The Future of Innovation is at Stake in the Debate Over Internet Freedom

[Commentary] The World Conference on International Telecommunications concluded with passage of revisions to a 25-year-old treaty written for a telecom-focused world to include the Internet. One simple sentence caused the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, and 55 other nations to vote against a new agreement: “[A]ll governments should have an equal role and responsibility for international Internet governance and for ensuring the stability, security and continuity of the existing Internet.”

How a nation controls the Internet affects commerce, intellectual property rights, and trade. The Internet does not follow traditional borders or stop at nations’ edges so a common understanding of how it should be governed and by whom is critical to its future. Nations, especially those that espouse sovereignty over freedom, know that control over the Internet affects their national and international stature. Deciding whether sovereignty or freedom should underpin cyberspace will set the direction on how nations’ treat significant legal and policy challenges, such as national defense norms; criminal and civil penalties; standards; trade and privacy. If nations are allowed to dictate sovereignty over freedom, then online firewalls will become the Berlin Wall of the 21st Century. While last week’s action is not binding, it does tell us that the U.S. and its allies will need to be aggressive in diplomatic and international negotiations going forward with regards to Internet governance. Tearing down walls, once built, is a difficult, if not impossible, task. In many ways, the future of innovation can and will be decided by who wins the Internet debate on the international stage.