Internet control 'nears autonomy'

[T_i_B]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5388648.stm

The US government says it will maintain oversight of the internet but with far less hands-on involvement.

Icann, the body which oversees the future of the net on behalf of the US, has been given more independence in a new agreement for the next three years. Dr Paul Twomey, ceo of Icann, said the deal was "a major step forward for Icann autonomy".

The US government has pledged to cede control of the net to private sector hands at an unspecified future point.

Icann, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is a not-for-profit company formed in 1998. It is the guardian of the underlying architecture of the net, overseeing allocation of domain names such as .com or .net, and the addresseing system that links domain names to the numbers computers understand.

[knight_of_the_star]

1. Uh oh

I hope this isn't a backdoor approach to getting the revocation of net neutrality through the door.

[Vidar]

2. Certainly sounds like it.

[Gman]

3. No, it's not

It's just simply the US asserting to the rest of the world that it still intends to maintain the Domain Name system in spite of the rest of the world wanting us to give it up. Nothing to do with net neutrality.

[zonkers]

4. Private sector as in companies based in Virginia and Maryland.

[mom cat]

5. and the Caribbean

[EFerrari]

7. For the net impaired, what does that mean?

I assume not Nicaragua?

:scared:

[mom cat]

10. The Cayman Islands

[AX10]

6. I do not want our internet handed over to Wall Street.

[Squatch]

8. The Skynet Funding Bill is passed.

The system goes on-line August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.

...And Skynet fights back.

---------------------------

Quick. Name the movie.

[truebrit71]

9. Terminator 2.

..and one of the most powerful arguments against nuclear war, technology dependence, and Austrian Actors...

[Lars39]

11. I was thinking of Joshua..from the movie War Games, with Broderick.

'Do you want to play a game?' 'Thermonuclear War'

[EFerrari]

12. "This unit must survive." -- The M-5

lol

[DemInDistress]

13. Colossus...the Forbin Project....nt way ahead of its time. nt