Fears ‘secretive’ govs plan to make it pay for stuff
The Register [UK]
21 November 2012
Google has attacked a “closed-door meeting” of United Nations’ regulators organised by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) taking place next month. The Chocolate Factory claimed that some of the proposals to overhaul the 1988 comms treaty could be bad news for free speech.
The company also expressed concerns that services like YouTube, Facebook, and Skype could be forced “to pay new tolls in order to reach people across borders,” under one such plan currently being mulled by governments who are members of the ITU…
…It complained:
Only governments have a voice at the ITU. This includes governments that do not support a free and open internet. Engineers, companies, and people that build and use the web have no vote.
The ITU is also secretive. The treaty conference and proposals are confidential.
The meeting in question is taking place in Dubai from 3 to 14 December, when a new information and communications treaty is expected to be drawn up…
Read the complete article at The Register.
Also at the site, FCC boss applauds moves to block UN internet control (21 June 2012)
United Nations Telecom Agency ‘Not Surprised’ By Google Campaign
…Google is hardly the only organization to go on the record with concerns about the ITU conference, called the World Conference on International Telecommunications 2012 (WCIT-12).
In fact, across the globe, hundreds of organizations and companies have spoken out either in opposition to the conference itself or to some specific proposals for new Internet governance powers floated by representatives of Russia, China, Iran, Eastern European nations and other Arabic states.
Many of those organizations have signed onto a separate online petition called “Protect Global Internet Freedom,” maintained by Web freedom advocacy groups Open Media International, originating in Canada, and the U.S.-based Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT)…
