How Do You Like Your Internet?  I Like Mine Free…

Hello one and all, as many of you have heard there is a proposed meeting of International Delegates that are going to try and decide how our internet moves in the future.  The ITU, International Telecommunications Union, is looking to hold a Closed Door meeting to see how they can modify the original 1988 internet treaty to “bring it up to date”.  That’s the idea, well, what we’re told.  The internet is supposed to be an area of freedom with jurisdictional laws from state to state, country to country, and so on, and thus far with a few hiccups along the way and a slough of new laws due to the greater possibilities of growing crime (virtual if you will) these governing bodies are taking it upon themselves to introduce new laws and regulations and take away some of our internet freedom.  [pullquote_right]“A free and open world depends on a free and open Internet. Governments alone, working behind closed doors, should not direct its future. The billions of people around the globe who use the Internet should have a voice.”[/pullquote_right] This sort of stuff is very reminiscent of PIPA and SOPA, but on a much larger scale.  So, how can this really affect you, me, and Joe Schmoe sitting next to you?  Here’s a quick run down

• The ITU Make Its Decisions Behind Closed Doors WITHOUT Transparency
• The ITU Is Composed Of Government Entities ONLY
• Once A Decision Is Made, We Are Then Informed What New Rules To Follow, Without Our Input
• They Could Cut Off Internet Access for Overly Broad Defined Reasons
• Greater Government Control and Freedom To Monitor Internet Activities, All Activities
• Redefining SPAM To Include Anything They Don’t Like (Pictures of Your Family, Cute Cats, Even This Post)
• They Could Charge Online Content Providers For What Their Viewers Read or Watch On Their Sites (Like Ours, AndroidStory)

Who, you may ask is pushing the hardest for these changes?  I would guess those countries that want to and do sensor their own people already, Iran, N. Korea, China, Russia, to name a few.  In some of these countries you can barely get on to YouTube to watch a video or get to FaceBook to see what your friends and family are up to.  Yeah, those guys.

Now, I’ve painted the ITU in a pretty bad light thus far, probably because I don’t like what this upcoming meeting is all about and what the potential ramifications could be for us worldwide.  The ITU does do some good things to help the world around us like increasing satellite networks and telecommunications in countries unable to afford to do it themselves to aid in the proliferation of the internet and communication capabilities to everyone possible.  That’s a pretty good cause IMO.

But what do we need to do?  We need to stand up and tell our elected leaders to stand firm and preserve our internet freedoms, we need them to fight for our right to continue on without added restrictions and monitoring.  How can we do this you may ask?  There are several, probably more than I have found, across the internet that are working to increase awareness to this plight and what could possibly rain down on us as a storm of hell fire and brimstone.

Google’s Take Action Site

What is the ITU?

,Well, this is where I leave you, and urge you to PLEASE go and let your voice and ours be heard. I’ve registered at both sites listed above and plan on hitting a couple more tonight before I crash, which is a long ways out. LOL. I live in the dark depths of the night. So….DO IT, MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD, KEEP THE INTERNET FREE. Shout it from the rooftops, over your phone line, email in all caps to your everyone you know so they can see the gravity of this issue (don’t do that last one, that was a joke, well, the all caps thing was :-D). Our governments needs to hear us, they need hear our voices rise up together and crescendo from a pale whisper to the roar of a tsunami heading their way letting them know how we feel. Now is our time to come together again and fight, time to stand up and be heard. One of the great Presidents of the U.S., Teddy Roosevelt once said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick”, and as much as I carry that quote with me and believe in the message it sends, now is not the time to speak softly, but let our words be the “Big Stick” we carry. Standing together we can move mountains, standing alone the dust will consume us.

Zachdroid…OUT