IP: Geneva machinations - it just never ends... NOT IAHC

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

From: "Craig A. Johnson" <caj () tdrs com>
To: cpsr-cyber-rights () sunnyside com
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 11:12:47 +0000
Subject: Geneva machinations


Lest anyone think that the ITU is not seriously considering content
controls on the Net, I hope this summary of a working group session
at the UNHCR conference will divest her/him of such thoughts.


The dangers are very real.


Craig


------------------------------------------------------------
Geneva, 13 November 1997.
This afternoon, at a Geneva conference dealing with Internet
hate material convened by a U.N. Human Rights Commission,
the ITU made its bid to become the primary global forum for
controlling Internet content.  Before a meeting attended by
more than 70 representatives of national Administrations,
various U.N. agencies, and NGOs, the ITU Chief of Protocol
saying he was "representing the ITU Secretary-General,"
stated that "ITU may be the best place for guides, codes
of conduct and other controls on Internet content." 


The ITU official noting that its 188 Member nations consisted
of virtually every country, and combined with its long history
of telecommunication regulation made it the perfect place for
dealing with important Internet matters like content control.
He stated that "the question of whether the ITU should take
up this issue is vital."


When meeting participants noted that this was not a traditional
ITU activity, nor did it posses the expertise, the ITU official
noted that the Secretary-General intended to bring the matter
before the Member States at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference
next year and request the content regulatory role.


To bolster its claims of expertise in dealing with content matters,
the ITU official stated that ITU Internet experts had the ability to
"precisely identify the location of Internet servers."


The formal statement before the Commission was the first step taken
toward a content control role first mentioned by the ITU
Secretary-General several weeks ago in an interview with tele.com
executive editor Karen Lynch.  ITU Deputy Secretary-General Henry
Chasia this past Spring, signed a self-enacting MoU on the Internet on
behalf of the ITU, which among other things asserted the ITU's
jurisdiction over the Internet.


------------------------------------------------------------
Geneva, 14 Nov.
The ITU proposal to become the central global agency to control
Internet content was dealt a defeat today.  This intervention at  the
U.N. High Commission on Human Rights Conference on hate material on
the Internet by ITU Protocol Chief Venen Paratian on behalf of the ITU
Secretary-General appeared briefly in the draft conclusions of the
conference prepared by the UN HCHR Secretariat, reading:


  8. The ITU proposal
  That the ITU has been set up to deal with
  telecommunications and the Internet falls
  within the ambit of its mandate.  Any study,
  investigation, report, recommendation or
  regulation of the Internet should be left
  to the ITU.


However, during the final editing session the conference chair,
indicating that it was inappropriate, directed that it be removed from
the conclusions and placed in the record of the conference.


A veteran Canadian ITU observer present at the conference opined that
the ITU staff appeared embarked on frenetic multiple efforts to assume
various Internet related roles in a belief that complete control over
the Internet is necessary for continued ITU relevance. He said "why
don't they stick to things where they have competence and support,
like radio spectrum regulation."


---------------------------------




[end fwd.]








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