US Offers New Plans 1 Month Before UN Meeting To Regulate Web 128
Velcroman1 writes "Slashdotters have been reading for months about the upcoming ITU conference next month in Dubai, which will propose new regulations and restrictions for the Internet that critics say could censor free speech, levy tariffs on e-commerce, and even force companies to clean up their 'e-waste' and make gadgets that are better for the environment. Concerns about the closed-door event have sparked a Wikileaks-style info-leaking site, and led the State Department on Wednesday to file a series of new proposals or tranches seeking to ensure 'competition and commercial agreements — and not regulation' as the meeting's main message. Terry Kramer, the chief U.S. envoy to the conference, says the United States is against sanctions. '[Doing nothing] would not be a terrible outcome at all,' Kramer said recently."
Re:Anything that comes out of the UN (Score:0, Informative)
Apparently to shit-talk the US for no particular reason?
Re:Anything that comes out of the UN (Score:3, Informative)
I fail to see how the world food programme [wfp.org], the construction of refugee camps [unhcr.org], malaria and AIDS prevention [who.int], child protection and education [unicef.org] are bad for anyone, let alone "the rest of us."
Unless, of course, you mean that you're unwilling to pay taxes to support such efforts. In which case you'd seem like a selfish bastard but I'd reluctantly agree that human decency should be optional. I would go on to point out that most of the UN's humanitarian programs are financed by voluntary contributions [wikipedia.org] from member states.
Re:Anything that comes out of the USA (Score:4, Informative)
NREN [wikipedia.org]'s, such as JANET [wikipedia.org], AARNet [wikipedia.org] and many others existed. The Internet could easily have formed without the US portion. Yes much of the tech and standards came from the USA, but it is easily replaceable.