de VINTON CERF
24 MAI 2012
Vinton Cerf este recunoscut ca fiind unul din „Părinţii Internetului,” titlu pe care îl împarte cu omul de ştiinţă american Bob Kahn. În prezent lucrează pentru Google, pe post de Evanghelist Șef Al Internetului. După încercările ACTA, SOPA, PIPA, CISPA, etc o nouă amenințare- de data aceasta foarte serioasă, pune Internetul- și pe susținătorii lui, în defensivă.
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Internetul se află la răscruce . Clădit pe verticală,de jos în sus, alimentat de oameni, a devenit un puternic motor economic şi o forţă social-pozitivă. Dar succesul său a generat o reacţie îngrijorătoare. În jurul lumii, regimurile represive sunt pe cale să pună în aplicare- sau să propună, măsuri care să restricţioneze libertatea de exprimare şi să afecteze grav drepturile fundamentale ale omului. Numărul guvernelor care cenzurează conţinutul pe Internet a crescut la 40 în prezent- de la aproximativ patru în 2002. Şi acest număr este în continuă creştere, ameninţând să ucidă Internetul așa cum noi îl cunoaștem.
Unele dintre aceste măsuri sunt o reacţie la daunele diverse care pot fi şi sunt propagate prin intermediul reţelei. Ca aproape orice tip de infrastructură, Internetul poate fi abuzat şi utilizatorii săi răniți. Noi trebuie, totuşi, să avem mare grijă ca leacul pentru aceste boli să nu face mai mult rău decât bine. Beneficiile unui internet deschis şi accesibil sunt incalculabile şi pierderea lor ar însemna prejudicii sociale şi economice semnificative .
În acest context, un nou front in lupta pentru Internet se deschide datorită Uniunii Internaţionale a Telecomunicaţiilor ( International Telecommunications Union – ITU ), o organizaţie- agenție a Naţiunilor Unite care numără 193 de ţări. Acesta s-a format în urma unei analize a acordurilor internaţionale care reglementează domeniul telecomunicaţiilor şi îşi propune să extindă autoritatea de reglementare și asupra Internetului, cu ocazia unui summit programat pentru luna decembrie, în Dubai.
O astfel de mişcare deţine un potenţial imens – şi cred, periculos – cu implicaţii pentru viitorul Internetului şi a tuturor utilizatorilor săi.
În prezent, ITU se concentrează asupra reţelelor de telecomunicaţii şi la alocările de frecvenţe radio mai degrabă decât la Internet în sine. Unii membri sunt pentru extinderea domeniul de aplicare al autorității acestei organizații și asupra Internetului. Fiecare din cei 193 de membri are un vot – şi o majoritate simplă este de ajuns pentru a efectua schimbarea. Negocierile se desfăşoară în mare parte între guverne, cu acces foarte limitat pentru societatea civilă sau alţi observatori.
Când am ajutat la dezvoltarea standardelor deschise care folosesc computerele pentru a comunica unuii cu alții pe net, am sperat, dar nu am putut anticipa cum va înflori acesta şi cât de multă ingeniozitatea umană va dezlănţui. Ce sos secret a alimentat succesul? Internetul a prosperat tocmai pentru că guvernele – în cea mai mare parte, i- au permis să crească organic alături de societatea civilă,de mediul academic, de sectorul privat.
În schimb, ITU creează obstacole semnificative în calea participării societăţii civile. ITU este o agenţie specializată a Organizaţiei Naţiunilor Unite, crescută din International Telegraph Union- care a fost înfiinţată în 1865. Tratatul care reglementează agenţia, ultima dată în 1988, stabilește reguli care au lăsat, până acuma, Internetul neatins.
În timp ce multe guverne s-au angajat să menţină un regim flexibil pentru tehnologii care dezvoltă rapid Internetul, altele au fost explicite cu privire la dorinţa lor de a pune ONU sau alte organisme interguvernamentale să-l controleze.
În luna iunie 2011, pe atunci prim-ministru Vladimir Putin a declarat că scopul Rusiei şi al aliaţilor săi este „să stabilească controlul internaţional asupra Internetului”, prin intermediul ITU – iar în septembrie 2011, China, Rusia, Tadjikistan şi Uzbekistan, au prezentat o propunere pentru un „Cod Internaţional de conduită pentru Securitatea Informatiei ” Adunării Generale ONU, cu scopul de a se stabili guvernelor reguli „și norme internaţionale şi de standardizare cu privire la informaţii şi la spaţiul cibernetic. „
Frânturi de cuvinte dintro serie de propuneri din interiorul ITU au ieșit la suprafață. Se relatează astfel că mai multe regimuri autoritare ar dori interzicerea anonimatul pe Web, făcând astfel mai uşoară găsirea şi arestarea disidenţilor. Alţii au sugerat mutarea gestionării domeniilor şi adreselor de internet din sistemul privat la Organizaţia Naţiunilor Unite.
Astfel de propuneri devoalează perspectiva unor politici care să permită controlul guvernului, dar acest lucru diminuează foarte mult conceptul de „permissionless innovation”, care sta la baza creșterii economice extraordinare a Internetului, ca să nu mai vorbim de strivirea drepturilor omului.
Unele ţări şi-au exprimat simpatia pentru aceste propuneri. Acestea sunt preocupate de rolul prea mare pe care Statele Unite îl joacă în direcţia dezvoltării Internetului. Unii cred că status quo-ul acesteia favorizează interesele marilor companii de Internet, la nivel global. Alţii cred că ITU poate ajuta țările în curs de dezvoltare să accedă la un Internet de mare viteză, .
Deciziile care se vor lua în Dubai, în decembrie, au potenţialul pericol că vor permite crearea unor condiții care vor favoriza încătușarea de către stat a Netului. Pentru a preveni aceasta – şi pentru a păstra Internetul deschis şi gratuit pentru generaţiile viitoare – avem nevoie să oprim această schimbare fundamentală a modului în care este guvernat Internetul astăzi.
Vă îndemn să luați măsuri acum: insistați ca dezbaterea despre guvernarea Internetului să fie transparentă şi deschisă tuturor părţilor interesate.
Keep the Internet Open
The Internet stands at a crossroads. Built from the bottom up, powered by the people, it has become a powerful economic engine and a positive social force. But its success has generated a worrying backlash. Around the world, repressive regimes are putting in place or proposing measures that restrict free expression and affect fundamental rights. The number of governments that censor Internet content has grown to 40 today from about four in 2002. And this number is still growing, threatening to take away the Internet as you and I have known it.
Some of these steps are in reaction to the various harms that can be and are being propagated through the network. Like almost every major infrastructure, the Internet can be abused and its users harmed. We must, however, take great care that the cure for these ills does not do more harm than good. The benefits of the open and accessible Internet are nearly incalculable and their loss would wreak significant social and economic damage.
Against this background, a new front in the battle for the Internet is opening at the International Telecommunications Union, a United Nations organization that counts 193 countries as its members. It is conducting a review of the international agreements governing telecommunications and aims to expand its regulatory authority to the Internet at a summit scheduled for December in Dubai.
Such a move holds potentially profound — and I believe potentially hazardous — implications for the future of the Internet and all of its users.
At present, the I.T.U. focuses on telecommunication networks and on radio frequency allocations rather than the Internet per se. Some members are aiming to expand the agency’s treaty scope to include Internet regulation. Each of the 193 members gets a vote, no matter its record on fundamental rights — and a simple majority suffices to effect change. Negotiations are held largely among governments, with very limited access for civil society or other observers.
When I helped to develop the open standards that computers use to communicate with one another across the Net, I hoped for but could not predict how it would blossom and how much human ingenuity it would unleash. What secret sauce powered its success? The Net prospered precisely because governments — for the most part — allowed the Internet to grow organically, with civil society, academia, private sector and voluntary standards bodies collaborating on development, operation and governance.
In contrast, the I.T.U. creates significant barriers to civil society participation. A specialized agency of the United Nations, it grew out of the International Telegraph Union, which was established in 1865. The treaty governing the agency, last amended in 1988, established practices that left the Internet largely unaffected.
While many governments are committed to maintaining flexible regimes for fast-moving Internet technologies, some others have been quite explicit about their desire to put a single U.N. or other intergovernmental body in control of the Net.
Last June, then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stated the goal of Russia and its allies as “establishing international control over the Internet” through the I.T.U. And in September 2011, China, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan submitted a proposal for an “International Code of Conduct for Information Security” to the U.N. General Assembly, with the goal of establishing government-led “international norms and rules standardizing the behavior of countries concerning information and cyberspace.”
Word of a few other proposals from inside the I.T.U. have surfaced. Several authoritarian regimes reportedly would ban anonymity from the Web, which would make it easier to find and arrest dissidents. Others have suggested moving the privately run system that manages domain names and Internet addresses to the United Nations.
Such proposals raise the prospect of policies that enable government controls but greatly diminish the “permissionless innovation” that underlies extraordinary Internet-based economic growth to say nothing of trampling human rights.
Some countries have expressed sympathy for these proposals. They are concerned about the outsized role they perceive that the United States plays in the direction and development of Internet policy. Some believe the status quo favors the interests of large, global Internet companies. Others believe the I.T.U. can help speed Internet access in the developing world.
The decisions taken in Dubai in December have the potential to put government handcuffs on the Net. To prevent that — and keep the Internet open and free for the next generations — we need to prevent a fundamental shift in how the Internet is governed.
I encourage you to take action now: Insist that the debate about Internet governance be transparent and open to all stakeholders.
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