The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) announced that it has opened the public consultation for the upcoming World Conference on International Telecommunication (WCIT). The ITU has now completed its action items related to the Council landmark decision from last month.
However, before you rush to submit your comments, you might want to take a look at the “Open consultation process” terms and conditions. Terms and conditions are commonplace on the web and it was no surprise to see the ITU include them here. However, some might be surprised at the language contained therein. For example:
- I hereby formally agree to use the webpage solely to submit appropriate content.
- neither the submitted content nor any part thereof shall contain or refer to any language of a false or incorrect, inflammatory, threatening, defamatory, unlawful, obscene or other unethical nature
- I hereby formally agree that ITU, at its sole discretion, is entitled and authorized to reject the submitted content if it considers that these terms and conditions are not respected.
- I hereby formally accept, without any restriction, that my personal data (name, title, company/organization/institution, country and e-mail address), as provided to ITU when submitting the submitted content, be made public by ITU… Note also that you are not obliged to include a name or any other personal data in your submission.
- decisions on the part of ITU shall be final, binding upon me and without appeal.
For the moment, I won’t be submitting comments. The ITU is well within its rights to require an agreement of the form they have provided, and I support that right. What I don’t support is the concept of an “Open consultation process” conducted on behalf of an entity where that entity determines what is appropriate, correct, or ethical and additionally provides no means of recourse.
Perhaps this is what is meant by preeminence.
inetaria 