ITU (the International Telecommunications Union, a UN organization) is holding meetings in Dubai and the swirl of controversy surrounds the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) meetings that began today. WCIT-12, a global treaty conference, is set to review the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs), which were last addressed at the World Administrative Telegraph and Telephone Conference in Melbourne, Australia, in 1988.
Prior to today’s opening ceremonies, the usual World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) was held last week. This meeting occurs every four years and defines the next period of study for ITU-T. Current new focus areas include expanding ITU standards on e-health, software-defined networking (SDN) and e-waste. Noteably, there was also a Resolution inviting ITU Member States to refrain from taking any unilateral and/or discriminatory actions that could impede access to the Internet.
Which bring us to the WCIT and the issue that is causing a stir in the IT community — is ITU planning to try to usurp control of the Internet? As part of the opening ceremonies, Fadi Chehadé, president of ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) proclaimed a new season of cooperation between ICANN and ITU. Addressing today’s “historic opening ceremony,” Chehadé said “I am here because I believe in the power of engagement. Engagement starts with listening.”
In spite of all assurances to the contrary, many Internet companies and interested parties are concerned that this is yet another attack on governance of the Internet. With many years of an open and technology-based system, folks are not enthused about seeing control move to an organization that is composed of nations, with monitoring and censorship goals in stark opposition to the current open system.
Not only is there talk of the ITU taking over the responsibilities of ICANN (assigning Internet numbering, addressing and identification services), but also the possibility that ITU member nations might be allowed to tax Internet content companies for transmitting data across national boundaries. Such proposals are coming from Russia, Africa, and the Middle East, areas where the internet is having a profound impact on society.
ITU started out as the International Telegraph Union back in 1865 and then was renamed the International Telecommunications Union in 1932. Due to the technical basis of it’s work, ITU has been in the forefront of International Standardization and creating standards in advance of implementation for many years. However, in this case, the Internet has been developed and shaped independently, leaving ITU behind as new systems for standards development have been created by the Internet Society and it’s IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force), IAB (Internet Architecture Board), and IRTF (Internet Research Task Force).
We’ll be watching to see what developments occur as the WCIT continues for the next two weeks. But for more information as the conference progresses, see the Internet Society webpage on this meeting.
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