[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 273 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 273

 Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United Nations and other 
 international organizations shall not be allowed to exercise control 
                           over the Internet.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 17, 2005

 Mr. Coleman 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 shall not be allowed to exercise control 
                           over the Internet.

Whereas market-based policies and private sector leadership have allowed 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, 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 the Federal 
        Government will preserve the security and stability of the DNS, will 
        take no action with the potential to adversely affect the effective and 
        efficient operation of the DNS, and will maintain the historic role of 
        the United States regarding modifications to the root zone file, that 
        governments have a legitimate interest in the management of country code 
        top level domains (ccTLD), and 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, that 
        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 that 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) of the United Nations indicates that an entity affiliated with 
        the United Nations should assume global governance of the Internet;
Whereas a United Nations taskforce report suggests that, in addition to 
        terminating the leadership role of the United States with respect to the 
        Internet, the authority and functions of ICANN should be transferred to 
        an entity affiliated with the United Nations;
Whereas that report contains recommendations for relegating the private sector 
        and nongovernmental organizations to an advisory capacity, and some 
        nations advocating such a change have stated that the private sector and 
        nongovernmental organizations should have no future role in Internet 
        governance;
Whereas the European Union has also proposed transferring control of the 
        Internet to the United Nations, and such a transfer of control of the 
        Internet would confer significant leverage to the governments of Iran, 
        Cuba, and China, and would impose an undesirable layer of politicized 
        bureaucracy on the operations of the Internet that would 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; and
Whereas the World Summit on the Information Society will meet in November 2005 
        in Tunisia to discuss the possibility of transferring control of the 
        Internet to the United Nations or another international entity, and that 
        summit will likely 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>