Diverse voices.. heard before the IGF

Amnesty International is calling for internet freedom particularly for bloggers in countries “such as China, Iran, and Tunisia” Nitin Desai’s statement on the “Balkanisation” of the internet also attracted quite some media. Another view, from the other extreme, it would seem, comes from The New York Sun, which says, Keep the United Nations’s Hands Off the Internet!

Amnesty International is calling for internet freedom particularly for bloggers in countries “such as China, Iran, and Tunisia” just prior to the Internet Governance Forum meet in Athens. It has also made a statement demanding the freeing of Vietnamese internet dissidents.

Nitin Desai’s statement on the “Balkanisation” of the internet also attracted quite some media. This article in the Digital Journal begins by asking: “Would you like a Chinese Internet? An Indian Internet? Or an American Internet?” This point of view (or how it was interpreted) raises a scenario which throws up a “gloomy picture where various nations try to wrest control of the Web away from global organizations.” So, do we fear diversity then? And, do we have “global organizations” calling the shots now?

Another view, from the other extreme, it would seem, comes from The New York Sun, which says, Keep the United Nations’s Hands Off the Internet!