When even the European Parliament is against regulation...

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution against further international regulation of the Internet ahead of a big United Nations conference to discuss exactly that.

[T]he resolution marks an important symbolic stance ahead of an upcoming United Nations conference that’s drawn concerns and criticisms from around the world from the likes of Google, U.S. lawmakers (namely Republicans) and a host of Web freedom and user advocacy groups, who fear that the conference could result in an expansion of regulations, and Google, U.S. lawmakers (namely Republicans) and a host of Web freedom and user advocacy groups, who fear that the conference could result in an expansion of regulations, and potentially censorship and taxes, over the Internet.

The United Nations has many missions, but maintenance of status quo governments, however rotten, is its bureaucratic imperative. There are few threats to status quo governments as profound as an open net, as is evidenced by their repeated attempts to censor it, regulate it, or even block it. Therefore, it should not surprise us that of all the "problems" in the world that the United Nations might address, a free internet ranks high on the list. Neither should it surprise us that such a conference might discuss Internet taxes, because free trade is also a threat to status quo governments. And, of course, the prospect of international regulation and taxes are a huge and imponderable risk to net businesses of all sorts, and should be fought accordingly by entrepreneurs.