Google backs Internet transition plan

Google is throwing its support behind the Obama Administration's controversial plans to hand over management of the Internet domain name system. Google called the Obama Administration’s proposed transition of Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA) from US oversight to an international governing authority an “important step to protect the Internet for generations to come.”

Google offered three arguments for its stance: The transition will put the Internet in the hands of innovators; protect the Internet from "those who want to break it into pieces"; and honor the US government's promise when the Internet was created that it "be governed by everyone with a stake in its continued growth.” Critics, though, have argued that handing off oversight would put the Internet under the control of countries like Russia, China and Iran, which would be represented in the international authority that includes 162 countries and entities. Supporters though say those worries are overblown and say the greater threat is that autocratic countries get fed up with US management and create their own splintered internet nodes.