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December 18, 2010
Arabs Target the Internet
Ethel C. Fenig
Wow, those Arabs are clever. So clever--or devious, or dangerous--that they've managed to rearrange continents, to rearrange computer domain names to suit their political/religious/financial objectives. In The Lawfare Project, Aaron Eitan Meyer explains this latest Arab attack.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the entity responsible for assigning domain names on the Internet. (snip) ICANN works "in particular to ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifier systems."[1]
Formerly overseen by the U.S. Department of Commerce, ICANN has been under "international and multilateral control" for over a year. And this has brought about significant changes.
On September 25, 2010, the ICANN board of directors approved the following resolution: "The definition of Continent or UN Regions in the Guidebook should be expanded to include UNESCO's regional classification list which comprises: Africa, Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and North America, Latin America and the Caribbean." The new "Geographic Region" definition collapses Europe and North America into a single region, while creating a new "Arab States" region.
The change marks a fundamental shift from what are more or less geographical regions to cultural/ethnic regions.
As a result, dangerous changes are coming to assigned domain names and websites.
Should the September 25 resolution become applicable to ICANN's board of directors, it would mean that the "Arab States" region would be entitled to between one and five directorships, while the collapsed "North American and Europe" region would have a maximum of five seats.
ICANN's board also removed a reference to "terrorism" from the fourth version of its Draft Applicant Guidebook after complaints were received from several Arab individuals and organizations.
Failing to retain the ability to investigate applicants for ties to terrorism would significantly hamper ICANN's effectiveness, and could lead to a proliferation of pro-terrorist websites.
To paraphrase, one cultural/ethnic region's terrorist website may be another cultural/ethnic region's freedom site. So yes, in this new morally relative realignment, the US Constitution might offend some of the "Arab States" region who at the same time might glorify a site demanding death to infidels.
hat tip: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs http://www.dailyalert.org/
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