2 December 2012
Last updated at 20:43 ET
A UN agency is trying to calm fears that the internet could be damaged by a conference it is hosting.
Government regulators from 193 countries are in Dubai to revise a wide-ranging communications treaty.
Google has warned the event threatened the ?open internet?, while the EU said the current system worked, adding: ?If it ain?t broke, don?t fix it.?
But the agency said action was needed to ensure investment in infrastructure to help more people access the net.
?The brutal truth is that the internet remains largely [the] rich world?s privilege, ? said Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the UN?s International Telecommunications Union, ahead of the meeting.
?ITU wants to change that.?
Internet governance
The ITU traces its roots back to 1865, pre-dating the United Nations. Back then the focus was on telegrams, but over ensuing decades governments have extended its remit to other communications technologies.
It helped develop the standards that made sure different countries? telephone networks could talk to each other, and continues to allocate global radio spectrum and communication satellite orbits.
The current event ? the World Conference on International Telecommunications (Wcit) ? marks the first time it has overseen a major overhaul of telecommunication regulations since 1988.
Continue reading the main story
Regulators and other delegates have until 14 December to agree which proposals to adopt.
More than 900 changes to the International Telecommunication Regulations have been put forward.
The ITU highlights proposals to block spam messages, cut mobile roaming fees and prioritise emergency calls as some of the event?s key topics.
There have been accusations of ?secrecy? because the ITU had left it to individual countries to publish proposals rather than release them itself.
Two sites ? Wcitleaks and .nxt ? have gathered together related documents from a variety of sources but many are still unpublished.
The resulting treaty will become part of international law, however the ITU itself recognises that there is no legal mechanism to force countries to comply.
The ITU
Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20575844#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Source: http://www.recentnews.ca/un-net-regulation-talks-kick-off/
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