Internet Freedom Not to be Controlled by The United Nations

Hamadoun Toure, the head of the UN telecommunications body made it clear on 3 December 2012 that the freedom of the Internet will not be cramped or controlled. Hamadoun Toure made this clear in the meeting in which 24-year-old telecom regulations were reviewed. The World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) started off in Dubai on 3 December 2012 in order to review the regulations which were reached back in 1988.

 During the meeting, Toure also remarked that during the conference the subject of Internet freedom of expression would not be touched at all. He opined that freedom of expression in modern world today could not be curtailed.
Google had already voiced its warnings about serious consequences that would happen in case the member states’ proposals about the Internet were approved at this WCIT-12 meeting. The issue about permission of censorship on legal content was also included.

Google’s head of Free Expression in Africa, Middle East and Europe voiced out that there were some proposals according to which the government would be permitted to censor the legal speech or maybe even shut down access to the Internet. Google also argued that the ITU (UN agency for information communication technologies) was not the appropriate body for addressing the issues of the Internet.

Toure however made it clear that the working with harmony was the appropriate way of making decisions at agency. The Geneva-based organisation of Toure has 700 private sector entities and 193 member-states.