During an often-contentious hearing Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, took on the B.O. regime for what has become his latest signature issue: internet oversight.
The B.O. regime is due to relinquish U.S. control Oct. 1 over a private-sector, nonprofit organization that administers internet domain names and designations. Cruz warned that the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers will not on its own honor U.S. protections of free speech, and he is leading an effort to delay or stop the transfer.
"Under the guardianship of the United States and the First Amendment the internet has become truly an oasis of freedom, but that could soon change," Cruz said at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, which he chairs.
"It is not a democratic body," Cruz said of the organization, which includes such internet stakeholders as Google and Facebook and is based in Los Angeles. And he warned that authoritarian countries such as China, Russia and Iran could exert control over the organization and censor internet use in their countries. |