p2pnet - rss feed: How the Net is run
p2p news / p2pnet: Should America continue to have Net oversight powers? The question will dominate the three-day United Nations technology summit in Tunisia, slated to start tomorrow.
A European Union compromise is gaining international support, the EU’s executive Commission said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. “The EU has been promoting its proposal ahead of the formal start on Wednesday of the three-day United Nations technology summit in Tunisia, the preparations for which have spurred accusations that the Tunisian government has barred entry to activists trying to attend the event.
“At issue is the question of who gets to make the big decisions on how the Internet is run - a task that now solely belongs to the California-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, overseen by the U.S. Commerce Department.”
Several countries have, “called for taking Internet oversight powers away from the U.S. government and establishing a separate U.N. agency to handle the job,” says AP. “The Bush administration said in July that it does not want to change the way ICANN is run.”
The EU is, “proposing a system where governments collaborate to make decisions on governance issues like spam, cybercrime and ensuring people all over the world have access to the Net.”
But, “ADS is American Derangement Syndrome, a sister disease to BDS, Bush Derangement Syndrome,” under which, “sufferers hate George Bush so much that their brains cease to function properly,” says the the Pacific Research Institute’s Sonia Arrison.
Meanwhile, “Tunisia’s media are like the election results - 94.48 per cent of them vote for President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali,” says Reporters Without Borders.
“In other words, they are official media, docile and subservient to the government. It is a cruel irony that Tunisia will host the World Summit on the Information Society.
“The ‘Tunisian model’ cares about appearances and the official media include many French and Arabic-language newspapers, but the news is all the same. Radio and TV supposedly opened up to the private sector in 2003, but in practice they are reserved for the government’s close associates and for entertainment.”
Now, “Already, rights watchdogs say, both Tunisian and foreign reporters on hand for the summit have been harassed and beaten,” says AP, going on that RWB says its secretary-general, Robert Menard, has been banned.
“On Sunday, a reporter with the French daily Liberation, Christophe Boltanski, was stabbed and kicked - but not seriously hurt - outside his hotel in Tunis,” says AP. “Boltanski had been investigating the recent beating of human rights activists in the country.”
See:-
Associated Press - EU Says Internet Plan Gains Supporttmr [sic], November 15, 2005
Sonia Arrison. - Sony DRM rips off L.A.M.E., November 14, 2005
Reporters Without Borders - Tunisia - 2005 annual report
November 15th, 2005 at 4:00 pm
Is it bad that this
“On Sunday, a reporter with the French daily Liberation, Christophe Boltanski, was stabbed and kicked - but not seriously hurt - outside his hotel in Tunis,” says AP. “Boltanski had been investigating the recent beating of human rights activists in the country.”
gave me a laugh ?
/ponder
November 15th, 2005 at 4:04 pm
I say that the P.S.A. (U.S.) has been doing a pretty fair job at running the Internet DNS the way things are. Granted, the Bush administration is in big with all of the cartels, but that does not mean that this corruption has made it to the Domain Naming Sytem. If the U.N. forces the issue and creates a competing U.N. DNS system, the Internet will fragment. I know that I, for one, will not pay good money to register my domain name with both P.S.A. and U.N. registrars.
The U.N. running the DNS sytem will put too much control of the Domain Naming system into the hands of despotic governments. The only way I would want to replace the P.S.A. as steward of the DNS system is if the DNS system were to by run by the likes of the founders of the Free Software Foundation or the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I do not believe that any big company, government, or organization of governments are trustworthy enough to run the DNS system in a just manner. Governments and corporations have proven time and time again that they are not capable enough to do the job in a fair manner.
November 15th, 2005 at 7:19 pm
to an international group… end of story…
I know the US government wants too… but it CAN’T rule the world… =P
November 15th, 2005 at 10:32 pm
With all due respect, i think you are missing the point, which is, the internet is world wide, not just american, so why should it be run soly by americans?
The internet is integral to the social and economic success of the entire world. Be that as it may, the entire international community should have a say in how it’s run.
November 16th, 2005 at 10:14 am
I’m not sure i really want the net to be run by a committee of committees every single one of which has their own agenda.
For example, i’m sure the chinese govt for one would LOVE to be able to stop everybody being able to search for evil words like “democracy” just to make sure that noone in their country can.
I can also see issues with some countries happy to grant urls that would offend other countries and then a huge bunfight starting over it all.
In fact the more i think about it, the more i believe letting ANY govt have any say in how the net is run would be a catastrophe. Just put it in the hands of nerdy scientists who’s only concerns would be to make it better and faster than it is now. And don’t let the Korps get their bloodsucking fangs into it!
November 18th, 2005 at 11:46 am
Well…. it was invented in the us.. not like it’s being bogarted, that much. sure .gov and some other tld’s aren’t shared with other countries, but they get thier own.
Are people really going to keep crying because the “good” names were all taken?
Seriously. WTF?
Face it. If DNS control were handed over to everyone, it would be an even bigger clusterfuck then it already is.
Should things that are used and depended on worldwide be reliquinshed to the UN? LOL i’m sure all countries with things like that would love to give up thier good stuff because some people have issues with it.