Sunday, September 11, 2016

#SaveTheInternet Contact Congress to Support #ProtectingInternetFreedomAct #S3034 & #HR5418

The internet freedom controversy is a bit complicated but The Astute Bloggers summarized the issue in their Saturday September 3,  2016 post "Some Hopefully Fortunate News about ICANN"



















The US government has admitted its plan to move control of the internet's naming and numbering functions to a California non-profit next month may not move forward.
In a letter from the Department of Commerce (DoC) to ICANN sent August 31, the department's CFO gives the organization 30 days' notice that it may extend its current contract over the critical IANA functions by a year. In other words, Uncle Sam will continue to oversee ICANN's running of IANA for another 12 months.
Explaining the alphabet soup in the above quote IANA = Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.
ICANN = Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers = nonprofit organization.



















ACTION ITEM: Contact your US Representative and ask their support of House bill HR 5418 and contact your two US Senators and ask their support of Senate bill S 3034 "Protecting Internet Freedom Act."





DEADLINE: 30 September 2016 = end of Fiscal Year 2016 when funding ends for US Department of Commerce oversight of ICANN



















Here's the email I sent my Senators:
Please support S.3034  "Protecting Internet Freedom Act" to  extend US Department of Commerce  NTIA continued oversight of ICANN's Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions.
This bill has the support of both the Heritage Foundation and the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB).
The concern is that if the US surrenders oversight of the internet,  authoritarian regimes will seek to censor and suppress the free flow of information.

 Again, please support S. 3034.
Respectfully,
[your name]

 I did not include the italicized text in the email I sent to my Democrat senator, since, I surmised, the support of conservative organizations for the bill would dissuade versus persuade him to vote for the bill.

 You can find contact information for each of your Senators at this link:

 http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/


I sent virtually the same email to my Representative, just replacing the number of the Senate bill (S.3034 ) for the appropriate House bill number (HR. 5418).

Please support HR. 5418  "Protecting Internet Freedom Act" to  extend US Department of Commerce  NTIA continued oversight of ICANN's Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions.

 This bill has the support of both the Heritage Foundation and the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB).

 The concern is that if the US surrenders oversight of the internet,  authoritarian regimes may seek to censor and suppress the free flow of information.

 Again, please support HR 5418

 Respectfully,

 [your name]
You can find contact information for your Representative at this link:

 http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
Heritage Foundation expressed support on Jun 7, 2016 "Heritage Action Supports Cruz Duffy ICANN Legislation"
"Controversial issues such as human rights and legal jurisdiction will not be resolved prior to the transition....The Heritage Foundation has recommended a two-year extension of the current contract before completely handing over the keys to the system to ensure that the structure operates as it should."

 National Religious Broadcasters expressed support on June 10, 2016 "NRB Supports Internet Freedom Legislation"

"the proposal submitted by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) creates new powers for governments that could be misused." 
Again, the deadline to contact your Senators and Representative is 30 September 2016 before the current Fiscal Year ends.
Posted by adagioforstrings at 9:09:00 PM

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