The United Nations (UN) is calling a meeting between the world’s governments starting December 7th, 2012. It could very well decide the future of the Internet through a binding international treaty.
The Internet is in danger
It’s called the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), and it’s being organized by a government-controlled UN agency called the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
If some proposals at WCIT are approved, decisions about the Internet would be made by a top-down, old-school government-centric agency behind closed doors. Some proposals allow for access to be cut off more easily, threaten privacy, legitimize monitoring, and blocking online traffic. Others seek to impose new fees for accessing content, not to mention slowing down connection speeds. If the delicate balance of the internet is upset, it could have grave consequences for businesses and human rights.
This must be stopped
Only governments get a vote at WCIT. We need people from all around the world to demand that our leaders keep the internet open.
Log your objections to the UN and the ITU putting control of the Internet behind closed doors at www.whatistheitu.org
Related articles
- Act now to stop unaccountable, censor-friendly UN agency from hijacking control of the Internet! (boingboing.net)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
[…] predicts that the ITU WCIT in Dubai could mean the end of the Internet (which I covered here and here). Sean Sullivan, Security Advisor at F-Secure Labs says that the World Conference on International […]