Communications of the ACM
U.s. Domain Deregulation Could Fragment World Wide Web Into 'splinternet'
Critics warn President Obama's intention to have the U.S. relinquish of Internet domain name oversight could lead to the fragmentation of the global Internet.
Credit: Brett Jordan
President Barack Obama's intention to relinquish U.S. control of domain name oversight has critics in an uproar, warning the innovation and free exchange of information that has had a transformative effect on culture and business worldwide is at stake.
"One serious threat is the fragmentation of the global Internet into national 'splinternets,'" says Freedom House's Gigi Alford. "If users in different countries have different experiences of the Internet, then we're replicating the old analog way of living as a fragmented global community, with all the analog inequalities and restrictions."
Some developing countries such as Turkey are attempting to crack down on social media in order to censor dissidents, while Iran's Halal Internet is a walled-off virtual space that hinders access to numerous international websites in favor of strictly governed domestic iterations of popular social media. Critics of the Turkish government are preparing to circumvent any major blockages to Internet access through measures such as interconnected networks of wireless routers.
Meanwhile, developed nations such as Germany are weighing the creation of "national Internet spaces," ostensibly to shield citizens from surveillance such as that attributed to the U.S. National Security Agency.
From The Washington Times
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