So hey, there’s a proposal getting quietly pushed through a little-known UN agency called the International Telecommunications Union, which represents a huge power grab on the part of the UN with regards to regulating online content. The proposal – a potential threat to a global and open Internet – is chiefly being pushed for by China and Russia.

Says the WSJ:

Several proposals would give the U.N. power to regulate online content for the first time, under the guise of protecting against computer malware or spam. Russia and some Arab countries want to be able to inspect private communications such as email. Russia and Iran propose new rules to measure Internet traffic along national borders and bill the originator of the traffic, as with international phone calls. That would result in new fees to local governments and less access to traffic from U.S. “originating” companies such as Google, Facebook and Apple. A similar idea has the support of European telecommunications companies, even though the Internet’s global packet switching makes national tolls an anachronistic idea.'”

Now, the dude writing above is of the opinion that America is ‘fighting for internet freedom’ against ‘authoritarian regimes’ like those in China and Russia which is, geeze, not the case at all. But the unprecedented attempt by a UN committee to secure power over how online information gets handled is a big move – and a bad one. Watch this space.

[Source: WSJ]