From the US statement it seems that this treaty is a replacement for all of the treaties that the ITU currently administers and the Internet was added. With both the US and the EU on record as opposing the Internet proposals, I can’t see it moving forward, but who knows what is going on.
We have states now proposing that carriers save text messages, so they will be available for criminal investigations. What a monumental waste of disk space that will increase the cost of cell service.
]]>What’s left without those changes is mundane things like tariff regimens and peering agreements. Which may be done via ITU-sponsored proceedings and processes, but they’re agreed upon by the parties involved, or there’s no agreement.
]]>And of course ITU proceedings do not have the force of law. Any regulations would need to be promulgated via the FCC. Fat chance of any major change in Internet governance from that mechanism, the FCC has been pretty useless of late.
]]>The big thing is the proposal to change the way the ‘Net is paid for, cost shifting to the landline model from the current system.
I have a lot of experience with its function in the radio spectrum and International wired communications, but the Internet is a very different thing, and I really prefer the geeks in charge. YMMV.
]]>The ITU predates the UN, BTW. It was set up in the late 1800’s to help figure out the operating agreements for the first trans-Atlantic telegraph lines, then later extended to radio-telegraphy and inter-country telephone calls. The country codes that you dial to do international calls, and the touch-tone codes to handle signally for international calls, for example, were agreed upon by ITU member countries and you wouldn’t be able to make international calls if not for the ITU because no two countries would have the same phone number scheme for routing calls. The ITU was rolled into the UN after WW2 but basically still operates under pre-UN rules which require consensus.
The chances of the ITU making any significant changes in Internet governance are pretty much zero. It simply does’t operate in a way that would allow it to do that, its charter doesn’t extend to that sort of thing.
In other words, I’m hearing a lot of paranoia from the right about this “UN takeover”, which seems to have been picked up by civil libertarians on the left, but given my knowledge of how the ITU works in the landline and RF realms, that doesn’t seem likely at all. The ITU simply doesn’t work that way. Blue helmets are *not* going to parachute into your ISP and force it under UN control tomorrow. Sorry, that’s just nuts.
– Badtux the Skeptical Penguin
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