[governance] ITU vs. ICANN

[Milton L Mueller]

From: McTim [mailto:dogwallah at gmail.com]

I share this opinion, but we just had this discussion at the Open Mic hour of the ARIN meeting less than 10 minutes ago.  Folk seem to think that the US would have to pass laws effecting the ITU decisions, since they are bound by treaty.

For all its virtues, the internet technical community, which has (happily) evolved in relative separation if not isolation from ITU for 30 years, is the last place I would go for a definitive analysis and understanding of the ITU and the politics and law of intergovernmental institutions.

As convenient bogeyman, ITU distracts our attention from much more direct, real threats of governmental intervention - among them the GAC itself, ACTA, U.S. in rem jurisdiction, the IANA contract,  cyber militarization, regulation of financial intermediaries, etc., etc., etc.

True, ITU could be used as the vehicle for intrusive forms of communications regulation, but so could ICANN, WTO, WIPO, OECD. What matters is which powerful governments want it do so. The proper level of analysis, therefore is focused on the interests and motives of specific powerful nation-states and coalitions of nation-states - not on the ITU itself. And yes, I understand that the ITU (like ICANN or OECD) has a permanent staff that has its own bureaucratic interests in survival and expansion. But in that regard the numbers are clear, ITU is declining in size and wealth and, um, certain other international organizations are not.

--MM

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