State official: ITU meeting could impose content controls on Web

A global telecom talk coming up in 2012 could threaten the openness of the Internet and even lead to content policing, according to a speech June 11 by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Philip Verveer.

Calling the upcoming conference the most significant event to affect broadband policy in years, Verveer warned that the "dynamism" of the Web is at threat when the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) meets for its next round of negotiations. Heightened global broadband rules could open the door to other regulations, including "content controls," Verveer said. The conference, organized by the ITU, a United Nations agency, is of particular concern because agreements are binding on negotiating members, which include the United States, Verveer said.