<incom> U.N. telecom not eying Internet control

[mclauglm at po.muohio.edu]

The ITU seems to have reverted to the "Washington 
Consensus" after testing the waters of the 
"post-Washington consensus" via the World Summit 
on the Information Society. The reference to the 
FCC is interesting: During Prepcom 2 of the first 
phase of WSIS, I briefly interviewed the US 
Ambassador to the WSIS, David Gross, and I 
inquired as to the extent to which the US 
position during WSIS would be coordinated with 
prevailing positions held by the more right-wing 
members of the FCC. He responded that, although 
Michael Powell (son of Colin and then chair of 
the FCC) was "one of [his] best friends," the FCC 
had nothing to do with the ITU/WSIS because the 
latter is a "political event" and the FCC "is not 
a political body." I responded that it seemed as 
though he was over-stating the separation between 
the two, both in respect to politics and 
standards-setting, and that's when the 
conversation took a direction which was less 
amicable than how we had begun it.

At least we know who's in and who's out at the 
ITU now. "Who's in": entities with a very 
positive attitude" toward solving technical 
issues; Who's out: just about everybody else 
(part of the sub-title, by the way, of The 
Incommunicado Reader, Lovink and Zehle, eds.).

Regards,
Lisa

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070113/ap_on_hi_te/un_internet_control

U.N. telecom not eying Internet control

By FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press WriterFri Jan 12, 8:47 PM ET

The United Nations will not try to take the lead 
in determining the future of the Internet, the 
head of the U.N. telecommunications agency said 
Friday.

Hamadoun Toure, a Malian who was elected 
director-general of the International 
Telecommunication Union in November, said the 
agency would be just one of many organizations 
involved in shaping the Internet's development.

"It is not my intention to take over the 
governance of the Internet," Toure told reporters 
in Geneva at his first press conference. "There 
is no one single issue that can be dealt with by 
one organization alone."

He said the ITU would work with other agencies 
such as the quasi-independent Internet 
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or 
ICANN, which manages the day-to-day flow of data 
across the Internet from its Marina del Rey, 
Calif., headquarters and oversees key rules that 
govern how computers communicate.

Control over these rules has been a major point 
of contention between governments, with some 
developing countries demanding complete 
independence of ICANN from the U.S. government, 
perhaps with the U.N.-affiliated body taking 
control.

Other countries have threatened to set up a 
parallel infrastructure that could lead to 
multiple, incompatible Internets.

"We have to avoid a 'cyberwar' between 
governments," Toure said, adding that regulation 
should be as light as possible and adapt to local 
conditions.

He praised the U.S. Federal Communications 
Commission as a model regulatory body, saying the 
FCC was "one of our very dynamic members ... with 
a very positive attitude" toward solving 
technical issues.

Toure's four-year term begins as the U.N. 
increases its efforts to make communication 
technology part of its global development plans 
and bridge the so-called "information divide" 
between rich and poor countries.

Two ITU summits in 2003 and 2005 proposed 
expanding telephone access to at least half the 
world's population by 2012. But the meetings 
grappled with the question of Internet 
governance, with neither providing a lasting 
solution.

Toure said a second priority during his 
leadership would be to increase security of the 
Internet against hackers, spammers and other 
cybercriminals - increasingly important as the 
world's dependence on telecommunication 
technology grows.

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights 
reserved. The information contained in the AP 
News report may not be published, broadcast, 
rewritten or redistributed without the prior 
written authority of The Associated Press.


-- 
Lisa McLaughlin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Mass Communication & Women's Studies
Editor, Feminist Media Studies
Director of Graduate Studies, M.A. Program in Mass Communication

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