Should the United Nations control the internet?

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   cjhunsingerposted 9 years ago

   In a recent interview, Tim Berners-Lee stated during the Web We Want festival, said, “I want a web where I’m not spied on, where there’s no censorship.” He warned that corporations and the governments want control of the Internet.
   Mr. Lee is one of the Founders of the internet and it was he that came up with the WWW enabling a world wide system.
   The US now controls the internet and it remains free, but there is talk of a UN control and taxing of internet use and, also, as Lee points out a fear of a corporate control or control by a Chinese system of government.
   What would happen should the present philosophy of internet oversight be lost to a governmental or corporate censorship?

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      John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      If the U controls the Internet how can it be free?
      The US = corporations.

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         cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Thats the question. The US now has oversight authority and, so far, it remains free, Please try to respond to the question.

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            John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            I did, maybe not in the way you wanted, but a valid response none the less.
            
            Again, if the US controls the Internet how can it be free?
            Why is being spied on by the US preferable to being spied on by the UN?

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               cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               John
               I am happy for you. Keep up the good work.

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                  John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  So no answer to why it is preferable to be spied on by the US rather than the UN!

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               retief2000posted 9 years agoin reply to this

               I suppose that more than just the NSA is "spying." Intelligence agencies are always spying in every way possible. Let's not suppose that British Intelligence isn't doing the same, that is if any is to be found in Britain.

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                  John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Well American intelligence seems to rely on British intelligence rather a lot so, yes, you'll find that British intelligence spies on us for the Americans.

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                     retief2000posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     And vice versa.

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                     Dr Billy Kiddposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     The U.S. has Great Britain spy on the United Nation headquarters. Then the information is exchanged. By that, I mean, the U.S. spies on the British Isles and hands the results over to their intelligence agencies. This way, neither the CIA or M16 can be accused of spying on their own soil. Both agencies are not supposed to spy within their own country. In the U.S., it is the National Security Agency that spies on Americans--regardless that their charter apparently doesn't allow for it, except on communication that are going abroad.
                     
                     The biggest threats to the U.S. internet arise from companies like Comcast/TimeWarner. They want to charge more for faster webpage access. Yet, they claim it's in the name of net neutrality! If the FCC agrees to this, my own webpage (BillyKidd.com) would have second class availability for users. I don't have thousands of dollars to gain faster access.
                     
                     And speaking of faster access, South Korea is working on putting in 1 gigabits downloads for everyone. Meanwhile, Verizon in the U.S. charges $79 a month for something like 50 megabits download--20 times slower!.
                     
                     U.N. control of the internet would be controlled by the money and power of the major corporations representing each country. Sounds like chaos.

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                        John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        Oh! Are they different corporations to the ones that control the USA then?

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         cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         John
         It cannot be free by any exercise of ones imagination.
         The NSA is not a corporation.

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            John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            The NSA is a government body. The USA government is controlled by corporations therefore the NSA is controlled by the corporations.

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               cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               I am sure you are right, but simple one line statements or accusations seem to lack a, well, you know foundation or something that has been critically thought out. If it is the best you can do then,  well,  you know I  am  happy for you.

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                  John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Why do you value verbosity over brevity?

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                     cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     Simply to make the point that nothing is accomplished.

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   handymanbillposted 9 years ago

   NO. No one should control free speech.

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   psycheskinnerposted 9 years ago

   There is no evidence whatsoever that the US has used its indexing authority in any nefarious way.  And being the indexing authority does not really come with any extra ability to spy on things. It just means you give every website its real numerical "address".

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      John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      It goes a lot deeper than allocating internet addresses.
      
      Ever heard of Dishfire?

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         wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Yes - it concerns collecting text messages and possibly other information from cell phones.  I don't know of any connection to the internet - do you?

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            John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Tut, sloppy on my part, try muscular instead.

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         psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, what does it have to do with this thread which is about the US being the indexer of the internet?

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            John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            OK, so why should the USA be the sole indexer of the internet?

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               wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Do you think a committee of members from each country would do a better job?  Or would you just choose a different country?  China perhaps, so they could give a lift to the content thieves there?

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                  John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  No, I asked the question, answering a question with a question is weak.

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                     wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     I apologize; the question was intended to point out that I don't know of any superior option.

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                        John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        I thought you were a great supporter of private enterprise? Why does any country control internet indexing?

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                           wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           What would the price be?  Meaning I don't really want to pay someone for doing that work, and companies do not work for free.

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                              John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                              OK, so why can only the government of the US do it?
                              
                              And where do they get their money from?

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                           psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           Some entity has to control it, and the current entity has an excellent record of conduct so far.

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                              John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                              Why?
                              Because they are American or because anybody could do it?

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                                 wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                 Why what?  Why does some entity need to do the indexing?  I can't see everyone picking their own ip...

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                                 psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                 Why what?  Why let them keep doing it because they are doing a good job?  I think that is self-explanatory.

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                                    John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                    Why "some entity has to control it"
                                    
                                    Just doing a good job isn't a reason,  lot's of people do a good job but are stopped doing so.

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                                       psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                       It strikes me as a truly excellent reason.  A real classic piece of common sense: if it ain't broke...  : /

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                                    retief2000posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                    +
                                    Yes and so far no web content is filtered or banned for political content.

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                                       John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                       No, of course not!

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                                          retief2000posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                          One can find all the most offensive and anti-humanity, anti'pro government, anti equality, crazy, wild eyed, extreme garbage on the internet in the US, not so in China. Please recall, China and Russia are both powerful members of the UN and both severely curtail speech. I would trust you Brits to run the internet before the UN.

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                                             psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                             The Brits already have a nation wide internet censoring plan under consideration by the government focused mainly on saving the delicate British people from porn. Ergo they would be the last ones I would choose.

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                                                retief2000posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                                China would be my last choice, as pornography is a tad less important to me than the free flow of all other kinds of information.

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                                                   psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                                   I was being a little hyperbolic, but it is not just that I don't think porn should be filtered, but that porn filters always end up blocking sexual health, gay/lesbian, literary etc etc sites as well.
                                                   
                                                   Also I like porn.

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                                                John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                                The US are actually ahead of us on that one.

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                                                   psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                                   I have never heard of it.  I have only heard some suggestions about paid throttling--not content based screening at a Federal level and never at the level of indexing.

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                                                      John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                                                      What's that got to do with the post I commented on?

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   GA Andersonposted 9 years ago

   Has someone discovered a problem with the US's control of the domain indexing protocol?
   
   Everyone is aware that that is the ONLY dominance the US has in this discussion aren't they?
   
   The NSA and "spying" stuff is completely unrelated to the topic. Right?
   
   GA

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      John Holdenposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      It would have helped if the OP had stated that the only concern was with domain indexing, instead it was a complaint about the UN controlling the internet which I assumed meant the internet! Silly me.

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      retief2000posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Buzz Kill, a nice donnybrook was shaping up.

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