Figure: the fiber optic cables. – R. MEIGNEUX/AP/SIPA
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This night, at 3: 00, there’s going to be something historical on the Internet. After almost 20 years of oversight by the u.s. government,the organization that manages the domain names of the Web, Icann, will become independent. And contrary to the rhetoric, fear mongering advanced by Donald Trump, the initiative is widely supported by the founding fathers of the Net.

It is going to what exactly ?

Except coup de theatre at the last minute, the us government will remove the small wheels. Icann (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), will become an international organization, self-regulating, non-profit, that does not rely on Uncle Sam. While the system was initially overseen by a single man, Jonathan Pathel, Icann sees the light of day in California in 1998 at the initiative of Al Gore. In the Face of criticism of many countries, anxious to see a corporation under californian law and is supervised by the u.s. government to control a critical infrastructure of the Web, Washington promises to be, then cut the cord at the right time. It happened.

And Icann does what exactly ?

The agency oversees the system of IP addresses and domain names of the Internet. Translation, Icann manages the Web directory, which is the link between an address encrypted (192.0.32.7), used by the machines, and a letter www.icann.org ” that is easier to remember for humans. She therefore has a central power on the assignment of domain names “top-level” (.com,. net or. org, for example) and is coordinating with local actors, such as the Afnic for the. francs More recently, Icann has opened the system to the domain names and regional custom.bzh,. paris,. bank etc), charged 185.000 dollars per application.

Why Ted Cruz and Donald Trump crying wolf ?

Because they do not want the United States to lose their control over Icann and the Internet. However, supporters of less government interference, the two republicans claim, in substance, that there is a risk that Icann falls under the umbrella of the UN, and that no american surveillance, ” countries such as Russia, China or Iran will be capable of censoring the Internet “. They are all wrong. First, it is a privatisation of Icann, and the UN will have no control over. Most importantly, the agency has no power over the content or the censorship of the Internet. This is the responsibility of each country, and China or Iran are abusing their power for a long time.

And the concerns about the excesses of the private sector ?

In march, the secretary of State Digital, Axelle Lemaire, was worried about the change, will ” have the consequence of marginalizing the States in the decision-making process “, for the benefit of private companies. Understand the giants of the Silicon Valley. In practice, the control of Washington was already symbolic. Importantly, Icann already composed of representatives of governments, business and civil society, including engineers.

What say the fathers of the Internet ?

They were in favour of change. The british inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, believes that Icann ” is a critical part of a consensus that ensures the stability of the Internet.” Milton Mueller, a figure of reference on the Internet governance, warns of the risks to block this development : “This would strengthen the models of national management favoured by the Member governments. “And while more than 3 billion people now have access to the Internet, the network has more need than ever of a global supervision.

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