Bono Mack Calls for Internet Freedoms

As the United States prepares to name its delegation leader to the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) held in December in Dubai, Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack (CA-45) is leading efforts in Congress to provide the delegation with a clear and unmistakable mandate: Keep the Internet free of any government control.

At the WCIT discussions, a new treaty on Internet governance will be debated and voted upon. Most worrisome, according to Bono Mack, are efforts by some countries to provide the United Nations with unprecedented new authority over the management of the Internet. To prevent this from happening, Bono Mack, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, has introduced a bipartisan resolution, H. Con. Res. 127, to keep the Internet free from government regulation and interference.  

“This year, we’re facing an historic referendum on the future of the Internet,” Bono Mack warned. “For nearly a decade, the United Nations quietly has been angling to become the epicenter of Internet governance. A vote for my resolution is a vote to keep the Internet free from government control and to prevent Russia, China, India and other nations from succeeding in giving the U.N. unprecedented power over Web content and infrastructure. If this power grab is successful, I’m concerned that the next ‘Arab Spring’ will instead become a ‘Russian winter’, where free speech is chilled, not encouraged, and the Internet becomes a wasteland of unfilled hopes, dreams and opportunities. We can’t let this happen.”

Bono Mack’s resolution encourages the U.S. delegation “to promote a global Internet free from government control and preserve and advance the successful multi-stakeholder model that governs the Internet today.” Bono Mack also encouraged the White House and State Department today to appoint “a strong delegation leader, who is unwavering, principled and won’t ‘give away the store’ in Dubai.”

Today, the Communications and Technology Subcommittee will discuss Bono Mack’s legislation during a hearing on “International Proposals to Regulate the Internet”.