Morning Clicks | China expected to take on Internet freedom at UN conference

The United Nations' ITU, formed in 1865 to regulate the world's telegraph network, is seen by many as unfit to regulate the Internet.

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Published: 7:59am, 4 Dec 2012Updated: 8:00am, 4 Dec 2012

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All geek eyes are (or should be) on China and Russia as the two countries lead a group of countries to closed-door meetings at the World Conference on International Communications, which kicked off yesterday in Dubai.

Coordinated by the International Telecommunications Union, countries such as China are expected to use the WCIT to push for updates to the ITU's International Telecommunication Regulations treaty that will give the UN-affiliated regulatory agency - specifically, nation-states - control over global Internet policy.

Part of what drives the push for state control is a desire to introduce crime-fighting mechanisms aimed at making online anonymity more difficult to achieve; led by the United States, opponents to governmental control of the Internet, as computer security expert Mikko Hyppönen puts it, fear that the consequences will never be the same.

-- Fast Company: The End Of Internet Freedom? U.N. Opens Ten-Day Talks On Web Regulation
-- Foreign Policy: Should you wear your Guy Fawkes mask in Dubai this week?
-- WCITLeaks: Announced list of participants (PDF)

China abroad

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