The International Telecommunication Union, the little-known but influential United Nations agency that oversees phone, radio and satellite communications, last week stopped short of fragmenting the Internet into national fiefdoms, as some had feared it would do through a new global treaty. Instead, the draft that delegates approved barely mentions the Internet. The result wasn't exactly a victory for those who are committed to a free and open Internet, however. Although delegates rejected many of the worst proposals, they laid the groundwork for having governments, not Internet stakeholders, regulate the technical aspects of the Web.
The agency's effort to update a 24-year-old global telecommunications treaty exposed a sharp rift between the developed countries that were the earliest adopters of the Internet and the developing world, particularly Russia, China and other authoritarian regimes. The former, backed by Internet advocates worldwide, rightly argue that the Web's technical challenges are capably met by industry groups that set voluntary standards.
Many countries in the latter category, however, believe that the Internet is already controlled to some degree by one government — the United States — and thus its benefits aren't properly distributed. Some want greater control over online content and users, which they see as threats to their regimes; others have legitimate problems with access, spam and other issues that they don't think are getting enough attention from Internet authorities.