Calls on the President to: (1) oppose any effort to transfer control of the Internet to the United Nations or any other international entity; and (2) advance the values of an open Internet in the broader trade and diplomatic conversations of the United States.
Applauds the President for: (1) asserting that the United States has no present intention of relinquishing its historic leadership role in Internet governance; and (2) articulating a vision of the Internet that places privatization over politicization.
[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 316 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 316
Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United Nations and other
international organizations should not be allowed to exercise control
over the Internet.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 15, 2005
Mr. Coleman (for Mr. Warner, Mr. Pryor, Mr. Smith, and Mr. DeMint)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United Nations and other
international organizations should not be allowed to exercise control
over the Internet.
Whereas market-based policies and private sector leadership have given the
Internet the flexibility to evolve;
Whereas given the importance of the Internet to the global economy, it is
essential that the underlying domain name system and technical
infrastructure of the Internet remain stable and secure;
Whereas the Internet was created in the United States and has flourished under
United States supervision and oversight, and the Federal Government has
followed a path of transferring Internet control from the defense sector
to the civilian sector, including the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN) with the goal of full privatization;
Whereas the developing world deserves the access to knowledge, services,
commerce, and communication, the accompanying benefits to economic
development, education, and health care, and the informed discussion
that is the bedrock of democratic self-government that the Internet
provides;
Whereas the explosive and hugely beneficial growth of the Internet did not
result from increased government involvement but from the opening of the
Internet to commerce and private sector innovation;
Whereas on June 30, 2005, President George W. Bush announced that the United
States intends to maintain its historic role over the master ``root
zone'' file of the Internet, which lists all authorized top-level
Internet domains;
Whereas the recently articulated principles of the United States on the domain
name and addressing system of the Internet (DNS) are that--
(1) the Federal Government will--
(A) preserve the security and stability of the DNS;
(B) take no action with the potential to adversely affect
the effective and efficient operation of the DNS; and
(C) maintain the historic role of the United States
regarding modifications to the root zone file;
(2) governments have a legitimate interest in the management of country
code top level domains (ccTLD);
(3) the United States is committed to working with the international
community to address the concerns of that community in accordance with the
stability and security of the DNS;
(4) ICANN is the appropriate technical manager of the Internet, and the
United States will continue to provide oversight so that ICANN maintains
focus and meets its core technical mission; and
(5) dialogue relating to Internet governance should continue in
multiple relevant fora, and the United States encourages an ongoing
dialogue with all stakeholders and will continue to support market-based
approaches and private sector leadership;
Whereas the final report issued by the Working Group on Internet Governance
(WGIG), established by the United Nations Secretary General in
accordance with a mandate given during the first World Summit on the
Information Society, and comprised of 40 members from governments,
private sector, and civil society, issued 4 possible models, 1 of which
envisages a Global Internet Council that would assume international
Internet governance;
Whereas that report contains recommendations for relegating the private sector
and nongovernmental organizations to an advisory capacity;
Whereas the European Union has also proposed transferring control of the
Internet, including the global allocation of Internet Protocol number
blocks, procedures for changing the root zone file, and rules applicable
to DNS, to a ``new model of international cooperation'' which could
confer significant leverage to the Governments of Iran, Cuba, and China,
and could impose an undesirable layer of politicized bureaucracy on the
operations of the Internet that could result in an inadequate response
to the rapid pace of technological change;
Whereas some nations that advocate radical change in the structure of Internet
governance censor the information available to their citizens through
the Internet and use the Internet as a tool of surveillance to curtail
legitimate political discussion and dissent, and other nations operate
telecommunications systems as state-controlled monopolies or highly-
regulated and highly-taxed entities;
Whereas some nations in support of transferring Internet governance to an entity
affiliated with the United Nations, or another international entity,
might seek to have such an entity endorse national policies that block
access to information, stifle political dissent, and maintain outmoded
communications structures;
Whereas the structure and control of Internet governance has profound
implications for homeland security, competition and trade,
democratization, free expression, access to information, privacy, and
the protection of intellectual property, and the threat of some nations
to take unilateral actions that would fracture the root zone file would
result in a less functional Internet with diminished benefits for all
people;
Whereas the Declaration of Principles of the First World Summit on the
Information Society, held in Geneva in 2003, delegates from 175 nations
declared the ``common desire and commitment to build a people-centered,
inclusive and development oriented Information Society, where everyone
can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge'';
Whereas delegates at the First World Summit also reaffirmed, ``as an essential
foundation of the Information Society, and as outlined in Article 19 of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that everyone has the right
to freedom of opinion and expression'' and that ``this right includes
freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and
import information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers'';
Whereas the United Nations Secretary General has stated the objective of the
2005 World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis is to ensure
``benefits that new information and communication technologies,
including the Internet, can bring to economic and social development''
and that ``to defend the Internet is to defend freedom itself''; and
Whereas discussions at the November 2005 World Summit on the Information Society
may include discussion of transferring control of the Internet to a new
intergovernmental entity, and could be the beginning of a prolonged
international debate regarding the future of Internet governance: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) calls on the President to continue to oppose any effort
to transfer control of the Internet to the United Nations or
any other international entity;
(2) applauds the President for--
(A) clearly and forcefully asserting that the
United States has no present intention of relinquishing
the historic leadership role the United States has
played in Internet governance; and
(B) articulating a vision of the future of the
Internet that places privatization over politicization
with respect to the Internet; and
(3) calls on the President to--
(A) recognize the need for, and pursue a continuing
and constructive dialogue with the international
community on, the future of Internet governance; and
(B) advance the values of an open Internet in the
broader trade and diplomatic conversations of the
United States.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. (text of measure as introduced: CR S12853-12854)
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