The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has long confined its work to coordinating global communications resources like telephone numbers, radio spectrum, and satellite orbital slots. When the Internet emerged as a powerful force, an unsavory coalition led by Russia and China attempted to expand the United Nations agency’s remit to the web.
They failed — at least for now. Back in 2012, the US and Europe united at an ITU meeting in Dubai to beat back the authoritarians’ attempt to clamp down on the free and open Internet. More than 50 countries, including the US and European governments, voted no to treaty changes that would have asserted ITU control of the Internet.
They will need to unite again to beat back possible new attempts. In November, the ITU will convene the Plenipotentiary Conference in Doha, where critical leadership elections will be held and decisions will be on the agenda about expanding the ITU’s remit to address Internet, cyber, and AI.
Until now, the UN’s role related to Internet policymaking has remained advisory. The net began as a bottom-up initiative and has always been coordinated by a decentralized set of multistakeholder coalitions of the private sector, the technical community, academia, civil society, and governments. Every year since 2005, these groups have gathered at the UN’s Internet Governance Forum.
The Forum brings stakeholder groups together as equals to discuss public policy issues relating to the Internet. After a long, sometimes divisive debate, the UN last year reaffirmed the Forum as a permanent platform, an outcome long desired by the US and Europe.
But the bottom-up free and open Internet remains under siege. Authoritarian countries around the globe are pushing to erect barriers, imposing censorship regimes and firewalls, and blocking US and European entities from doing business in their territories. As the preparations for the ITU meeting in November unfold, those same countries will push to expand the agency’s remit and launch a new treaty-making process to establish global AI rules, among other things.
If the US hopes to prevent authoritarians from cracking down on freedoms and stifling innovation, it must act.
First, Washington should secure key leadership positions that guide the day-to-day operation of the institution. American Doreen Bogdan-Martin, the first woman to serve as the ITU’s Secretary-General, is up for re-election. During the past four years, she has mobilized billions of dollars in commitments to strengthen networks. She also spearheaded critical institutional reforms to strengthen governance and accountability, establishing an Oversight unit and an Ombudsman function, and restored timely external audits to reinforce transparency.
While strong, competent, and experienced leadership at the top is important, it is not enough. The ITU is a membership-driven organization, and the US needs to show up in Doha with a clear set of policy goals. Any final agreement involves tradeoffs. Compromises are inevitable. If Washington reflexively rejects certain phrases or concepts, the US will find itself out of the conversation.
A vote of one does not win at the ITU. The US cannot secure its agenda alone. Transactional diplomacy will not carry the day in a room of technical experts. Meaningful and sustained effort needs to be put into building and maintaining strong coalitions. The US should leverage its participation in CITEL, the regional body for the Americas, engage and coordinate with its natural European allies.
The 2012 victory in Dubai was the result of years of engagement, coalition-building, compromising, and determination. This time around, the US can afford to do no less if it wants to defend the values of freedom and innovation. Economic growth and national security are one the line.
Fiona M. Alexander is a Non-resident Senior Fellow with the Tech Policy Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). She worked at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for almost 20 years, leading the Office of International Affairs which is the part of NTIA that, among other things, is responsible for developing and advancing U.S. positions on telecommunications and ICT policy and standards at various international organizations.
Kevin Farmer is an intern with the Tech Policy Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and a senior undergraduate student at American University majoring in International Studies.
Bandwidth is CEPA’s online journal dedicated to advancing transatlantic cooperation on tech policy. All opinions expressed on Bandwidth are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis. CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.
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