Posted on 11/26/2012 2:31:36 PM PST by knighthawk
New Zealand will vote against a move by the United Nations to take control of the internet.
Next month, the 193 member countries of the UN’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and its 700 academic and private industry members (many of them phone companies) will met in Dubai for the World Conference on International Telecommunications – dubbed “ the most important conference you’ve never heard of.”
The UN body is pushing for an international telecommunications treaty to be extended to cover the internet.
The internet was developed, if not by Al Gore personally, then the US government – which in turn handed control to a series of non-profits including the US-based global administrator ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) and local operations like InternetNZ.
Speaking at InternetNZ's Nethui South in Dunedin on Friday, ICT Minister Amy Adams revealed NZ's position on the issue for the first time: it wants internet control to stay with non-profits. "They allow stakeholders from business, government, academia and the wider internet community to have crucial input into how the internet is managed, and we see it as flexible enough to cope with the changes in technology,” Ms Adams told the conference."
The current setup is flexible enough to cope with technology changes, Ms Adams said.
"InternetNZ warmly welcomes the ICT Minister's announcement that the NZ government will vote to keep the Internet out of the ambit of the ITU. Other governments respect and take notice of the New Zealand position on Internet issues so this is an excellent example of that leadership and insight," Internet NZ CEO Vikram Kumar told NBR.
If governments had controlled the internet for the past 20 years it would be much smaller than today, he said.
“The moment it becomes treaty-based and government-to-government, with no voice of the community and only the largest corporates getting behind [the] closed doors and making treaty decisions, we believe the openness and innovation of the internet will die.”
In the global internet community, New Zealand is seen a a pragmatic, non-ideological player that punches above its weight.
"There are many countries that would look at New Zealand’s vote and use it as a lead for their own understanding of the issues," Mr Kumar said.
"New Zealand has much to gain from the Internet. The ITU is simply the wrong body taking the wrong approach which threatens an open Internet driving global innovation and development. Acting at the behest of governments that want to control the Internet, the ITU needs to step back and retain its focus on areas where it has provided significant value in the past."
Some fear governement control of global internet adminstration, via the ITU, would mean heavy-handed regulation that would smother regulation, and greater risk of censorship.
Others see it as a move by traditional phone companies - who see companies like Google and Microsoft (owner of Skype) freeloading on their networks - to promote some kind of internet tax, or charges on specific types of data.
Ping
AS ALWAYS OTHERS LEAD WHERE OBAMA VOTES PRESENT.
I don’t care how the UN votes, the US should not do this.
They should have no power to do this at all.
I think Obama entertains notions of being the Secretary General of the UN when he wears out his welcome here.
I dunno... now that he has been declared Lord and Savior by Jamie Foxx and others... he might stick around for life as President...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2963180/posts
No.
But I would like a way to unplug entire countries for failure to curtail internet scamming.
That's possible too, although I suspect he might have a longer tenure at the UN.
Bingo.
This vote will clearly identify the free nations from the rest of the world!
I don’t believe an American is eligible to hold that office. He’s need to come up with his Kenyan birth certificate first.
ping
I'm betting he can come up with a birth certificate from anywhere you want.
No doubt. I did double check my info and permanent members of the security council cannot be secretary general. Of course, rules can be changed.....
The UN is a dictator protection agency. In a rational world, horrible leaders are either overthrown by their people or stronger countries move in a take them over. Yes, war is messy - so is living under a nightmare dictatorship.
Everyone needs to say “NO” to the UN...
The UN is a dictator protection agency. In a rational world, horrible leaders are either overthrown by their people or stronger countries move in a take them over. Yes, war is messy - so is living under a nightmare dictatorship - for eternity.
Everyone needs to say “NO” to the UN...
I like the way that you think!
LLS
“US should not do this.”
Don’t bet on it. Obama has wanted to curtail free speech so much, that he hasn’t been able to hide his distaste for the Constitution.
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