From December 3 through December 14, the U.N. International Telecommunications Union will be convening the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) to review proposals to the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITR). The last update to this treaty occurred in 1988; meanwhile the Internet has continued to grow and thrive under the current multi-stakeholder regime, with nearly 2.3 billion users worldwide at the end of 2011. Yet, even with the growth in use and access, some countries would like the U.N. to “take over” the Internet, rather than allowing the continued multi-stakeholder approach.

Among the proposals under consideration at WCIT is a proposal by several ITU member states, including China and Russia, which seeks to broaden the scope of the ITRs and set up a new layer of international bureaucracy to replace the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbering (ICANN) and more broadly govern the Internet. These new international rules could eventually result in the kind of censorship and control of information that now happens in China, Russia, and other countries. Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have passed resolutions supporting the multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance which has allowed the Internet to thrive.

Unlike meetings of the U.N. General Counsel, each of the 193 member states attending WCIT will have an equal vote on proposals to regulate the Internet with no one country having more influence than any other on the final outcome of the treaty. Several of the proposals being considered could pose a threat to continued freedom from international regulation over the Internet, and create regulatory uncertainty for those who provide Internet services and information globally. Other countries have also begun to voice opposition to increased U.N. interference in Internet governance.

In the fall 2012 edition the Government Waste Watch, Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Robert McDowell provided his outlook on the meeting. According to McDowell, some of the proposals being considered could ultimately force technologists to seek intergovernmental bureaucratic permission to innovate and invest. This will only serve to slow future global innovations in Internet technologies.

Even if these proposals are not included in the final negotiated ITR at the end of the conference in Dubai, this will not be the last word about changing Internet governance from a multi-stakeholder model to a regulated model under the auspices of the U.N. Policymakers must continue to be vigilant in their opposition to these efforts, and reminded that it is the current multi-stakeholder management of the Internet that has allowed technology to spread and innovate around the world without government intervention.