There is one thing Republicans and Democrats agree on – nobody wants the international community saddling the world wide web with content restrictions. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the FCC would work with WCIT Ambassador Terry Kramer to keep the internet free.
The World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) will be the venue for the debate – it’s on the books for December 3-14 in Dubai.
Genachowski said, “Today, the State Department officially formed the United States delegation to the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT). Unfortunately, some countries would use the WCIT to restrict the free flow of information online or otherwise threaten one of the most powerful engines for global economic growth in the world today – the open Internet. Ambassador Kramer and the U.S. delegation will bring to the conference America’s steadfast, bipartisan commitment to Internet freedom and the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance. This conference offers an important crossroads, and we must choose the path that builds on the success of the last two decades of liberalization in telecommunications regulation, preserves the successful multi-stakeholder model of Internet governances, and protects a free and open Internet. My staff and I look forward to participating in the work of the U.S. delegation. The work will be challenging, but it could not be more important.”
Kramer was appointed in June to lead the delegation, and has also made the protection of basic freedom a priority. According to Hillicon Valley, he recently commented, “If there are things that are completely objectionable, that violate our fundamental views about human rights, about free speech, about economic opportunities–if they fundamentally violate it — then we will just say no and absolutely we won’t proceed.”
RBR-TVBR observation: As divisive as many political issues are these days, sometimes it seems people seem forget that more things unite us as Americans than divide us. One of the most important principals in this category is freedom of speech, and even though the nuances of that basic right are often subject for debate, we have been pleased to see that on this issue, American resistance to internet restrictions has been rock solid from one end of the political spectrum to the other.
