[governance] Government regulation of Internet a bad idea, by Magid

[Martial Bavou[Private Business Account]]

Magid: Government regulation of Internet a bad idea


By Larry Magid

for the Mercury News Columnist

Posted:   11/12/2012 06:14:04 AM PST

Updated:   11/12/2012 06:14:13 AM PST





I'm writing from Baku, Azerbaijan, where I'm speaking at the Internet
Governance Forum, a United Nations conference for representatives of
governments, industry and nonprofit groups to discuss Internet policy
issues. It's not a rule making body but a forum for conversation where every
delegate -- including young people from several countries -- exchange views
on how -- or whether -- to "govern" the Internet. 

Most speakers, including U.S. Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary
Lawrence Strickling, who addressed the opening ceremony, argue that the
Internet should remain "free from governmental control ... to preserve and
advance the successful multi-stakeholder model that governs the Internet
today." Strickling was reacting to a treaty proposal from the U.N's
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) that could impose some unwelcome
regulations if some countries get their way

Even though the Internet evolved from work funded by the U.S. Department of
Defense, it's been largely an unregulated space where companies, users,
standards groups and governments have been making up the rules and
establishing norms as we go along. 

It was around 1994, after the release of Mosaic -- the first easy to use Web
browser -- that the commercial Internet began to take off. Since then there
have been many attempts at regulation, including the U.S. Communications
Decency Act of 1996, which was overwhelmingly passed by Congress but later
mostly 

struck down by the Supreme Court after a legal challenge led by the American
Civil Liberties Union, 

Ironically, just as the Internet Governance Forum was getting underway,
Russia started enforcing a controversial new law that would allow the
government to ban or block websites with objectionable material. The law,
according to Russian officials, is designed to protect children from child
pornography and sites that promote drug use, suicide and political
extremism. But several Russians I spoke with when I was in Moscow in
February told me that it will likely be used by the Putin administration to
suppress political speech.

I had traveled to Russia to give two speeches on how it's possible to
protect children without violating Internet freedoms. I gave the first
speech at a Safer Internet Day event sponsored by a nonprofit group, but
just as I was about to step up to the podium the following day at a
government sponsored event, the moderator called the session to an end. They
claimed, of course, that they just ran out of time. But a Russian colleague
confirmed that what they really ran out of was tolerance for what I had to
say.

Most delegates here in Baku are opposed to government regulation but agree
there need to be standards, such as the website naming conventions that are
coordinated by the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN). Other international bodies handle Internet "plumbing,"
setting technical standards for the flow of information between service
providers. But with the exception of issues such as child pornography, most
people here agree that governmental bodies should stay clear of regulating
content, even if that content may be offensive to many people.

Of course, some governments do control content. There is the "great firewall
of China," which bans Facebook
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/topics?Facebook>  and most U.S.-based blog
networks. Iran may launch a national intranet that bans foreign sites. Iran,
China and Russia are among the countries urging the United Nations to create
a regulatory framework. 

My role at IGF is to speak on panels regarding Internet safety and child
protection. While I'm in support of International efforts to ban child
pornography, I remain opposed to laws restricting what children can see or
do online, preferring to leave that in the hands of families. 

One of my panels focused on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child that, among other things, guarantees children "the right to
freedom of expression," including "freedom to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally,
in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of
the child's choice." 

The convention acknowledges that the exercise of this right may be subject
to certain restrictions. But it sets out a broad framework that not only
protects children from government censorship but, arguably, from
restrictions imposed by schools or even their own parents. That makes the
provision somewhat controversial not only in totalitarian states but also in
democracies, including the United States, where some worry that it limits
parental rights. 

European laws protect children's privacy even from their own parents. U.S.
parents have a great deal of legal authority over their children, but there
is nothing in the First Amendment that says you have to be an adult to have
free speech rights. That doesn't mean that kids get to surf the Internet at
3 a.m. or visit porn sites, but -- as I interpret it -- it does mean they
have the freedom to express themselves and seek out information and
opinions. Freedom can be messy, but it sure beats the alternatives.

Contact Larry Magid at larry at larrymagid.com. Listen for his technology chats
on KCBS-AM (740) weekdays at 3:50 p.m.

 

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