The United Nations is not equipped to regulate the internet and lead with international decision making on policies that will shape the future of the internet, the United States Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, Catherine Novelli, has said.
Ms. Novelli made the assertion last week, in an exclusive discussion with a reporter and seven other foreign journalists in Washington DC. Her assertion summed America’s position on an ongoing debate over the level of participation governments should have on the internet.
“UN is a wonderful organization but it is just not equipped to control the internet,” she argued, defending U.S. preference for a private sector driven multistakeholder approach to Internet Governance.
The U.S. stance on less government control on the internet dates way back. In August 2012, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution urging the White House to stop the U.N. from asserting greater control over the Internet.
It is the “consistent and unequivocal policy of the United States to promote a global Internet free from government control and preserve and advance the successful multi stakeholder model that governs the Internet today”, the lawmakers said.
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