U.S. Seeks to Kill WCIT Proposals That Could ‘Control the Internet’

The U.S. will attempt to block controversial Internet regulatory proposals, which the government believes would threaten the Web’s free flow of information, ahead of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), U.S. delegation head Terry Kramer said Wednesday, in remarks at the Information Technology Industry Council. The U.S. plans to release a key document Friday, when it will submit its initial set of proposals for WCIT to the ITU, which is hosting WCIT in Dubai Dec. 3-4 to revise the treaty-level International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs).

The ITRs have not been revised since 1988, so the 2012 revisions will need to reflect how significantly the Internet has changed in the intervening years, said Kramer, former regional president of Vodafone Americas, in his first public comments since being named ambassador. The Internet’s growth has come because the ITRs did not allow attempts to micromanage it, Kramer said. “Let’s be clear about this: the Internet continues to demonstrate the effectiveness and success of the current multi-stakeholder structure and its own independence,” he said. “No government or single organization can or should attempt to control the Internet. Sustaining this environment, I believe, offers the best chance to continue achieving our mutual goal of making an innovation-driven information society a reality all over the world."

U.S. officials are concerned that potential ITR proposals from China, the European Telecommunication Network Operators’ Association (ETNO), Russia and others would undercut that goal (CD July 2 p1). Those proposals include attempts to extend the ITU’s authority to regulate the Internet and to levy taxes on Web traffic. Such proposals run counter to First Amendment freedoms and Article 19 of the U.N. Charter, Kramer said. “Proposals to control content transmitted over networks runs counter to the foundation of a free and vibrant telecommunications and Internet society,” he said. “Throughout the WCIT process, the United States has and will continue to express opposition to proposals that would place governments in a position of greater power to censor the Internet, track content or target end-users.” The U.S. would also question the effects of any Web traffic taxes, Kramer said, saying that could cause network operators in one country to refuse to transmit data to users in certain countries because the traffic payment rate in that country was excessive.

The U.S. delegation’s own initial proposals will seek to maintain the current ITRs’ flexibility to allow the Internet to continue to grow organically, Kramer said. Those proposals will include minimal revisions to the ITRs’ preamble, revisions to ITR Article 6 that affirm competition’s role in Internet traffic, and a proposal that would keep compliance of the regulations voluntary, according to the U.S. State Department (http://xrl.us/bni2f8). The U.S. will publicly release its proposals soon after they submit them Friday, said the State Department. Kramer’s comments Wednesday were his first public statements about the U.S. position since he officially became head of the nation’s WCIT delegation last month. The rest of the U.S. delegation will be selected in September, Kramer said.

Between now and December, the U.S. delegation will hold bilateral talks with China, Russia, several African nations and other key players to express its position and attempt to keep the problematic proposals from making it to WCIT. ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure wants the conference to adopt proposals based on consensus, rather than taking individual votes; controversial proposals would threaten those plans and could result in public divisions within the conference, Kramer said.

The House was expected to vote Wednesday on Rep. Mary Bono Mack’s, R-Calif., concurrent resolution to support the U.S. position. The House Commerce Committee approved the resolution last month, according to GovTrack. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has introduced the Senate version of the resolution, but it has not made it out of committee, according to GovTrack. Those resolutions are helpful to the process, Kramer said. “What it is communicating is we are aligned as a nation,” he said. “You can imagine with any negotiations, people are always trying to figure out what kind of leverage somebody has, how strong their position might be. We're in an election year, obviously, people might try to divide and conquer, etcetera. This is sending a message that we are all aligned in the U.S. So I think that puts us in a very good negotiating position when we go to these countries.”