Why Fix the Internet if it Ain’t Broke?

22 Oct

The looming crisis and attempted takeover over Internet Governance by Emerging Country Regulators and European Incumbents backed by the ITU is often casually dismissed as “impossible to happen”. I’m not so sure. History is strewn with underestimated threats and their dire consequences. Not that there’s much individuals can do in this case, except publicise this attempt at fixing something that clearly isn’t broken and doing in a way that favors inefficient players trying to cope with efficient mechanisms outside of their direct grasp.

Today, the OECD’s Rudolf van der Berg posts on the OECD policy blog a piece that explains why the OECD is firmly behind the current self-regulated model and the dangers of a regulatory take-over. It’s entitled 2 billion users and it’s done on a handshake and it’s a must read!

  • Ian Scales

    The ITU has managed to do the nearly impossible  -  uncover the single bi-partisan issue in US politics this year – no ITU (read UN) control of the Internet. In addition, the ITU hierarchy seems to be right behind the ETNO proposals  -  in itself an astonishing position for an organisation making a play for extending its remit over an Internet, which lets face it, is driven by the IT industry more than telcos. So the question is, what’s going on?  Do they actually want schism, with the US walking out of the ITU should any of the madder ITR stuff get through?  If you think this is a tad fanciful, in the 150 plus years of the ITU the US has spent decades outside –  hence the markedly different telecoms environment there.  And if the mad stuff is simply not going to pass into new ITRs because the US and its allies will vote it down  -  why is it being promoted?

  • http://www.martingeddes.com Martin Geddes

    The irony being that the Internet is borked in many significant ways. The ITU/ETNO proposals would only make it borkier.