Kang, Cecilia. "U.S. Tech Companies Warn of Threat to Internet from Foreign Governments." The Washington Post, May 30, 2012.
From the article : "U.S. officials and high-tech business giants have
launched an assault against what they view as a massive threat to the Internet
and to Silicon Valley’s bottom lines: foreign governments.
In a congressional hearing Thursday, they will warn lawmakers of a growing movement led by China,
Russia and some Arab states to hand more control of the Web to the
United Nations and place rules on the Internet that the U.S.
companies say would empower governments to clamp down on civil rights and free
speech.
That could mean the Web might look drastically different in other countries
than it does in the United States, opponents of the proposals say. An Internet user
in Uzbekistan could be more easily tracked by government officials and might
get access to only a portion of the Google search results seen in the United
States, for example.
In a rare coordinated effort to knock down the proposals, Google, Microsoft,
Verizon and Cisco also warn of financial risks to their businesses if new rules
are adopted. They say some nations may push forlaws on Internet firms that
could lead to tariffs on Internet service providers such as Verizon, or even
Web firms such as Facebook that enable people to communicate over the Internet." Read more
