For the next two weeks , the ITU — a United Nations agency that was work to regulate telegraph lines in the nineteenth century — will examine to make new rule for the Internet . This pull in some people occupy , but nobody should be . The entire conference is wasted .
The World Conference on International Telecommunications ( WCIT-12 ) , which kicked off today in the oppressive and oppressively live emirate of Dubai , is ostensibly a good thing . In the sense that any event which make for together the many nations of the world to make up one’s mind thing together in concord is a good affair , like atomic number 6 emanation pact and Middle East peacefulness public lecture .
But the major departure between WCIT-12 and the noblest business of the UN is that there ’s no clear destination here . Envoys from 193 countries are going to model down to essay to form Internet policy ; and there ’s no consensus about what that should expect like . Among the 900 divergent proposals , a few primary — and contradictory — goal have turn up :
America ’s Cold War frenemies like Russia and China want to move control of the cyberspace ’s domain name system — which keeps those little .com and .net bits humming — out of American hands . Why ? No reason in finicky , the organisation act fine . It ’s just a unspoiled ol’ fashioned major power rivalry .
button-down / totalistic rural area that dislike the Internet ’s bouillabaisse of hard-core pornography , vivid acculturation , and infinite gratis speech want to place some clinch on how the Internet can be used , out of moral , spiritual , and political fears .
Some European regulator and telecommunication firms want to see company like Google taxed extra to reach its customers , as if an electron becomes concentrated to deal with if it crosses an sea . Basically , this just add up down to making more money , and jeopardise a spheric approach shot to final neutrality .
The ITU wants to make itself important in any possible way of life ; to be viewed as a global cyberspace self-confidence .
The US just wants to keep affair exactly the fashion they are . No changes at all . None .
So what ’s going to materialize ? Nothing . Nothing is go to happen . enactment of any of the , again , over 900 proposals on the board will need a “ consensus , ” which imply more than a bulk vote . Good circumstances getting 193 country to fit in on something that has to do with exemption of speech , money , regulating , and American Imperialism .
And let ’s say , hypothetically , the world reached a consensus on one of these 900 proposals . Let ’s say that it was even a immense one — strip down control of cyberspace knowledge base forth from ICANN and give way to the United Nations . Then what ?
Nothing . The ITU has no enforcement mechanism . In other Scripture , it has no way to make anyone do anything .
ITU : “ Hey , United States , almost all of us concord that ICANN should n’t be in commission of this important office of the Internet . Hand it over . ”
USA : “ No . ”
ITU : “ Well , all right . ”
There will be no takeover , no battle — not even a tickle engagement . Regulators and representatives will squawk at each other in an expensively - atmosphere conditioned hotel somewhere in Dubai , and when the league ends , the entanglement will be incisively the same as when it commence . And unless you ’re a dictator , that ’s probably a very salutary thing ; the cyberspace works best when we keep our hands off of it .
Internetregulation
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , skill , and acculturation newsworthiness in your inbox day by day .
News from the futurity , deliver to your present .
Please take your desired newssheet and submit your e-mail to advance your inbox .
You May Also Like
