UN Trying to Censor Entire Internet --Google asks you to take action against it

GOOGLE ASKS YOU TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST THE UN

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On December 3rd a closed-door meeting will take place in Dubai. In attendance will be members of the United Nation’s International Telecommunications Union. On the agenda will be a proposal, tabled by Russia, for sweeping changes to how the internet operates.

The proposed measure is to add ‘IP-based networks’ to the existing International Telecommunications Regulations, which would in effect transfer all power of governance over the internet from the Internet Society, the W3C and ICANN, to national governments under the umbrella of the U.N.

The exact wording of the proposals is being withheld by the I.T.U. however worrying details are being leaked via the internet.

The first issue that you should be aware of is that if control for the development of web-standards is removed from the W3C and handed to national governments, the development of core internet technologies will no longer be based on technological appropriateness; for example, it is unlikely that HTML5 would have emerged as a web-standard if it was subject to ratification by nearly 200 separate governments, many of which have a long history of selling their votes in exchange for favors elsewhere.

The second issue that is likely to be of concern is that censorship that has previously been limited to two dozen countries could be imposed on the whole internet. Regimes such as Russia, Iran and China would not only be free to censor both incoming and outgoing internet traffic, they would, by law, be supported in that effort by the U.N. and all of its member states.

It is of little surprise that the repressive government in China blocks search results for “Tiananmen Square”. The concern many commentators share is that if the U.N. power grab goes ahead, Chinese officials will have the power to broker deals that will require all U.N. member states to enforce the same censorship.

The U.S. government has expressed serious concern at the proposal. We can expect the U.S. government to defend its citizens’ constitutional right to freedom of speech, however, like all countries at the U.N. assembly, the United States has a single vote. Raising enough support to block moves towards censorship may necessitate substantial compromise elsewhere.

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