Repeal: “Open Internet Order”

General Assembly Resolution #395 “Open Internet Order” (Category: Social Justice; Strength: Mild) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.

This august World Assembly,

Restating, again that:

a. one-size-fits-all legislation of this sort generally fails to adequately consider the specific situations in which nations may find themselves, thereby preventing them from applying relevant and situationally apt policy and

b. it is impossible to amend legislation and patch these issues, thereby making repeal the only option,

Concerned that Open Internet Order imposes cumbersome regulations which, due to high transaction costs, cannot be worked around, thereby leading to delays in network expansion and access,

Believing that the resolution’s definition of ‘internet service provider’ includes national governments, as many governments provide information services to their citizens so they can access information necessary for fulfilling and productive lives,

Extremely distressed by clause 6 in the resolution, empowering the Telecommunication(s) Regulatory Authority to issue fines and declaratory rulings against ISPs at its own discretion, which when combined with the general vagueness of the resolution, allows the World Assembly to use these discretionary powers to raise revenue against national governments,

Perturbed with the privacy and national security implications of permitting an international agency to examine ISP (and therefore, government) data, information, and services without any oversight, at its own discretion, allowing international bureaucrats to look into the finances of subscribers, trade secrets of domestic companies, and the security preparations of the government,

Laughing at the ineffectiveness of the resolution at actually fulfilling its goals, as its definition of ‘reasonable network management’ allows a massive loophole of undefined ‘legal grounds’, which can easily be expanded by national governments, meaning the author has created a terrifying regulatory agency which fails to actually expand access in any way, saddling the member nations with all the costs of regulation and none of the benefits,

Disappointed that the resolution provides a cut-out for governments to create unlawful content, thereby allowing them to censor information and render the benefits of creating an open Internet utterly meaningless, and

Suspecting that any consistent interpretation of the resolution is in an incredible double-bind, as either it:

a. prevents internet providers from prioritising basic switching packets, thereby slowing down the entire network and restricting access for everyone, or

b. falls into ‘reasonable network management’, which means that practically all traffic prioritisation schemes can be run through such a loophole, making the resolution meaningless,

Hereby repeals 395 GA ‘Open Internet Order’.

More info here: https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=405074&sid=6b6fc622f7fe256f871b86c45bfabc9e

This resolution is now up for vote.

Bai Lung will vote FOR.

The General Assembly resolution Repeal “Open Internet Order” was passed 14,459 votes to 3,232.