Senator: Keep U.N. away from the Internet

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The senator doesn't know what he's talking about!

"The Internet is likely to face a grave threat" at the summit, Coleman said in a statement on Monday. "If we fail to respond appropriately, we risk the freedom and enterprise fostered by this informational marvel and end up sacrificing access to information, privacy and protection of intellectual property we have all depended on."

While I am not exactly sure the United Nations (yet another bureaucracy full of inefficiencies and political special interests) should dictate Internet policy, the quote by the Senator is laughable at best.

We have one of the WORST privacy record of all the nations in the world because our government has been bought by corporate and marketing interests. Hello? Is the senator trying to claim that all of the loopholes in every privacy bill ever passed, all of the "consent by EULA" loopholes for installing spyware, and the opt-out vs. an opt-in policy is the right direction for society? Sorry, but our governmental policies regarding privacy are nothing to be bragging about.

We also have one of the WORST intellectual property laws of any state in the world. Our copyright laws are unbalanced, draconian, and a land grab of rights for copyright holders at the expense and disrespect the rights of users. Our copyrights are effectively perpetual, lasting longer than the life of a single person. Our patent system allows frivolous patents over non-creative, non-inventive ideas to be patented and our courts allow companies to flourish that simply buy patents and throw lawsuits and not produce anything useful.

Oh wait.. he said "protection of intellectual property", as in the US should attempt to impose its ill-conceived policies on copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets onto other sovereign states. Is that what is meant by "protection"? Just like how the United States has been exporting our policies to other countries via "free trade" agreements.

I'm sorry, Senator, but your words are just like a true politician: They deserve no respect. I'll listen to arguments that say the UN shouldn't control the Internet because the UN doesn't have a good track record of managing projects, or that the UN (i.e. the ITU) has the technical expertise but perhaps not the political will to manage the Internet, or a myriad of other substansive reasons. And if there is enough evidence or support, I'll be convinced of your position.

But I will NOT agree with your arrogant and uninformed position thinking that the United States should keep control of the Internet for political purposes (or coersive purposes should any one country do something that the US does not approve of), or that we have the best policies in the world. The only noble thing we have in Internet policy compared to other countries is the First Amendment. Because when it comes to those other things you mentioned, namely Privacy and Intellectual Property, we have one of the worst policies in the world thanks to selling out to corporate interests. Perhaps you should use your political position and influence to work on cleaning up our own backyard before you suggest that we go tell other sovereign countries what they should do.

Respectfully.

Posted by: Root User   Posted on: 10/19/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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