Jonathan Benson
Natural News
Dec 20, 2010
The internet truly is the last bastion of free speech that has yet to be taken over by corporate or political forces and censored, at least in the U.S. But the United Nations (UN) is now considering working towards establishing an international governing body to regulate internet content, which would eventually eliminate online freedom of speech.
Brazilian representatives recently called on UN officials to create “global standards” for internet content, citing controversial web content like WikiLeaks that some consider a threat to national and global security. Backed by several other supporting nations including China and Saudi Arabia, the proposal would not constitute an internet takeover, says its authors. But this appears untrue as it would clearly hand over powers to international governing bodies to arbitrarily regulate internet content.
Representatives from the U.S., Australia, Belgium, Canada and the U.K. all expressed concerns about the proposal, but not necessarily for the right reasons. Instead of pinning the idea as a tyrannical threat to free speech, the representatives expressed political concerns about how such proposals encourage the growing divide between governments and the people over whom they govern.
Government takeover of the internet has already begun in the U.S., though, as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently began unlawfully seizing various websites that it deemed in violation of copyright laws (http://www.naturalnews.com/030542_c…). And the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is now seeking to assert control over the internet as well, even though the agency does not legally have the power to do so (http://www.naturalnews.com/030647_W…).
Freedom of speech is what makes the internet a valuable source of information that would otherwise never see the light of day, in many cases. Without it, the free flow of information would be largely crippled and all that would be left is government-approved mainstream media outlets.
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