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edward long

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Why is the U.N. about to impose regulations on the Internet?

Wasssssup! In one month U.N. regulations hammered-out in Dubai will take effect. Can we expect blue-helmeted, jack booted brown shirts to slowly cruise our neighborhoods in Land Rovers festooned with myriad antennas? Hmmm.
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/11/01/one-month-until-regulate-internet/

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Closing Statement from edward long

There are nine comments. You can read them in less time than a coling ststement would take to write. Several related posts have indicated little concern about the internet becoming significantly more regulated by the government. Oh well. Vamos a ver! Thanks for your thoughts everyone. TED Rules!

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    Feyisayo Anjorin 50+

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    Nov 2 2012: As they say, "Almost doesn't count", I don't think the members of the security council who value freedom of speech would allow any unnecessary imposition.

  • John Smith 30+

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    Nov 2 2012: "Why is the U.N. about to impose regulations on the Internet?"

    It can't impose anything without the security council agreeing, the US has a veto in the security council and can thus block the thing from becoming anything more than a guideline. Anyway, don't pretend like the US is the pinnacle of freedom on this subject: no one in Europe gets jailed for jailbreaking an iPad, or bankrupted for downloading 30 songs, or forced to pay a billion in damages for building a device that has the same geometrical shape as another company's device, so the US doesn't need the UN to restrict freedoms. But really, the UN can't do anything without the security council, it has never been able to ban torture or child labor so what makes you think they can ban internet freedoms?

    P.S. much of the reason the UN is even dealing with this is because right now the United States holds all the keys to the global internet, a truly concerned American conservative would want something to change about that (give the keys to Switzerland or internet freedom walhalla Iceland, or an independent NGO).

  • Priyankar Kumar

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    Nov 2 2012: The government wants to control the internet so that people don't expose their secrets. So that sites like wikileaks don't spring up. So that people can't criticize them. They want to kill the democratic nature of the net and we need to stop them.
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    Lejan . 30+

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    TED Translator
    Nov 2 2012: The ghost it out of the bottle, and no regulation will get it back again. Hurray!

    Anonymity networks will then be an answer. Something like Tor and similar technologies.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network)
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      edward long 100+

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      Nov 2 2012: Thanks for the link. Very interesting stuff!
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        Lejan . 30+

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        TED Translator
        Nov 2 2012: My pleasure! But there is a downside to this technology to be aware of. This is also the place of illegal and unethical content of the internet, namely child pornography, as it not only covers up good intentions, unfortunately!
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          edward long 100+

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          Nov 2 2012: The genie definitely has a dark side. Since we can't put him back in the bottle we must learn to manage his propensity for evil.
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        Lejan . 30+

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        TED Translator
        Nov 2 2012: Well said and as I see it too.
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    Scott Armstrong 50+

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    Nov 1 2012: I think it was inevitable. We've been working towards 1984 since 1984.
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