The International Telecommunication Union has elected its new Secretary-General to a four-year term. Hamadoun Toure recently said that the United Nations will not try to take the lead in determining the
future of the Internet.
The Mercury News reports that Toure said:
It is not my intention to take over the governance of the Internet. There
is no one single issue that can be dealt with by one organization
alone.
This is good news for those (like me) that feared aggressive UN posturing to create a "superstructure" regulatory presence over all things Internet. The reality is that what we conceptually view as "the Internet" is actually a multitude of technical layers that would be difficult-if not impossible-to regulate under one governmental body.
The ITU was founded as a technical standards organization in 1865. But as a part of the UN, it has pressure to do more than just technical management. To those that, like me, believe that Internet communications will prosper best with less government involvement, not more – Toure’s statement is a welcome one.
His statement describing one of the main goals of his tenure as Secretary-General is also positive: To increase security of the Internet against hackers, spammers and other cybercriminals. Cybersecurity is a great area for international technical organizations to promote – and in this regard, ACT has been a strong advocate to limit the mission of ICANN – the technical manager of the Domain Name System – to being an Internet manager that addresses security and stability, not a governor with a broader, less-defined mission.