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Gloom and Doom
While I agree that the U.N. and and/or ITU takeover of the Internet would be a disaster, I wonder what forces there are to prevent it. Is there any regulatory power of any sort that can keep it from happening? Or does the Internet simply depend on the good graces of global politicians to remain independent?

Surely the economic force (whatever that means) of the Internet provides some protection. Politicians don't usually kill something that produces revenue (in some form) for them. But to me the Internet seems economically weak. Where is the annual report? What is its bottom line?

One hazard that bugs me is the apparently endless appetite for bandwidth that providers and users (me included) indulge. Voice Over IP (Vonage, Skype, et al) is just the latest plunge into the seemingly bottomless bandwidth pit. Ten million videophones are next.

Who pays for the bandwidth? Not me. While I agree that optical fiber has fantastic expansion capabilities, there are still physical limits. How close to them are we? Does ICANN know? Does anyone? Does anyone care?

Could flagrant over-use of Internet bandwidth lead to fights that politicians would settle with arbitrary and stupid rules?

In short, can the laissez-faire Internet organization keep it sufficiently productive so that the politicians will/can leave it alone? If not, then I fear U.N. control or something worse is inevitable.
Posted by: jakharve   Posted on: 06/04/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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No way!  Tim Patterson | 06/03/05
Agreed: No government should have control of the internet  Sotek | 06/03/05
Different types of corporations  __howard__ | 06/07/05
Agreed.. We already have Bush to deal with  Prognosticator | 06/03/05
Net control  jaywalker | 06/04/05
Control ?  wayout | 06/03/05
No! to UN or ITU control  dhopp@... | 06/03/05
Cuba, China, Iran, Syria...  nikoli | 06/03/05
The propoganda seems heavy handed  Zinoron | 06/03/05
The U.N. , aka The Useless Nations, should have been disbanded years ago !  realitycheck101 | 06/03/05
UN Competence  jaywalker | 06/04/05
UN InCompetence  NotRichandFamous | 06/06/05
The UN is the answer!  enduser_z | 06/03/05
The ITU can take a hike...  el1jones | 06/03/05
Gloom and Doom  jakharve | 06/04/05
UN Control  jaywalker | 06/04/05
What would the internet look like if the UN had managed it's creation?  enduser_z | 06/05/05
Take from people what they have built?  skyline_z | 06/08/05
UN BS  NotRichandFamous | 06/06/05
contact your ambassador! our ambassador to the UN needs to squash this like  wessonjoe | 06/06/05
bollocks that ICANN is democratic  willb_z | 06/06/05
A1 Solution, hire Bolton  jstaats | 06/06/05
Good Grief Another Big Brother  AnOldItGuy | 06/06/05

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