A United Nations agency is quietly drafting technical standards, proposed by the Chinese government, to define methods of tracing the original source of Internet communications and potentially curbing the ability of users to remain anonymous.

The U.S. National Security Agency is also participating in the "IP Traceback" drafting group, named Q6/17, which is meeting next week in Geneva to work on the traceback proposal. Members of Q6/17 have declined to release key documents, and meetings are closed to the public.

The potential for eroding Internet users' right to remain anonymous, which is protected by law in the United States and recognized in international law by groups such as the Council of Europe, has alarmed some technologists and privacy advocates. Also affected may be services such as the Tor anonymizing network.

So much for land of the free. The US government is now in cahoots with China about internet policies? Are you fucking crazy? I am so sick of this masquerading of national security as a means to justify some vague 'you're in danger from a foreign (insert entity here)'. I've had enough, fuck you. I am in danger every time I drive my car, eat a hamburger, use sugar, use fake sugar, do anything. Take your backwards, privacy eroding policies and shove them up your ass. If I want to live with an authoritarian regime I'll start a fucking revolution, but until that day I believe in the constitution and what it stands for. I believe in our right to privacy not because it means we are doing something bad, but because it's nobodies fucking business. Now if the Chinese government wants to monitor their citizens for dissenters and differing opinions that really isn't my problem. Each country evolves and deals with issues, but in the US we have a system which is quietly being sold out under guise of national security and just moving closer and closer to totalitarianism while other countries (with exceptions in some of the more fundamentalist regimes namely in middle east) are moving towards more open societies. Forgive me for learning, sorry, I am going to politely pass on this bullshit.

I once thought maybe the UN would regulate the internet better than ICANN, but this just shows how naive I was. The powers that be have no interest in the rights of their citizens and the freedoms which they swear to protect in office. While ICANN remains somewhat controlled by DOC, at least they aren't directly and can semi-freely make decisions. Sure there are a lot of flaws but at least different viewpoints get heard. I have a feeling if it were moved to the UN the internet would simply be political and the value might quickly be eroded. It will be a sad day for humanity if this ever gets implemented.