Cruz fights domain name handover in hearing

Escalating tensions between Senate Republicans and the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) came to a head Wednesday at a hearing on transferring management of the internet domain name system.

Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) opened Judiciary subcommittee hearing with a blistering warning that the transition would make the internet vulnerable to censorship and weaken the First Amendment. 

Cruz’s has been fighting against transition of oversight of the domain name system — which is central to how consumers reach websites — since before Congress returned from its summer recess. The change is set to happen at the end of September, unless Congress blocks it. (The House Freedom Caucus has expressed interest in doing so.)

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), the ranking member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, called the hearing unnecessary and challenged Cruz’s opposition the management change. 

“It is not, as many or some have suggested, the internet giving up ownership of the internet,” Coons said. 

“The U.S. does not own the internet.”

But Cruz’s aggressive rejection of the transition bled into the witness testimony.

He battled top NTIA official Lawrence E. Strickling, who became visibly frustrated as Cruz suggested that the NTIA may have violated federal law by assessing the transition.

The NTIA works with the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names And Numbers (ICANN), the organization in charge of the domain name functions through a contract with Strickling’s agency.

“Senator, if I may finish …,” Strickling said at one point in attempting to clarify the NTIA’s responsibilities. 

“No you may not,” Cruz said. “You may answer my questions.” 

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) took over from Cruz and hammered at ICANN CEO Göran Marby.

Grassley focused on whether ICANN would move from its current California location to a country whose interests in maintaining a free and open internet might not align with the U.S. 

Grassley pressed Marby on whether the organization could ever change jurisdiction from California. 

Marby noted that it would be easier for an entity interested in controlling ICANN to start a new, parallel organization elsewhere, but did not directly answer Grassley’s question.

After the hearing, Coons deflected questions on whether adding an attempt to block the transition to a government funding package would be viewed by Democrats as a poison pill. 

He said that is a decision for leadership and the administration, but said Majority Leader Harry Reid and other top Democrats should oppose blocking the transition “vigorously.”

“My conclusion from today’s hearing is that the transition has been thoroughly vetted and there has been active and thorough and constructive engagement by the leadership of the American private sector,” Coons said. “I think it’s time to move forward with the transition that several administrations and several congresses have encouraged and supported.”