U.N. forum: Should U.S. give up Web control?

[babylonsister]

U.N. forum: Should U.S. give up Web control?
By Jack Chang | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2007


RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — When hundreds of technology experts from around the world gather here this week to hammer out the future of the Internet, the hottest issue won't be spam, phishing or any of the other phenomena that bedevil users everywhere.

Instead, ending U.S. control over what's become a global network will be at the top of the agenda for many of the more than 2,000 participants expected at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum, which begins Monday.

With the Internet now dominating nearly aspect of modern life, continued U.S. control of the medium has become a sensitive topic worldwide. In nations that try to control what people can see and hear, the Internet often is the only source of uncensored news and opinion.

U.S. officials say that keeping Internet functions under their control has protected that free flow of information and kept the Internet growing reliably.

Yet to many foreign government officials and technology gurus, the United States has too much control over a tool that's used by more than 1.4 billion people worldwide. Brazil, China and other countries have proposed transferring oversight to an international body.

"The Internet has become an everyday instrument of particular importance for the entire world, yet it's still under the control of one country," said Rogerio Santanna, Brazil's secretary of logistics and information technology. "No one country should be able to make decisions that will affect Internet users everywhere."

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/21179.html

[FreakinDJ]

1. Screw them - TCP/IP and every other FTP paid for by USA

we paid for the research, developed the technology, and even implemented the first networks.

They can pound sand for all I care

Besides do you want China censoring the internet any way

[MadHound]

2. Sorry, but I can't get behind this

Having an international body, which would have to cater to both those who want to censor the internet and those who don't, would result in a fatal compromise that would see us lose much content on the Internet. In addition, it would be easier for corporations to get around net neutrality that way. Until the US starts censoring the net, it should remain under US control.

There are also economic considerations to take into account, how many billions would it take to re-establish protocols and such? How much R&D capital will have to be lost by those here in the US who funded and developed the Internet.

Sorry, but this is a bad idea.