[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 151 (Tuesday, November 15, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12853-S12854]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 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

   Mr. COLEMAN (for himself, Mr. Warner, Mr. Pryor, Mr. Smith, and Mr. 
DeMint) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 316

       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

[[Page S12854]]

     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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