Clashes over Internet
rules to mark Dubai
Posted: Dec 02, 2012 11:01
PM PST Updated: Dec 03, 2012 6:02 AM PST
By By BRIAN MURPHY
Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab
Emirates (AP) - The U.N.'s top telecommunications overseer sought Monday to
quell worries about greater Internet controls emerging from global talks in
Dubai, but any attempts for major Web regulations will likely face stiff
opposition from groups led by a high-powered U.S. delegation.
The 11-day conference,
seeking to update codes last reviewed when the Web was virtually unknown,
highlights the fundamental shift from tightly managed telecommunications
networks to the borderless sweep of the Internet.
Some at the Dubai conference, including a 123-member U.S. delegation with envoys from tech giants
such as Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., worry that any new U.N. oversight
could be used by nations such as China
and Russia
"Love the free and
open Internet? Tell the world's governments to keep it that way," said a
message on the main search page of Google.com with a link for comments directed
to the Dubai
The agenda for the
gathering of more than 1,900 participants from 193 nations covers possible new
rules for a broad range of services such as the Internet, mobile roaming fees
and satellite and fixed-line communications. Questions include how much sway
the U.N. can exert over efforts such as battling cyber-crimes and expanding the
Internet into developing nations.
The secretary-general of
the U.N. International Telecommunications Union, Hamadoun Toure, said that
accusations that the meeting could limit Web freedoms are "completely
untrue" and predicted only "light-touch" regulations.
"Many countries will
come to reaffirm their desire to see freedom of expression embedded in this
conference," he told reporters.
But the head of the
American contingent, Ambassador Terry Kramer, said the U.S.
"What we don't want
to do is bring in all the private networks, the Internet networks, the
government networks, etc.," he told The Associated Press. "That opens
the door to censorship."
The outcome of the Dubai
More than 900 proposed
regulatory changes have been proposed, but details have not been made public.
Broad consensus is needed to adopt any items - the first major review of the
U.N.'s telecommunications protocols since 1988, well before the Internet age.
The gathering is also
powerless to force nations to change their Internet policies, such as China 's notorious "Great Firewall" and
widespread blackouts of political opposition sites in places including Iran Syria 's
Internet and telephone services disappeared for two days during some of the
worst fighting in months to hit the capital, Damascus
Kramer told reporters last
week in Washington
"That opens the door
... to content censorship," he said.
The International Trade
Union Confederation, representing labor groups in more than 150 countries,
claimed a bloc that includes China ,
Russia and several Middle East nations seeks to "pave the way for
future restrictions on both Internet content or its users."
"It is clear that
some governments have an interest in changing the rules and regulations of the
Internet," the confederation said in statement Monday.
Another battle that will
likely take place in Dubai
"Potentially, the
content developers - they could be Googles, they could be universities - would
end up being charged potentially to have traffic sent abroad," said Kramer
in Dubai
Advocates of the changes
say the money raised could pay to expand broadband infrastructures in
developing countries.
Toure said he hoped for a
"landmark" accord on trying to bring broadband Internet to developing
countries. "The Internet remains out of reach for two-thirds of world's
people," said Toure, who is from Mali
The U.N.
telecommunications agency dates back to 1865, when the telegraph revolutionized
the speed of information. Over the decades, it has expanded to include
telephone, satellite and other advances in communications.
Copyright 2012 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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