ICANN提議美國交出互聯網域名管理權
The US has been handed a proposal that would end the last vestiges of its control over the internet, sparking a potentially contentious political debate in Washington over the future of cyberspace.
美國接到一項提議，該提議將結束其對互聯網域名的管控權，這可能在華盛頓引發圍繞網絡空間未來的激烈政治辯論。
Under the proposal put forward yesterday by ICANN, the international body that oversees the internet’s addressing system, the US would hand over its role as the ultimate authority for internet naming. ICANN’s governance arrangements would be overhauled to protect it from government meddling in future.
根據監管互聯網域名系統的國際機構——互聯網名稱與數字地址分配機構(ICANN)——昨日提出的建議，美國將讓出其在管理互聯網域名方面的最高主管角色。ICANN的治理安排將被徹底整改，以保護其未來免受政府幹預。
Washington offered two years ago to give up its remaining internet oversight, in response to the international outcry over the Snowden revelations about illicit US internet surveillance.
兩年前，華盛頓方面提出放棄手中剩下的互聯網控管權，以迴應國際上針對斯諾登(Snowden)爆料的、美國對互聯網進行非法監聽的強烈抗議。
It had promised full privatisation of the internet in 1998, but the idea was put on hold over concerns in Congress that ICANN could become captive to repressive governments.
美國曾在1998年承諾對互聯網進行全面私有化，但由於美國國會擔憂ICANN可能受制於專制政府，這一想法被擱置。
Stirrings in Washington suggest that such opposition could resurface. Ted Cruz, one of the Republican presidential candidates, and two other senators fired a shot across ICANN’s bows last week with a letter questioning its contacts with China and the risks if it was cut free from US control.
華盛頓方面的跡象似乎表明，此類反對聲音可能將重現。上週，共和黨總統競選人之一特德•克魯茲(Ted Cruz)與另外兩名參議員通過一封公開信向ICANN開火，他們質疑該機構與中國的接觸以及脫離美國控制可能帶來的風險。
Approving a Chinese internet registrar was a sign of the body’s “desire to build a close relationship with the Chinese government which could continue to move in a troubling direction once the US government ends its oversight”, they wrote.
他們寫道，批准中文網絡域名註冊標誌着該機構“渴望與中國政府建立密切關係，而一旦美國政府不再進行控管，中國可能繼續朝着令人不安的方向前進”。
ICANN has clashed with several countries over how much control they should have over its operations. But despite worries that China and Russia would lead a push for more government control, opposition centred on a wider group of countries that included Argentina, Brazil and France.
ICANN曾與好幾個國家就後者應在多大程度上對其運營進行管控發生過沖突。但是，儘管人們擔心中國、俄羅斯將帶頭推動更多的政府管控，但反對態度實際上集中於一個更廣泛的國家集團，包括阿根廷、巴西和法國。
