On Monday, December 3rd, the ITU - International Telecommunications Union - a UN body is set to open a meet to decide on the future of the internet as we know it. If you have any doubt on whether the meet will do any good - just take a look at where they are meeting - Dubai.
The series of meetings called WCIT 2012 (World Conference on International Telecommunications 2012) will go on from 3rd to 14th December where many governments not known to encourage free speech, democracy and want to censor internet are pushing for a plan for individual nations to control the internet traffic.
Some of the proposals are bizarre and practically difficult to implement, like:
Do join in the show of hands to protect the freedom of internet. For us in India, the recent spate of arrests over Facebook and Twitter posts, emailed-cartoons and cartoons in general are clear examples of what bad laws in the hands of a government can do.
BTW, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that ITU is just another top-down, little-known UN body as IDL says or that ITU is an Orwellian, out-dated organisation of political types as Internet Coup.org says. The ITU is neither, both and more.
Update 04 Dec 2012: Kapil Sibal is not leading the Indian delegation to WCIT-12: The Hindu (http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/december-to-see-fight-to-protect-free-speech-online-freedom/article4157020.ece)
If you think that my concern is hyped-up and the proposed rule changes in WCIT 2012 aren’t alarming, take a moment to reflect that the Indian delegation will be led by Kapil Sibal - yeah, the same Kapil Sibal who was instrumental in pushing through the amendments to the Information Technology Act (IT Act) 2009, including the draconian, ill-defined, thoughtless, overbearing, knee-jerk section 66-A.
The mere fact that Kapil Sibal is taking part in WCIT 2012 as head of India delegation alone should be enough cause for concern.
So join IDL today. And participate in their proposed action (from) tomorrow. They plan to put out a widget which (I think) will apply a layover image on your blog or website and alert the readers to the danger.
Update 04 Dec 2012: Don't fall into the trap of disregarding the danger as mere hype as written in this Gizmodo article. Any of those few primary/contradictory goals even partially contemplated or allowed will impact how we interact on the internet. Once again, remember what has happened with Section 66-A.
For a moment, forget about the actual wordings and intentions of the Section 66-A itself. Instead think of how that section has focused attention of enemies of free speech and emboldened them to act against 'ordinary' people who do not agree with them. Without Section 66-A, those idiotic types couldn't think of or never had the idea of going after someone legally for social media free speech.
Now that Section 66-A is here, they are using it to file an FIR and then slap on additional charges like 'inciting violence' or 'libel' or 'disrupting communal harmony', etc. Without Section 66-A, a police officer would tell them to buzz off.
And that is the real danger.
Nothing captures the buffoonery of Kapil Sibal on muzzling social media and internet than this cartoon.
or this one on Kapil Sibal’s back-foot dance on section 66-A.
(both images courtesy Shreyas Navare / Hindustan Times)
More Shreyas Navare dabs & jabs are at
http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/dabs-and-jabs/tag/shreyas-navare/
(update: Corrected the acronym WCIT-12 which was earlier typed as WICT)
The series of meetings called WCIT 2012 (World Conference on International Telecommunications 2012) will go on from 3rd to 14th December where many governments not known to encourage free speech, democracy and want to censor internet are pushing for a plan for individual nations to control the internet traffic.
Some of the proposals are bizarre and practically difficult to implement, like:
- levy on internet traffic;
- to review content;
- tracking of usage and user’s activities;
- take management of internet away from ICAAN;
- and censorship.
Do join in the show of hands to protect the freedom of internet. For us in India, the recent spate of arrests over Facebook and Twitter posts, emailed-cartoons and cartoons in general are clear examples of what bad laws in the hands of a government can do.
BTW, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that ITU is just another top-down, little-known UN body as IDL says or that ITU is an Orwellian, out-dated organisation of political types as Internet Coup.org says. The ITU is neither, both and more.
- Though the ITU consists of member nations, and no private, commercial or non-government organisations have a say in what ITU decides, the basic proposals (called recommendations) in ITU are carried out by task forces or study groups consisting of leaders in science, technology and engineering. Their conclusions are put up as ‘draft’ proposals and then discussed or voted on my the political types.
- ITU has been the force and engineer behind many good things and I have no doubt the WCIT-12 drafts will also have new, better recommendations of standards. But again, the political types can always skrew up and for the first time in the history of ITU may make it an engine for censorship.
- For one we have had too many experience with his dismissals of alleged corruption in 2G scam and Coalgate.
- For another the Recommendations adopted by ITU are binding and will come back to bite us at the wrong time. For e.g., the present Digital TV implementation of 2012 was a Recommendation of ITU as far back as in 1996 and envisaged much earlier (if my memory is correct, it dates back to 1991 and WARC-92). Read this document (http://tech.ebu.ch/docs/techreview/trev_307-wood.pdf for proof (and also proof that engineers and specialists do work for ITU).
Update 04 Dec 2012: Kapil Sibal is not leading the Indian delegation to WCIT-12: The Hindu (http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/december-to-see-fight-to-protect-free-speech-online-freedom/article4157020.ece)
If you think that my concern is hyped-up and the proposed rule changes in WCIT 2012 aren’t alarming, take a moment to reflect that the Indian delegation will be led by Kapil Sibal - yeah, the same Kapil Sibal who was instrumental in pushing through the amendments to the Information Technology Act (IT Act) 2009, including the draconian, ill-defined, thoughtless, overbearing, knee-jerk section 66-A.
The mere fact that Kapil Sibal is taking part in WCIT 2012 as head of India delegation alone should be enough cause for concern.
So join IDL today. And participate in their proposed action (from) tomorrow. They plan to put out a widget which (I think) will apply a layover image on your blog or website and alert the readers to the danger.
Update 04 Dec 2012: Don't fall into the trap of disregarding the danger as mere hype as written in this Gizmodo article. Any of those few primary/contradictory goals even partially contemplated or allowed will impact how we interact on the internet. Once again, remember what has happened with Section 66-A.
For a moment, forget about the actual wordings and intentions of the Section 66-A itself. Instead think of how that section has focused attention of enemies of free speech and emboldened them to act against 'ordinary' people who do not agree with them. Without Section 66-A, those idiotic types couldn't think of or never had the idea of going after someone legally for social media free speech.
Now that Section 66-A is here, they are using it to file an FIR and then slap on additional charges like 'inciting violence' or 'libel' or 'disrupting communal harmony', etc. Without Section 66-A, a police officer would tell them to buzz off.
And that is the real danger.
Nothing captures the buffoonery of Kapil Sibal on muzzling social media and internet than this cartoon.
or this one on Kapil Sibal’s back-foot dance on section 66-A.
(both images courtesy Shreyas Navare / Hindustan Times)
More Shreyas Navare dabs & jabs are at
http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/dabs-and-jabs/tag/shreyas-navare/
(update: Corrected the acronym WCIT-12 which was earlier typed as WICT)
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