US network neutrality campaign enables foreign governments' Internet control

[Commentary] The International Telecommunications Union dates back to 865, when it was established as the International Telegraph Union to coordinate the delivery of telegraphs among nations. Whether 'telegraph' or 'telecommunications,' ITU's mandate was never to cover the Internet. What the ITU regulates, by the very terms of its operative agreement, is "telecommunications," and the agreement recognizes the right of each country to regulate telecommunications as it sees fit. So there is more than a little irony in the fact that President Barack Obama is asking the Federal Communications Commission to classify Internet services as regulated telecommunications services (which they are not now) and the FCC's chairman, Tom Wheeler, appears prepared to go along with the presidential direction. The FCC’s action will make it more likely that other countries will succeed in their quest to put Internet governance under government control.

[May is president of the Free State Foundation]