Commiioner McDowell s Statement RE: Today s Action at WCIT-

NEWS

News media Information 202 / 418-0500

Fax-On-Demand 202 / 418-2830

TTY 202/418-2555

Internet: http://www.fcc.gov

ftp.fcc.gov

Federal Communications Commission

445 12th Street, S.W.

Washington, D. C. 20554

This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order

constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEWS MEDIA CONTACT

December 13, 2012

Brigid Calamis 202-418-2200

Brigid.calamis@fcc.gov

STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER ROBERT M. McDOWELL

REGARDING TODAY'S ACTION AT THE WORLD CONFERENCE ON

INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS (WCIT-12)

The following statement can be attributed to Commissioner Robert M. McDowell:

Today, America's delegation to the World Conference on International

Telecommunications (WCIT), led by Ambassador Terry Kramer, stood strong for

Internet freedom when it proclaimed that it would not sign new international rules

that capture the Internet. Our delegation's resolve should be commended.

Unfortunately, a majority of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU)

Member States, including many countries that purportedly support Internet

freedom, chose to discard long-standing international consensus to keep the

Internet insulated from intergovernmental regulation. By agreeing to broaden the

scope of the ITU's rules to include the Internet, encompassing its operations and

content, these nations have radically undermined the highly successful, private

sector, non-governmental, multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance.

Even though the United States refused to sign the new agreement, what happened

today in Dubai could have ripple effects here at home. Consumers everywhere

will ultimately pay the price for this power grab as engineers and entrepreneurs

try to navigate this new era of an internationally politicized Internet. If this

assault on Internet freedom continues unabated, consumers' prices will rise while

investment and innovation will stall.

As egregious as today's action was, many of the anti-freedom proposals were

turned back - but the worst is yet to come. The United States should immediately

prepare for an even more treacherous ITU treaty negotiation that will take place in

2014 in Korea. Those talks could expand the ITU's reach even further.

Accordingly, Internet freedom's allies everywhere should more than redouble

their efforts to erase the damage that was wrought today. Freedom and prosperity

are at stake. Let's never be slow to respond again. Freedom's foes are patient

and persistent incrementalists. They will never give up. Nor should we.

# # #

LINK:	http://www.fcc.gov/document/commissioner-mcdowells-statement-re-todays...
	See more stories from fcc

Most recent headlines