FCC to Congress: U.N.'s ITU Internet Plans 'Must Be Stopped'

Blue, Violet. "FCC to Congress: U.N.'s ITU Internet Plans 'Must Be Stopped.'" ZDNet, February 5, 2013. 

From the article: "Today, U.S. Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell will testify to Congress in a joint U.S. House subcommittee hearing on international Internet governance, that the free and open Internet is under attack — and inaction is not an option.

The FCC Commissioner ominously warned Congress that what happened at WCIT-12 "ended the era of an international consensus to keep inter-governmental hands off of the Internet in dramatic fashion." Read more

UN Plans Internet Governance Amid Outcry to Defund ITU

"UN Plans Internet Governance Amid Outcry to Defund ITU." ZDNet, January 16, 2013.

From the article: "A petition to de-fund the U.N.'s telecom arm emerges just as the ITU readies to hammer out internet governance plans at the World Telecommunication Information andCommunication Technology Policy Forum meetings in February and May 2013.

The website De-fund the ITU surfaced on the January NANOG (North American NetworkOperators' Group) email list. 

…Five days ago ITU's Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré released the fourth and final ITU/WTPF-13 report outlining groundwork for internet governance (and internet regulatory topics) at upcoming meetings on February 6-8 and May 14-16." Read more

Architecting the Future of Social Media

Wood, Lindsay Taylor. "Architecting the Future of Social Media." Social Media Week, January 2, 2013.

From the article: "An information war has erupted around the world. The battle lines are drawn between those governments that regard the free flow of information, and the ability to access it, as a matter of fundamental human rights, and those that regard official control of information as a fundamental sovereign prerogative. The contest is being waged institutionally in organizations like the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and daily in countries like Syria." Read more

The U.N. Isn’t Regulating the Internet–but Governments Still Exert Control

Talbot, David. "The U.N. Isn’t Regulating the Internet–but Governments Still Exert Control." MIT Technology Review, December 14, 2012. 

From the article: "Is the U.N. now somehow regulating the Internet now that its International Telecommunications Union—after a two week meeting in Dubai that centered largely on whether it should include the Internet in its telephone-centric regulations—has today declared the existence of a new global telecom treaty?

No. First, the United States, Canada, and many European nations declined to sign the new International Telecommunications Regulations.  Some 89 countries were in favor and 55 opposed or abstained.  If you go to the actual new wording of the regulations–which haven’t been changed since 1988–and search for “Internet” you find it mentioned in fairly bland language within a one-page nonbinding resolution." Read more

The Internet’s Future Depends on Maintaining Its Free Spirit

Cerf, Vint. "The Internet’s Future Depends on Maintaining Its Free Spirit." MIT Technology Review, December 4, 2012.

From the article: "Perhaps the most profound observation made about the early Internet was that it was unlikely to spread across the globe. And yet, slowly at first, and faster with the advent of the World Wide Web, the Internet has found purchase on every continent–even Antarctica. This penetration is a consequence of the independent decisions made by hundreds of thousands of Internet operators whose business models range from nonprofit to for-profit to government operated and every other variation you can imagine.

But a meeting of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), taking place in Dubai this week, threatens to stifle further Internet expansion and innovation." Read more

Opinion: ITU Meeting 'No Threat to Free Speech'

Toure, Hamadoun I. "Opinion: ITU Meeting 'No Threat to Free Speech.'" CNN, December 5, 2012. 

From the article: "It is our chance to chart a globally-agreed roadmap to connect the unconnected, while ensuring there is investment to create the infrastructure needed for the exponential growth in voice, video and data traffic….As the neutral convener of the conference and in an effort to engage opinion worldwide, ITU has encouraged all its membership (including over 700 private-sector entities), as well as civil society organizations and the press and public at large, to contribute their views. Much of the conference itself is webcast. WCIT is not a "closed-door" event. In fact, compared with other intergovernmental meetings of such importance, WCIT is as open as it possibly can be." Read more

The Gathering Storm: WCIT and the Global Regulation of the Internet

Bennett, Richard. "The Gathering Storm: WCIT and the Global Regulation of the Internet." The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, November 21, 2012.

From the report: "At the upcoming International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai, to be held from December 3-14, delegates will consider proposals to amend the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs,) binding rules that govern telecommunications network practices around the world…. If any change needs to be made at all in the ITRs with respect to the Internet, it should be limited to creating a firewall between the authority of ITU and the operation of the Internet. The Internet’s organic governance system has proved to be quite effective, in no small part due to its close proximity to the Internet’s technical standards and business practices. 

Technologies that enable rapid rates of change need the ability to adapt to changing conditions quickly; an international treaty organization that convenes once every fifteen years does not fit the bill. The ITU is facing obsolescence as we begin to retire the telephone networks that have been its sole focus since the phase-out of the telegraph, but this existential crisis does not justify a wholesale restructuring of Internet governance." Read more

U.N. Must Lead Internet Regulation Effort

Toure, Hamadoun I. "U.N. Must Lead Internet Regulation Effort ." Wired, November 7, 2012. 

From the article: "With over 90 percent of the world’s people now within reach of mobile phones, the challenge today is bringing internet access to the two-thirds of the world’s population that is still offline. This challenge is compounded by the need to ensure connectivity is affordable and safe for all.

If we can achieve this, all the world’s citizens will have the potential to access unlimited knowledge, to express themselves freely, and to contribute to and enjoy the benefits of the knowledge society.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which is the United Nations specialized agency charged with coordinating global information and communication technology (ICT) resources such as satellite slots and international wireless spectrum, will host the World Conference onInternational Telecommunications (WCIT-12) in Dubai next month ...

The conference will chart a globally agreed-upon roadmap that offers future connectivity to all, and ensures sufficient communications capacity to cope with the exponential growth in voice, video, and data. The sole focus of the event is making regulations valuable to all stakeholders, creating a robust pillar to support future growth in global communications." Read more

Showdown Set on Bid to Give UN Control of Internet

"Showdown Set on Bid to Give UN Control of Internet." Agence France-Presse, October 29, 2012.

From the article: "It is expected to be the mother of all cyber diplomatic battles.

When delegates gather in Dubai in December for an obscure UN agency meeting, fighting is expected to be intense over proposals to rewrite global telecom rules to effectively give the United Nations control over the Internet.

Russia, China and other countries back a move to place the Internet under the authority of the International Telecommunications Union, a UN agency that sets technical standards for global phone calls.

US officials say placing the Internet under UN control would undermine the freewheeling nature of cyberspace, which promotes open commerce and free expression, and could give a green light for some countries to crack down on dissidents.

Observers say a number of authoritarian states will back the move, and that the major Western nations will oppose it, meaning the developing world could make a difference." Read more

Measuring the Information Society 2012

Measuring the Information Society 2012, prepared by the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, Switzerland, 2012).

From the report: "For the fourth consecutive year, this report presents two authoritative benchmarking tools to monitor information society developments worldwide. The ICT Development Index (IDI) ranks 155 countries’ performance with regard to information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and uptake. The ICT Price Basket (IPB) is a unique metric that tracks and compares the cost and affordability of ICT services in more than 160 countries globally. Both the IDI and the IPB combined are powerful measures for benchmarking and explaining differences among countries and within regions when it comes to ICT developments. This year’s edition of the report also features brand new data and analyses on revenue and investment in the ICT sector and proposes a new methodology to measure the world’s telecommunication capacity." Read more

Official: US Won’t Srrender Internet Control to UN Agency

Martinez, Jennifer. "Official: US Won’t Surrender Internet Control to UN Agency."  The Hill, September 23, 2012.

From the article:  U.S. Ambassador Terry Kramer vowed that the United States will not compromise its principles on human rights, free speech and other issues during negotiations of an international telecommunications treaty in December.

The U.S. has stated that it will advocate for various organizations to oversee the management of the Internet, signaling that it would push back against attempts to hand additional control over to the U.N.'s International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Kramer told reporters that "decentralized management of the Internet is the best approach not only for the U.S., but worldwide."  Read more

ITU's Toure: WCIT Talks Are Not About Internet Governance

O'Toole, Thomas. "ITU's Toure: WCIT Talks Are Not About Internet Governance." Bloomberg, September 11, 2012.

From the article: "The World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) “has nothing to do with [internet] Governance,” International Telecommunication Union Secretary-General Dr. Hamadoun I. Touré told BNA Sept. 5 during email and telephone interviews.

Touré reiterated and expanded upon previously voiced criticisms of what he called “over-dramatic” characterizations of the WCIT-12 process as a push by some governments to wrest control over the internet and place it in the ITU.

Touré also took the opportunity to try to refocus the debate surrounding WCIT-12 onto what he argued were serious issues that require urgent attention by ITU member states--such as data security and exorbitant roaming charges." Read more

US States Intention to Retain Control of the Internet

Curtis, Sophie. "US States Intention to Retain Control of the Internet." Techworld, September 5, 2012.

The United States has indicated that it is not willing to relinquish control of the internet to the United Nations.

At present, US-based ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is responsible for the coordination of IP address spaces, the assignment of address blocks, the maintenance of registries and the management of the top-level domain name space.

However, it has been suggested that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) – the UN agency responsible for encouraging the development of communications technologies – could perform at least some of these tasks.

The ITU is hosting a conference in Dubai in December, to which representatives from 178 nations have been invited to review the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITR), which set out how traffic should flow between telecoms networks in different countries.

At the conference, Russia, whose submission was leaked to website Wcitleaks.org, will suggest that the ITU should be responsible for the allocation IP addresses and the “determination of necessary requirements”. The proposal is expected to be backed by several other nations, including China.

However, the US has published its own submission for the conference, stating its concern that “proposals by some other governments could lead to greater regulatory burdens being placed on the international telecom sector”" Read more

The Importance of Voluntary Technical Standard

Cooper, Alissa. "The Importance of Voluntary Technical Standard." Center for Democracy and Technology, August 29, 2012.

From the article: "Technical standards are the language that computers, phones, software, and network equipment use to talk to each other, seamlessly and regardless of where the devices or software were developed. Standards allow any technology developer, web site creator, or equipment manufacturer anywhere in the world to have their creations instantly available to and interoperable with the rest of the global Internet." Read more

The Internet: Command and Control

Thomas, Daniel, Richard Waters and James Fontanella-Khan. "The Internet: Command and Control." The Financial Times, August 27, 2012. 

From the article: "Much of the controversy will hinge on the language of the regulations to be mapped out in Dubai. Some proposals published by the ITU and released to member states are seen as creating a benign environment for state intervention in content and access. Because of the vague language, that could mean blocking anything from spam to political material perceived as illegal.

Proponents of a free web fear broad clauses concerning national sovereignty and security could be used as smokescreen for legitimising censorship, clandestine monitoring and the blocking of websites." Read more

The Fight for Control of the Internet Has Become Critical

Kampfner, John. "The Fight for Control of the Internet Has Become Critical." The Guardian, August 22, 2012.

From the blog: "Over the past few years, largely out of sight, governments have been clawing back freedoms on the internet, turning an invention that was designed to emancipate the individual into a tool for surveillance and control. In the next few months, this process is set to be enshrined internationally, amid plans to put cyberspace under the authority of a largely secretive and obscure UN agency.

If this succeeds, this will be an important boost to states' plans to censor the web and to use it to monitor citizens." Read more