Singapore wants other countries to follow its lead in restricting Internet erotica. Nigeria wants the world's wealthiest countries to pay your tax dollars for wiring Africa, a la the postwar Marshall Plan for economic recovery. The Netherlands wants a limit on "commercial" Net influences. Those ideas and others will be kicked around at a UNESCO summit here next week, as governments worldwide debate how best to approach Internet regulation.
And privacy watchdogs are issuing a fair warning - watch out for potential threats to free speech and privacy.
The Nov. 30-Dec. summit's theme is "Internet and New Services," and a major question is said to be whether government pressure on the computer industry is enough or whether more formal regulations are necessary, according to Wired.
The journal says sentiments on that question are mixed - over 60 countries answered advance queries from the French government, but there was said to be "broad" agreement among just about all those countries that broadcast regulations could be "the best ground" for any bid to adapt a legal framework for the World Wide Web.
For example, Malta wants delegates to create a draft convention regulating Internet broadcasters, which would go to UNESCO for conversion to a formal international pact.
Canadians in Quebec want more promotion of online cultural events. The Netherlands talked up its fears of commercial influences. Gabon seems to want restrictions on anonymity, Wired says, citing "the necessity to name a responsible person" for Net-distributed multimedia.
Some watchdogs are saying the summit should be monitored tightly for threats to free speech and economic freedom. "The Internet community has to engage in this stuff. It has to be outspoken when things are really wacky," says Tony Rutkowski, a former FCC lawyer who worked with UNESCO as a US government representative, tells Wired.
"The Internet doesn't survive well in traditional regulatory environments. There's probably more reason than most to be inquisitive and skeptical what's going on."
"Most of this proposal is impractical, especially where they talk about national filtering standards," says Solveig Singleton, a telecommunications attorney at the libertarian Cato Institute in "It's a sign that there are a lot of people out there who are determined to protect the status quo at all costs and are not adapting to the new world."
And much of the summit will pay attention to whether Northern Hemisphere nations should tax their citizens to pay for Internet and computer development in the Southern Hemisphere. "Far from being a global village or a planetary media, the Internet today, in all cases, is clearly dominated by a few countries in the North," the CSA summary says, calling the situation "economic colonialism."
Indeed, Wired says, a proposal from African regulators -- Réseau des instances africaines de régulation de la communication (RIARC) -- wants not only cash, but more "protection of children" and more scientific information placed online.
