Obama Administration faces critics of plan to relinquish Internet oversight

The Obama Administration will try and ease congressional concerns about its decision to relinquish oversight over the back end of the Internet.

On April 2, the House Commerce Committee -- members of which have already introduced a bill to block the Administration’s plan -- will consider whether the Commerce Department’s move would lead to a more global open Internet or would open the door to control by censorship-prone governments. Lawrence Strickling, who will be testifying in his role as head of the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), said the Administration is “open to a discussion” about the oversight change. Strickling said the Administration doesn’t think there’s any “serious chance” that the move would endanger the Internet. “We’ve made it crystal clear that we will not accept a proposal that would turn our role over to any government or any group of governments,” he said.

Strickling said critics often misunderstand the Administration’s current role and what it means for the US government to be relinquishing it. “I’ve heard people use broad terms like … we’re giving up control of the Internet, and that’s just not happening here,” he said. “The actual role that we’re talking about giving up is literally checking the accuracy of updates and changes to the” technical back end of the system, he said.