--- title: ICANN: Congress Debates Control of Internet Web Domain Addresses description: Democrats and Republicans both say they want keep the Internet free and open for all. They disagree about who should guard the guards canonical: https://time.com/58277/republicans-dont-want-america-to-give-up-control-of-web-addresses/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-10T20:35:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:01:56.445Z article:section: Politics og:title: ICANN: Congress Debates Control of Internet Web Domain Addresses og:description: Democrats and Republicans both say they want keep the Internet free and open for all. They disagree about who should guard the guards og:url: https://time.com/58277/republicans-dont-want-america-to-give-up-control-of-web-addresses/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt940aa3158930e918/69868a38810bbb07b2c91022/85406821.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1333 og:image:height: 750 og:image:alt: Internet og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: ICANN: Congress Debates Control of Internet Web Domain Addresses twitter:description: Democrats and Republicans both say they want keep the Internet free and open for all. They disagree about who should guard the guards twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt940aa3158930e918/69868a38810bbb07b2c91022/85406821.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Republicans Don't Want America to Give Up Control of Web Addresses > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=9a4170bb-122b-4d94-9f02-b1af3551de42&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Apr 10, 2014 8:35 PM UTC  Close up of address bar on internet browser Close up of address bar on internet browser Getty Images  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Apr 10, 2014 8:35 PM UTC House Republicans advanced legislation Thursday that they say will keep the Internet open and free from government censorship. Every Democrat on the panel considering the measure opposed it in service, they say, of the same goal. At issue is a question with profound implications for the future of global communications that delves into the deepest bowels of the Internet, and a version of the age-old question: Who guards the guards? “We can’t let the Internet turn into another Russian land grab,” Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), one of the bill’s co-sponsor’s, [said](http://shimkus.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/shimkus-rokita-blackburn-seeks-review-of-obama-administration-plan-to) in a statement announcing the so-called DOTCOM Act. “America shouldn’t surrender its leadership on the world stage to a ‘multistakeholder model’ that’s controlled by foreign governments.” The “domain name system” is sort of like the phone book for the Internet—it’s the tool your computer used to convert the URL “Time.com” into the unique code of numbers and letters that are the actual address for this website—and it has historically been owned by the United States but administered through the international nonprofit ICANN. The Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters Act (a name excruciatingly eked out of the DOTCOM Act acronym) would, if passed into law, prevent the Obama Administration from going through with its plan to permanently turn control of the Internet’s domain name system over to an international authority comprised of various Internet stakeholders. Under the DOTCOM Act, that handover would be delayed at least until the completion of a government study into the implications of such a move. After rejecting four Democratic amendments that would have weakened the bill, Republicans in a House subcommittee on technology advanced it to the full House Energy and Commerce Committee for consideration. “We know what China has done to silence dissent,” subcommittee chairman Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) [said](http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/house-panel-votes-to-halt-obama-s-internet-power-transfer-20140410) during Thursday’s hearing. “These threats are real.” In the past, governments with a history of Internet censorship—think China and Russia—have tried to use the International Telecommunications Union, a United Nations body, to elbow their way in to governance of the Internet. But the domain name system has historically been administered through ICANN, which ultimately derived its authority from the government of the United States, and the buck stopped there. Under the Commerce Department’s plan, that would change. Democrats contend that the Commerce Department won’t relinquish control over the domain name system until the international body that will assume control can prove it will use that power wisely. Raising the possibility that the Internet could come under the control of Vladimir Putin, they say, amounts to scaremongering. “There is no plan to turn the Internet over to rogue governments,” the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat Rep. Anna Eshoo (Calif.) [said](http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/house-panel-votes-to-halt-obama-s-internet-power-transfer-20140410). “It is not a conspiracy or a digital black helicopter.” A number of prominent human rights organizations, including Freedom House, Human Rights Watch and the New America Foundation come out [publicly](https://www.accessnow.org/blog/2014/04/10/public-interest-groups-send-letter-expressing-concerns-on-dotcom-act-to-hou) against the DOTCOM Act, arguing that the bill undermines America’s moral authority by lending credibility to authoritarian regimes that point to American oversight of the domain name system as proof that the U.S. isn’t as free as it claims to be. “We share the DOTCOM Act sponsors’ goal of a free and open Internet,” New America Foundation Policy Director Kevin Bankston said, “but the bill actually threatens that goal and plays into the hands of those who want to use the Internet as an instrument of political control rather than preserve it as a global platform for free expression.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/58277/republicans-dont-want-america-to-give-up-control-of-web-addresses/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/58277/republicans-dont-want-america-to-give-up-control-of-web-addresses/"},"headline":"Republicans Don't Want America to Give Up Control of Web Addresses","datePublished":"2014-04-10T20:35:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:01:56.445Z","description":"Democrats and Republicans both say they want keep the Internet free and open for all. 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