Tech groups sound alarm over U.N. Internet resolution

Technology trade groups that represent Google, Facebook and Microsoft on Dec 12 sounded alarm over a treaty resolution that would let a United Nations agency play a more active role in future Internet policy discussions.

The resolution is being considered at a conference hosted by the U.N. International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in Dubai, where the U.S. delegation has battled against efforts to include Internet-related provisions in the treaty. TechNet, TechAmerica, the Computer and Communications Industry Association and the Internet Association argued that the ITU should be excluded from decisions regarding the governance of the Internet. They urged countries to block the resolution from being included in final text of the U.N. treaty. "If the future governance of the Internet were in the hands of a statutory international body, there is no doubt that more autocratic countries would attempt to undermine the multiple underpinnings that ensure Internet freedom," said TechAmerica President Shawn Osbourne. "Allowing the U.N. or any other authority to regulate the Internet makes it subject to the political whims of those actors that may seek to stifle the spread of free speech and clamp down on Internet commerce." Internet Association CEO Michael Beckerman called on the Internet community "to join together to stop this imminent threat to Internet freedom."