US, UK and Canada refuse to sign UN's internet treaty

[William Drake]

Hi

On Dec 14, 2012, at 7:49 AM, Avri Doria wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> As a advisor on the US delegation, I must add that this is very much to their credit.  They really really wanted to be able to sign the treaty and it is only because they stood on principle about defending the Internet especially from control of content.  They worked hard, harder than I even imagined the government could work to get a treaty they could sign.

+1  I too was very impressed with del in many respects, and couldn't help wishing to see the same kind of thing in ICANN.  

And of course, many other dels were on the right side of the issues as well…

> As someone who is generally not very supportive of governments I am very impressed by this effort.  
> 
> I got to see the sausage made, and I am so glad at least 30 countries, it seems, will avoid it.  But the story is not over and will continue next year in the World Telecommunity Policy Forum (WTPF), where Internet Governance is the subject.

WTPF in Geneva 13-16 May http://www.itu.int/en/wtpf-13/Pages/default.aspx will directly address ICANN-related issues from an intergovernmental/ministry of comm/national telco standpoint. It will be important that IG-oriented civil society follows this process and participates on whatever terms ITU allows (TBD—SG Toure on down have not responded to questions about it, but I suspect it'll be opened to some kind of public participation).

Cheers

Bill