Thursday, June 7, 2012

Proof that the UN Does Not Want to Control Your Internet

Goldberg, Mark Leon. "Proof that the UN Does Not Want to Control Your Internet," UN Dispatch, June 6, 2012.

From the opinion:… "we have actual physical proof that there is no surreptitious plot afoot to give the ITU regulatory authority over the Internet. The document is the most recent working draft of the treaty that will be negotiated at the World Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai in December.

This document provides an update to a 1988 treaty, parts of which have been rendered obsolete by technological advances.  The outcome of that treaty conference has been the source of consternation among people who worry that it will be used as a pretext to give the ITU (and therefore the UN) control over the Internet.

However, if you read the document, you will find no such proposals! What you will see are proposals for things like giving priority to emergency communications and transparency in pricing schemes for mobile data….It is a pretty banal document that provides a commonsense roadmap for international cooperation in the telecoms sector in the 21st century.  What it does not contain are any suggestions to grant the ITU control over the Internet.  This is not to say that at some point in the future such proposals can not be inserted by member states. But the prospects of anything like that passing the conference in Dubai are nil." Read more