Comments on: U.N. says its plans are misunderstood

ITU Internet policy adviser Robert Shaw is at center of debate over future of Internet.

[yrrahxob]

It ain't broke

The internet is fine just the way it is. It ain't broke. Don't try to fix it.

[sydneyallen]

...but it will be if the U.N. wrests control

While the U.N. may do some good around the world, they're generally too stodgy, too autonomous, too arrogant and lately, too embroiled in scandal and mis-management to handle something as dynamic and important as the internet. Give the U.N. control?!?! Why? So censorship, access and taxation demands of "developing nations" (China, N. Korea and other, less than free thinking regimes) can be "legitimately considered"? I smell fraud, corruption and one of the biggest mistakes the U.S. will ever make if this is allowed, whether deliberately or through apathy.

[Mark Donovan]

Evasive interview

Mr. Shaw's interview was one of the more evasive I've ever read. Even the CNET News.com interviewer noted Mr. Shaw dodged a question, and when Mr. Shaw was asked to be more specific, he further avoided a clear answer -- prefering to "avoid focusing on the negative aspects." If Mr. Shaw's lack of candor is typical of the U.N. approach to Internet standards and operation, the world is better off without it.

[The user with no name]

it aint about standards

and the fact that Autocratic regimes like China and North Korea want a say in REGULATION proves it. The EU wants taxation regulation not a say in how protocols interact.

Mr Shaw says about how Developing Countries have to go back home and implement policy changes... What policy changes do they have to implement? Forgive my apparant ignorance but isnt a computer in Zimbabwe pretty much the same as A computer in the US? After all they're all made in Taiwan (lol)! But seriously...what policy changes is he referring to?

The UN, like most political organizations NEVER GET ANYTHING DONE.. all the world needs is China being able to say noone can talk about things the chinese govt doesnt want it's citizens to be able to read... oops there goes most content except content that states how wonderful the chinese govt is!

As for the EU.. I do not need to be paying even more taxes to a country that I am not even a citizen of, nor living in!

Yeah...lets just kill the internet with policies, policing and taxes... thats good for the global economy and community!

Idiots!

[hrep14]

It's been working fine, leave it alone.

The Internet has been stabily moving along under the fair governance of the United States since it's conception.
Now we see political pressure from outside the US trying to wrest control of top level domains which the US has been governing fairly internationally for years.
For some politicians it's a way to try to deny their citizens their freedoms and keep them in ignorance, because they may be able to deny free speech in the local Press and TV media but it's a lot harder to deny it on the Internet especially if they don't have a say on domain registrations.
I just hope the US Government significantly realizes that this is not just a space for political free speach but also a space for business, banking, crime prevention etc... in which stability is paramount and it has been under their governance for all these years. I personally wouldn't trust the UN with this, it's a political body in which some unsavory characters have a say.