Protecting Internet Freedom Act
The Protecting Internet Freedom Act is proposed United States legislation introduced by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the Senate (S.3034) and Representative Sean Duffy (R-WI) in the House of Representatives (H.R.5418)[1][2] The bill seeks to prevent the National Telecommunications and Information Administration from ending the IANA functions contract and transitioning oversight to the global multistakeholder community and ensure that the U.S. Government maintains its ownership and control of the .gov and .mil TLDs. The bill would prohibit the NTIA from relinquishing oversight of the IANA Functions without a Federal statute grants them the authority to do so. It would also require the NTIA ensures, through a contract with ICANN that the U.S. Government has exclusive ownership of .gov and .mil and will retain that control in perpetuity.[3]
The identical Senate and House bills were proposed 8 June 2016 and 9 June 2016 respectively.
Support[edit | edit source]
The proposed bill drew praise as support in the Republican party's 2016 Platform, stating opposition to the Obama administration's decision to relinquish the U.S. Governments control over the IANA functions and saluted the Congressional Republicans who have proposed legislation to impede the plans to "the Information Freedom Highway to regulators and tyrants."[4]