Washington takes a second look at proposed changes to the governance of the Internet. The Communications Subcmte. of the House Energy Committee, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), reviews the possible results of the upcoming World Conference on International Telecommunications, scheduled for next December in Dubai.
Russia and China, among other member nations of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), are calling for changes in the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs) that would bring the Internet under international control. Currently, the Internet is outside of the scope of the ITRs.
Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell (R), who spoke at yesterday's panel hosted by The Free State Foundation, recently published a a Wall Street Journal op-ed criticizing the proposed changes. "A top-down, centralized, international regulatory overlay is antithetical to the architecture of the Net, which is a global network of networks without borders," he wrote.
McDowell appears on the first panel of today's hearing with Philip Verveer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy.
The second panel includes: David A. Gross, former U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, State Department; Sally Shipman Wentworth, Senior Manager of Public Policy, Internet Society; and Vinton Cerf, Vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google.