This paper details and interprets evidence of the historical shift of internet control, and particularly the control of the Domain Name System, from a public trust to private parties. It examines the ramifications of these shifts on (i) political dynamics and user autonomy in the Internet’s infrastructure, (ii) ‘freedom of speech’, and, more generally, (iii) the power of the Internet to influence individuals and to shape societies. It concludes that future policy should recognise the possibilities of non-linear and plural control structures as alternative mechanisms for promoting greater eInclusion, eAccessibility and democratisation than is permitted by the hierarchical control structures of Internet History. Within this context, the paper notes that Internet free speech and future priorities of global society are being seeded at this very moment by policies of Domain Name System and Internet architecture control that need to be more fully and more publicly monitored.