Internet regulation: ITU in crossfire
Immediately before the start of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) on Monday sought the Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Hamadoun Touré, again, to oppose censorship and control of pleasure allegations against his organization. In a press conference called by the ITU-chief of Syria to restore the broken internet and mobile phone access immediately. Syria had to ensure the freedom of communication contractually obligated Touré stressed. The ITU sees itself as part of the heated debate over the future telecommunications contract even against claims, they simply abolished altogether.
Of 3 to 14 December will be on the WCIT in Dubai amends the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITR), an international law agreement on basic issues of telecommunications. The ITR were last revised in 1988, they set the regulators centering both between countries and between carriers that ensure the smooth functioning of the global telephony. After presenting some of the ITU stakeholders (both states and telecom providers) the Internet will now be included in the regulations, in addition to imagine particularly the carriers to transfer the principle of the "sender pays" and quality of service of the telephone network to the Internet and thus overturn the net neutrality. For Internet users then would not the same Internet, the network connection would link the citizens in future only with a virtual world, which constructed its operators. Of individual states also come desires for stricter control of the internet content, which is rejected by the U.S. and some EU representatives sharp.
Advance is internationally fought bitterly over the future scope of the ITR and the possible extension of the ITU role. Andrew McLaughlin, former technology adviser at the White House had, at a meeting called for the New America Foundation, however, resolve the ITU. U.S. Ambassador Terry Kramer, who will lead the nearly 130-strong U.S. delegation to the WCIT, felt it necessary to strike conciliatory tone: Not the ITU itself was the problem, but rather was a reflection of its Member States. Of course, were the proposals of non-democratic countries of particular concern, said Kramer. Particularly the recent proposals of Russia he called "shocking and disappointing". This would go against all protestations particular the ITU Secretariat that the WCIT will not deal with issues of management of the Internet. Russia had demanded among other things that all nations should have equal rights with respect to the management of network names, IP addresses and Internet infrastructure.
Russia's references to the sovereignty of states in grid policy issues in international and in the "national segments" of the Internet has made all those alarm bells ringing, the fear a re-nationalization of the global network. Kramer warned against any justification for states to make the control of routes and content to purely national matters and thus open the door to censorship. However, there is so far from among the Member States little support for a proposal to limit enshrined in the ITU Constitution and the old ITR sovereign right of states to restrict private telecommunications to more.
The position of the EU Member States, at the last minute in the past week (with five abstentions) is adopted, not on such details. The basic positions are: no additional obligations on businesses (and thus no new payment regime), generally no decisions that would change EU law. Proposals for respect for human rights and data protection should support, an enhanced ITU mandate but on the other hand rejected. Likely to be hotly debated the rules for network security, to which the Union intends to support increased international cooperation.
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