Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) campaigns for free and open Internet

Internet search giant Google Inc(NASDAQ:GOOG) has asked users to support it in its quest for "free and open internet."

The company has launched an online campaign canvassing the support of users ahead of a United Nations' World Conference on International Communications in Dubai which seeks to renegotiate a decades old communications treaty. This has the potential to increase censorship and threaten innovation, according to Google.

The [UN agency] International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is bringing together regulators from around the world to renegotiate a decades-old communications treaty," Google said.

"Some proposals could permit governments to censor legitimate speech - or even allow them to cut off internet access.

"Other proposals would require services like YouTube, Facebook, and Skype to pay new tolls in order to reach people across borders. This could limit access to information -- particularly in emerging markets."

Google is also of the view the ITU is not the place for making decisions about the future of the Internet as only Governments would have a voice at the conference and not the firms.

"Governments alone should not determine the future of the Internet," Google said.

"The billions of people around the globe that use the Internet and the experts that build and maintain it, should be included."

ITU secretary general Dr Hamadoun Touré said that the agency is adamant that freedom of access and expression on the Internet which no-one can take away; on the other hand, any new International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs) should reinforce this.