11/12/2012 14:27
Russia backs down over UN internet regulation
A Russia-led coalition on Monday withdrew a proposal to give governments new powers over the Internet, a plan opposed by Western countries in talks on a new global telecom treaty.
Negotiations on the treaty mark the most sustained effort so far by governments from around the world to agree on how - or whether - to regulate cyberspace, The Telegraph reported.
The United States, Britain, Canada and other advocates of a hands-off approach to Internet regulation want to limit the new treaty's scope to telecom companies.
But Russia, China and many Arab states, which want greater governmental control, have been pushing to expand the treaty beyond traditional telecom operators.
Representatives from about 150 countries - members of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN agency - have been negotiating for the past eight days in Dubai on the new treaty, which was last revised in 1988, before the advent of the web.
The Russia-led proposal could have allowed countries to block some Internet locations and take control of the allocation of Internet addresses currently overseen by ICANN, a self-governing organization under contract to the U.S. Department of Commerce.