Internet, the last battle of neoliberalism
Internet, not being covered by the International Telecommunication Regulations adopted in 1988 has not been subject to any regulations, only the law of the market and stronger
The International Telecommunication Union opened this week in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the World Conference on International Telecommunications, which will meet for 15 days in order to revise the International Telecommunication Regulations.
The celebration of this event was preceded by a negative media campaign funded and organized from the United States and that has resonated in many media around the world.
But before going into details, we
A little history
In 1865 he founded the International Telegraph Union (ICU) for 20 states. That same year, under the International Telegraph Convention establishing the first telegraph service regulations.
In 1932 the International Telegraph Union changed its name to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and later, in 1948, under an agreement with the newly formed United Nations, ITU became his agency specialized in the field of telecommunications.
For its part, the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) has its genesis in the telegraph service regulations of 1865 and the Telegraph and Telephone Regulations 1932.
It arises from the need for a matter of treaty provisions applicable to services and international telecommunication networks to, among other things, establish the general principles of service delivery and operations, set the rules of global interconnection and interoperability and provide a basis for development of the sector in all countries.
The current version of RTI is a treaty signed by 178 countries in 1988 and implemented worldwide since it came into force in 1990.
So, why the fuss now?
Internet is the culprit
In 1988, when the RTI was last revised, internet was not widespread, so it is not mentioned in the Regulations.
However, today internet and its associated technologies are a vital and growing part of international telecommunications.
Therefore, one of the issues discussed at the Conference held in Dubai is the modification and extension of the International Telecommunication Regulations to include the topic of internet.
Indeed, during the preparatory process of the event many ITU Member States have submitted proposals on the internet, most on two issues of concern to many countries: its economics and security.
However, the campaign orchestrated by the U.S. ITU and accuses the UN of wanting to "control", "restrict access" or "impose censorship" internet.
Double standards and interests
But the United States is precisely who controls the Internet critical resources through the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), who restricts access to websites to countries like Cuba, which applied unilateral measures that violate international law, and who imposes censorship of Internet content that affect their interests, such as the Wikileaks site.
In addition, major U.S. companies are content and infrastructure that control and receive most of the money flows on the Internet. And U.S. is one of the countries that consider Internet as a theater of military operations.
Therefore, the attempt to discredit the ITU and the World Conference on International Telecommunications aims to avoid any change to International Telecommunication Regulations that may affect this domain facto they have on the internet.
But also pursues more fundamental purposes.
Scheduled or unscheduled, that is the question
Internet, not being covered by the International Telecommunication Regulations adopted in 1988 has not been subject to any regulations, only the law of the market and stronger.
Therefore, one of the primary issues are discussed in Dubai is internet considering a telecommunications service and therefore susceptible to being regulated.
This is not a purely technical discussion, as it has important implications for people receiving telecommunications services.
For example, one of the regulations of the telecommunications sector is the "universal service obligation" under which operators must provide telecommunications service everywhere and not only in those where a profit. This regulation is what has allowed rural or urban low-income phone service there. However there is no equivalent regulation for the internet service.
Another example is the regulation which requires telephone service providers to have their own power source in order to ensure the availability of emergency services. Internet providers are not required to comply with this regulation although internet telephony is a service that is replacing traditional telephony. The negative effect of this regulation have not revealed during the recent storm Sandy where network outage brought down electricity service internet telephony leaving thousands of people cut off in an emergency situation.
Despite these examples, and others who demonstrate the need for regulations to correct the "mistakes" of the market as the sole regulatory agency, the United States and its allies will battle in Dubai so that the regulations do not reach internet , and consequently, so that within a short time all telecommunications are deregulated.
This battle is one more than the advocates of neoliberalism are fighting to try to impose their vision of a world where markets prevail without restrictions and where states and intergovernmental institutions such as the United Nations system, fail to meet their roles as guarantors of public interest.