Google Rallies Opposition to U.N. Internet Treaty

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Every time humanity invents something awesome, sooner or later someone comes along who wants to ruin it for everybody. Usually someone who doesn't understand how that something works. And usually that someone is a fuckin' politician.

 

[MrTub]

"Today, the European Parliament passed a resolution that condemns the upcoming attempt from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to assert control over the Internet, and instructed its 27 Member States to act accordingly. This follows an attempt from the ITU to assert itself as the governing body and control the Internet."

http://falkvinge.net/2012/11/22/european-parliament-unanimously-passed-resolution-against-itu-asserting-control-over-internet/

"1. Calls on the Council and the Commission to ensure that any changes to the International Telecommunication Regulations are compatible with the EU acquis and further the Union?s objective of, and interest in, advancing the internet as a truly public place, where human rights and fundamental freedoms, particularly freedom of expression and assembly, are respected and the observance of free market principles, net neutrality and entrepreneurship are ensured;

2. Regrets the lack of transparency and inclusiveness surrounding the negotiations for WCIT‑12, given that the outcomes of this meeting could substantially affect the public interest;

3. Believes that the ITU, or any other single, centralised international institution, is not the appropriate body to assert regulatory authority over either internet governance or internet traffic flows;"

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=P7-RC-2012-0498&language=EN

so I guess EU isnt really happy about it either.

 

[draythefingerless]

The Internet is a work of art (how I look at it) that spans the entire world. Taking that away is going to be a major, major travesty to all of us. I'm with Google on this one; even though we have sites like 4chan and YouTube, there's enough positivity and good things that make the Internet worth its place in the world today and the future.

Where is it? All I ever hear nowadays is people screaming "entitled" and "first world problems" at everything they don't agree with. Everywhere I do someones gotta pick a fight with me over the smallest, minute details.

While there are a bunch of reasons to counter your view, ill just use one. You can learn now, in 5 minutes, more than you could learn 15 years ago, in a day. And thats if you were in a good country with libraries and supported knowledge. A 3rd world country child, would NEVER dream of learning ANYTHING 15 years ago. but now they give out internet in public spaces n shitty laptops. and they can surf away into knowledge. You can learn so fast, so easy, so much now, if you went back in time you would feel despaired. Just imagine for a second 20 years ago, that you couldnt google a particular subject that came to your mind. You couldnt ask a question, then boot up a browser and find the answer immediatly. And as for veritable source material, while the internet material isnt as trustworthy as librarian and encyclopedic support, you have SO many more different sources of information, the sheer ammount more than makes up for the less trustworthy sources.(personally i always found encyclopedic knowledge extremely bias, even with all the scrutinized checking).

Oh and, if you think that no one uses the internet for knowledge.... thats just the lazy people. And lazy people have never seeked knowledge, no matter what era it is.

 

[mateushac]

For some reason I can't see how something like this would be bad business for companies like Google. More control over the internet would filter out a bunch of the small/medium infrastructure/hosting/dns/content-providing enterprises. Profits for the big fish would promptly skyrocket once they started making deals with the governments.

Would anyone care to enlighten me with the other side of things (ie. the reason google decided to oppose this project instead of embracing it)?

 

[Macgyvercas]

Changes to the domain name system? I'm compelled to quote Randall Munroe on this one:

"A message from sysadmins everywhere: Seriously, do not mess with the DNS. If you break the internet, we are NOT building you a new one."

 

[Notsomuch]

Anyone else find this funny coming from a company that chose to accept censorship demands from, wait for it, China concerning their web-browser? So they are worried that a free internet would be stifled by these countries while the first response of this free internet (Google) is to hold the countries hands through these acts of censorship so they don't lose a bit of cash. Yeah, I totally believe Google has my best interests in mind and if I follow the money I won't find any financial incentive at all behind this counter-movement.

 

[Olrod]

seriously what is with it with governments and trying to "fix" things that arent broken.

all i can really say is build the future you want to see not the future a well paid suit or someone who fears a disenting view wants

It's not a case of fixing what isn't broken, it's about taking control of something that you don't already have control over.

 

[RelexCryo]

Countries that censor the internet to prevent their citizens from being able to read anything bad about their leaders are the major backers of this treaty. While many people might despise the U.S. having a lot of power over the internet, letting countries that actually censor the internet for the goal of political oppression define the terms of the treaty does not sound good.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

This shit is terrorism. All I can say is, there will be blood and I won't be the only one spilling it, if this is passed.

 

[FalloutJack]

*Hits buzzer*

What is the most pointless and useless act since Texas wanted to secede from the US?

Alex: You are correct.

I'll take Ridiculous And Redundant for 600, Alex.

 

[Ravinoff]

It's like they still think the internet is something that even can be quantified and regulated. Short of unplugging from the network entirely, you can't restrict or regulate the internet. As China has proven, there are ways around everything.

 

[Strazdas]

What we need are international standards for internet numbering, naming, addressing and identification resources, which I thought we already had. We don't need bureaucrats who don't know anything about this stuff interfering.

this.

ALso, as much as i hate that US CONTROLS 90% of domains having one company control it is not any better. In this case what UN is trying to do is good, but what it will result it isnt. government are humans too after all.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

What we need are international standards for internet numbering, naming, addressing and identification resources, which I thought we already had. We don't need bureaucrats who don't know anything about this stuff interfering.

this.

ALso, as much as i hate that US CONTROLS 90% of domains having one company control it is not any better. In this case what UN is trying to do is good, but what it will result it isnt. government are humans too after all.

It's not altogether a terrible idea, but what I think is needed is the formation of a completely new international organization to regulate this sort of thing. One that is not tied to any to any one country, not bound or influenced by politics, and will not be influenced by government policies. Also run entirely by IT professionals and no bureaucratic idiots.

EDIT: And not influenced by multinational corporations or media lobbyists (like say, Hollywood or the Music Industry) either.

 

[mooncalf]

TV & Radio where intended as a mean to educate and inform the masses. Then it started being used for propaganda. And now, we have entertainment. Ads and reality TV. That's why I don't have cable anymore.

...So we give the internet over to a central broadcaster that can - like a TV network - determine content top-down (with input from the most vocal public and financial contributors of course)... And that will make the internet better? Safer?

Absofluffin' nonsense.

The internet is ours and it's free.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

So where can I find this Petition?

Depends where you live at. The US's House of Representatives have already condemned the bill so there's no need to Petition against this in the US. I managed to find a petition for New Zealand if that's where you live.

WHERE WHERE WHERE WHERE!!! <------- lives in NZ too

Here you go.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/vote-against-the-itu-having-regulatory-authority-over-t.html

Shouldn't really be necessary though since the US is a definite opponent to the bill which means it won't get the unanimous agreement it need to pass.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

...Sigh. Some people never give up, do they? Where's that petition anyway?

 

[No social life]

So where can I find this Petition?

Depends where you live at. The US's House of Representatives have already condemned the bill so there's no need to Petition against this in the US. I managed to find a petition for New Zealand if that's where you live.

WHERE WHERE WHERE WHERE!!! <------- lives in NZ too

Here you go.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/vote-against-the-itu-having-regulatory-authority-over-t.html

Shouldn't really be necessary though since the US is a definite opponent to the bill which means it won't get the unanimous agreement it need to pass.

...Sigh. Some people never give up, do they? Where's that petition anyway?

There's also,from what I can tell, a petition run by Google that seems international, here's a link.
https://www.google.com/takeaction/