No fear of losing internet freedom till Jan 15: Experts
There is no need to get scared about losing internet freedom, at least till January 2015.
The article by Kim Arora was published in the Times of India on December 22, 2012. Pranesh Prakash is quoted.
That's the view of top telecom policy watchers, who closely monitored the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) that ended in uncertainty earlier this month in Dubai.
Policy experts say the changes affecting internet users in India, if any, would be slow and minor with little or no changes existing laws and governments largely retaining their current control. The resolutions are not binding and member-states are free to opt out of it. India is yet to ratify the treaty that lays out a broad framework on international co-operation over telecommunication resources.
The ITR (International Telecom Regulations), decided by the ITU were last updated in 1988 when the internet, as we know it today, did not exist. And the hullabaloo was caused by the proliferation of internet in the intervening years had created a lot of complications and misgiving among nation states. The Dubai conference also included alarmed internet evangelists who feared that the meeting would result in UN control of the internet. But with the US, the UK and several other countries vehemently refusing to sign on the dotted line, most decisions have been withheld till January 2015 when the treaty is expected to be ratified.
Filed under:
ITU,
Internet Governance
