The FCC is very focused on Internet governance heading into a...
The FCC is very focused on Internet governance heading into a conference later this year on whether to revise the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) in a way that would give the ITU greater control of the Internet, Chairman Julius Genachowski…
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said Friday. “This is a serious matter,” Genachowski said during a news conference following an FCC meeting. “We were very engaged at the FCC with the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] communique last year, which set out a set of principles which are consistent with the U.S. position” based on “multi-stakeholder governance of the Internet, not a new international regulatory body, he said. “Just last week the FCC had a team in Geneva working to promote U.S. interests on this. It’s very important that we promote a multi-stakeholder governance model for the Internet internationally.” U.S. officials have said that while the probability the ITU would assume a role in overseeing the Internet is low, the consequences would be high, so the issue demands continuing U.S. attention (CD April 23 p4). “This isn’t just about a new international regulatory body being created,” FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell said after the meeting. “The biggest danger is that seemingly small changes will be made to the ITRs in the name of addressing some ‘minor’ issue. The problem is, before long, those tiny seeds of jurisdictional expansion could grow into a Jack’s beanstalk of international Internet regulation. Advocates of Internet freedom should draw a bright line across which no new expansions whatsoever of ITU or UN authority should cross. Go ahead and reform the multi-stakeholder umbrella as necessary, but don’t allow any expansion of intergovernmental powers over the Internet."