Philosophy Wire: Google, ITU, UN and the popular myth of "Free Internet"...

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2012-11-22]:

Google has asked web users to add their name to an online petition to support its view regarding the upcoming ITU conference on the future of Internet. "The [UN agency] International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is bringing together regulators from around the world to renegotiate a decades-old communications treaty," it wrote on its Take Action site."Some proposals could permit governments to censor legitimate speech - or even allow them to cut off internet access. Other proposals would require services like YouTube, Facebook, and Skype to pay new tolls in order to reach people across borders. This could limit access to information - particularly in emerging markets". Google added that it was concerned that "only governments have a voice at the ITU" and not companies or others who had a stake in the net, concluding that the World Conference on International Telecommunications (Wcit) was "the wrong place" to make decisions about the internet's future. [source: BBC News]

If you ask me, the Internet was and will be controlled by someone. The myth of "free Internet" is one of the greatest myths of all times. The Internet was created by a government and by a specific state. That state (US) controls the basic infrastructure of the Internet for many many years now. And that is logical. Why wouldn't you control something YOU created?!? Now Google is "concerned" because it might start loosing the control she has started gaining with its popular search engine. Google controls what we see and it surely does not want someone else pulling the strings in their field of expertise. Google, UN, US... Whatever. In the long run, someone will always control the Internet. The Internet is not "free". We just have to accept it.

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