The message attached below is a notification, to the members of a broad-based South American list of nics, ISPs, and other stakeholders, of an initiative by the Government of Ecuador to prohibit Internet telephony. Are there no international laws regarding minimum free speech, right to assembly, a free press? Perhaps not. The bills of human rights ascribed to internationally define what may not be done - torture, genocide, etc. - but fall short of granting freedom to peoples. I think it's interesting that, rather than discussing the internationalization of norms for the Internet that will permit its continued use as a medium for free and unencumbered communication, international bodies like the Hague Convention, the World Trade Organization, and others are presently employed in establishing rules for the benefit of commerce, in particular big business, which has little interest in personal liberty and freedom. If we had a real Internet governance mechanism, instead of the one-sided, special-interest cartel given us by the DOC, such attempts against liberty as that of the Ecuadorian Government might be blocked. But such subjects as this won't even be brought up by ICANN, much less in Cairo, where there is state censorship of the media. To the contrary, born with telcos as godparents, ICANN would probably assert the ecuadorian Government's right to legislate Internet access for its citizens, if pressed to consider the matter.
La legislacion ecuatoriana esta preparandose para prohibir la voz sobre IP. Pensamos que esto resultara inconveniente para el desarrollo de nuestro Pais y la meta de difundir el Internet globalmente. Estamos preparando material para luchar contra esta iniciativa por lo que les solicitamos su ayuda con cualquier material de apoyo que podamos conseguir al respecto. Saludos cordiales Carlos Vera Quintana Ecuador ____________________________________________________________________ Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1 _______________________________________________ Enredo maillist - [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman.reacciun.ve/mailman/listinfo/enredo