Bloomberg Law Brief: Government Drops ICANN Control (Audio)

Kal Raustiala, a professor at the UCLA Law School, and Michaela Ross, a reporter for Bloomberg BNA, discuss why the United States is ceding its controlling stake in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which controls the domain names for the Internet. Starting tomorrow, ICANN will be an autonomous organization after its 18 year contract with the U.S. Commerce Department expires, and will operate in the same way, except without as many governmental pressures. Republican lawmakers have already spoken out against the change, with Ted Cruz warning that the U.S. is "giving away the Internet," and the Attorney Generals of Arizona, Oklahoma, Texas and Nevada filing a federal lawsuit to block the transition. They speak with Bloomberg Law host June Grasso on Bloomberg Radio's "Bloomberg Law." Bloomberg's Karen Moskow and Bob Moon report the day's top legal stories.