The Obama administration moved one step closer Thursday to giving up the last vestige of U.S. control over the internet. It’s not a big step in practical terms, but symbolically it’s a big deal.

At issue is a Commerce Department contract that seemingly allows it to manage a crucial internet function: the global master list of “top level domains,” such as .com and .net, that directs traffic online. But the contract with the nonprofit Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers doesn’t give the U.S. much discretion; instead, it merely allows the feds to verify that the right procedures and policies were followed before any changes are made to that master list.

Some conservatives argue that the U.S. involvement in domains is crucial to preserving an open internet, and the House Appropriations Committee has proposed to maintain the status quo.

But keeping the Commerce Department’s nominal role in domain names would only encourage other governments to remake the internet to their liking, either through technological barriers or through intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations. If it truly loves the open internet, Congress will let it go.

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