CircleID

"Finally, the fact that some countries are worried about the sudden free flow of information into otherwise closed societies should be hailed as a great victory for the decentralized architecture of the Internet and the extraordinary opportunities for publishing and sharing information afforded by the World Wide Web"

What I fail to see is how turning over governance of the Internet to the U.N. would have any effect on this.

"What can we do to ensure these technologies respect basic privacy rights and security needs if they are not developed in the light of day, the way that all basic Internet technology has grown?"

More than likely, absolutely nothing.There is a direct inverse relationshio between government and personal rights. The only thing that stands in the way of any government is the will of the governed to effect change if they disagree with the governing body.

What bothers me is that, at the moment, the true reigns of Internet power flow through just one place: the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is they who can turn around tomorrow and tell ICANN to pack up and hit the road. And there's bloody little anyone could do to stop them. In other words, there's a little less public accountability and chance for input in the current setup. The W3C, at least, is set up a little better. What I'm afraid of in any proposal to let the U.N. have governance is that it's no less a collection of politicians than any other governmental body.

That alone should scare the pants off anybody.