Aw Shucks, Why Not Let the UN Control the Internet?
Here it comes again — another United Nations-sponsored grab to control the Internet. Next month, Dec. 3-14, the UN’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is holding a conference in Dubai, at which UN member states will meet to update the ITU treaty arrangements for international communications. The window will be open for everything from proposals for UN-regulated and administered fees to, as The Hill reports, language from China and Iran, which, in an effort to share with the world at large their own domestic practices, “could lead to online censorship and government monitoring of Web traffic.”
For those of you who don’t spend hours poring over UN web sites, some quick background on the UN’s ITU. Based in Geneva, its current secretary-general is Hamadoun Toure of Mali, whose credentials include a PhD from the University of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics of Moscow; honorary degrees from, among other places, the State University of Belarus and the National University of Moldova; plus membership in the Golden Order of the Honour of the International Telecommunication Academy of Moscow. The ITU’s deputy secretary-general, Zhao Houlin, is from China.
I’d include here a list of participants expected at the Dubai conference, except, in one those ominous foreshadowings to which the UN’s more troublesome gatherings are prone, the conference web site features its roster of “Announced Participants” as a restricted link, accessible only to those the ITU deems worthy. Apparently that does not include the great unwashed Internet-using public.
But hey, with the UN on the job, what could possibly go wrong?
Plenty, of course. The UN, in one way or another, has been eyeing the internet for years as a potential font of cash and lever of control. And the UN these days is the kind of place where Iran now chairs the Non-Aligned Movement, which consists of 119 member states plus the Palestinians — and accounts for well over half the membership of the UN General Assembly. All the usual old troubles apply: The UN remains an unaccountable, murky bureaucracy, lending itself to the manipulations of its worst members.
It is devoutly to be hoped that the Internet will escape the clutches of this conference without mortal damage (see: “U.N. Agency Reassures: We Just Want to Break the Internet, Not Take it Over“). If it does not, then is there any comfort to be found?
Tough question. But I’m trying here. Let us count the ways:
1) Letter-writing could make a comeback. The Internet has pretty much wiped out the days when you’d communicate from afar by feeding a sheet of paper into a typewriter, and crafting something that would survive the test of time — or at least the time needed for post office delivery. (Of course, the post office is on its way out of business. But one step at a time… .) But if Web communications are subject to the same system that brings us the UN budget process, we may all be driven back to the joys not only of letter writing, but of transmitting information by pen, ink, and pony express.
2) Folks would have a lot more free time. All those hours spent surfing the Web, connecting with people, doing business, research and other activities of that sort, would start to look a lot less cost-efficient. Hobbies such as knitting, darning socks and weeding the vegetable garden might start to look a lot more attractive, especially as the global economy, choked off from the current wave of communication and information, heads into a real nosedive.
3) Greater certainty, which — let us admit it — brings its own brand of relief. You wouldn’t have to wonder anymore if government censors are spying on your communications. You’d be sure of it.
4) No more worries about whether the UN is trying to take over the Internet. Instead of living in a state of anxiety every time the UN’s club of governments gathers to debate proposals for global regulation and taxes, instead of fearing encroachments on your wallet and your freedom, you could relax, secure in the knowledge that it’s a done deal.
5) More jobs at the UN’s ITU. Admittedly, that’s not a help to most of the world’s population. But for the lucky few, there will likely be more of these UN posts which on top of handsome base salaries offer, to the right applicants, such amenities as assignment grants, dependency allowances, education grants, travel and home leave reimbursement, health insurance, rental subsidies and exemption from income tax.
Perhaps there are other benefits as well to a UN Internet grab. That’s the list I’ve been able to come up with. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go exhume my old manual typewriter from the back of the closet, and go online, while that’s still a reasonable option, to hunt down some vintage typewriter ribbons.
UN… now there’re some folk who both shouldn’t and can’t be trusted with Soap-on-a-Rope,
– days?
The fact that basic freedoms and liberties are threatened by the thuggish UN is par for the Radical-in-Chief’s regime’s course. Birds of an anti-American feather.
A free internet is a DIRECT threat to their hegemony. And Islamophobia, a made up out of whole cloth ‘phobia’, is just another attempt to subsume America under the tyranny/boot of the UN, therefore, they are seeking to make it a ‘crime’ to criticize Islam. So freedom of speech is no longer free. The Islamist-in-Chief is down with that. What a shock. http://adinakutnicki.com/2012/07/09/washington-very-close-to-subsuming-the-constitutional-right-to-bear-arms-straight-into-thuggish-un-arms-commentary-by-adina-kutnicki-15/.
And the grab for America’s guns is of piece with it too and is its first order of priority. An unarmed populace is a subdued one. And so on…
This blogger recognizes its dangers and comments on it frequently.
Its no joke, they have a plan,
Patrick Fitzgerald and the Kabuki Dance of the Valerie Plame Thing
http://illinoispaytoplay.com/2012/11/24/patrick-fitzgerald-and-the-kabuki-dance-of-the-valerie-plame-thing/
It’d be nice to see just ONE of your posts that were on-topic…
After all this time; after all the deliberate and open attacks on freedom; after all the corruption; and after all the stench emanating from the U.N. – only a moron would be a part of it. Yet we have Ted Turner donating millions the the U.N. – and that’s just one person. They do NOT need our taxpayer money to function. The brainchild of the Club Of Rome (COR) – a massive ‘perceived’ crisis through which they could manipulate the world and achieve their “one world” power grab – began a while ago with Maurice Strong as its useful idiot. Then Al Goracle and now it’s even more Al Goracle; ressurectuing his climate “change” BS yet again in the COR’s chosen vessel; the U.N. The COR also has visions of a “one world” language; and it’s no coincidence that ol’ George Soros is an Esperantist (like his father), Esperantists also have designs of a one-world government.
Here’s a project for you Claudia:
Check out who exactly are on/have been on the COR members list (especially from the U.S.A.)
Check out where they have worked/are working.
Check out the COR literature – the older stuff and the book that they wrote.
Suddenly – the U.N. will actually make sense!!!
The three legs of the tripod of freedom are education, communications, and weaponry…and the UN is a declared enemy of all three.
Why do we tolerate this noxious pustule on the bank of the East River?
Because Bloomberg agrees with them. And instead of collecting the parking ticket revenue from those “diplomatic” cars, they raise taxes and institute red light cameras, and bridge and tunnel toll increases.
As of today there is a bill in the US senate that will allow the US government various agencies to read OUR (us citizens and residents too) email. If our civil rights have been more abused I would like to know. I may actually prefer to have the UN reading my email and controlling the internet than the thugs in the currrent US government.
A totally incompetent and corrupt organization vs a mostly incompetent and corrupt one? Well, if that’s our choice, then, yeah, I’d have to back you up on what you’re saying.
What better reason for us Americans to cut our umbilical chord (pun alert) to the Nations “united” against our America than Claudia Rosett’s reminder:
“And the UN these days is the kind of place where Iran now chairs the Non-Aligned Movement, which consists of 119 member states plus the Palestinians — and accounts for well over half the membership of the UN General Assembly.”
….”well over half the membership…”
Our only reason to hesitate, for a little while longer, is our ability to exercise our Security Council Veto. This of course is “balanced” by the Veto abilities of China, and Russia….generally working in tandem, in Pavlovian fashion, against America. . This used to be called, in another Era, the “Balance of Power”.
But, factor in that our Dollar contributions, “Dues”, are in fact facilitating those automatic Vetoes of our own initiatives. So, we still retain a slight bit of leverage with our Dollar crowbar.
Let’s make noises about stopping our on time “Protection Money” contributions…..will the Arabs and their Petro-Dollars step in through some tunnel to pay for that corrupt UN bureaucracy?
The World is much too accustomed, and overly fond of American Dollars dropping from the sky from that Big Stork with the Red, White and Blue Bundles of Green Cash. How many time have we seen it thrown right back in our faces by the next generation of those formerly desperate seekers?
The idealists at San Francisco in 1945 must be shaking their heads at what they’ve wrought.
We’re failing, right this moment, to take care of our selves. Margaret Thatcher’s bitingly accurate observation, “Other Peoples’ Money” quite literally means the World using America’s cash….ultimately against America.
Move the overstuffed U.N. offices in New York to Riyadh. They can then “deal” among like minded spongiform governments.
There is no reason not to just give the internet outside Canada, Mexico and the US to the rest of the world and cut off their access to the US except by individual license. This will cut down on espionage and commerce outside of North America. As individual countries make their policies compatible with ours, they can return by paying licensing fees.
That’s a good idea, especially attractive is the requirement for the rest of the World to pay fees TO the United States and Canada. We in the U.S.A. badly need the cash, especially for the next few years. Licenses of some sort could be granted, BBC style, to Internet Service Providers Worldwide to access United States and Canadian email addresses and/or Web addresses.
Maybe the Israelis would grant our two countries some sort of “Iron Dome” type of services-licenses, I think we’d be happy to pay them.
The Muslims, of course, won’t agree to anything at all…..we’re unwashed infidels. They need nothing from us…..do they? Some sort of neutral channel or Letter Of Credit arrangement could be arranged for electronic transfers of oil dollars. In time we Americans and Canadians may very well be exporting oil and gas. Tables are very gradually turning.
There will be the usual howls of automated protest about Third World “exclusion and prejudices”, but when have they ever shown any gratitude? They won’t like it when certain tables are turned.
An outstanding idea! Count me in.
Count me in, too. I had originally thought we could give the UN the internet and create another network for ourselves, but your idea sounds more productive.
What is interesting is how China is consumed by Calvinism now and this leads to nationalism : “We are the chosen people”
” President Woodrow Wilson, a Presbyterian who had been president of Princeton University (founded by Calvinists) wanted the League of Nations to be headquartered in Calvin’s Geneva and the league’s constitution to be called a “covenant”—all as witness to his American view of the world.
“The emergence of a pattern of civil-religious nationalism in countries influenced by the Reformed tradition, should lead Calvinists, and Christians generally, to take a more critical look at a development that is closer to idolatry than to Christian reformation. The New Testament certainly does not support the idea that any political entity after the coming of Christ can be God’s new Israel, modeled after God’s chosen people of the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants.”
Woody Wilson was the first American Progressive. He was the individual who re-segregated an integrated military. The pig.
Teddy Roosevelt was a Progressive before Woodrow Wilson.
10-4 on that. There is a new book out (Mark Levin?) about Teddy and Woody and how they ruined everything. I’ll maybe pick it up just to re-enforce what I already know or think I know.
Writing a letter is one thing, delivering it is another if the USPS folds. Perhaps we can bring back the pony express.
For the UN (and their owners) to achieve total world domination, the internet has to go, or be severely regulated and taxed. Free communication and access to all information will be deemed anti state. This will come to pass.
Wanting control over the Internet is wanting control over communications among individuals. Which is also the basis for the UN’s current assault on education all over the world, K-12 and higher ed. At its core it is a take down of the noetic system. And an unregulated Internet permits enterprising souls to gain access to unauthorized content. That would be any content inconsistent with the goals of repressing individualism and controlling and centrally planning economies. Because supposedly if Moscow and Mao had just had supercomputers and Big Data they could have managed their societies quite well.
http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/if-facts-wont-cooperate-there-is-always-pedagogy/ is a good overview of the related UN power grabs involving its Education for All global levelling initiative along with its current Decade for Sustainable Development propaganda campaign to commit Mind Arson.
If the Secretary General says Education is now the UN’s primary means of influence and it needs no more treaties, we should listen.
Can’t have unrestricted access to the Internet causing likely unpopular UN programs like the Future Earth Alliance from coming to light before they become operational. Which is precisely what happened.
The last time I perused the Federal Auctions, they had plenty of typewriters available.
Letter writing is making a comeback already. Some people are starting to conduct business via letters again because no one knows when things which are legal today will become illegal and some bureauthug will sort through email histories to find people to target in order to advance their career.
Time to get the US out of the UN and get the UN out of the US.
None of this really surprises me… its the same old story from the history books. My only fear is that there is no coming back from it this time if we allow it to happen again.
Look at the kings and queens and rulers of the past. Elite groups of sociopaths who set themselves and their kin and council up to rule over the lands and people. The people are kept poor and stupid through taxes and tyrannical rule, they never have a say so in what goes on, and their communications are stifled or outright banned so as to keep them all in check. And of course the people are kept disarmed as much as possible.
Before this wasn’t such a big deal, you pick up a sword or a bow or a musket and go to kill a few soldiers. Sure they had castles and armor and what not, but in the end battle was battle, you got up in someones face and beat them to death. Now? Well, if Obama decided he didn’t like what I was saying right now, my house would disappear via drone strike. No soldiers, no battle, just *boom* and suddenly my voice is silenced.
So really at this point, we’re pretty screwed with the way things are going. America is becoming dumber by the day, and we’re all to distracted by our shiny flickering boxes to care. Hell I guarantee many MANY people will support the UN on “internet regulation” with things like ‘well theres so many bad things on the internet, SOMEONE needs to stop it’ and ‘well IM not doing anything wrong so what do I care?’
*sigh* To have grown up in the age of video games and the internet, only to see those things threatened to be torn down right infront of my eyes. Never thought I’d see this day.
Good points. However, it isn’t just a drone dropping a bomb that would silence opposition. It would be much easier than that. In the US, thanks to provisions in Obamacare, government will have access to pretty much all information about you. Pretty soon they will also have direct control over the banks. Once that happens, particularly once cash if banned, only a couple of clicks on a keyboard and they’ve isolated the target from the modern world: turned off their bank accounts, health care access, electricity, cell phones, etc. No fancy explosions and death, just a live victim suffering over a long period of time serving as a terrifying example of government power without making a martyr of them.
Shutting down the internet would really be the last thing they would want to do. Once the snooper programs are fully automated (more than they already are and their abilities are frightening as it is), they won’t even need many minders on the machines, just techs to keep them running and a few “judges” to deny petitions to be restored, and the fewer judges the better since long delays for the victims will make them suffer longer and be a more frightening example to others.
“3) Greater certainty, which — let us admit it — brings its own brand of relief. You wouldn’t have to wonder anymore if government censors are spying on your communications. You’d be sure of it.”
Pfft! I am already sure of it now, and not because of the UN. If you use the internet you are in a “surveillance state.” Privacy is dead: get over it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dVlin98Sco
Why do you think there is only ONE way to create a network? The UN or obummer could chop up the internet with jag booted thugs today and we would have an alternate NETWORK running before they were finished. Ever hear of RF? They can’t jam all frequencies all of the time.
RF is only one way to transmit information.. I’ll leave it at that for now.
This. You have to remember that the Internet wasn’t built by any one entity, and it certainly wasn’t planned. It was the emergent result of hundreds of companies and individuals working to connect people and organizations. If the UN does take over and attempt to censor or extract rents those people will simply build a new communications infrastructure. Network effects will eventually pull everything interesting to the new network, leaving the UN with control over a discredited system used only by propagandists and attempting to extract revenue from an non-existent stream of money.
I think this is one issue were we could rather easily out maneuver them. The internet is just a big network. Lot of people have private networks. Most people posting here probably do in their house… plus companies all have their own ‘internal’ network.
There is no reason someone couldn’t just start another network and say it is not the internet. Put whatever people want in it. Everyone could add another dns server to their ip settings to get into it (with the internet just being in the middle).. If the UN tries to block it people could demand their internet provider also link to this other network directly…
I don’t know, an honorary degree from the National University of Moldavia, must be a pretty smart guy. Why not turn over control of the internet to him?
can anyone tell me how to apply for one of those UN jobs? Id like to live a life of leisure in Geneva with occasional trips to Dubai
I live in China and more than half the time can not access websites without my VPN because one of the links on the site is blocked. VPNs are a big business here for that reason. The internet would be a disaster if the entire world were controlled that way.
Keep the UN out of our lives. They do nothing but to promote tyranny. They function only to keep useless politicians in maney.
The Revolt of the Techies
“You MUST do this, it is the law!”
“Then the law is wrong. No.”
The Internet is nothing more or less than a group of standards (TCP/IP, HTTP, DNS) for getting machines to talk to one another. Those genies are way out of the bottle, and they aren’t getting put back in. You can’t “control” the Internet because the Internet is not a single thing. It’s too spread out. If the tyrants take the current DNS servers (an act that surely justifies bomb-throwing), the tech-heads will just set up a dozen mirrors elsewhere.
That said, open season on vermUN, no bag limit.
Perhaps there will be renewed interest in PGP and the like.