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The Internet gives us the freedom, to talk with friends, make art,

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start a business or speak out against our governments, all on an unprecedented scale.

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This isn't a coincidence.

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The Internet’s design came out of open inclusive discussions

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by a global community of scientists and engineers,

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so there was no pressure from above to lock it down.

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But now a government controlled international body is making a play

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to become the new place where the Internet’s future gets decided.

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It's called the International Telecommunication Union (or ITU).

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And in December the worlds governments will meet, to decide whether to

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expand its mandate to making important decisions about the net.

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The ITU could pose a risk to freedom of expression on-line everywhere.

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Here's why. First the basics.

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Nobody owns the Internet.

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It's a collection of independent networks around the world. Anybody can build one.

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The common standards on which the Internet was build grew out of open on-line discussions,

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not on the priorities of a particular government or company.

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But now let's meet the ITU!

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First the ITU is old. Really old. Not CDs old, not rotary phone old,

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telegraph old, as in Morse code.

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When founded in 1865 it was called the International Telegraph Union.

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Unlike the Internet the ITU was not build on open discussion among scientists and engineers.

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Instead only governments have a vote at the ITU.

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And these votes take place behind closed doors.

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If governments succeed in giving the ITU more power to make decisions about the Internet, we get

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an old-school, top-down, government centric organisation

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replacing the open bottom-up governance

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that made the Internet so world-changing.

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And that's just the beginning of our problems.

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The ITU is not transparent.

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The ITU's draft proposals aren't public, and its "one country - one vote" model gives governments all the power.

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They get to make decisions about our Internet, without us even knowing what they're discussing,

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and then tell us, once the decision is made.

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What kinds of decisions will be considered at the ITU meeting this December?

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Well, here's some actual proposals that have leaked:

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cutting of Internet access for a number of broadly defined reasons;

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violating international human rights norms;

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giving governments more power to monitor Internet traffic and impose regulations on how traffic is sent;

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defining Spam so broadly that they could justify blocking anything

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from photos of cute cats to human rights campaigns.

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And new rules to charge online content providers to reach users,

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which could mean less content going to the developing world, and blocking sites that don't pay up.

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But the really scary part: the countries pushing hardest for ITU control

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are the same countries that aggressively censor the Internet.

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In Russia, making a YouTube video against the government can get you two years in jail.

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In China you can't even get to most social media websites.

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And Iran is trying to build its own national Internet and email network, to keep the entire population under its control.

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Now the ITU also does good work:

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They help the developing world establish telecommunication networks and expand high speed broadband connections.

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And existing Internet governance isn't perfect.

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The US has out-sized influence and authority when it comes to this.

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But we need to fix these problems in a way that preserves

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the openness, pragmatism and bottom-up governance,

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that made the Internet so great.

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This December our governments meet to make their final decisions about the Internet’s future.

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It's up to us Internet users, in every country of the world,

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to tell them: to stand for the open Internet.

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If everyone who sees this video speaks out and contacts their government, we've got a chance of winning.

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Help us share this video

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and visit this site to speak out

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and contact your government right now!

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Let's use the Internet’s global reach to save it!

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Tell your leaders to oppose handing over key decisions about the Internet to the ITU.