Public Knowledge Pushes for More ITU Transparency

Public knowledge has joined with a number of civil society groups on a letter to ITU Secretary General Dr. Hamadoun Touré asking him to provide more access to the upcoming Plenipotentiary conference in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 20-Nov. 7.

That is a quadrennial conference at which international telecommunications policy is reviewed and set. More broadly, ITU allocates global radio spectrum and satellite orbits and develops technical standards for network and technological interconnection, with a focus on promoting advance telecom to underserved communities and the developing world.

ITU conferences have become flashpoints for debate over regulation of the internet, specifically a multistakeholder model vs. a push by some countries — China, Russia — for more top-down control.

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John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.