[LINK] ITU … plays for control again

[Jim Birch]

While the UN has become politicised in a negative sense, mainly because it
refuses to rubber stamp the latest US invasion and so upset US hawks, it is
worth remembering that there are a number of UN organisations that are
quietly working away on tasks that that support all global citizens, not
just the US and global corporations.  The World Meteorological Organisation
(WMO) and Health (WHO) spring to mind.  The WMO has done a lot of works
establishing local meteorological services in poorer countries that allow
them to utilise the resources - satellite data, numerical model outputs,
and other expertise - of  advanced met services like NOAA and our BOM to
provide local service that save lives, reduce negative weather impacts and
improve agricultural outputs.  Poor countries don't have the resources to
establish and run weather services alone but stand to gain significant
benefits.

I would need a bit of convincing that the same level of cooperation could
be achieved with the Internet, given that it is such a massive economic and
political resource that everyone wants a bit of, but the idea of it being
an international common property is right.  I'm also not in principle
opposed to paying a small level of tax for my internet use to assist in the
provision of access to the world's poor.

wrt repressive regimes, they already restrict internet activity for their
own reasons and this won't change if the UN was running the Internet.

Jim

Jim Birch
e: planetjim at gmail.com
m: 04 1243 1243


On 12 November 2012 16:51, Bernard Robertson-Dunn <brd at iimetro.com.au>wrote:

> On 12/11/2012 3:58 PM, Frank O'Connor wrote:
> > See: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-12/internet-ownership/4366508
> >
> > These clowns won't give up, half of what they say in support of their
> case is plainly untrue and the other half is irrelevant, they represent a
> political rather than scientific basis for control of the Internet, and
> they'll probably (on past performance) want to charge like wounded bulls
> for doing it.
>
> One small point. Science is (generally) reductionism, engineering is
> (generally) synthesis. I'd rather there was engineering (as in Internet
> Engineering Task Force) than either political or scientific control.
>
> Apart from that I agree with what you say.
>
> --
>
> Regards
> brd
>
> Bernard Robertson-Dunn
> Sydney Australia
> email: brd at iimetro.com.au
> web:   www.drbrd.com
> web:   www.problemsfirst.com
>
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