— Published with permission from The John Birch Society —
So far, First Amendment free speech rights have been protected on the virtually uncensored Internet. However, this stream of constant updated information could be transformed into a global nightmare. On October 1, the Obama administration allowed the oversight of the Internet to be passed on from the U.S. Commerce Department to ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Now, it appears the United Nations, and more specifically China, is looking to exercise “global governance” of the Internet.
China has had the goal to control the World Wide Web for quite some time. Now, with the help of the Obama administration, it looks more like a reality. This could very well lead the Internet down the Beijing path where they use the “Great Firewall of China.” This intense tight security allows the Communist Party to block any websites that are marked dangerous. What could this mean for The New American and The John Birch Society websites? China obviously would not like the “propaganda” that exposes truth and harms their agenda.
The destiny of the web was being discussed, without mainstream media press, at the recent Communist Chinese regime-run “World Internet Conference.” This year was the third annual World Internet Conference. One of the main goals was to further the notion of a global regulatory regime for the Internet. Their venue for access is through the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU) agency led by Communist China’s Houlin Zhao. At the conference, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for cyberspace governance.
China will work together with the international community to ensure the common well-being of humanity, uphold cyber sovereignty, promote more fair and equitable global internet governance and bring about an open, inclusive and secure cyberspace, that features equality, mutual respect, innovation, and orderly development.
If you think that China’s censorship isn’t that bad, think again. Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy, even ranked China last on Internet freedom, among all the nations surveyed. They called it the “worst abuser” of online freedom on the planet. If the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment free speech and press freedom are to remain, China’s control of the Internet needs to be prevented. Although, we can’t predict what our new president will do come January 20th, we do know how his chief policy advisor, Stephen Miller feels about the matter.
U.S. oversight has kept the Internet free and open without government censorship –a fundamental American value rooted in our Constitution’s Free Speech clause. Internet freedom is now at risk with the President’s intent to cede control to international interests, including countries like China and Russia, which have a long track record of trying to impose online censorship.
To prevent this takeover we must continue to contact elected representatives during the lame-duck session of Congress. We cannot stand by while the Obama administration makes the Internet transfer to China! Please phone your representative (202-225-3121) and senators (202-224-3121) and urgently request that they pass legislation to return control of the Internet to the U.S. government!
