[governance] US Ambassador Terry Kramer on WCIT

[parminder]

Very true, David, the world is going towards a networked digital 
architecture, and it is difficult to separate the standalone (which was 
formerly the computing space) from the connecters (the former telecom 
space) .

Also you have rightly connected net neutrality - a core regulatory issue 
- with FoE, a connection most civil society advocated round WCIT and 
otherwise seem to entirely miss or willingly bypass... parminder


On Friday 07 December 2012 08:57 AM, David Allen wrote:
> This would almost be amusing - if so much were not at stake.
>
> Those who remember the long history of policy debate, leading up 
> finally to divestiture of AT&T, know that there were a series of 
> so-called Computer Inquiries, official inquiries (in the US of 
> course).  They revolved around trying to divine a dividing line, 
> between telecommunications and computing.  This proved to be a Gordian 
> knot, which could not be untied.  But the argument went forward, 
> seemingly endlessly, for many years actually, with much foolish policy 
> mooted, in an effort to separate the two, computers and networks.
>
> As one of the sages of the era told me (when interviewed for an 
> intellectual history), the mess will be straightened out only when we 
> correct the mistake, that is, our attempt to separate the two.
>
> George Santayana can be heard once again from the grave, it seems, 
> with his:  "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat 
> it."  If each generation has to learn all over again, instead of 
> building from the hard-won lessons already travelled ...
>
> Notably - even a bit ironically - there, in those Computer Inquiries, 
> as here in the Dubai struggle, the core issue was / is (if by 
> different names):  What we then called the common carrier obligation - 
> the telecoms carrier was not allowed to interfere with or change in 
> any way the messages being carried.  What today we tussle over with 
> the rubric network neutrality.  And what might be generalized to: 
>  freedom of expression.
>
> David
>
> On Dec 6, 2012, at 4:22 PM, Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro wrote:
>
>> Economic, Energy, Agricultural and Trade Issues: Development and 
>> Progress of the World Conference on International Telecommunications 
>> Currently Being Held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates Until December 
>> 14, 2012 <http://www.state.gov/e/eb/rls/rm/2012/201637.htm>
>> 12/06/2012 02:45 PM EST
>>
>>
>>     Development and Progress of the World Conference on International
>>     Telecommunications Currently Being Held in Dubai, United Arab
>>     Emirates Until December 14, 2012
>>
>>
>> Special Briefing
>> Terry Kramer
>> Ambassador U.S. Head of Delegation, World Conference on International 
>> Telecommunications
>> Via Teleconference
>> December 6, 2012
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ...
>> *QUESTION:* ... I understand the definition for telecommunications 
>> has been set. This morning, in the conference that the – in the media 
>> conference that the ITU holds, Director Peprah from Ghana mentioned 
>> that that’s the case, but ICT is still in the works – that is, the 
>> concept of information communications technology is still in the 
>> works, possibly as a defined term. Could you comment on that?
>>
>> *AMBASSADOR KRAMER:* Yeah. We are still working through a lot of 
>> different elements of how this definition gets driven. Our view right 
>> now is it does not belong in there. There may still be people talking 
>> about ICT in different forms. And certainly, in our own discussions, 
>> people are talking about VoIP operators, Skype and others that 
>> provide what they believe is telecomm services. But we don’t feel 
>> those are appropriate.
>>
>

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