WEBVTT 00:00:00.172 --> 00:00:03.990 The internet gives us the freedom to talk with friends, make art, 00:00:03.990 --> 00:00:09.430 start business or speak out against our governments, all on an unprecedented scale. 00:00:09.430 --> 00:00:10.981 This isn't a coincidence. 00:00:10.997 --> 00:00:13.395 The Internet's design came out of open inclusive discussions 00:00:13.395 --> 00:00:16.437 by a global community of scientists and engineers, 00:00:16.437 --> 00:00:19.688 so there was no pressure from above to lock it down. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:19.688 --> 00:00:23.396 But now a Government controlled international body is making a play 00:00:23.396 --> 00:00:27.834 to become the new place where the Internet's future gets decided. 00:00:27.834 --> 00:00:31.559 It's called the International Telecommunciation Union (or ITU). 00:00:31.559 --> 00:00:34.556 and in December the world's Governments will meet, to decide whether to 00:00:34.556 --> 00:00:38.529 expand its mandate to making important decisions about the net. 00:00:38.529 --> 00:00:42.439 The ITU could pose a risk to freedom of expression on-line everywhere. 00:00:42.439 --> 00:00:44.887 Here's why. First the basics. 00:00:44.887 --> 00:00:48.001 Nobody owns the Internet. 00:00:48.001 --> 00:00:51.586 It's a collection of independent networks around the world. anybody can build one. 00:00:51.586 --> 00:00:56.106 The common standards on which the Internet was build gre out of open on-line discussions, 00:00:56.106 --> 00:01:00.417 not on the priorities of a particular Government or company. 00:01:00.417 --> 00:01:02.962 But now let's meet the ITU! 00:01:02.962 --> 00:01:08.478 First the ITU is old. Really old. Not CDs old, not rotary phone old, 00:01:08.478 --> 00:01:11.689 telegraph old, as in Morse code. 00:01:11.689 --> 00:01:15.875 WHen founded in 1865 it was called the International Telegraph Union. 00:01:15.875 --> 00:01:20.680 Unlike the Internet the ITU was not build on open discussion among scientists and engineers. 00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:23.460 Instead only Governments have a vote at the ITU. 00:01:23.460 --> 00:01:26.710 And these votes take place behind closed doors. 00:01:26.710 --> 00:01:31.412 If Governments succeed in giving the ITU more power to make decisions about the Internet, we get 00:01:31.412 --> 00:01:34.874 an old-school, top-down, government centric organisation 00:01:34.874 --> 00:01:37.392 replacing the open bottom-up governance 00:01:37.392 --> 00:01:40.128 that made the Internet so world-changing. 00:01:40.128 --> 00:01:42.319 and that's just the beginning of our problems. 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:45.162 The ITU is not transparent. 00:01:45.162 --> 00:01:52.662 The ITU's draft proposals aren't public, and its "one country - one vote" model gives Governments all the power. 00:01:52.662 --> 00:01:57.945 They get to make decisions about our internet, without us even knowing what they're discussing 00:01:57.945 --> 00:02:00.763 and then tell us, once the decision is made. 00:02:00.763 --> 00:02:04.328 What kinds of decisions will be considered at the ITU meeting this December? 00:02:04.328 --> 00:02:06.762 Well, here's some actual proposals that have leaked: 00:02:06.762 --> 00:02:11.287 cutting of internet access for a number of braodly defined reasons; 00:02:11.287 --> 00:02:14.124 violating international human rights norms; 00:02:14.124 --> 00:02:19.764 giving Governments more power to monitor internet traffic and impose regulations on how traffic is sent; 00:02:19.764 --> 00:02:23.281 defining span so broadly that they could justify blocking anything 00:02:23.281 --> 00:02:26.724 from photos of cute cats to human rights campaigns. 00:02:26.724 --> 00:02:30.663 and new rules to charge online content providers to reach users, 00:02:30.663 --> 00:02:36.112 which could mean less content going to the developing world, and blocking sites that don't pay up. 00:02:36.112 --> 00:02:40.177 But the really scary part: the countries pushing hardest for ITU control 00:02:40.177 --> 00:02:43.913 are the same countries that aggressively censor the internet. 00:02:43.913 --> 00:02:48.602 In Russia, making a YouTube video against the Government can get you two years in jail. 00:02:48.602 --> 00:02:51.763 In China, you can't even get to most social media websites 00:02:51.763 --> 00:02:59.310 and Iran is trying to build its own national internet and email network to keep the entire population under its control. 00:02:59.310 --> 00:03:01.757 Now the ITU also does good work. 00:03:01.757 --> 00:03:06.938 They help the developing world establish telecommunication networks and expand high speed broadband connections 00:03:06.938 --> 00:03:09.746 and existing internet governance isn't perfect. 00:03:09.746 --> 00:03:13.464 The US has out-sized influence and authority when it comes to this. 00:03:13.464 --> 00:03:16.254 But we need to fix these problems in a way that preserves 00:03:16.254 --> 00:03:19.393 the openness, pragmatism and bottom-up governance, 00:03:19.393 --> 00:03:22.326 that made the Internet so great. 00:03:22.326 --> 00:03:27.179 This December our Governments meet to make thier final decisions about the Internet's future. 00:03:27.179 --> 00:03:30.481 It's up to us internet users, in every country of the world, 00:03:30.481 --> 00:03:33.587 to tell them; to stand for the open internet. 00:03:33.587 --> 00:03:39.002 If everyone who sees this video speaks out and contacts their Government, w have got a chance of winning. 00:03:39.002 --> 00:03:40.434 Help us share this video 00:03:40.434 --> 00:03:42.615 and visit this site to speak out 00:03:42.615 --> 00:03:44.972 and contact your Government right now. 00:03:44.972 --> 00:03:48.286 Let's use the internet's global reach to save it. 00:03:48.286 --> 00:03:56.441 Tell your leaders to oppose handing over key decisions about the Internet to the ITU.