[Tech] Your worst nightmare: Internet sotto il controllo dell'ONU

Alcuni Paesi in via di sviluppo stanno cercando di sganciare la gestione dell'Internet dall'ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) e di portarla sotto il controllo delle Nazioni Unite.

An attempt by developing countries to put management of the internet under United Nations auspices is likely to be shelved at next month's world information summit in Geneva - but the issue is now firmly on the international agenda, summit sources say.



Poorer nations such as Brazil, India, South Africa, China and Saudi Arabia, as well as some richer ones, are growing dissatisfied with the workings of California-based Icann (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the semi-private internet address regulator set up five years ago.



The critics argue that the internet is a public resource that should be managed by national governments and, at an international level, by an intergovernmental body such as the International Telecommunications Union, the UN agency that is organising the information summit.



However, the US and the European Commission are staunchly defending the Icann model, which is based on minimal regulation and commercial principles. Icann members are predominantly drawn from industrialised countries and the established internet community.



Defenders of the status quo say handing over power to governments could threaten the untrammelled flow of information and ideas that many see as the very essence of the borderless internet.



But these arguments appear to be losing force against the emergence of new challenges such as unwanted advertising ("spam"), privacy and security worries, hate speech and child pornography, which have convinced many governments of the need for international regulation and enforcement.

Insomma, all'orizzonte si profilano nuovi pericoli per la libertà di espressione su Internet: mi pare evidente che un eventuale controllo governativo (o intergovernativo) della Rete, sia pure con la "scusa" della lotta all'illegalità, non potrebbe non tradursi in un ulteriore restringimento degli spazi di libertà per tutti.



Se a questo si aggiunge che l'ONU è formata in larga maggioranza da Paesi non democratici o apertamente dittatoriali - basti dire che a capo della Commissione Diritti Umani si trova un libico, e che fino a poco tempo fa un iracheno presiedeva la Commissione Disarmo - allora l'ipotesi di una Internet controllata da questo organismo si rivela davvero il peggiore degli incubi.



Fonte: Financial Times.