China: Stop UN net body
By Sumir Singh

While it is common knowledge that the Chinese Government has an iron grip on its local internet,  if given a choice it would try to extend this control to international forums as well.

The United Nations runs the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which is a platform for countries and international tech organizations to come together to exchange views and ideas. While IGF meets can be generally crediting with improving the internet experience, like many UN bodies it has some delegates whose only qualification is being close to the Govt. There is some infighting and meetings which descend into a talkfest. Not unlike many UN bodies where the real business is conducted by a handful of key countries.

IGF is funded by UN, EU, CISCO and even major American telecoms like Verizon.

And being a UN body its meetings take place is some inappropriate countries.  This week the host was Egypt which effectively has one party rule, and like China, closely censors the internet. 112 countries were represented at the IGF meet held on Nov 15 – 18 at Egypt. Separately, respected Pakistani/Hong Kong super blogger Jehanara wrote about how one IGF session was preponed from 9 am to 8 am because the First Lady of Egypt decided to drop into the Internet Governance Forum on Nov 18.

IDNBlog is reporting on why China wants to get the IGF banned

“
The IGF itself has a UN mandate that is set to expire next year.  While many emphasized the usefulness of the IGF as a platform for dialogue, China called for the termination of the forum:  “Without any reforms to the IGF, it is not necessary to give it a five year extension,” stated Chen Yin, head of the Chinese delegation.  This stance was not shocking, as China was a big target for anti-censorship advocates this week at IGF and flyers reading “Free Tibet” were distributed freely.
“