I thought this was worth a post of its own.
Developing nations will have to fight for Internet rights: study
By Khalid HasanWASHINGTON: The phenomenal rise of the Internet has pitched
developing countries against Western states, led by the United States, because
while the former want the new medium to be internationally controlled, the
latter want it in private hands...
The writer points out that many developing countries want governments to
play a larger role in what appears on the Internet through the International
Telecommunications Union, a UN agency. The world’s richer nations want to
preserve the status quo. Some in the private sector fear increased government
involvement could slow innovation and lead to more red tape. The US opposes new,
international controls for the Internet. Washington and other developed
countries feel it is imperative that web governance remains under the ambit of
the private sector and is not transferred to the United Nations as proposed by
countries such as China and Brazil. Calls for “international rules” overseen by
the UN to govern the web must cover technical questions, such as the attribution
of web addresses and management of domain names, as well as the protection of
intellectual property...
There is more and worth reading on what is at stake for the developing countries rights and future of the blogosphere. Even the future of present and emerging democracies is being challenged. I doubt that the MSM will come out with the First Amendment as the blogs have turned out to be a thorn in their side.
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