Public Knowledge Weighs The WCIT's Importance To Syria's Blackout Situation

The events in Syria highlight the importance of the upcoming WCIT and the implications of the WCIT for free expression online.

Provisions proposed by some member states would explicitly authorize governments such as Syria to disrupt Internet traffic and control Internet architecture, including traffic routing, on the grounds that such censorship is necessary to protect public order or suppress insurrection. Today, nations and organizations that oppose such acts of national censorship are free to help those within Syria circumvent these efforts to suppress speech. For months, global civil society has expressed the concern that ITRs relating to controlling the flow of Internet traffic -- advanced in the name of worthy goals such as cyber security, combating fraud, or ensuring quality of service -- have implications for free expression and the free flow of information online. Hopefully, the events in Syria occurring on the very eve of the WCIT will encourage all member states who value free expression as a fundamental human right to carefully weigh the danger to these values inherent in any ITR expressly recognizing the right of governments to disruptor control Internet traffic routing.