Posted on 10/09/2005 10:24:20 AM PDT by John Jorsett
Kofi Annan, Coming to a Computer Near You! The Internet's long run as a global cyberzone of freedom--where governments take a "hands off" approach--is in jeopardy. Preparing for next month's U.N.-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society (or WSIS) in Tunisia, the European Union and others are moving aggressively to set the stage for an as-yet unspecified U.N. body to assert control over Internet operations and policies now largely under the purview of the U.S. In recent meetings, for an example, an EU spokesman asserted that no single country should have final authority over this "global resource."
To his credit, the U.S. State Department's David Gross bristled back: "We will not agree to the U.N. taking over management of the Internet." That stands to reason. The Internet was developed in the U.S. (as are upgrades like Internet 2) and is not a collective "global resource." It is an evolving technology, largely privately owned and operated, and it should stay that way.
Nevertheless the "U.N. for the Internet" crowd say they want to "resolve" who should have authority over Internet traffic and domain-name management; how to close the global "digital divide"; and how to "harness the potential of information" for the world's impoverished. Also on the table: how much protection free speech and expression should receive online.
While WSIS conferees have agreed to retain language enshrining free speech (despite the disapproval of countries that clearly oppose it) this is not a battle we've comfortably won. Some of the countries clamoring for regulation under the auspices of the U.N.--such as China and Iran--are among the most egregious violators of human rights.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Time to rally the troops, and gear up for war. Scorch the earth, take no prisoners.
The impovershed have computers? They can't even read. Regardless, as far as I'm concerned, the internet belongs to the USA. The rest of the world can go pound sand where the sun doesn't shine.
I think I will make a t shirt out of that!
BTTT
No one is stopping them from creating their own Internet.
But they're so clueless about it that they can't even see their proposal for what it is: theft.
The UN would want to exterminate all sites like Free Republic.
I already have a T-shirt transfer printed up! I really would like to know of anything they have done which is a positive for this country...can anyone name at least ONE? These leeches eventually have to be removed before they are allowed to put their theory of global communism into practice.
You forgot " goons, thugs, and thieves (Kofi Anan)
Bill Gates will probably be all for this.
That's kind of funny. The San Francisco mayor believes that the Internet is a basic human right. Does that mean that everything privately developed, owned and operated is a basic human right too?
That's what the global communists believe.
The San Francisco mayor believes that the Internet is a basic human right. Does that mean that everything privately developed, owned and operated is a basic human right too?
This shows how dumb the UN is. They can't control the Internet. Sure, they could take control of all the DNSs, but then we could just build our own and use that.
" Does that mean that everything privately developed, owned and operated is a basic human right too?"
Of course. It's a bastardization of the story of "The Little Red Hen." Anything that takes energy and investment that has value, be it bread or the internet, becomes a basic human right for all those who did nothing to contribute.
OK, I may be wearing a tinfoil hat on this, but the above statement could be parsed as such:
"harness(control)the potential of information (supress what is not acceptable)" for the world's impoverished. (thereby maintaining our power over them)
We should just close the U.N.
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