ICYMI: Sen. Cruz Details Threats of Administration's Internet Handover in Hearing

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) chaired a hearing investigating the risks of President Obama’s proposal to cede guardianship of the Internet to a global organization known as ICANN, which is composed of multinational corporations, civil society groups, and more than 160 foreign countries. During the hearing, Sen. Cruz and expert witnesses warned of specific threats this transition poses to free speech online and national security. Congress must act by September 30 in order to stop this Internet handover. 

A summary of news coverage from yesterday’s hearing is below:

Fox News Channel: Special Report with Bret Baier: Obama Admin to Cede Control of Internet Naming
Fox News’ Bret Baier and James Rosen discussed Sen. Cruz’s hearing on ‘Special Report.’ “In a new web video, a Senate floor speech and legislation, and now a Judiciary Subcommittee hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz is taking on…a looming transfer of authority involving the World Wide Web,” Rosen said. Watch the full segment here.

BuzzFeed News: Ted Cruz Is Picking a Big Fight Over the Internet, and Top Republicans Are Backing Him
Sen. Cruz and his allies in Congress are arguing that if the domain name system switches to new management, antagonistic foreign governments might censor what people see online, undermining the openness of the Web…Cruz counts more than two dozen lawmakers as allies in opposition to the transfer of management to ICANN, including Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, whose office confirmed to BuzzFeed News that Republicans are working on a provision to delay the transfer by attaching a provision to a short-term spending bill that must pass by Sept. 30 for the government to remain open. “Imagine an internet run like many Middle Eastern countries, that punish what they deem to be blasphemy,” Cruz said, predicting what might happen if the transition happens. “Or imagine an internet run like China or Russia, that punish and incarcerate those that engage in political dissent.” 

Conservative Review: Freedom Fighter Ted Cruz Leads Charge to Keep the Internet Away from Liberal Censors
In his opening remarks for Wednesday’s Senate subcommittee hearing on protecting internet freedom, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, gave a rousing defense of internet freedom, warning that transitioning oversight of the internet to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) could put the freedom at risk. The danger, Sen. Cruz points out, is that by trading the United States government’s “historic guardianship” of the internet to ICANN, First Amendment protections afforded to the Web will be removed, potentially placing censorship power into the hands of a global, multi-national corporation with limited oversight.

Politico: Cruz: Obama Officials Could Face Jail for Internet ‘Handover’
Sen. Ted Cruz warned Commerce Department officials they could face jail time for their efforts to hand control of the internet's domain name system to an international group, saying they violated congressional funding restrictions. Cruz said the employees are at risk of "personal criminal liability of up to two years in prison” because, he alleged, they overstepped provisions in the last government spending bill that prevent them from using funds to carry out the transition. "This administration is not going to prosecute it, but a new administration will be in Washington,” Cruz said at a Senate Judiciary hearing Wednesday. He said he couldn't say who would be the next president, but he was advising employees of the Commerce Department to be “on notice.” 

The Texas Tribune: Ted Cruz Takes Dead Aim at Obama Administration in Internet Dispute
Cruz is fighting an impending move by the federal government to relinquish oversight of a nonprofit organization that determines the way domain names are organized on the Internet. It’s an issue on the minds of many conservatives, who charge that giving up that power would allow authoritarian regimes like China and Russia to further censor free speech on the Web. “Once the government’s out of the picture, First Amendment protections go away,” Cruz said Wednesday morning at a Senate hearing he chaired. “Why risk it? The Internet works. It’s not broken,” he later added. “What is the problem that is trying to be solved here?”

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