Update: It seems the Oct. 1 date is firm. However, << Recently, the House Committee on Appropriations approved the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017. Section 534 of this legislation would prohibit the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) from using any appropriated funds to relinquish its authority over the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) in FY2017.>>
And a phone number is corrected, so keep the emails and phone numbers heading to the Congressional delegation, because your comments on the issue will help them make their decision next year.
Editorial:
If you think the U.S. should maintain control of the Internet, and not let it be handed over to foreign powers, please notify your congressional delegation within the next three days. The U.S. Commerce Department has agreed to turn over control of the Internet to a non-profit organization called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number starting Oct. 1.
This is critical for www.grantcountybeat.com. If you value what you read on the Beat, pease immediately email or call your congressman or senators, no matter where in the U.S. you live.
Yes, the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers already has foreign members on its board, but the U.S. maintains veto power. Without that power, do you want China and Russia, which have extreme censorship, to have control over the internet?
If the U.S. cedes control, it will likely fall under the United Nations' International Telecommunications Unit.
Probably the best background on this is: http://www.dailywire.com/news/8483/obama-about-take-over-internet-heres-everything-aaron-bandler#
For other background see the links at the bottom and read this as part of an interview between Frank Gaffney and Alex Marlow on Breitbart radio:
"What they're preparing to do is to cede, or surrender, the last vestige of American control, or even influence, over what is done with critical functions of the Internet. It gets pretty arcane, but the point is, if you think that the freedom of the Internet - whether it's the ability of people to communicate information freely on it, or whether you think of it as an engine for free enterprise, let alone if you understand the contribution that it makes these days to national security - including, by the way, the operations of our critical infrastructure - you will understand that the United States retaining a measure of quality control as to what's going on with how the Internet is populated with names and numbers, domains, websites and the like, is a very important thing.
And for absolutely no good reason, other than people - or countries, I should say, like Russia, and China, and Saudi Arabia, and Iran, and North Korea - don't want us to have any say in this and would like to be able to change things around so that they can not only restrict all the things the Internet does to help their own people become familiar with the terrible things they're being subjected to, at the hands of their totalitarian or authoritarian regimes, but they want to take those freedoms - freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of enterprise - away from us, as well.
So this is what it comes down to, Alex: there's no good reason for doing this, certainly not in the next three days, which is what's going to happen unless Congress intervenes.Gǥ
The above is a snippet from http://www.breitbart.com/radio/2016/09/28/frank-gaffney-obamas-attempt-slip-irreversible-internet-surrender-under-radar-three-days-fix-this/
If you think the U.S. should continue to control the internet to maintain our freedom of expression, immediately contact your congressional delegation and say: Please do not let the U.S. administration give up control of the Internet to any entity, including the United Nations. Doing so will take away OUR freedom of speech, our freedom of expression, because they will fall under the control of foreign powers that wield authoritarian control over their people, and would also use that power over United States citizens.
If you live in New Mexico Congressional District 2, contact Congressman Steve Pearce at https://pearce.house.gov/contact-me/email-me or call him at 855-4-PEARCE (732723) or (202) 225-2365.
The New Mexico senators should also be contacted.
Senator Tom Udall www.tomudall.senate.gov/?p=contact or call him at 202-224-6621
Senator Martin Heinrich www.heinrich.senate.gov/contact or call him at 202-224-5521
More sources for information include:
http://www.sj-r.com/news/20160609/us-takes-key-step-in-ceding-control-of-internet-addresses
www.wsj.com/articles/an-internet-giveaway-to-the-u-n-1472421165
[Editor's Note: I don't usually get caught up in national issues like this, but censorship of the internet is not something I, as an internet-based business owner, or you as a reader, should want to see.]
And if you want to know the NTIA's myths and facts you can read them here. This editor is still against it.