Confusion on Internet future after UN treaty split

The freewheeling, unregulated Internet seemed to survive a push for new rules at a UN treaty meeting, but the collapse of talks leaves unanswered questions about the Web's future.

Talks on Internet treaty fail as US bloc won't sign

An attempt by national governments to establish a worldwide policy for oversight of the Internet collapsed on Thursday after many Western countries said a compromise plan gave too much power to United Nations and other officials.

UN group gives nod for greater Internet oversight

A U.N. conference weighing possible Internet rules shifted into high-stakes showdowns on Thursday after advancing a proposal for greater government oversight. The proposal was a blow to U.S.-led efforts to keep new regulations from touching the Net.

World to have more mobile connections than people by 2014

By 2014, there will be more cell phone accounts than people on Earth at the current growth rate for that service, the International Telecommunications Union says in a new report.

Russia, China alliance wants greater government voice in internet oversight

A Russia-led proposal calling for sweeping new governmental powers to regulate cyberspace could enable countries to block some Web locations and wrest control of allotting Internet addresses from a U.S.-based body.

Internet governance talks in jeopardy as Arab states, Russia ally

A landmark attempt to set global rules for overseeing the Internet threatened to fall apart on Friday as a rift pitting the United States and some Western countries against the rest of the world widened, participants in the talks said.

UN telecoms talks in Dubai hit by apparent hackers

Organisers of a UN conference on global telecommunications said on Thursday that hackers apparently blocked their website and disrupted the talks, a gathering some critics fear could lead to greater controls over the Internet.

US fails to win early limit on Net controls at global gathering

A U.S. and Canadian proposal to protect the Internet from new international regulation has failed to win prompt backing from other countries, setting up potentially tough negotiations to rewrite a telecom treaty.The idea, also supported by Europe, would limit the International Telecommunication Union's rules to only telecom operators and not Internet-based companies such as Google Inc and Facebook Inc.
That could reduce the prospective impact of efforts by other countries including Russia and some in the Middle East and Africa to obtain more powers to govern the Internet through the ITU, an arm of the United Nations. Those efforts, slated for discussion next week, could make Net anonymity or the ability to remain anonymous online - more difficult to maintain and could bolster censorship, critics say.
"We want to make sure (the rewritten ITU treaty) stays focused squarely on the telecom sector," said U.S. Ambassador Terry Kramer. "We thought we should deal with that up-front."
Kramer had been hoping that a committee comprising representatives from six regional bodies would give quick approval to the American request on Tuesday. But that failed to happen.
An ITU spokesman said late on Tuesday that the talks were continuing and that the issue would only return to the main policy-making body on Friday.
About 150 nations are gathered in Dubai to renegotiate the ITU rules, which were last updated in 1988, before the Internet and mobile phones transformed communications.
The 12-day ITU conference, which began on Monday, largely pits revenue-seeking developing countries and authoritarian regimes that want more control over Internet content against U.S. policymakers and private Net companies that prefer the status quo.
The Internet has no central regulatory body, but various groups provide some oversight, such as ICANN, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that coordinates domain names and numeric Internet protocol addresses.
U.S. companies have led innovation on the Internet, and this stateside dominance is a worry for countries unaligned with the world's most powerful country.
The United States has also led in the development and use of destructive software in military operations that take advantage of anonymous Internet routing and security flaws.
Some of the proposals now being contested by the American and Canadian delegations are aimed at increasing security and reducing the effectiveness of such attacks, though the West and several rights groups argue that is a pretext for greater repression.
ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré told Reuters last week that any major changes to the 1988 treaty would be adopted only with "consensus" approaching unanimity, but leaked documents show that managers at the 147-year-old body view a bad split as a strong possibility.

If that happens, debates over ratification could erupt in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.

US seeks to drop Internet from UN telecoms talks

American envoys say they are working with other nations on a proposal to drop all discussions on possible Internet regulations from a U.N. telecommunications conference in Dubai.
The U.S. is leading calls to reject possible new codes on the Net by the International Telecommunications Union, a 193-nation body making its first major oversight revisions in nearly 25 years. U.S. representatives held meetings Tuesday on the proposal to take all Internet-related discussions off the table.
The U.S. fears any U.N. Internet regulations could complicate commerce and be used by nations such as China and Russia to justify further cyber-crackdowns.
But the head of the U.N. group, Hamadoun Toure, insists the 11-day talks will not limit freedom of expression and will mostly seek ways to broaden Internet services to developing countries.

Internet freedom not to be curbed: UN telecoms head

Internet freedom will not be curbed or controlled, the head of the UN telecommunications body, Hamadoun Toure, said as a meeting to review the 24-year-old telecom regulations kicked off Monday.Such claims are "completely (unfounded)," Toure, secretary general of the International Telecommunication Union, told AFP.
"I find it a very cheap way of attacking" the conference, he said, as the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) set off in Dubai to review regulations reached in 1988.
Earlier, Toure told participants at the conference that the Internet freedom of expression will not be touched during the discussions at the meeting.
"Nothing can stop the freedom of expression in the world today, and nothing in this conference will be about it," he said.
"I have not mentioned anything about controlling the Internet."
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon who addressed the forum's opening by video underscored the importance of the meeting as a venue to enhance access to information and communication technology (ICT) across the globe.
"The overall objective is to ensure universal access to the benefits of information and communication technology, including the two thirds of the world's population currently not online," he said.
"We must continue to work together and find a consensus on how to most effectively keep cyberspace open, accessible, affordable and secure," he said.
Google has been vocal in warning of serious repercussions on the Internet if proposals made by member states are approved at the WCIT-12 meeting, including permitting censorship over legitimate content.
"Some proposals could permit governments to censor legitimate speech or even cut off Internet access," said Bill Echikson, Google's head of Free Expression in Europe, Middle East and Africa in a statement on Friday.
The Internet giant is also arguing that the ITU, which is the UN agency for information communication technologies, is not the right body to address Internet issues.
"Although the ITU has helped the world manage radio spectrum and telephone networks, it is the wrong place to make decisions about the future of the Internet," Echikson said.
"Only governments have a vote at the ITU," he pointed out.
But Toure, whose Geneva-based organisation has 193 member states and over 700 private-sector entities and academic institutions, said that "consensus" is the way to make decisions at the agency.
He also dismissed claims that the meetings in Dubai were secretive, telling reporters that the sessions are open.
Google claimed in a blog post Monday that preliminary talks saw some "frightening proposals" discussed, including an Arab states' proposal to have the ITU take over the allocation of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.
It warned such move "would cause duplication with the private sector ICANN," Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
However, ICANN's chief Fadi Chehadi, a guest speaker at WCIT-12 opening, said his organisation and the ITU complement each other.
"The ITU and ICANN have complementary roles, and moving forward, we shall cooperate in good spirit," he said.
Google said last week some proposed treaty changes "could increase censorship and threaten innovation" and others "would require services like YouTube, Facebook, and Skype to pay new tolls in order to reach people across borders. This could limit access to information particularly in emerging markets."
Google's comments backed the US position, which is that the non-government "multi-stakeholder" system of the Internet should remain in place.
But Toure, referring to the suggested fees dubbed as tolls, insisted to AFP that the meeting "is not about that we are not discussing it."
The conference is hosted by the United Arab Emirates, one of the countries that censor Internet content, blocking political dissent and sexual material.

Clashes over Internet rules to mark Dubai meeting

A major U.S. delegation is in Dubai to lead opposition to possible new Internet regulations at a U.N. conference.The U.N.'s International Telecommunications Union hopes to reach a broad consensus to revise codes not updated since 1988 - before the Internet became a key part of global communications.
Each of the 193 nations at the 11-day meeting can propose regulatory changes. Organizers say the gathering will focus on issues such as Web security and expanding Internet services in developing countries.
But Internet companies, rights groups and some governments fear that the conference, which opens Monday, could bring rules that countries such as China and Russia would use to justify tighter Web restrictions and monitoring. The 123-member U.S. delegation includes envoys from tech giants such as Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.