UN Report: The Internet Is Dangerous Because It’s Just So Darn Open!
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A recent UN report from the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force reads like a primer on Internet control and censorship. Entitled “Use Of The Internet For Terrorist Purposes,” the document, which discusses the dangers of “open Wi-Fi” and suggests ISPs maintain retention standards, focuses on the possibility of “terrorists” using the “Internet” to terrorize, a problem akin to trying to solve the problem of “criminals” walking in “parks.”
You can download the report here but there are a few fun zingers in there that really show that this UN task force has its finger on the pulse of the Internet. TechDirt dug up this one:
I feel that when you point to the tools of a formerly dictatorial regime as a model of Internet security, you may be barking up the wrong tree. China, too, gets high marks:
Most of the advice in the report is fairly simplistic – increase cooperation, make sure terrorists don’t use Yahoo – but one line in particular is quite galling. In a set of recommendations, the task force notes that “Regulation of Internet-related services (e.g. ISPs) and content control” is an important must-do.
However, the report isn’t all doom and gloom. After all:
Does the report have enough teeth to be worrisome? I doubt it. However, as a model for legislation I believe that while the aforementioned terrorists will be afforded procedural safeguards, I think the spy first and ask questions later is an affront to not only those safeguards but to our privacy itself