<http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy> UN doesn't want to take over Internet, does want to help telcos profit /ITU Secretary General says he wants to address the content and carriers issue./ by Cyrus Farivar <http://arstechnica.com/author/cyrus-farivar/> - June 21 2012, 1:30am CEST <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy> In a speech on Wednesday <http://www.itu.int/en/osg/speeches/Pages/2012-06-20.aspx>, the head of the International Telecommunications Union, an agency of the United Nations, explicitly denied that the group is interested in taking over the Internet <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/05/house-members-hear-why-itu-cant-b...>. But this speech makes clear that the body is quite interested in helping domestic telecommunications operators make boatloads of cash by controlling the flows of content to individual countries. The ITU is set to host the December 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai (or, the WCIT-12, for short <http://www.itu.int/en/wcit-12/Pages/default.aspx>). Here, a new set of International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs) is set to be negotiated. These haven't been revised /since 1988/. In fact, the existing ones have all kinds of references to outdated gear (telexes!). Many news outlets <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303822204577470532859210296.ht...> and members of the American government <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:hc127:> have sounded the alarm that the UN, via the ITU, is going to "take over the Internet," and that the United States should essentially oppose this move. In remarks Wednesday at ITU headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré said the ITU recognizes all of its member states impose various types of restrictions on freedom of speech. The list includes copyright violations, pornography, defamation and political speech, among others. "Such restrictions are permitted by article 34 of the ITU's Constitution, which provides that Member States reserve the right to cut off, in accordance with their national law, any private telecommunications which may appear dangerous to the security of the State, or contrary to its laws, to public order or to decency," he added. "I do not see how WCIT could set barriers to the free flow of information," Touré concluded. In other words, countries can essentially do whatever they want online---and they already do. (We're looking at you, North Korea <http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2007/10/north-korea-dear-leader-kim-jon...>, China <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/06/chinese-online-censorship-targets...>, Russia <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/06/russian-internet-policy-reversed/>, Iran <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/06/iran-expands-online/>, and Syria <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/01/pro-government-hactivists-deface-...> !) Show me the money But based on Touré's speech, the ITU seems to confirm what many global Internet policy watchers had long suspected: this really is about money. [...] Continua qui: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/06/un-doesnt-want-to-take-over-inter...