So if ICANN and China team up to dominate the internet, some people think that we could fight back with firewalls. A balkanized internet.
But the boundries would be both physical and intellectual.
All the titans of the internet: google, amazon, facebook, and twitter — they don’t need the ‘free speech’ zone of the internet anymore. They could unite the rest of the internet where tyrants want to censor free speech.
https://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=2603
Snippets from an open letter than ‘outs’ ICANN as an ally with China:
ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé stated in his opening remarks, “China is going to be a central part of where the Internet community, as we know it, is heading.
[The new hub on the internet — not in the US but in China]
[snip]
In addition, ICANN announced during the meeting that it would open its first global engagement office in Beijing
[snip]
Honorary Chairman of CNNIC’s Steering Committee stated that the “ICANN Engagement Center-Beijing would be not only a new link for ICANN to better develop and promote China’s Internet community, but also a new platform for China’s Internet community to better contribute to the development of the global Internet.”[5]
[snip]
All those titans (and their media allies) do not want anything but their own domains on the internet, but they will allow others and sideline them in a myriad of ways. Even large commercial companies could then be forced to pay sky high rates for access just like the bad old days when network TV was the only media game in town. The rest of us will be doled out cleverly censored Facebook accounts. The censorship will be hidden deep in the source code where nobody can find it. It will very subtly suppress or alter content.