India's Proposal For Government Control of Internet To Be Discussed In Geneva 230
First time accepted submitter cvenky writes "The Indian Government is proposing to create an intergovernmental body 'to develop internet policies, oversee all internet standards bodies and policy organizations, negotiate internet-related treaties and sit in judgment when internet-related disputes come up.' This committee will be funded and staffed by the UN and will report to the UN General Assembly which effectively means the control of the internet passes on to World Governments directly."
Re:Fuck Off We Invented It, Its Ours (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Oh Boy... (Score:3, Insightful)
And letting in the US is better ?
SOPA
PIPA
ACTA
Trans Pacific Trade Agreement ?
Give me a break. There is no government, no government on earth that wants a true free internet.
So in my view its better these governments "fight" each other and leave the internet alone (mostly) than have them banded together and destroy it with certainty.
Look at it this way (Score:4, Insightful)
The US has done far, far worse than expected, ICANN has shown that they really can't and the FCC has utterly destroyed any possibility of it doing anything by treating the Internet as not a communication system. The major ISPs are acting like gangsters, using extortion and running protection rackets via the death of network neutrality.
Leaving it where it is WILL kill the Internet as we know it. You WILL lose what freedoms you still have, if power doesn't shift soon.
I don't know if the UN will do any better, but they sure as hell can't do worse and there are no other international organizations capable of the task.
Re:Oh Boy... (Score:4, Insightful)
The US is about equal to all those you list in terms of civil rights, meaningful free speech (not just the playstuff that's actually allowed), levels of corruption and levels of actual democracy.
I agree that none of those listed should have a voice, but by the same standard neither should the US. At present, the US has very near absolute power. The GA may have depraved and corrupt elements, but on aggregate it's no worse than the US on any metric and at times is a whole lot better.
Ideally, the Internet would be run by a meritocratic UN group, with all nations recognizing and respecting a group that chooses members by merit and acts on merit. There have been *cough* enough incidents where nations (US included) have actively sought to cripple meritocratic groups that I do not believe such a group could function. It would lack the teeth necessary to impose its decisions and to work it would need Predator X-like teeth.
Your country is free to do their own thing (Score:5, Insightful)
Setup a different set of root servers. Start out by mirroring the ICANN root file to your root authority, and then passing that to your servers. Then maybe talk to ICANN about splitting authority over the root zone so your country/countries run the root for that part, ICANN for the rest.
Oh what's that? It is expensive and you'd rather just tell the US how to run it shit? Screw you then.
See the thing is right now the Internet doesn't have any global law over it, not even the US. It is all just a set of conventions. ICANN has the power because almost all DNS servers trust the root-servers.net roots, and they trust ICANN. However not only can you set up other roots, people have. Look at OpenNIC for one example. So while the US does have nominal de facto control, they have no de jure control and people can start ignoring them and building their own infrastructure any time they wish. It can even be an individual. You can run your very own root service, if you wish.
However, you start making it international law, then it is the kind of thing countries have to enforce, the sort of thing you can't just go your own way on. The people with guns will be saying what goes on.
So how about no, let's not have the UN in on it. Particularly since for all its faults, the US doesn't want to censor speech like China, Iran, and so on do and they all sit on the UN.
Re:Oh Boy... (Score:2, Insightful)
The US is about equal to North Korea in free speech? Hyperbole, much?
By all means, go live in one of those places and the the US and tell me they are anywhere near equal. I'll wait.
The US created the Internet, with all of the assorted freedoms it has right now. I can't think of any other place it could have been created, including most of Western Europe. You may feel butthurt about American hegemony and some of the bad decisions made under that umbrella, but you need a little perspective.
Re:Oh Boy... (Score:5, Insightful)
Ideally, the Internet would be run by a meritocratic UN group, ...
No. Ideally it wouldn't be 'run' at all.
Re:Oh Boy... (Score:3, Insightful)
Letting the US is better?
Compared to N. Korea, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia?
Um, YES, IT IS FUCKING BETTER!
The US isn't perfect, no one is saying that. No one is saying the US is the best. Compared to THOSE countries? Compared to the amount of freedom that can be found on MOST of the planet? Yes, the fucking US is better than that.
Jesus fucking christ and this drivel was modded INSIGHTFUL? You want some real problems with limitations and outright lack of free speech, travel *outside* the US for once in your miserable, small and meaningless little fucking life.
You've got most of Europe, the northern part of North America, Australia, and Japan & S. Korea. The rest of the world is pretty much fucking *shit*, and your rights mean *nothing*.
But hey, I'm sure you're right. I'm sure the US is every bit as much of an authoritarian shithole with no respect for human rights as China and North Korea. Totally.
Fucking idiot.
Re:Oh Boy... (Score:2, Insightful)
Find somewhere in Asia that isn't Japan and S. Korea that even pretends to know what rights are.
Somewhere has to be the bottom of the heap of "free" nations, anyway. I should have added Israel to that list, in retrospect -- but Japan and S. Korea still have all the rest of Asia beat, and Africa is just a fucking joke of a continent.
10 years ago I might've included Russia on that list, but... I hesitate, today.
Re:Oh Boy... (Score:3, Insightful)
And yet it's still walking slower in that direction than anyone else.
I beg to disagree. I am Brazilian and although my country has a LOT of problems it is certainly not going in this direction faster than US. The same can be said about a lot of developing countries and even most of the European countries, with some exceptions (UK comes to my mind). US certainly has a lot of laws protecting free speech and such, but laws are useless if the price of justice is not affordable and its decisions are each day less technical and more political. Add that to the fact that even these failing laws are being eroded each day by absurd amendments and acts and you have a very bleak picture.
Re:Oh Boy... (Score:5, Insightful)
Inventing something does not grant a right to control it later - otherwise, you would not need the FCC to allocate radio spectrum but leave that to Italy; and if Ford wanted to make changes to a car model they should ask Germany. And so on.
Re:Oh Boy... (Score:0, Insightful)
All of the "smart indians" have left and taken citzenship in other countries..
And they're known for being utter dicks wherever they settle
Re:Oh Boy... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Do **NOT** forget the Indian diaspora ! (Score:4, Insightful)
If wishing something happened made it so, then why didn't Obama change the US into a heaven on earth ? Frankly, I hope you're right. I just think you're wrong.
In India > 800 million people live on 2$ per day. Are you seriously suggesting they are progressive thinkers ? I'm not saying it's their doing or their fault or anything like that. I just find it really hard to believe it is any other way.