The Obama administration will give up U.S. control over the Internet address system on October 1.
The plan is to hand over web oversight for those addresses to a broader online community, removing oversight of the Internet from the supervision of a single U.S.-monitoring body.
The organization that manages the Internet address system is called Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
Even though the United States does not control the entire World Wide Web, ICANN was under contract with the U.S. Department of Commerce.
So while this system has already been managed by a private organization, the U.S. government has retained veto power.
The new move will give up control of Internet addresses to ICANN itself.
Some Republicans say giving away control of Internet addresses could endanger national security and allow for unwanted international intervention.
For example, CBN News reported in June that the man who used to lead ICANN had moved on to advising the Chinese government.
Christian communicators at the National Religious Broadcasters have also expressed concern about the move.
"Governments around the world are squashing Internet freedom within their own borders, and a number have already made attempts to gain more power over the global Internet through multinational bodies," NRB president Jerry A. Johnson said.
"We must be very careful not to allow such regimes to extend their influence over the very core of the Internet," Johnson said.
The transition is the last step of a long fight by the Obama administration to relinquish control of the Internet.
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