Speech lays out what’s ahead and why some people are overreacting.
Lawrence Strickling, Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), gave a speech to American Enterprise Institute yesterday about the transition of internet functions away from NTIA.
The transition of the IANA functions has been hotly (and poorly) debated in some circles. People react to a brief snippet on a blog or to a talking head on TV about how “Obama is giving away the internet” and react accordingly.
I honestly believe the whole issue is quite simple, but I live and breathe this stuff. Yet no short blurb on some tech blog is enough to describe the nuance of the transition. Strickling’s prepared remarks from the speech are much better at laying out the reason for the transition, how it’s being handled, and how the process will avoid pitfalls.
True, Strickling is giving his side of the argument (if you can call it an argument). I don’t agree with everything. For example, he explains how governments won’t be able to exert more control once the NTIA steps aside. I agree that it won’t allow authoritarian governments to exert more control. But I also think governments as a whole will work to have more control, much like what they did with the new top level domain name program. Hopefully the NTIA successfully resists this, as it Strickling says it will.
It’s worth setting aside 10 minutes to read the 2,600 word speech. It’s a shame most people will rely on a snippet of debate rather than its entirety.
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