The control of international domain names has not changed since they entered the global co governance of ". com" and ". net"
On October 1, 2016, the Internet, as a part of people's daily life, took an important step towards global co governance.
On that day, US government agencies officially handed over the management of Internet domain names to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) headquartered in California, ending the unilateral monopoly of this Internet core resource for nearly 20 years.
On the same day, ICANN wrote on social media Twitter: "This management transfer will help ensure that the Internet remains open, interactive and stable for a long time."
For a long time, the US government's management of the Internet domain name system has been known as "having a back door key". For the sake of fairness, many countries have called for the establishment of a new organization to take over the management of the domain name system and adopt the multilateral government operation model for management. However, this process of appeal is long and difficult.
In this regard, Shen Yi, an associate professor of the Department of International Politics of Fudan University, said in an interview with the media: "After all, the United States has made an action. The real significance of this action is not what the United States actually handed over, but the signal that global cyberspace governance needs a new order."
Snowden Event
In the 1980s, because the US government funded the development of the Internet, the administration of Internet domain names and addresses was monopolized by the US government.
With the global development of the Internet, conflicts between domain names and businesses occur every day, which makes the United States very distressed.
In 1998, the Clinton administration began to fully privatize the Internet. This year, ICANN, a unique non-profit organization, came into being.
ICANN is not a purely independent non-profit organization, but is placed under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Commerce according to the contract signed with the U.S. government to manage Internet IP addresses and domain names on behalf of the U.S. government.
ICANN's board of directors is elected by its members, who represent technicians, commercial companies and Internet users around the world. Since its inception, it has been attacked by all sides. Republican members of the US Congress questioned whether the Democratic Party would sell national resources; Internet users and domestic liberals continue to accuse ICANN of ignoring its democratic charter,
The political and economic structure of the domain name industry remains unchanged
At present, ICANN has set up a non-profit public welfare organization called "Public Technical Identifier" to take over the functions of "Internet Digital Distribution Agency" as an affiliate of the organization after the US government handed over the domain name management authority.
In this regard, Ren Xianliang, deputy director of the State Internet Information Office of China, said that China welcomed this and looked forward to the smooth completion of the handover. He said that "China attaches great importance to the development and governance of the Internet and has always advocated the construction of a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyberspace".
Ren Xianliang said that the transfer of IANA's functional management rights is of positive significance to international Internet governance, will promote the internationalization of Internet basic resource management, and will help bridge the digital divide between developing and developed countries.
Equal co governance has a long way to go
The demand of developing countries for co governance of the Internet has become increasingly strong, and even higher after the Snowden incident.
In fact, with regard to the internationalization reform of ICANN, Chinese official representatives have said on international occasions that China supports the internationalization reform of ICANN and encourages Chinese Internet social organizations, enterprises and research institutions to actively participate in the affairs of ICANN. At the same time, the global co governance of the Internet should adhere to the principles of equality, openness, multi-party participation, security, credibility and win-win cooperation.
On December 16, 2015, at the Second World Internet Conference opened in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward "four principles" in his speech to promote the reform of the global Internet governance system, and "five propositions" on jointly building a community of shared future in cyberspace. This speech reflects the Chinese national governors' views on global Internet governance, and has become a Chinese plan to build a community of shared future in cyberspace.
Xi Jinping pointed out that to promote the reform of the global Internet governance system, we should adhere to the "four principles" of respecting network sovereignty, maintaining peace and security, promoting openness and cooperation, and building good order.
Today, the United States has taken an important step, but global Internet governance is still a long way from the equal governance of all countries. It is imperative for China, an emerging Internet power, to participate in the global Internet and promote the reform of the global governance system of the Internet.
