ITU Management Of The Internet: Incompatible With Free Speech?
Proposals to turn management of the internet over to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an arm of the UN, have lead to concerns that such a move could squelch free speech. Opponents of UN management of the internet note that turning the management function over to a governmental or intergovernmental body could politicize technical decisions. Furthermore, a number of the countries that support the UN role, such as China and Saudi Arabia, already have and enforce restrictions on online content. As a director of Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society explained, "If you go to the U.N., you might get the lowest common denominator instead of the highest common denominator, and before you know it, you're restricted in terms of what content you can put online." Supporters of UN/ITU internet management cite spam, viruses and other problems as proof that the current system is not working. However, others disagree and fear that allowing governments greater control of the internet could result in restrictions on the international flow of information. As a senior official with the Information Technology Association of America explained, "Some of the innovation may be a lot harder to get through. It would lead to a general economic depression." One recent article recounted an early ITU attempt to establish an international electronic communications standard, the OSI stack. The ITU alternative to the TCP/IP protocol that forms the basis of the internet was far more expensive and would have been run by incumbent telecom providers. As the article opined, the ITU's "failure to implement this vision should be gratefully received by every man, woman and child on the planet." Although there are problems with the current management of internet that need to be remedied, the remedy should take place within the existing and largely successful framework, not through a politicized UN bureaucracy.