Posted on 12/06/2003 12:58:44 PM PST by demlosers
LONDON (Reuters) - A controversial plan to grant governments broad controls over the Internet has stolen the spotlight of a United Nations conference on IT next week, where China and Cuba will be among its strongest supporters.
Leaders from nearly 200 countries will convene in Geneva for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) on December 10-12, an inaugural conference with lofty goals to discuss bridging the digital divide and fostering press freedoms.
But a contentious political move to grant an international governing body such as the U.N.'s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) control over Internet governance issues -- from distributing Web site domains to the public to fighting spam -- has all but obscured the more virtuous aspects of the event.
Incubated in a geeky part of the U.S. Department of Defense decades ago, the Internet has become a thriving global marketplace since being fully turned over to the private business community in the early 1990s.
But many in the developing world believe a new approach is needed as the medium enters its teen years, one that will see poorer countries harness new technologies to improve their competitive stance.
ATTACKING STATUS QUO
The most recognisable Internet governance body is a California-based non-profit company, the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Under the new plan, it has the most to lose.
Incorporated in 1998, ICANN oversees management of the Internet's crucial addressing system which matches numerical addresses to familiar Web site addresses such as www.google.com.
While ICANN's oversight has been confined to the decidedly technical matters behind doling out domain names and establishing a domain name dispute resolution system, the group has been criticised roundly for adopting a pro-business approach that neglects the developing world.
The ITU, a 138-year-old trade body that among other things established country code rules for international telephone dialling, has been put forth by the developing world as the governing body that will best address its needs.
"What we are looking at is the future management of the Internet. It's not about who owns it or who will be regulating the laws, but what is best way to manage what has become a natural resource for all of humanity," a summit official said.
But U.N. officials have distanced themselves from some of the more radical suggestions put forth by member states who would like to see planet-spanning controls on content and taxes.
Still, proponents of the status quo are concerned that tinkering with the Internet now could stifle the medium's commercial potential.
"We do see a role for governments, as is recognised in ICANN's structure. However, we are concerned with any efforts to increase governmental involvement at the expense of private sector leadership," Theresa Swinehart, Counsel for International Legal Affairs for ICANN, told Reuters.
So far, a change in leadership has been bogged down by fractious discussion with a definitive resolution not expected until 2005 when the second WSIS summit is held in Tunisia.
But many believe the new guard has already arrived.
"We are seeing a clear shift from the mid-90s when governments were told to stay away," said Michael Geist, a law professor at University of Ottawa who specialises in Internet governance issues.
"Governments have shown they are very interested in getting involved on a domestic level and now they are looking at the international level."
You didn't give Jimma Carter credit for that quote...
And no matter what other evil scheme they could dream up, we could find a way to bypass it, assuming they ever found a way to "obtain power" in the first place, which is pretty much impossible in itself.
The Internet is not a physical object; it is nothing more than an agglomeration of individual computers joined together BY CHOICE. And if I don't like what my ISP is doing, I can disconnect the cable modem right now, call you up on the phone and work out a way to connect our computers directly. Then we could add our friends to our little connection, and grow our own mini-internet from there, completely separate from the Big Evil UNternet.
Like everything else the UN does, it's all talk, no action. Let 'em whine.
F |_| C K the UN !
Long live FReedom!
Yep, that's what I usually say every time I'm in the car and we see the UN from the FDR Drive. I'm all for just pushing the damn thing into the East River and waving "bye-bye" to it.
That quote in the article about the Internet being a natural resource was what I wanted to post about. Then I read your response. You said it all for me. Agreed.
No they won't.
It will be renamed The Worldwide Freedom of Information Protocol, be 120,000 pages long and nobody will read it, hence no slug that votes for it will be compromised.
Why am I not surprised?
The only upside I can see to this is that the "next" meeting after this won't be until 2005.
Just damn.
If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
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