US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign has inserted itself into already tricky negotiations on a temporary spending bill needed to avert a government shutdown, siding with Senator Ted Cruz in trying to block the government from ceding its limited role in overseeing some aspects of the Internet.
“Donald Trump is committed to preserving Internet freedom for the American people and citizens all over the world. The US should not turn control of the Internet over to the UN and the international community,” senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller said in a statement.
US Democratic and Republican administrations have both supported a transition of the US Department of Commerce’s role in governing the Internet’s domain name addressing systems, transferring responsibility to such stakeholders as technical experts, businesses and other governments.
The temporary spending bill is the top item on the congressional agenda before lawmakers leave Washington for the fall campaign.
Lawmakers hope negotiations on the measure will be finalized this week, though the pace of talks has been slow and on Wednesday produced no visible breakthroughs.
Many experts say Cruz and his allies are greatly overstating the US Department of Commerce’s potential influence over Internet content and spinning exaggerations and conspiracy theories.
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