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Comment by JoeAltmaier | Hacker News Reader

History I guess. After inventing it, inventing and deploying many of the devices and technologies it depends upon (including satellite communications and undersea cables), all that engenders a proprietary interest in its future. America may look dimly on letting Lichtenstein etc. have a say in its future.

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This is only about DNS, which has little to do with satellites and undersea cables.

And a 'proprietary interest' is about ownership. Yeah its my car, but everybody wants to drive it.

But DNS is the keys to the kingdom. After beginning most of what we now call "the internet" hanging on to one last key doesn't seem like to much to ask. Can someone imagine France giving up the right determine if certain wines are Bordeaux? Or the Swedish Academy of Sciences getting final say on who wins the Nobel Peace prize?

Swedish Academy of Sciences getting final say on who wins the Nobel Peace prize?

Bad example, since they 'gave that up' (in the sense you can give up something you never had) at the prize's founding.

The example is even worse than OP thinks, because American universities through better cooperation de-facto have control over the memorial prize in economics.

The key is only useful if you have something to unlock. The web is responsible for the extreme number of users we see today, and it was invented by a British guy. The funding came from an European laboratory.

That's the World Wide Web (html and browsers). The Internet was a DARPA project, entirely American.

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