QandO

March 31, 2004

Oh yeah ... this is a GREAT idea
Posted by McQ

Yup ... this would be ALL we'd need:

The United Nations wants to expand its influence over the Internet, but would it be wise to let that happen?

That question follows the conclusion of a two-day U.N. summit last week, in which delegates from sundry countries such as Cuba, Ghana, Bolivia and Venezula lectured North American, Asian and European countries about how best to run the Internet.

Great ... lessons in e-commerce and communicatin from countries still trying to keep the electricty on all day.

While nothing concrete came out of last friday's UN summit, this won't to be the last attempt at this. Declan McCullagh's article yesterday points out:

Demands for greater U.N. involvement in the Internet are not new. As far back as 1999, a U.N. agency proposed taxing all e-mail messages to pay for development aid. The United Nations hastily backed away from that proposal, however, after prominent members of the U.S. Congress correctly slammed the organization as a "bureaucracy looking to get its greedy mitts on the Internet through new taxes."

As with most power grabs, just follow the money.

Its not that the net doesn't have problems, but consigning it to a bloated and ineffective bureaucracy estranged from the US and clearly open to bribery (oil for food anyone) certainly isn't the answer.

Hat tip to LauraN for the link.

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