US Internet Control To Be Topic #1 In Rio 325
Crazy Taco writes "It looks as though the next meeting of the UN's Internet Governance Forum is about to descend into another heated debate about US control of key Internet systems. Although the initial purpose of this year's summit was to cover such issues as spam, free speech and cheaper access, it appears that nations such as China, Iran, and Russia, among others, would rather discuss US control of the Internet. In meetings leading to up to the second annual meeting of the IGF in Rio de Janiero on Monday, these nations won the right to hold an opening-day panel devoted to 'critical Internet resources.' While a number of countries wanting to internationalize Internet control simply want to have more say over policies such as creating domain names in languages other than English, we can only speculate what additional motives might be driving nations that heavily censor the Internet and lock down the flow of information across it."
Re:Just wondering? (Score:4, Informative)
The US "control" of the internet is administrative control (address space allocation, DNS stuff, etc); it's not the hub for worldwide internet traffic.
Re:Give it to the UN? FU! (Score:4, Informative)
The web was invented at CERN, so if you're Swiss you can be proud of that. It was an evolution of Gopher, however, which came from the University of Minnesota. Go gophers!
Re:It's all about censorship (Score:1, Informative)
The US doesn't exactly have free press either. While usually, almost anyone can publish almost anything, the main media outlets are all controlled by a few companies and organisations who rarely publish anything anti-government. Also, anyone can get almost anything censored in the US nowadays by simply sending a DMCA takedown request.
In your free-press nation, try printing an article on how to remove AACS or BD+ from a HD disc.
Try publishing an article that contains something about Prince.
Try publishing an article that talks unfavourably about Scientology doctrine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_the_United_States [wikipedia.org]
AT&T Censor Pearl Jam http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=3962 [blacklistednews.com]
CBS News hid Abu Ghraib crimes http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=4396 [blacklistednews.com]
C-Span Cuts Off Caller Who Discussed Bush Executive Order http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=3848 [blacklistednews.com]
Re:It's all about censorship (Score:3, Informative)
Like you seem to understand, the far right is very much like the far left (look at Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich). Absolute liberty and extreme isolationism, for some reason lead to similar conclusions from the opposite point of view. Socialism in practice sometimes works through fascism.
Anyway, a neocon is similarly blended, but in an attempt to be moderate. It's not really all about israel, that's just a misunderstanding used by demogogues.
Whether we're on the same page or not, you're right to be skeptical of the paranoia above. The fundamentalist christians have less power now than they did yesterday. Their ability to control will never reach what it once was, and just as the GOP is going to nominate a pro-choice neocon with the pathetic blessing of Pat Robertson, the ability of the overly religious in america to exert power is weakening... it may swing back at times int he future, but never back to where it was in the early 90s. They had their chance to dominate, and they couldn't then and certainly won't in the future.
But that's not true everywhere.
The internet, liike many things that were invented decades ago, is an American thing used by the entire world. That's not to the detrimant of the rest of the world, as its productivity seems to be eclipsing the US quite a bit, but we made this internet, and it's fair that we have more control over it. Until we do such a bad job that there is enough incentive to make a new network, we ought to keep what's ours. It's not like we're any more evil than the UN... quite less actually.
If this is about waving dicks around by each nation, then ok. If it's about fairness and justice, then we have the better case.
Re:It's all about censorship (Score:4, Informative)
Russia is not the entirety of Europe, nor does it make up a majority of the countries in Europe. How did your bullshit manage to get modded +4 Insightful?
Re:thought crimes (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Just wondering? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:thought crimes (Score:3, Informative)
The root servers are not all American (Score:2, Informative)
How to participate remotely in the IGF (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Just wondering? (Score:3, Informative)
It is in the very begining part of the charter that provides free speech as long as the government thinks it is important at the time. section 2 gives the free speech but section 1 says that the government can deny or limit those rights if they can "be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society".
Free speech in canada is a gift from the government. Not an inherent right protected by their constitution.