Posted by Leonard Steinberg on March 20th, 2014

Are the freedoms of the WEB under attack ever since Edward Snowden became the whistle blower on US government web surveillance? It appears so. As the do-gooders of the world celebrated Snowden’s ‘courage’ for revealing that the US government closely monitored activities on the web (was that really such a big revelation?), and the saintly Vladimir Putin gave him refuge (Putin is known especially for his deep sympathies for freedom of expression…..),  the world banded together and by a vote of 89-55, countries in the ITU approved a new treaty granting authority to governments to close off their citizens’ access to the global Internet. This treaty, which goes into effect in 2015, legitimizes censorship of the Web and the blocking of social media. In effect, a digital Iron Curtain will be imposed, dividing the 425,000 global routes of the Internet into less technically resilient pieces.

Just like with the Ukraine and Crimea, Mr. Putin seems to be winning the global chess game: With the world’s reliance on the web, which is growing by leaps and bounds every day in every corner of our lives, it is possible that unless the White House plan is reversed, Washington will hand the future of the Web to the majority of countries in the world already on record hoping to close the open Internet. Will the Iron Curtain of our time be digital?