Communications of the ACM
House Approves Resolution to Keep Internet Control Out of Un Hands
The U.S. House of Representatives has unanimously passed a resolution that calls on the U.S. government to oppose a United Nations (UN) effort to control the Internet. The World Conference on International Telecommunications is meeting this week to update an international telecom treaty, but critics say the proposals of many countries could allow UN regulation of the Internet.
"The 193 member countries of the United Nations are gathered to consider whether to apply to the Internet a regulatory regime that the International Telecommunication Union created in the 1980s for old-fashioned telephone service," says U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.). Walden warns that some countries want to "swallow the Internet's non-governmental organizational structure whole and make it part of the United Nations." The House resolution is the same one passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate in September. The White House also opposes UN control of the Internet.
"We need to send a strong message to the world that the Internet has thrived under a decentralized, bottom-up, multi-stakeholder governance model," says Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). The resolution states that it is "the consistent and unequivocal policy of the United States to promote a global Internet free from government control."
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