http://www.news.com/Posted on 07/14/2005 5:44:15 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
Will the U.N. run the Internet?
By Declan McCullagh
Story last modified Mon Jul 11 04:00:00 PDT 2005
An international political spat is brewing over whether the United Nations will seize control of the heart of the Internet.
U.N. bureaucrats and telecommunications ministers from many less-developed nations claim the U.S. government has undue influence over how things run online. Now they want to be the ones in charge.
While the formal proposal from a U.N. working group will be released July 18, it's already clear what it will contain. A preliminary summary of governmental views claims there's a "convergence of views" supporting a new organization to oversee crucial Internet functions, most likely under the aegis of the United Nations or the International Telecommunications Union.
| Beyond the usual levers of diplomatic pressure and public kvetching, Brazil and China could choose what amounts to the nuclear option: a fragmented root. |
This development represents a grave political challenge to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which was birthed by the U.S. government to handle some of those topics.
A recent closed-door meeting in Geneva convened by the U.N.'s Working Group on Internet Governance offers clues about the plot to dethrone ICANN. As these excerpts from a transcript show, dissatisfaction and general-purpose griping is rampant:
• Syria: "There's more and more spam every day. Who are the victims? Developing and least-developed countries, too. There is no serious intention to stop this spam by those who are the transporters of the spam, because they benefit...The only solution is for us to buy equipment from the countries which send this spam in order to deal with spam. However, this, we believe, is not acceptable."
• Brazil, responding to ICANN's approval of .xxx domains: "For those that are still wondering what Triple-X means, let's be specific, Mr. Chairman. They are talking about pornography. These are things that go very deep in our values in many of our countries. In my country, Brazil, we are very worried about this kind of decision-making process where they simply decide upon creating such new top-level generic domain names."
• China: "We feel that the public policy issue of Internet should be solved jointly by the sovereign states in the U.N. framework...For instance, spam, network security and cyberspace--we should look for an appropriate specialized agency of the United Nations as a competent body."
• Ghana: "There was unanimity for the need for an additional body...This body would therefore address all issues relating to the Internet within the confines of the available expertise which would be anchored at the U.N."
The "nuclear option"
Those proclamations served to flush out the Bush administration, which recently announced that it will not hand over control of Internet domain names and addresses to anyone else.
That high-profile snub of the United Nations could presage an international showdown. The possibility of a political flap over what has long been an abstruse Net-governance issue casts a shadow over ICANN's meeting this week in Luxembourg, and will be the topic of a July 28 symposium in Washington, D.C., called "Regime Change on the Internet."
| The nuclear option could create a Balkanized Internet where two computers find different Web sites at the same address. |
"It wasn't until now" that a fragmented root was being talked about, says Milton Mueller, a professor at Syracuse University and participant in the Internet Governance Project. "China and other countries might be pursuing responses that lead to fragmentation."
Such an outcome remains remote, but it could happen. That possibility means an obscure debate about Internet governance has suddenly become surprisingly important.
Copyright ©1995-2005 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sounds like a good plan, huh? I, for one, would sleep much better knowing that Syrian Baathists or Brazilian she-males or Chinese communists or Ghanian whatchamacallem's were deciding what I could and could not access on the Net.
Not for long.
Screw Them...
Let them create their own network, and call it un-net or some crap like that, and stay off ours. We Built it, go build your own. lol
The U.N. can't even run the U.N.
Look for Big Media and the Democrats to fall in line with this thinking. After all, it's only a matter of time before free speech is the source of their woes.
The wind's whippin up that old Kyoto smell all over these days...
Does this mean I wouldn't be able to post that pic of a blue, bullet-ridden, UN helmet anymore?
I've been involved with two ITU working groups. Yes, the Syrian rep showed up and made anti-US points, but everyone ignored him. I found the ITU staff to be conscientious, technically savvy, and apolitical. All in all I trust the ITU more than ICANN.
Does this mean I wouldn't be able to post that pic of a blue, bullet-ridden, UN helmet anymore?
Yes. And if you tried it, they'd make a note of it in your permanent record.
lol....
Geez, why dont you just shoot me, I have had enough of this horrible news today. Im gonna have a heart attack. I need some good news, please.
You may be correct in your assessment of the integrity of the ITU, but would it be able to resist the dictates of the many closed states of the U.N.? I wonder.
The UN would use the internet to not only strangle communication, but as a way to tax every living person on the planet.
Reading the article again, I noted that the ITU is just one proposal; the UN may try to take it directly. That would be a disaster.
BTW, both the USA (FCC ) and European Union have had regulatory disputes with the ITU in the past. Fascinating subject of international law and regulation.
I'm not worried about the UN. There would be 0 talent there. It would just be a jobs program for everybody's cousins who spend all day in meetings, if they're at work at all.
Only when they can pry my cold dead fingers from the keyboard.
The U.N. can't even run the U.N.
Yes, but why? Why? We must investigate root causes.
Okay, my investigation is done: it's because their budget is too small. So let's give 'em billions more in U.S. tax dollars. That'll fix everything.
Not for long.
WELL SAID BUMP.
I mean, look what they can accomplish when they put their minds to it.
I just saved some money on my car insurance...that's good news.
"We would just setup our own system and let the other one wither and die."
Nope, because then Congress would start getting involved to "protect the children." Pretty soon everything would be back in government hands. Once it gets there, they never let it go.
Witness cable tv and satellite radio. There are plenty here and in Congress who want to control both now, even though they are both 100% private and voluntary.
LOL bump!
Thats also very funny...
Can you say 'domain-names-for-food' scandals? I knew you could.....
Thanks...couldn't resist.
"Ghanian whatchamacallem's "
You missed your chance. I would have used "Ghanian money scam operators"....LOL
Can you say 'domain-names-for-food' scandals? I knew you could.....
(laugh)
Why is it that every time I hear about that country, I check my wallet?
/Rhetorical
"Ghanian whatchamacallem's "You missed your chance. I would have used "Ghanian money scam operators"....LOL
Must be the heat...(grin)
"and perhaps even the power to tax domain names to pay for "universal access."
Ii's long past time to demolish the UN building and tell them to relocate to TerrArabia.
Second: Confiscate all of the UN's computers and then kick there ass out of the USA!
"I found the ITU staff to be conscientious, technically savvy, and apolitical. All in all I trust the ITU more than ICANN."
We cannot even trust our friends and neighbors who we send off to Washington. Someone throws a little money their way and they sell their soul to the highest bidder. We certainly cannot trust this group who we would have even less control of if any.
I don't know the actual percentages, but at a guess, 90% of the internet is in the United States. Sure, numerous other countries are involved, some in major ways, but most of it is American and almost all of it is in English.
You can find Chinese or Japanese web sites or Russian Cyrillic web sites, or hundreds of other languages, but if you really want to know what's going on in the world, you need to know English. That's one reason why American English has completely replaced French or the other major diplomatic languages--because that's where almost all the action is.
Good points.
The ITU is a big reason why phone calls to 3rd world countries are so ridiculously expensive. The bureaucracy of the ITU is Kafka-esque: The OSI documents for TP4 and X.25 were written in uncomprehensible Euro-legalese and you had to pay through the nose just to look at them. (This was one reason why OSI failed - TCP/IP was evangelized through the wide distribution of the free source code of BSD Unix; OSI/TP4/X25 had no equivalent.)
If the ITU had taken over the Internet 15-20 years ago with OSI/TP4/X.25, today instead of paying $19.95/month for your megabit DSL you would be paying ten times that amount for your switched X.25/ISDN connection at 64 kbps.
The ITU is the last organization I'd want to see "running" the Internet.
Only those who earn money in countries honoring capitalism.
If the UN took over, there would soon be a new, free Web set up by US entrepreneurs.
This totally reminds me of Africa. The few countries which had a substantial infrastructure, both cultural and physical, reverted to the stone age instantly when,in the name of "fairness" it was decided to allow its less "enlightened" citizens not only be "free", but run things.
If this comes even close to happening, I expect a new, US-only internet would emerge. That would solve tons of other problems.
After all, it took a few years for the General Assembly to be run by the muslims and their friends, rendering it less than useless.
Guess I'll be selling the old Chevy 1 ton and gettin me a mog.
Hey there bro. Mog... the ultimate SUV.
Morning, ya, if i gotta swap my black b,ball cap for a powder blue one I may as well go all the way...
the sterling dealer in worst valley has two, well they have had the same two forever.
they can't find anyone who'll pay the 100g's they cost so if I'm stupid enough to let the un run the web for me i may as well show everybody just how stupid i is...
maybe not, I like my big block ton o wanda too much and i don't think mog makes a 550 hp to replace the cat
ya. Keep the big block.
I'll give you a 21 in the am. Gotta sleep now.
ok gonna head for twin for an 8 am pick should be home and done by 2-3...
nite
don't forget to set your drivers...
It's impound, so got tomorrow night to set em.
Be safe out there.
Now, I really gotta sleep.
Catch.
Just like we don't tolerate unsecured borders, oppressive taxes, anti-smoking lunacy, judicial activism, non-responsive legislators, treasonous national media, a million + abortions/year, environmental regulations based on junk science, idealogues entrenched in institutions of higher learning, and the compromise of property rights. That's just off the top of my head.
Buh-uh-uh-utttttt, the UN taking over the Internet, that's the line they dare not cross. Right.
"Yes. And if you tried it, they'd make a note of it in your permanent record."
Unfortuntately if this happens and you did this they would come to your door and probably shoot you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.