UN talks to 'take over the internet' from the US

[soundtest]

The root DNS servers of the internet are all located within the US (so technically the US sort of 'owns' the internet), and the rest of the world wants the internet decentralized. Talks will be held shortly in Tunisia next month and a decision made. Bush does not want to give up control under any circumstances. The argument is that the US invented the internet and are a free and democratic society, so why should they give up control? I.E. if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The opposing side (every other country) does not want any one country to hold the power to cut them off from something that has become a huge part of their economic infrastructure. Most Americans I've talked to think the US should maintain control of the internet. I'm curious to hear what the I-Mockery community's thoughts are on this hot topic!

[Sacks]

Well now that they've put the idea in his head that he has some kind of power over 'the internets' everything is ruined.

[AChimp]

The root DNS servers are NOT all in the US.

There are 13 root DNS servers in the world (A through M), and the bulk of them are located in the U.S., but there are many in Europe and Asia. If the rest of the world had to talk to the US for domain name resolution, the Internet would seriously chug for everyone outside of North America.

The 13 servers are comprised of clusters of many smaller servers that are spread out to balance the traffic load, and for security. For example, "I" has servers in London, Helsinki and Miami.

This site lists the locations of all root DNS servers: http://www.root-servers.org/

[Chojin]

Don't we also use the internet more than any other country in the world?

I'm probably wrong, but it seems that this would be the case.

But yeah, even as a liberal, I don't see why just because other people have formed a dependency on something that we invented that we should give it over to them. Though I'm not opposed to the notion of adding more root servers in other parts of the world, there's no point in relocating the ones we have.

[dolarene]

I from the Billion square miles territory know as "The Rest" and i don't care, pretty simple.

I don't got web business, i not an addict and i spended 80% of my life w/out Internet. Simple like a dead bulb.

If Internet blows...

1. It stops Sucking :/

2. I will go to library if i want to read something or to the bookstore if i search new books or magazines.

3. I rescue the 28.800 modem from the 'mice room' and search some BBS or The IBERTEXT.

4. Trow the crappy Antivirus/Firewall trought the Window (the DSL may follow)

5. Go back to MS DOS (less requirements, more power, more fun)

6. Be happy the rest of my life.

[Ninjavenom]

I might as well just copy Chojin's post and call it my own.

[soundtest]

But yeah, even as a liberal, I don't see why just because other people have formed a dependency on something that we invented that we should give it over to them.

I don't know, by the "we made it, we keep it" logic, you should do away with paper and firearms because the Chinese invented them.

While I sort of agree with the 'it ain't broke so don't fix it' side of things, I can see why the rest of the world would not want what has become such a huge part of their economic infrastructure held in the hands of a country like the US, or any one country for that matter. In the event of a war or dispute, the US could feasibly cut off an entire country's access to information in the blink of an eye.

Regardless, I don't think the UN should have anything to do with this. I just think the infrastructure should be more evenly dispersed.

dolarene: You bring up some great points - definitely some food for thought. Thanks!

[Chojin]

We SHOULD do away with paper and firearms. Can you imagine how many problems that would solve?

To be fair, the US never went to the Chinese and said 'OUR PEOPLE R DEPENDENT ON PAPER AND GUNS PRZ SHARE WITH US 4 FREE OTHERWISE U R BIG MEANIES ;_;'. I'm relatively confident in my ignorant assumption that they purchased those things. I'm also relatively confident that they just made more guns and paper instead of taking half of China's supply on account of sharing being fun.

Again, there's no point in moving the shit we've got, and there's no reason not to build more international root servers. But there are at least 3 international ones on that list AChimp gave, so there's no way AOL could bankrupt Norway in the event of an international slap fight.

And Bush will be stingy with his Internets either way. :<

[soundtest]

Well the argument is that there is reason to move those boxes or at very least remove the US as the sheriff of the internet. If decisions like blocking the release of an '.xxx' domain because of complaints from conservative Christian groups is a sign of things to come, I'd have to agree. The majority of internet users are not Christian, and US morals shouldn't be shoved down their throats.