House Energy and Commerce leaders praised the U.S.
delegation on Thursday for not signing on to ITU WCIT 12 telecom treatychanges.
That came in a joint statement from House E&C chair Fred
Upton (R-Mich.), Communications Subcommittee chair Greg Walden (R-Ore.), Mary
Bono Mack (R-Calif.), Lee Terry (R-Neb.), Commerce vice chair Marsha Blackburn
(R-Tenn.) and Communications vice chair Bob Latta (R-Ohio).
"Ambassador Kramer and the U.S. delegation should be
commended for their principled stance on behalf of Internet users around the
globe," they said. "Despite reservations by many of the member states
present and assurances from the International Telecommunications Union that the
WCIT would not address regulation of Internet networks and content, it appears
that the ITU is poised to do just that."
The Congress came together last week, for once, to approve a
joint resolution supporting the multistakeholder model of the Internet, a model
the U.S. feared could be threatened if Internet-related language was added to
the telecom treaties.
"[I]it appears that the WCIT will adopt a document that
would acknowledge a role for the United Nations in Internet governance and take
other detrimental steps toward international government control of the
Internet," said the legislators. "The United States cannot support
such a role and did not support such a role."
