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Attorney General Ken Paxton, concerns fears that the federal government's decision to let a contract with the non-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers expire could jeopardize government websites. ICANN manages the internet domain naming system, which is what allows users to locate websites. (Houston Chronicle). “The contract expires at midnight Friday. “The court heard oral arguments Friday afternoon on the eleventh-hour lawsuit filed by late Wednesday. “During the hearing, Hanks said he was concerned whether his court has jurisdiction over the matter, and whether there was enough evidence of negative consequences that would result from the ending contract. “Attorneys representing Texas argued there is no getting control and oversight on the internet address book once the contract ends. Lawyers representing the federal government contend the plaintiffs have "not one scintilla of evidence" something adverse would happen to the governments' websites. “Earlier this year, the Obama administration decided to allow the contract to expire and let ICANN become fully independent. Cruz attempted to include language blocking the move in the stopgap funding bill Congress approved Wednesday, but that language was stripped out before the measure was passed. “Cruz and Paxton had argued that removing federal oversight of ICANN would give authoritarian regimes like Russia, China, and Iran the ability to interfere with "what should be a free and open internet." "We're disappointed with the ruling," Paxton spokesman Marc Rylander said. "It's a dire day in our country when the president is allowed to unilaterally give away America's pioneering role in ensuring that the internet remains a place where free expression can flourish. We will continue to weigh our options as the suit moves forward."
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