Texas judge appointed by Obama gives green light to Internet giveaway https://t.co/Oa7WgrGdkg pic.twitter.com/3j8Va94GUp
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 2, 2016
USA cuts cord on internet oversight... https://t.co/q419R7OYmF
— DRUDGE REPORT (@DRUDGE_REPORT) October 1, 2016
The US government on Saturday ended its formal oversight role over the internet, handing over management of the online address system to a global non-profit entity.
The US Commerce Department announced that its contract had expired with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which manages the internet's so-called "root zone."
That leaves ICANN as a self-regulating organization that will be operated by the internet's "stakeholders" -- engineers, academics, businesses, non-government and government groups.
...critics, including some US lawmakers, argued that this was a "giveaway" by Washington that could allow authoritarian regimes to seize control.
A last-ditch effort by critics to block the plan -- a lawsuit filed by four US states -- failed when a Texas federal judge refused to issue an injunction to stop the transition.
