????受到發展中國家和某些國家的推動，聯合國的官僚們突然靈機一動，想到了控制全球通信和商務的美妙新點子：管制互聯網。

????在這個狂熱的選舉季，這是極少數能把政治左中右派都團結起來的話題之一。硅谷以外的商界領袖也該學聰明點，趕快行動起來關注這一議題。美國的反對有點來不及了，聯合國對互聯網征稅和管制的計劃已經取得緩慢而堅定的進展，12月份將在迪拜進行條約談判。

????理查德?格雷內爾在2001年到2009年間擔任四任美國駐聯合國大使的發言人和顧問，他指出：“讓聯合國或其它國際組織來管制互聯網意味著：人們只能在193個國家中達成最低限度的共識。”

????美國保守派就經常抱怨聯合國總是成為這種最低限度共識的聚集地。最近的例子就是有人阻礙對敘利亞這樣的危險分子采取行動。現在這種擔憂居然要降臨到互聯網頭上，大概是因為互聯網傳播了太多的自由言論，以及隨之而來的不滿和反抗。

????具體實施這一管制的是不為人知的聯合國機構：國際電信聯盟（International Telecommunication Union，ITU），它負責協調跨境事宜比如無線電頻譜和衛星軌道。2012年12月的國際電信世界大會（官僚化的簡稱WCIT-12）上，國際電信聯盟將試圖把其權限擴展到互聯網。看起來還有短短6個月，但其實國際電信聯盟的工作小組已經打好了基礎。

????支持這一努力的是俄國總統弗拉基米爾?普京這樣的統治者，普京在去年公開表達了建立對互聯網的“國際控制”的想法。這些勢力“可不是什么互聯網自由的堡壘，”佛羅里達州參議員馬克?盧比奧在上個月的聽證會上說。“任何禁止某些關鍵詞搜索的國家都不該成為國際互聯網監管框架的領導者。”

????美國眾議院通信及技術委員會也將在星期四召開聽證會。

????發展中國家也在推動對互聯網的國際控制，但其目標除了政治控制，還在于尋求新的收入來源（允許外國電話公司對國際流量收費是有待討論的提議之一）。格雷內爾在十年前就看到這種加強管制的努力已經開始抬頭，他注意到聯合國的發展中國家成員積極參與那些可以強化它們自身對商務的控制和影響以及需要商界尋求它們的意見和批準的議題。

????The bureaucrats at the United Nations, prodded by developing countries and exemplars of democracy like Russia and China, have hit on an enticing new way to control global communication and commerce: They want to regulate the Internet.

????It's one of those rare issues in this heated campaign season that is uniting the political left, right, and middle in Washington. Business leaders beyond Silicon Valley would be smart to sit up and take notice, too -- and fast. American opponents are being seriously outpaced by U.N. plans to tax and regulate that are already grinding forward in advance of a December treaty negotiation in Dubai.

????"Having the U.N. or any international community regulate the Internet only means you're going to have the lowest common denominator of 193 countries," notes Richard Grenell, who served as spokesman and adviser to four U.S. ambassadors to the U.N. between 2001 and 2009.

????That the U.N. too often acts as a repository of the world's lowest common denominator is a familiar complaint from American conservatives. Witness blocked attempts to take action against bad actors like Syria. Now those fears are being realized over the Internet, which has a nasty habit of spreading free speech -- and with it, discontent and revolt.

????The conduit is a little known U.N. agency called the International Telecommunication Union, which coordinates cross-border issues such as radio spectrum and satellite orbits. At the December 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai (bureaucratically titled the WCIT-12) the ITU will consider expanding its purview to the Internet. That may be six months away -- but ITU working groups are already laying the groundwork.

????Behind the effort are efficient censor machines like China, and autocrats like Russian President Vladimir Putin, who last year declared his desire to establish "international control" of the Internet. These are "not exactly bastions of Internet freedom," as Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio put it during a hearing last month. "Any place that bans certain terms from search should not be a leader in an international Internet regulatory framework."

????The House Communications and Technology subcommittee convenes its own hearing Thursday.

????Also pushing for international controls are developing countries hungry not only for political control, but also for new sources of revenue. (Allowing foreign phone companies to collect fees on international traffic is one proposal under discussion.) Grenell, who saw the regulatory effort spring up from the beginning a decade ago, notes that developing countries at the U.N. "get excited about taking up global issues that will give them more control and influence over commerce, that require businesses to seek their input and approval."