Should the UN govern the internet?

[GrandAdmiral]

In a series of articles, Cnet has been keeping close coverage of the UN's internet summit:

At U.N. Internet summit, calls for change

Among the issues are:

- How to govern the internet
- Too much english domination on the internet
- China claims they don't censor the internet
- American companies are targeted for cooperating with Chinese sensorship on the internet
- The internet connections at the summit fail for the duration of the summit
- The need to erode US influence on the internet which was the most common theme

The main idea of the summit seems to be that since the world has embraced a resource that came from the US, it should now have control of it.

My question is: Should the internet be governed by the UN, should it stay pretty much the same with some US and English influence or should it remain as free from any type of government control as possible?

 

[puglover]

No, no, no, no. The Internet is a free forum of content, there is no censoring or "governing" of it.

 

[zenspiderz]

I would say the only justification for the UN to regulate the internet would be if the US admin were to try to regulate it. But ultimately I don't think any gov or private corporation should have ANY regulatory power over the internet.

The few administative tasks the internet needs to keep functioning such as domain registration or protocol standards should be performed by non-govermental not-for-profit organistations that recieve financial maintenance direct from the users.

That way the internet stays free and fair.

 

[BirraImperial]

No country or organization should rule the cyberworld. Period. The internet should be available to as many ppl as possible around the world, so that more non-english content can be developed.

 

[s.c.dude]

- How to govern the internet

you cant

- Too much english domination on the internet

english speakers are the vast majority

- China claims they don't censor the internet

of cource they dont

- American companies are targeted for cooperating with Chinese sensorship on the internet

how?

- The internet connections at the summit fail for the duration of the summit

im confudsed

- The need to erode US influence on the internet which was the most common theme

same thing as english

 

[Riesstiu IV]

The Internets should be jointly ruled Ted Stevens and Al Gore. They will both take the title, "eMperor of the series of tubes."

 

[HawkeyeGS]

I think as an international organization dedicated to freedom and I can't think of a scenario in which it wouldn't be in violation of freedom to censor no one should control it. I bet the US is pretty pissed it didn't try some centralized system now lol.

 

[Ball Lightning]

No one should regulate it.

 

[warpus]

No, no, no, no. The Internet is a free forum of content, there is no censoring or "governing" of it.

You do need some though. For example, somebody has to run the DNS servers, somebody has to administer domain registrations, etc.

Right now this is done by mostly U.S. companies. I would prefer to see a bit more of an international involvement.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

of cource they dont

The funny thing is the anchor questioning the Chinese official was from BBC whose site was blocked at the time of the converstion.

China: We don't censor the Internet. Really

how?

U.N. blasts Cisco, others on China cooperation

im confudsed

No Internet at United Nations 'Internet' summit

 

[Sidhe]

The UN should steer clear of the internet, if it aint broke don't fix it; the internet is perhaps the only truly free and democratic system on the planet, even the multi governement UN has a lot to learn from it's multiculturalist views. If you regulate to any extent it it becomes much like a government, prone to politics corruption and thus selfish conceit. You can't make people conform and hope to keep the internet sound, frankly though you can't regulate it anyway, without destroying it's framework.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

So China and the US have a veto about the content ?

 

[GrandAdmiral]

So China and the US have a veto about the content ?

China and Iran have issues because they think the US will use the DNS server control to its advantage in the event of a conflict. But what part should a government that sensors the internet so blatantly play in controlling it?

 

[Ball Lightning]

If anyone should control the internet then the UN should.

 

[Red Door]

No one should govern the damn internet.

 

[Irish Caesar]

I was unaware the internet was broken and needed some bureaucracy to run it.

 

[Ball Lightning]

No one should govern the damn internet.

But Al, the internet storage base must be somewhere and they can govern it.

 

[Tenochtitlan]

They can try, and they will try. I just hope they will fail.

 

[armathas]

I should run the internet.
Seriously, I agree with several who stated before..if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The Internet does not need a governing body, as evidenced by thousands of examples, when gov't touches- it will break.

 

[GenMarshall]

The internet should be free and not be touched by anyone. However in maitanance and services, I believe that each country should govern their own section of the internet.

BTW, whoever votes that Microsoft is an evil empire will incur the wrath of 95-tan .