
Keep the Internet free and open - cleverjake
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/keep-internet-free-and-open.html
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danso
I'm not disagreeing with the sentiment of this petition, but it strikes me as
mostly preaching to the choir given the driving issues here. Governments want
the right to cut off Internet in a crisis...and the countries who think that's
a good idea do so no matter what established democracies think. It's like
signing a petition for peace...the right thing to do, maybe, but it's not
really a debate.

~~~
alexro
After thousands of wars peace is understood by everybody, not so about the
free and open Internet, which to most is something that just works like
electricity, or black magic.

Making more people understand is definitely worth one tweet.

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casca
While I generally support what is being proposed here, Google as a company has
a strong interested in "keep[ing] the Internet free and open" for them to sell
their products. That doesn't make it wrong, it just means that if this was
raised by organisations that don't have a clear commercial interest then it
might improve the visibility.

~~~
TeMPOraL
> it just means that if this was raised by organisations that don't have a
> clear commercial interest then it might improve the visibility.

It might improve the thrustworthness, but I doubt anyone else on the planet
has more power to increase visibility than Google. Also always, in terms of
visibility, big commercial entities > any non-profit, except maybe Wikipedia.

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spoiledtechie
Why is this the first I am hearing about this? On such a niche site like HN
too? This should be all over the interwebs...

~~~
kleinishere
As a 25yo w/out a TV, this is the first I've heard of it as well.

Given the likelihood of similarly positioned friends on my social networks, I
shared the Economist article here (
[http://www.economist.com/news/21567340-governments-
squabble-...](http://www.economist.com/news/21567340-governments-squabble-
over-new-rules-internet-system-error) ) as a set up for the link to the
petition, should people agree w/ Google's efforts.

~~~
znowi
Thank you. A very interesting article. A few points that caught my attention:

1\. The US position on the ITU meting is to shot down various proposals and
keep the current regulations intact.

2\. The bulk of proposals are devised to lessen the influence of the US on the
internet. E.g. transfer ICAAN duties to ITU, charge companies like Facebook
and Google for outgoing traffic to national networks.

3\. European Telecommunications Network Operators seek to outlaw net
neutrality, quoting that without "fair" traffic control they're unable to
develop their networks.

And in the end a little excerpt:

"A bigger danger is therefore deadlock. That might encourage a large pack of
nations to set up their own internet regime, making communication with the
rest of the world more costly and more complicated."

Which is already happening with China, Syria, Iran, and others.

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eccoli
So I'm enjoying my blank page because for some reason this free and open
internet is not accessible and requires several scripts to display simple
html.

Posting about a free and open internet on a website which is paid for by ads
and with closed content is kinda ironic but it makes a strong point about
google's credibility.

Make no mistake, they're defending their business model and profit which
happens to be based on internet being sort of free and kinda open.

~~~
hrush
I couldn't agree more about Google sticking up for what's best for Google. And
while I don't agree that we need more government regulation and intervention,
we do need to call Google on their BS.

It gets even funnier if you read between the lines on their "take action" page
and translate.

Original: "A free and open world depends on a free and open Internet."
\---------------- Translated: "Google's revenues depend on a free and open
Internet where we can freely monetize content created by everyone else."

Original: "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." \---------------- Translated: "Who are these governments
to censor what appears on the Internet? Only Google and our hand-tuned animal-
named algorithms have the right to determine what people see and don't see.
And how dare anyone but Google attempt to impose tolls on the Internet?
Shocking, the audacity of these governments..."

Original: "Governments alone, working behind closed doors, should not direct
its future." \---------------- Translated: "Governments alone, working behind
closed doors, should not direct its future. That privilege belongs to Google
alone."

Original: "The ITU is also secretive. The treaty conference and proposals are
confidential." \---------------- Translated: "Only Google is allowed to be
secretive. Everyone else must be open."

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Zolomon
I don't understand. Isn't it better for this to get mainstream publicity
rather than waving a hand over it saying that it won't change anything? My
point is, shouldn't we encourage this so that it might get as much media
coverage as possible - "All publicity is good publicity"? Can someone explain
to me what it is I'm missing, please?

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dreamdu5t
A petition has absolutely no effect on this process.

~~~
archgoon
I think that #STOPSOPA has clearly demonstrated that a lot of people making
noise can influence the United States at the very least; and the United States
has a number of economic and political tools (I'm not including military tools
here) that it can use to influence the decisions of many less than democratic
regimes. Politicians are more willing to advocate the use of these tools
publically if they think that 1) People care about this; 2) People support
using them.

~~~
HistoryInAction
Unfortunately, international policy making is even more opaque and convoluted
than the US legislative process. ITU has been several years in the making, and
at the penultimate meeting back in October, it's likely that almost all of the
big decisions were finalized.

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FluidMotion
We will NEVER stop them all no matter what petition, but they will NEVER stop
us all.

Don't worry, humans will keep the network up no matter what.

