The United Nations wants to regulate the Internet and the oceans of the world. I’m not making this up. This has to be the power grab of the century. Both of these objectives are probably aimed at reducing U.S. power and redistributing the wealth. It is certainly not a good thing for the U.S. and even other major countries.
Coming up in December there is a meeting in Dubai of 193 countries of the world to decide on a possible treaty that would regulate the Internet. Presumably the regulator would be the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The ITU does a great job of establishing communications standards and protocols, but letting it be a toll keeper on the Internet is another thing.
It is difficult to say just what the regulations would entail, but no doubt it would have fees associated with using the Internet. New rules could make it against the law to remain anonymous on the Internet making it possible for governments to track individuals or organizations for any purpose. And no doubt the ICANN or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers would be replaced with some ITU/UN organization. How is that going to work out?
I doubt that anyone in the U.S. especially large companies dependent on the Internet like AT&T, Google, Microsoft and many others will like it. Furthermore, while the goal of the regulation is to minimize problems associated with the growth of global Internet and to promote innovation and prosperity, I suspect just the opposite will happen. This is a bad deal for nearly everyone. I hope the Obama administration and Congress will do what it can to stop this crazy idea. Leave the Internet alone. Sure, right now it is an open system and that is what made it grow and become so successful. Why take that away?
But wait, that’s not all. The U.N. also wants to regulate the oceans of the world. The idea here is to establish a worldwide agency or authority that would be involved in all aspects of using the world’s oceans. And keep in mind that the world’s surface is two-thirds water so this is a big deal. The agency would regulate all shipping and transportation, fishing, mining, oil and gas production, navigation and other aspects of the seas. This is a monumental power grab. This regulatory treaty would require those who profit from the ocean in any way to pay a royalty to the authority. These fees would then be redistributed to all nations. I suspect that the redistribution would not be regulated so no telling what nefarious deals this would fund. Oh boy… The unintended consequences are staggering.
Soon the U.S. will need to have its say on this. It did in the past. Back in the early 1980s President Reagan along with Margaret Thatcher of the U.K. vetoed a treaty for a similar attempt to regulate the oceans. Again, I cannot see how we could subscribe to such a thing. Write your congressman about both of these.
I am not against regulation as such. It is often a needed thing but sometimes it is just over the top. The financial regulations of recent introduction (Sarbanes-Oxley, Dodd-Franks) are killing business right now. Some of that regulation was needed but so much of it is just destructive our business community. We need less regulation, not more. We are, in fact, regulated to death, a term Fox Business commentator, John Stossel, used in a recent show.
Think about it. What does Congress do all day all year every year? Yes, pass new rules and regulations. What do the state legislatures do? And what do county and city councils do? Again, make new laws and regulation. Thousands and thousands every year. We are literally drowning in regulations. Name something that is not regulated. I fear the Shower Police in the near future will come to see if I am wearing my self-protective shower helmet. The government doesn’t want me to hurt myself in the shower and thereby not be able to contribute more tax to the government so they can run the regulatory agencies it creates each year. Scary.
That’s my rant for the week. How many regulations and laws that you don’t know about are you violating right now?