United Nations Internet Takeover Condemned By Congress Resolution
An United Nations internet takeover is being condemned by a Congress resolution. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the specialized UN body charged with the facilitation and regulation of information and communication technologies. Congress has voted unanimously–which is very rare nowadays–in favor of a resolution which opposes any sort of UN Internet “takeover” which involves international governance of the internet.
Despite some United Nations member nations voicing concern, a number of internet eavesdropping techniques were approved for use by the International Telecommunication Union. Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) is a network eavesdropping technique which can be utilized to identify the contents of encrypted network traffic. DPI in of itself is not bad, for it can be used by businesses to ensure employees are using business internet connections only for work and to improve Quality of Service (QoS).
The ITU is even pushing for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to begin decrypting internet traffic. According to Cnet, Germany pushed back hard for freedom on the internet by insisting the ITU “not standardize any technical means that would increase the exercise of control over telecommunications content, could be used to empower any censorship of content, or could impede the free flow of information and ideas.”
DPI can be, and has been, used by oppressive governments like Iran, Afghanistan, China, and Russia to block communications and spy on their citizens. This is why the United States Congress passed the resolution stating that the US will oppose UN efforts to govern the internet. The European Parliament passed their own similar resolution which stated, “the ITU, or any other single, centralized international institution, is not the appropriate body to assert regulatory authority over either internet governance or internet traffic flows”.
Unfortunately, the “appropriate body” for the United States happens to be our own government. A UN internet takeover may get blocked by that does not stop our own Congress from empowering sitting Presidents to initiate Internet blackouts and attempting to implement plans like no-warrant surveillance, PIPA, SOPA and CISPA.
