European Parliament Passes Resolution Against ITU Asserting Control Over Internet

Today, the European Parliament passed a resolution that condemns the upcoming attempt from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to assert control over the Internet, and instructed its 27 Member States to act accordingly. This follows an attempt from the ITU to assert itself as the governing body and control the Internet. The Pirate Party was one of the parties drafting the resolution.

The resolution, which was passed with a large majority, included Members of European Parliament (MEPs) from all major party groups, and the Pirate Party’s Amelia Andersdotter had been playing a central role in its drafting, together with MEPs Marietje Schaake and Judith Sargentini from the Netherlands, Sabine Verheyen and Petra Kammerevert from Germany, Ivailo Kalfin from Bulgaria, and Catherine Trautmann from France.

In its upcoming meeting, the ITU is expected to try to decide for itself to have the regulatory power over the Internet. Many have been crying out against this shameless powergrab, now with the European Parliament – the elected legislators of the world’s largest economy – being the latest to join.

It is not surprising that the ITU would try to assert this power for itself, as it is the world’s industry body for telco operators, which stand to become obsolete as a result of the Internet. But if they can assert themselves as masters of the Internet, they get the desired ability to kill the potential of the net to replace them and their current cashcows. In other word, this is a textbook attempt at a regulatory capture by the ITU.

The Europarl resolution is very clear on the value of the Internet as a collaborative platform, and states that no single entity, like the ITU, should be able to exercise top-down control over the net:

3. [The European Parliament] believes that the ITU, or any other single, centralised international institution, is not the appropriate body to assert regulatory authority over either internet governance or internet traffic flows; […]

5. [The European Parliament] believes that, as a consequence of some of the proposals presented, the ITU itself could become the ruling power over aspects of the internet, which could end the present bottom-up, multi-stakeholder model; expresses concern that, if adopted, these proposals may seriously affect the development of, and access to, online services for end users, as well as the digital economy as a whole; believes that internet governance and related regulatory issues should continue to be defined at a comprehensive and multi-stakeholder level; […]

7. [The European Parliament] supports any proposals to maintain the current scope of the ITRs and the current mandate of the ITU; opposes any proposals that would extend the scope to areas such as the internet, including domain name space, IP address allocation, the routing of internet-based traffic and content-related issues;

8. [The European Parliament] calls on the Member States to prevent any changes to the International Telecommunication Regulations which would be harmful to the openness of the internet, net neutrality, the end-to-end principle, universal service obligations, and the participatory governance entrusted to multiple actors such as governments, supranational institutions, non-governmental organisations, large and small businesses, the technological community and internet users and consumers at large

“The resolution of the Parliament is a big success for Internet users. This sends a clear and positive signal to the European Commission and the Member States”, says Amelia Andersdotter, MEP for the Pirate Party and co-submitter of the resolution in a press release.

UPDATE: The first version of this article stated that the resolution had been passed unanimously, based on the first available sources, but secondary sources later used the phrasing “a large majority”. Until the formal protocol has been published and we know the official tally, “unanimously” was removed from the article.

Rick Falkvinge

Rick is the founder of the first Pirate Party and a low-altitude motorcycle pilot. He lives on Alexanderplatz in Berlin, Germany, roasts his own coffee, and as of right now (2019-2020) is taking a little break.

Discussion

  1. Anon

    Well done PP and all others.. thank you

  2. serenity

    The article still contains the phrase “the unanimous European Parliament”.

    Awesome news, though! 🙂

    1. Rick Falkvinge

      Good catch – thanks.

      1. nyan

        “unanimously” is still in the URL.

        1. Rick Falkvinge

          Yes. I don’t change a URL, once published. While that would seem like the logical thing to do – to change the title everywhere – it has the side effect of breaking links that are already floating around the net, and that is such a serious drawback I don’t want to do it.

        2. Caleb Lanik

          Rick, you could change the first url into a redirect, and have no problems.

  3. Quinn

    Good job!

  4. Google vs ITU

    […] Update: The resolution has been passed. […]

  5. […] "CRITEO-300×250", 300, 250); 1 meneos   El Parlamento Europeo aprueba una resolución en contra de que el ITU tome el control de Internet [E… falkvinge.net/2012/11/22/european-parliament-unanimously-…  por Eduardo_Robles hace […]

  6. 6.941

    This is good news.

    A big thanks to Amelia and all others who made this happen.

  7. In the News: 2012-11-22 | Klaus' Korner

    […] Technology News: European Parliament Passes Resolution Against ITU Asserting Control Over Internet Today, the European Parliament passed a resolution that condemns the upcoming attempt from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to assert control over the Internet, and instructed its 27 Member States to act accordingly. This follows an attempt from the ITU to assert itself as the governing body and control the Internet. The Pirate Party was one of the parties drafting the resolution. Read full story => falkvinge […]

  8. Eric

    This is great, thank you .

    Not too happy with the sentence that presents the internet public as “users and consumers” though. Every member of the internet public can be a consumer today and producer the next morning. Slapping the “consumer” label on the larger public increases the room for changes in policy/law that don’t affect the consumer, but increases the burden of users that want to start producing. I’ll admit that’s a small percentage of the total public, but this group does represent a relevant percentage of the creative potential of that public.

  9. Ano Nymous

    I had never heard of the ITU plans. Yet another freedom issue that the mainstream media shuts up about? I’m happy the majority of the Europarl condemns them, I didn’t expect that from any members except the Pirates.

    1. Anonymous

      Google has been very vocal about the ideas, but they have been largely ignored by the mainstream media (at least over in Aus, where the print media is dominated by Murdoch and the commercial TV stations aren’t much better).

      Of course, Google isn’t doing this for altruistic reasons: a lot of big ISPs have openly said that they want non-neutrality so they can get more money out of Google. However, the enemy of my enemy is at least a potential ally.

  10. Paul

    I’m broadly in favour of this but the idea that the European parliament can “instruct” national governments is offensive and simply wrong. It has no authority to do this whatsoever and language of this sort is simply inflammatory in some quarters. The European parliament may make recommendations to national governments. That’s all.

    1. Colin

      Paul,
      You are right. The parliament cannot force national governments to do anything. Rest assured that the UK at least won’t take a blind bit of notice.

  11. […] Resolution Against ITU Asserting Control Over Internet Posted on 2012/11/22 by NotSoCrazyNews Original post on falkvinge.net →   Comments on reddit.com →   Related PostsUS will refuse bid to give […]

  12. Anonymous

    well done to all. what is left to do now is:

    a) stop the USA from doing the same, using ‘treaties’ like TPP, CETA etc (which are as usual, only discussed behind closed doors, leaving out any representation for the people.
    b) stop the mainly USA entertainment industries (but others as well) from trying to do the same, using the US as the bow-spit and trying to apply their laws World-Wide, using threats and sanctions.
    c) stop anyone and everyone else from doing the same thing, as and when they feel their own particular industry is under threat, even though progress itself would be inhibited.

  13. […] Fuente Rick Falkvinge […]

  14. […] been getting the attention it deserves. This is because we’re fighting off surveillance, attempts to take over the internet, and three treaties. Oh, and ACTAkeeps threatening to come back from the […]

  15. […] [… 3. [The European Parliament] believes that the ITU, or any other single, centralised international institution, is not the appropriate body to assert regulatory authority over either internet governance or internet traffic flows; […] …] *Well Done.:)  […]

  16. Mac

    And we non-European citizens of the planet Earth condemn European-Parliament’s arrogance and support ITU’s attempt to bring out the control out of the hands of a few western countries.

    1. Ano Nymous

      And who controls the ITU? I don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprize me if it is the USA. That would be even worse…

      1. Anonymous

        No, the ITU is a mainly ruled by consensus, so that makes policy laundering easy for our governments, who can blame anything openly evil on the rest of the world and say it was necessary to get some minor benefit (or at least something which can be sold as a benefit).

  17. […] Fuente: Rick Falkvinge […]

  18. […] принял резолюцию, осуждающую попытки передать контроль над интернетом […]

  19. […] que existe detrás de la próxima convección de ITU (International Telecommunications Union) por tener el control de Internet. La resolución insta a los 27 Estados miembros a que actúen en consecuencia ante un grupo que […]

  20. […] que existe detrás de la próxima convección de ITU (International Telecommunications Union) por tener el control de Internet. La resolución insta a los 27 Estados miembros a que actúen en consecuencia ante un grupo que […]

  21. […] Written by:admin Written on:Ноябрь 23, 2012 CommentsAdd One0Европарламент принял резолюцию, осуждающую попытки передать контроль над интернетом […]

  22. […] que existe detrás de la próxima convección de ITU (International Telecommunications Union) por tener el control de Internet. La resolución insta a los 27 Estados miembros a que actúen en consecuencia ante un grupo que […]

  23. […] que existe detrás de la próxima convección de ITU (International Telecommunications Union) por tener el control de Internet. La resolución insta a los 27 Estados miembros a que actúen en consecuencia ante un grupo que […]

  24. […] que existe detrás de la próxima convección de ITU (International Telecommunications Union) por tener el control de Internet. La resolución insta a los 27 Estados miembros a que actúen en consecuencia ante un grupo que […]

  25. Artem

    Oh yeah? UN seizing domains via ICANN is certainly better than international organization like UN. Rick, you are a moron.

    1. Artem

      US agencies seizeing I meant. You got my meaning though.

  26. Parlamento Europeo rechaza que la ONU regule internet - FayerWayer

    […] European Parliament passes resolution against ITU asserting control over Internet (Falk […]

  27. […] que existe detrás de la próxima convección de ITU (International Telecommunications Union) por tener el control de Internet. La resolución insta a los 27 Estados miembros a que actúen en consecuencia ante un grupo que […]

  28. União Europeia está contra ITU - Revolução Digital

    […] ser a autoridade regularizadora da gestão da Internet ou do seu fluxo de informação; […]“Fonte Tweetar Tags: contra, internet, ITU, leis, UE Acerca de João LopesUtilizador regular de […]

  29. […] que existe detrás de la próxima convección de ITU (International Telecommunications Union) por tener el control de Internet. La resolución insta a los 27 Estados miembros a que actúen en consecuencia ante un grupo que […]

  30. […] Link: European Parliament passes resolution against ITU asserting control over Internet (Falk Vinge) […]

  31. lukasz.bromirski.net » ITU i internet

    […] na to, że EU dosyć rozsądnie postanowiła opowiedzieć się przeciwko przejęciu przez ITU kontroli nad internetem. ciekawe co faktycznie zrobi ITU na najbliższym spotkaniu – bowiem konsekwencje zarządzania […]

  32. […] que existe detrás de la próxima convención de ITU (International Telecommunications Union) por tener el control de Internet. La resolución insta a los 27 Estados miembros a que actúen en consecuencia ante un grupo que […]

  33. […] no business meddling with the net in its upcoming ITU meeting, just like the European Parliament declared in a resolution […]

  34. ITU što kada se internet stavi pod ključ | Piratska stranka

    […] Skrećemo pozornost na činjenicu da je Europski parlament prihvatio rezoluciju koja osuđuje nadolazeće pokušaje Međunarodne telekomunikacijske unije (ITU) u kontroli Interneta, te je uputio svojih 27 država članica da djeluju sukladno rezoluciji. Link: falkvinge.net/2012/11/22/european-parliament-unanimously-passed-resolution-against-itu-asserting-con… […]

  35. Pre-emptive rejection of Internet regulation | Fusion Paranoia

    […] Euro­pean Par­lia­ment pre-emptively rejected any form of ITU or UN reg­u­la­tion of the […]

  36. […] à la prochaine réunion de l’ITU (International Telecommunications Union), en accord avec  la récente résolution du Parlement […]

  37. […] European Parliament Passes Resolution Against ITU Asserting Control Over Internet Today, the European Parliament passed a resolution that condemns the upcoming attempt from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to assert control over the Internet, and instructed its 27 Member States to act accordingly. This follows an attempt from the ITU to assert itself as the governing body and control the Internet. The Pirate Party was one of the parties drafting the resolution. […]

  38. ITU internet threat

    if we see at internet censorship threats and other stuff that could destroy our internetprivacy and freedom the EU parlament doesn’t want to know about censorship i mean they Reject ACTA with many votes against the threat but there are organisations that are against this “ITU threat” like we said the EU parlament,google,greenpeace,the united states,OESO and the europe commissioner Neelie Kroes is against the threat too i dont think that this ITU threat will pass

  39. Cat Got Your Router | TechSNAP | Jupiter Broadcasting

    […] EU parliament passes resolution to condemn ITU for attempting to assert control over the Internet […]

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