How the ITU could put the internet behind closed doors.

Learn more and take action at http://www.whatistheITU.org

*We love the internet.*

And we're guessing you do too. Think about all the awesome things it gives us: A vast communication network; innovative businesses; a platform to freely speak or challenge powerful governments; and hundreds and hundreds of hours of cat videos.
All this great stuff is available because the internet was designed in an open and inclusive way, with a multitude of voices being able to get a say on how it's governed.

*But the internet is in danger.*

There's a meeting between the world's governments in a just a few weeks, and it could
very well decide the future of the internet through a binding international treaty. It's called the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), and it's being organized by an obscure UN agency called the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

If some proposals at WCIT are approved, decisions about the internet would be made by a top-down, old-school government-centric agency behind closed doors. Some proposals allow for access to be cut off more easily, threaten privacy, legitimize monitoring and blocking online traffic. Others seek to impose new fees for accessing content, not to mention slowing down connection speeds. If the delicate balance of the internet is upset, it could have grave consequences for businesses and human rights.

*This must be stopped.*

Only governments get a vote at the WCIT, so we need people from all around the world to demand that our leaders keep the internet open.

Watch the video, and take action above to tell your governments to oppose handing over key decisions about the internet to the ITU. Let's use the democratic power of the internet to save ... the democratic power of the internet.

The Internet gives us the freedom, to talk with friends, make art,

start a business or speak out against our governments, all on an unprecedented scale.

This isn't a coincidence.

The Internet’s design came out of open inclusive discussions

by a global community of scientists and engineers,

so there was no pressure from above to lock it down.

But now an obscure UN body controlled by governments is making a play,

to become the new place where the Internet’s future gets decided.

It's called the International Telecommunication Union (or ITU).

And in December the worlds governments will meet, to decide whether to,

expand its mandate to making important decisions about the net.

This poses a threat to freedom of expression on-line everywhere.

Here's why. First the basics.

Nobody owns the Internet.

It's a collection of independent networks around the world. Anybody can build one.

The common standards, on which the Internet was build, grew out of open on-line discussions,

not on the priorities of a particular government or company.

But now let's meet the ITU!

First the ITU is old. Really old. Not CD’s old, not rotary phone old,

telegraph old as in Morse code.

When founded in 1865 it was called the International Telegraph Union.

Unlike the Internet the ITU was not build on open discussion among scientists and engineers.

Instead only governments have a vote at the ITU.

And these votes take place behind closed doors.

If governments succeed, in giving the ITU more power to make decisions about the Internet we get,

an old school, top down, government centric organisation

replacing, the open bottom up governance,

that made the Internet so world changing.

And that's just the beginning of our problems.

The ITU is not transparent.

The ITU's draft proposals aren't public, and it's one country - 1 vote model gives governments all the power.

They get to make decisions about our Internet, without us even knowing... what they're discussing,

and then tell us, once the decision is made.

What kinds of decisions will be considered at the ITU meeting this December?

Well here's some actual proposals, that have leaked:

cutting of Internet access for a number of broadly defined reasons;

violating international human rights norms;

giving governments more power to monitor Internet traffic and impose regulations on how traffic is sent;

defining Spam so broadly that they could justify blocking anything

from photos of cute cats to human rights campaigns.

And new rules, to charge on-line content providers, to reach users.

Which means, less content going to the developing world and blocking sites that don't pay up.

But the really scary part: the countries pushing hardest for ITU control,

are the same countries that aggressively censor the Internet.

In Russia making a YouTube video against the government can get you two years in jail.

In China you can't even get to most social media websites, except the ones controlled by the government and monitored by their censors and informants

And Iran is trying to build its own national Internet and email network, to keep the entire population under its control.

Now the ITU isn't all bad.

They help the developing world establish telecommunication networks and expand high speed broadband connections.

And existing Internet governance isn't perfect.

The United States has out-sized influence and authority when it comes to this.

But, we need to fix these problems, in a way that preserves

the openness, pragmatism and bottom-up governance,

that made the Internet so great.

This December our governments meet, to make their final decisions about the Internet’s future.

It's up to us Internet users, in every country of the world,

to tell them: to stand for the open Internet.

If everyone, who sees this video, speaks out and contacts their government, we've got a chance of winning.

Help us share this video

and visit this site, to speak out

and contact your government right now!

Let's use the Internet’s global reach to save it!

Tell your leaders to oppose handing over key decisions about the Internet to the ITU.