Syria, WCIT, and the Future of the Internet

[Commentary] War-torn Syria has disappeared from the Internet. Internet traffic destined for that country is going undelivered, and also that traffic coming from within it cannot get out to the world. The countrywide Internet outage, accompanied by localized outages of mobile and land phone networks, raised fears among some opposition activists that the government is preparing for a major offensive. In addition, the countrywide blackout crystalizes the fears of many about governments taking control of the Internet. The blackout occurs as delegations from around the world gather in Dubai for the International Telecommunication Union’s World Conference on International Telecommunications. Over the past week, we’ve seen a number of articles, op-eds and editorials warning of the possibility that the United Nations will try to take control of the Internet through the ITU gathering.