Atlanta Out Loud

The internet will never be the same again. This is scary! Giving control of the internet to the U.N. will never turn out to be a good thing. It's a proposal by the EU to give control of the "root servers" to some sort of UN council. David Hendon, representing the EU, wants us to trust him on this one:

The really important point is that the EU doesn't want to see this change as bringing new government control over the internet. Governments will only be involved where they need to be and only on issues setting the top-level framework.

When has that EVER turned out to be true? Read that again: "Government will only be involved where they need to be..." Can anyone think of one example where that is the case?

Milton Mueller, author of Ruling the Root gets it right:

It's not clear to me that governments know what to do about anything at this stage apart from get in the way of things that other people do.

Does anyone think that members of the UN -- like China, and the Arab world -- give a damn about the freedom we enjoy today on the 'net? Hell, the UN Declaration of Human Rights even says all the rights it grants can be taken away instantly if they interfere with the goals of the UN. This is just the first step in a slippery slope to stomp all over the concept of Freedom of Speech. That internet sales tax hoax that has persisted for years? It's more real now than ever before.

And, frankly, the bottom line is we built the damn thing. If they want to control it, they can BUY it from us.