美国为何放弃网络域名管理权

    自从斯诺登爆出美国国家安全局National Security Agency（）的互联网监控丑闻以来，各国对美国施加了越来越大的压力，敦促它放弃对互联网技术职能的管理权。蒂娜迪斯认为：“斯诺登泄密案就像避雷针一样把各方注意力吸引到了这个问题上来。”不过她很快指出，美国在网络DNS上的职能与美国国安局的监控行为是分离的。

    据彭博社（Bloomberg）报道，在上周五的一次电话会议上，ICANN的负责人法迪•切哈德轻描淡写地带过了斯诺登案的影响。事实上，美国从来不打算无限期地保留互联网域名的管理职能。早在1997年，美国就明确表示它的最终目标是开放互联网技术职能，支持构建互联网的“多方共治”模式。目前，美国的域名管理合同将于2015年9月30日到期，NTIA正在要求ICANN出面邀请全球利益相关方共同商讨下一阶段的互联网治理方案。

    美国商务部主管信息通讯的副部长劳伦斯•E•斯特克林认为：“转变过程的启动时机选择得恰到好处。”NTIA在一份声明中表示，它已经同ICANN“沟通”过，下一阶段的互联网治理方案必须获得“广泛的社会支持”，并要确保“互联网DNS的安全性、稳定性和弹性”，同时保持互联网作为全球性平台的开放性。另外值得一提的是，美国仍将保留.mil（军事）、.gov（政府）、.edu（教育）等顶级域名的管理权。

    可以想见，这次交权必定难免被蒙上政治色彩。美国政府的声明发布后，共和党前白宫发言人纽特•金里奇就在Twitter上表示：“每个美国人都要小心奥巴马把互联网管理权交给一个不明确的组织，这是非常非常危险的行为。”他还补充道：“奥巴马到底想把互联网交给什么样的国际社会？这个举动可能造成把其他国家的独裁带到互联网的风险。”

    互联网政策研究专家劳伦•韦恩斯坦认为，美国政府的此次放权还有可能引起国际层面的政治问题。他说：“这个领域涉及的大多数问题从本质上看主要是技术问题，但是在当今的国际环境下，这个问题的确有变成一场有毒的全球政治游戏的风险，现在显然不是对这种复杂问题做出理性决策的最佳形势。”

    同时，美国私人领域的反应比较积极，有些大型科技公司还对美国政府的声明表示赞赏。谷歌首席网络顾问文特•瑟夫在一份致《时代》的声明中称：“互联网生来就是无国界的。此举向互联网的多方治理模式迈进了一步，并且为保护互联网的安全性、稳定性和开放性创造了机会。”

    AT&T全球公共政策高级副总裁伦恩•卡利认为，美国此次放权“是全球互联网在继续进化的道路上迈出的重要一步”。威瑞森公司也对此表示乐观，公司公共政策高级副总裁克莱格•西利曼在一份声明中称：“我们对NTIA意识到互联网数字分配权的全球关联性表示赞赏，同时也对目前多方治理框架的成熟度表示赞赏。

    康卡斯特全球公共政策高级副总裁瑞贝卡•阿伯加斯特表示，康卡斯特也同样支持美国放权。“康卡斯特—NBC环球公司支持由私人领域领导的互联网多方治理模式，我们赞赏NTIA对促进这种模式做出的长期贡献，以及它在核心管理职能上做出的贡献。”

    蒂娜迪斯对这次放权的顺利进行表示乐观。但她也指出，现在台面上还没有一份由谁来取代美国充当DNS管家的方案。她说：“我希望一切顺利，但最终细节决定成败。如果一切顺利的话，那么大家应该依然能在奈飞（Netflix）上收看《女子监狱》。”（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    The U.S. has been under increasing pressure from other countries to relinquish its stewardship of the Internet's technical functions in the wake of revelations about U.S. Internet surveillance supplied by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. "The Snowden disclosures served as a lightning rod to focus attention on this issue," says DeNardis, although she was quick to point out that the U.S. role in the Internet DNS is separate from NSA surveillance activities.

    On a conference call Friday, ICANN Chief Executive Fadi Chehade downplayed Snowden's role, according to Bloomberg. In truth, the U.S. never intended for its Internet stewardship to go on indefinitely. As far back as 1997, the U.S. made clear that its ultimate goal was to privatize the Internet's technical functions to support a "multistakeholder" model of governance. The current U.S. contract expires on September 30, 2015, so the NTIA is asking ICANN to bring together stakeholders from around the world to craft a proposal for the next stage of Internet governance.

    "The timing is right to start the transition process," said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information Lawrence E. Strickling. In a statement, NTIA said that it has "communicated" to ICANN that the proposal must have "broad community support" and ensure the "security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet DNS" and maintain the openness of the Internet as a global platform. Importantly, the U.S. will retain responsibility for the .mil, .gov, and .edu top-level domains.

    Predictably, the proposed transition has already begun to be politicized. Following the announcement, Newt Gingrich, the Republican former House Speaker, tweeted: "Every American should worry about Obama giving up control of the Internet to an undefined group. This is very, very dangerous." He added: "What is the global internet community that Obama wants to turn the internet over to? This risks foreign dictatorships defining the internet."

    The proposed transition is also likely to be politicized at an international level, says Lauren Weinstein, a veteran Internet policy expert. "Most of the issues involved in this area are primarily technical in nature," says Weinstein. "Unfortunately, in today's international environment, there is a real risk of this matter turning into a toxic global political football, which would obviously not be the best situation for making rational decisions about such complex matters."

    For now, the response from the U.S. private sector has been positive, and several major technology companies praised the U.S. announcement. "The internet was built to be borderless and this move toward a more multistakeholder model of governance creates an opportunity to preserve its security, stability and openness," Vint Cerf, Google's (GOOG) chief Internet evangelist, said in a statement emailed to TIME.

    Len Cali, AT&T's senior vice president for global public policy, called the transition "an important step in the ongoing evolution of the global Internet." Verizon (VZ) was similarly upbeat. "We applaud NTIA for recognizing the global relevance of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions and the current maturity of multi-stakeholder frameworks," Craig Silliman, Verizon's senior vice president for public policy, said in a statement.

    Rebecca Arbogast, Comcast's senior vice president for global public policy, said her company is also supportive: "Comcast NBCUniversal supports the private sector led, multistakeholder approach to Internet governance, and commends NTIA's longstanding commitment to advancing that model and its stewardship of this key functionality."

    DeNardis is optimistic that the transition will go smoothly, but points out that there isn't even a proposal on the table to replace the U.S. as steward of the DNS. "I expect that everything will go well, but the Devil will be in the details," she says. "If everything goes smoothly, everyone should still be able to watch Orange is the New Black on Netflix (NFLX)."