UN Telecom Talks Deadlocked as U.S., Europe Fight Control

Negotiations to update a quarter- century old telecommunications rulebook reached a deadlock as the U.S. and Europe failed to resolve disagreements with China and the Middle East on measures that would increase government control over the Internet.

At the World Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai, discussions on whether the Internet and Web spam should be included in the new rules gave way to elaborate debate on phrasing because of concern that governments might overstep boundaries in Internet control. “The Internet does well with a multi-stakeholder governance model where you have dedicated organizations that have technical expertise,” Terry Kramer, the leader of the U.S. delegation, said in an interview today. “They include industry, they include governments, they include civil society, to address issues affecting the Internet.” The Saudi-Arabian delegation said in a statement during the plenary that the regulations wouldn’t affect the Internet and were meant to regulate new networks. “It’s unacceptable that one party to the conference gets everything they want and everybody else must make concessions,” the delegation said. To address these concerns, which have caused delays in the finalization of the new rules, WCIT President Mohammed Nasser Al-Ghanim proposed wording that explicitly prevents the interpretation of any of the amendments to be used to regulate content.