[OT] Internet may "fall apart" next month, says EU

[Scott Elcomb]

On 11/16/05, Christopher Browne <cbbrowne-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On 11/16/05, Scott Elcomb <psema4-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
[...]
> > "US defends its control over new domains in last-minute global deal"
> > http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1876067_1,00.html
>
> There was an interesting editorial on this in the National Post today...
>
> <http://www.canada.com/search/story.html?id=16d25087-0645-4085-9bfa-61d87504cb1c>
>
> Not everything that the US government does has been, erm, "totally
> positive"; my level of confidence in the other organizations that
> start with "U" is way less.  Peter Foster points out some of the
> problems with would-be UN alternatives...

Nothing's ever perfect.  C'est la vie.

I've not been paying any serious attention to world events for more
than a handful of years, so maybe there's a reason for Mr. Foster's
colorful language.  It looks to me like he shoots himself in the foot
a couple times though:

-- excerpt starts --
This seemingly bland statement was every bit as chilling as any direct
attempt to control the Internet. By "nongovernmental Internet
community" did Mr. Annan mean the kind of people who used the Internet
to organize the recent riots in France, or who use it to co-ordinate
the rock-throwing that now routinely accompanies every meeting of
international leaders? More basically, the Internet is merely a
communications tool, not an agency of political legitimacy. Nobody
ever elected any "nongovernmental Internet community."

[...]

The whole point about the Internet is that it is essentially -- and
blissfully -- free of "governance."
-- excerpt ends --

On the surface, the only thing I see that makes Mr Annan's words
chilling, is Mr. Foster's description of why this must be so.  The
chilling thoughts shouldn't be dismissed, I'm just pointing out the
equivalence of Annan's and Foster's terms:

Nobody ever elected a "nongovernmental Internet community" because
it's nongovernmental; it's "blissfully" free of governance.

--
Scott Elcomb
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