WCIT is not ‘about taking over the Internet,’ Touré says

The news media contributed to “misinformation” leading up to the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), a forum that “is not about taking over the Internet,” said Hamadoun Touré, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). “We have seen and heard many comments about ITU or the United Nations trying to take over the Internet,” Touré said Monday, according to the text of a speech to member countries attending the WCIT. “WCIT is not about taking over the Internet. And WCIT is not about Internet governance. WCIT is about making sure that we connect the billion people without access to mobile telephony.” The conference is taking place to renegotiate the International Telecommunication Regulations, a global treaty on interconnection and information and communication services. They were last negotiated in 1988. The WCIT, taking place Dec. 3-14 in Dubai, has drawn attention for controversial proposals from Russia for increased state control over international telecom traffic and another from developing countries to charge “sender pays” fees on Internet traffic crossing borders. “The misinformation has not been helpful in terms of clarifying the plain facts and the enormous benefits we can hope to achieve here in Dubai over the next two weeks,” Touré said. “One of the most persistent myths concerns freedom of expression, and it has been suggested that this conference might in some way act to restrict the open and free flow of information,” he said. Touré referred to Article 33 of the ITU’s constitution related to the public's right to freedom of expression. “Fears have also been expressed that new provisions in updated ITRs might help to legitimize government censorship. And I fully agree that this should not happen,” Touré said. “This conference will not stand in the way of the need to protect the right of the freedom of expression, the right to communicate, and the right to privacy. But we must recognize that none of these freedoms can exist without security—especially in the online world.” He encouraged member states to address broadband affordability in developing countries and high pricing for mobile roaming internationally. Canada, the United States, the EU's 27 member states, as well as major tech companies such as Apple Inc., Facebook Inc., and Google Inc., said they oppose any additional regulations on Internet traffic. Vint Cerf, vice-president and chief Internet evangelist at Google, which is a member of the U.S. delegation to the conference, said in a company blog post on Dec. 2, titled “Keep the Internet free and open,” that the “regulation of the Internet” was on the agenda. “The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is convening a conference from December 3-14 to revise a decades-old treaty, in which only governments have a vote. Some proposals could allow governments to justify the censorship of legitimate speech, or even cut off Internet access in their countries,” he said, and urged readers to sign an online petition. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the American delegation to the conference is in talks with other states “to drop all discussions on possible Internet regulations” and take them “off the table.” The ITU, an agency of the UN that regulates and coordinates international telecom policies and standards, issued a release Tuesday saying Tunisia introduced a proposal for new wording in the treaty to protect freedom of expression, noting that “the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online.” news@thewirereport.ca

WCIT is not ‘about taking over the Internet,’ Touré says

News | 12/04/2012 8:44 pm EST

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