U.N. - Stay Out of the Internet

There is an old song by the Hollies called "King Midas In Reverse" in which the lyrics go: "He's King Midas with a curse / He's King Midas in reverse...He's not the man to hold your trust / Everything he touches turns to dust / In his hands..."

This tune may have been a clever twist on an old myth, but unfortunately it also quite aptly describes the recent state of the United Nations. While the UN has certainly accomplished a few worthy goals such as programs to reduce poverty and disease, by and large its recent activities have been tragic failures. To name just a few, this includes utter failure to stop genocides in Rwanda and Sudan, failure to even define (much less stop) terrorism, the allowance of Libya (!) to sit at the head of its commission on human rights, non-stop resolutions against Israel while ignoring far worse actions by many other countries, according dictatorships the same respects as democracies, and wasting billions of dollars on scandals and fraud such as the oil-for-food scheme.

And now the UN wants to take over the Internet. The SolidSurfer.com's response: terrible idea.

With all the UN's demonstrated failures and incompetence, they are in no position to take over the Net. The Internet and World Wide Web have been a great force for the exchange of free ideas and growth-oriented capitalism, unrestrained by excessive taxation, regulation, and red tape. But as the linked article states, UN control would most likely bring exactly those restraints. The organization has consistently capitulated to dictators at the expense of free and democratic nations, and sadly there is no reason to expect this to change regarding the Internet.

If we want to keep the Internet free and prosperous, we should press the U.S. government to keep its regulation in American hands. And the linked article in this piece is a great place to start.