Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Aerospace & Defense
Investing Simplified
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
Dividends
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Africa
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
Nicholas Wapshott
Bethany McLean
Anatole Kaletsky
Zachary Karabell
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Reihan Salam
Frederick Kempe
Mark Leonard
Steven Brill
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (0)
Pictures
Our best science photos of 2012
The year that was in science and technology images. Slideshow
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Dead in Connecticut school shooting include 20 children
|
4:00pm EST
Users should not be targeted in states that legalized pot: Obama
3:02pm EST
UPDATE 2-Users should not be targeted in states that legalized pot-Obama
3:00pm EST
Wall Street slips with Apple as "cliff" looms
|
3:00pm EST
UPDATE 13-Dead in Connecticut school shooting include 20 children
3:57pm EST
Discussed
81
Obama says he’s ready to work with Republicans to avoid ”fiscal cliff”
81
Protesters to march on Michigan capitol over ”right-to-work” vote
74
North Korea launches rocket in defiance of critics
Pictures
Reuters Photojournalism
Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption
Inside North Korea
Rare scenes from within the reclusive state. Slideshow
Goodbye moon
40 years ago, mankind took its last steps on the moon with the Apollo 17 lunar mission. Slideshow
Sponsored Links
Global telecom treaty without Net controls signed by 89 nations
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Talks on Internet treaty fail as U.S. bloc won't sign
Thu, Dec 13 2012
RPT-Russia, China alliance wants greater govt voice in Internet oversight
Sun, Dec 9 2012
New net rules would hit digital economy: diplomat
Wed, Dec 5 2012
U.S. fails to win early limit on Net controls at global gathering
Tue, Dec 4 2012
Bitter struggle over Internet regulation to dominate global summit
Tue, Nov 27 2012
Analysis & Opinion
How the United Nations could ruin the Internet
Related Topics
Tech »
By Matt Smith
DUBAI |
Fri Dec 14, 2012 3:54pm EST
DUBAI (Reuters) - An international telecommunications treaty signed by 89 countries out of a possible 144 on Friday will have little impact on how carriers operate or how consumers surf the web or make calls around the world when it comes into effect in 2015.
But the acrimonious debate over the treaty - and refusal of so many countries, including the United States and much of Europe, to sign up immediately - have exposed a deep split in the international community.
A U.S.-led bloc advocated a hands-off approach to the Internet, while Russia, China and much of Africa and the Middle East sought greater governmental oversight of cyberspace.
About 150 nations met in Dubai, under the auspices of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), to update a set of telecom rules dating back to 1988, before the Internet and mobile phones transformed communications. Their failure to find a consensus may herald a new fight over cyberspace.
"The world will still be around and countries will still cooperate along the lines they have done for decades," said Paul Budde, managing director of Sydney-based consultancy BuddeCom. "However, they have clearly drawn a line under how far they believe the ITU can go in relation to regulations that include the Internet."
As in a prior version, the International Telecom Regulations spell out guidelines on technical issues such as how carriers charge each other for incoming international phone calls, as well as taxation and accounting.
Countries that sign the treaty are supposed to be guided by its principles, although these have no force of law.
Users in countries that block certain content will still experience the same version of the Internet, while telecom operators will feel little impact because international call charges are decided via commercial contracts between them.
The new version added passages that became flash points: for example, four lines pushed by Russia and China on how governments should protect the security of networks.
The United States took a no-compromise position throughout negotiations, refusing to consider any references to the Internet in the treaty. Other countries instead agreed to restrict any explicit Internet provisions to a non-binding resolution that accompanies the treaty.
In the end, the debate over the Internet overshadowed all else at the summit, despite the ITU insisting that regulating cyberspace was not on the agenda.
As a result, some countries in Africa and the Middle East felt the controversy overshadowed important reforms, such as provisions to improve broadband access to landlocked and island nations, which may be weakened by fewer countries signing the treaty.
Other measures include a call for greater transparency in roaming charges, which the ITU hopes will end "bill shock", plus commitments to improve disabled access to telecom services and for governments to reduce telecom equipment waste.
A clause calling for countries to stop "unsolicited bulk electronic communications" - spam - drew the ire of the U.S. bloc, which said it could be interpreted by governments to block emails, an accusation the ITU vehemently denied.
"Whatever is in place now doesn't seem to be working and this treaty calls on governments - it's a dirty word for some, but somebody has to do it - to cooperate to see what we can do better in that area," said Richard Hill, chief counselor for International Telecommunication Union's Dubai summit.
These issues are more vital in developing countries, with other countries having already addressed them to a large extent, so richer nations had less incentive to sign the treaty.
"That's certainly the case, but it's no secret they're not signing for political reasons," added Hill.
After 12 days of rancorous, largely private negotiations, the bad feeling between the two opposing camps may take some time to ease. Delegates from the pro-treaty group accused the United States and Europe of reneging on a compromise agreement that fell apart on Thursday.
ITU officials on Friday gave an upbeat interpretation of the summit, predicting many of the countries that had yet to sign the treaty would do so once they have consulted with their respective legislatures. But the failed attempts by some member states to significantly extend the ITU's remit into the Internet have weakened the 147-year-old organization.
"The ITU won't become irrelevant but it tried to claim some of the Internet without having the mandate to do so," said a European delegate who declined to be identified. "It saw an opportunity, but both the triumph and the curse of the ITU is that it can't instigate anything, it depends on member states - some said let's expand the mandate and others said let's not."
(Additional reporting by Leila Abboud in Paris; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
Tech
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Edition:
U.S.
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.