[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 131 (Monday, October 17, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11439-S11440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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  SENATE RESOLUTION 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

  Mr. COLEMAN submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 273

       Whereas market-based polices 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

[[Page S11440]]

     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.

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