Moving Net Control From ICANN?
Found on Slashdot on Saturday, 07 February 2004
The BBC has a piece by Bill Thompson suggesting that "control" of the internet should move away from corporate groups(ICANN and the Web Consortium) and to governments. We previously had an article on ICANN and the UN World Summit on the Information Society. One quote: "We allow images of consensual sex in our cinemas, but not images of bestiality or child abuse. Why should the net be any different?" My personal answer: because the internet should not be another TV or cinema, it should be a free, user-as-peer and user-controllable media; a "reversible" media, as Baudrillard would put it; not user-as-consumer.
Governments would add censorship, because they fear uncontrollable mediums First, it's "against spam only"; then "against porn"; then "for your savety". Until it's too late. If the price for being uncontrolled are popups, spam, scams, virii and worms, then I will pay with a smile on my face instead of turning my freedom to some uncontrollable government agencies.