UN to Seek Internet Kill Switch Next Month

[Karlis]

A plot to hand the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) a so-called “kill switch” for the Internet.

The ITU’s proposals to “reform” the Internet, drafted in secret and quietly published online last week, revealed a broad plan to rein in what, up until now, has been a largely unregulated tool allowing people all over the world to freely express their views at little to no cost financially. Unlike dictatorships such as the communist regime ruling over mainland China and the governments of Muslim-dominated countries, most Western-style governments have been unable or unwilling to regulate the Web apart from minor restrictions on subjects such as child pornography and the like.

However, that could all change soon — at least if the UN and its tyrannical member states get their way, with a broad coalition of Islamist autocrats and communist despots joining forces to quash freedom of expression for everyone. Representatives from almost 200 governments and dictatorships will be meeting behind closed doors next month at the “World Conference on International Telecommunications” (WCIT) in the United Arab Emirates to discuss handing complete control over the internet to the ITU. Read more

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

Lovely.

[Space Commander Travis]

Sorry, i find it hard to consider any source that refers to "the UN and its tyrannical member states" as an unbiased and objective soruce, since all fully recognized independent states apart from Vatican City, are actually members of the UN. Surely this in itself is abundant proof of how ineffectual the UN actually is, rather than being a Global dictatorship.

[badeskov]

A plot to hand the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) a so-called “kill switch” for the Internet.

The ITU’s proposals to “reform” the Internet, drafted in secret and quietly published online last week, revealed a broad plan to rein in what, up until now, has been a largely unregulated tool allowing people all over the world to freely express their views at little to no cost financially. Unlike dictatorships such as the communist regime ruling over mainland China and the governments of Muslim-dominated countries, most Western-style governments have been unable or unwilling to regulate the Web apart from minor restrictions on subjects such as child pornography and the like.

However, that could all change soon — at least if the UN and its tyrannical member states get their way, with a broad coalition of Islamist autocrats and communist despots joining forces to quash freedom of expression for everyone. Representatives from almost 200 governments and dictatorships will be meeting behind closed doors next month at the “World Conference on International Telecommunications” (WCIT) in the United Arab Emirates to discuss handing complete control over the internet to the ITU. Read more

I didn't see anything regarding a "kill switch" in the published provion from ITU, maybe someone could point that out to me (not that it is possible anyways, which China, Iran, Syria have discovered despite their best efforts).

Secondly ITU publications are never published quietly, they just cater to a rather narrow audience (I personally follow them) as they can be rather technical.

Cheers,

Badeskov

[Karlis]

I didn't see anything regarding a "kill switch" in the published provion from ITU, ...

Cheers,

Badeskov

I thought the term "kill switch" in the article title was a type of euphemism.

[badeskov]

I thought the term "kill switch" in the article title was a type of euphemism.

It could be Karlis, although I am not really sure how it would apply in this case.

Either way, ITU don't control anything, they are a standards body creating standards for stuff within the telecom area.

Cheers,

Badeskov

[turbonium]

Such control already exists in China, All signs appear pointed at a global plan.

It's being done slowly, here and there. It may be ramped up by some bogus large-scale event, so to justify total control.

A cyber 9/11 attack, blamed on cyber terrorism. with a cyber world war.

Scary as hell. I sure hope I'm wrong, too.

[badeskov]

Such control already exists in China,

No, they don't which is obvious given the failure of the Chinese Government to control the internet access despite their best efforts.

All signs appear pointed at a global plan.

And what signs would those be? I certainly do not see them.

It's being done slowly, here and there. It may be ramped up by some bogus large-scale event, so to justify total control.

A cyber 9/11 attack, blamed on cyber terrorism. with a cyber world war.

What is being done where exactly?!

Scary as hell. I sure hope I'm wrong, too.

And you are - utterly wrong.

Cheers,

Badeskov

[DONTEATUS]

Just try to pull the switch on my puter ! I`ll , I`ll ,well I`ll just be yelling to the wall like about ten billion other people so loud that we just might crack the planet in half !

Or At least hurt somebodys ear drums.

[ZaraKitty]

What could they need it for?

[pallidin]

What could they need it for?

Supression of free-speech.

While it has happened in some countries, a global internet "kill switch" would likely cause a backlash of such enormity to make that concept itself totaly rediculous.

[DKO]

You can still bypass all these securities by using a Tor network or similar. May not be able to do everything that you could on a normal network but you would be able to do whatever they don't want you to be doing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network)

Edited November 26, 2012 by DKO

[badeskov]

Supression of free-speech.

While it has happened in some countries, a global internet "kill switch" would likely cause a backlash of such enormity to make that concept itself totaly rediculous.

An Internet kill switch would effectively require the Internet to be rebuilt from the ground up to be effective. No such feature is even remotely feasible with the current distributed nature of the switching/forwarding infrastructure.

Cheers,

Badeskov

[DONTEATUS]

An Internet kill switch would effectively require the Internet to be rebuilt from the ground up to be effective. No such feature is even remotely feasible with the current distributed nature of the switching/forwarding infrastructure.

Cheers,

Badeskov

That too it would become the begining of the end of the First ! THe Preppers would be right at home in such a out come !

[badeskov]

That too it would become the begining of the end of the First ! THe Preppers would be right at home in such a out come !

Yeah, well, ain't gonna happen Big D....too complex and too expensive.

Cheers,

Badeskov

[Emma_Acid]

Scary as hell. I sure hope I'm wrong, too.

You're so constantly desperate to believe anything other than the accepted norm, why do you then waste time hoping you're wrong?

[turbonium]

No, they don't which is obvious given the failure of the Chinese Government to control the internet access despite their best efforts.

And what signs would those be? I certainly do not see them.

What is being done where exactly?!

And you are - utterly wrong.

Cheers,

Badeskov

Internet censorship in China is among the most stringent in the world. The government blocks Web sites that discuss the Dalai Lama, the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters, Falun Gong, the banned spiritual movement, and other Internet sites.

As revolts began to ricochet through the Middle East and North Africa in 2011, and homegrown efforts to organize protests began to circulate on the Internet, the Chinese government tightened its grip on electronic communications, and appeared to be more determined than ever to police cellphone calls, electronic messages, e-mail and access to the Internet in order to smother any hint of antigovernment sentiment.

The government’s computers intercept incoming data and compare it against an ever-changing list of banned keywords or Web sites, screening out even more information. The motive is often obvious: Since late 2010, the censors have prevented Google searches of the English word “freedom.”

In March 2011, Google accused the Chinese government of disrupting its Gmail service in the country and making it appear as if technical problems at Google — not government intervention — were to blame. At the same time, several popular virtual private-network services, or V.P.N.’s, designed to evade the government’s computerized censors, have been crippled. V.P.N.’s are popular with China’s huge expatriate community and Chinese entrepreneurs, researchers and scholars who expect to use the Internet freely.

Few analysts believe that the government will loosen controls any time soon, with events it considers politically sensitive swamping the calendar, including a turnover in the Communist Party’s top leadership in 2012.

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/news/international/countriesandterritories/china/internet_censorship/index.html

Here's a few more points from a page on this issue...

China constantly strives to exert its control over the Internet, blocking content it deems politically sensitive as part of a vast censorship system. A special 30,000-member police unit checks chat lines, looks for spikes in Internet traffic, monitors and screens websites and blogs for sensitive material and blocks access to violators. Advanced technoloy is deployed to block access to overseas websites regarded as threatening. China has purchased much of its filtering and spying equipment from the American companies like Cisco Systems and Dynamic Internet technology.

More than 500 cities have established internet police bureaus. The Public Security Ministry has even introduced a male and female pair of characters in police uniforms that can pop up on person’s screen when a sensitive website is sought out to remind them their activities can be monitored.

How far China will clamp down on electronic communications is unclear. ‘There’s a lot more they can do, but they’ve been holding back,’ said Bill Bishop, a Internet expert based in Beijing. Some analysts suggest that officials are exploring just how much inconvenience the Chinese are willing to tolerate.

http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=232

I've bolded the last point for you, in response to what you said below...

"..the failure of the Chinese Government to control the internet access despite their best efforts."

They haven't failed. And they have hardly made :their best efforts", according to this expert.

Do you have any evidence to counter the expert's claims?