<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)">
<style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
        {font-family:Calibri;
        panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
        {font-family:Tahoma;
        panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
        {margin:0in;
        margin-bottom:.0001pt;
        font-size:11.0pt;
        font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
        {mso-style-priority:99;
        color:blue;
        text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
        {mso-style-priority:99;
        color:purple;
        text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
        {mso-style-type:personal-compose;
        font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
        color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
        {mso-style-type:export-only;
        font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
        {size:8.5in 11.0in;
        margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
        {page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal">FYI--<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/09/12/u-s-official-if-the-un-keeps-trying-to-regulate-the-web-we-should-consider-pulling-funding/">http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/09/12/u-s-official-if-the-un-keeps-trying-to-regulate-the-web-we-should-consider-pulling-funding/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span style="font-size:24.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">U.S. official: If the UN keeps trying to regulate the Web, we should consider pulling funding<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">By Brian Fung, Updated: September 12, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">The United States should consider withdrawing its funding from the International Telecommunications Union if
 the UN agency keeps trying to assert regulatory authority over the Internet, a U.S. official said Thursday.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Ajit Pai, a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, hinted that the intergovernmental body&#8217;s
<a href="http://www.zdnet.com/itu-chief-claims-dubai-meeting-success-despite-collapse-of-talks-7000008808/">
<span style="color:blue">proposed rules</span></a> &#8212; which critics say gives governments more power to censor the Web &#8212;&nbsp;may have put the group&#8217;s future in jeopardy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">&#8220;If the organization decides to become an international regulatory authority for the Internet,&#8221; he said at a
 Washington conference for gay and lesbian technology advocates, &#8220;we will have to ask ourselves whether the United States should remain one of its top two funders.&#8221;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">The United States
<a href="http://defundtheitu.com/uploads/S11-CL-C-0041.pdf"><span style="color:blue">contributes</span></a> nearly $11 million a year to the ITU, a figure that accounts for 7.7 percent of the agency&#8217;s budget. Japan is the only other country to donate as much.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Last year, the United States and dozens of other countries walked away from an ITU plan that would have targeted
 spam and enhanced broadband access in developing countries, largely over <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/9/3747402/countries-propose-greater-itu-influence">
<span style="color:blue">a separate provision</span></a> that would have allowed governments to manage their domestic Internets more intensively. Free-speech advocates worried that the rule would have given countries such as Russia and China greater freedom
 to suppress politically sensitive content.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">In response, one opposition organization launched a bid to defund the ITU. The North American Network Operators&#8217;
 Group started a White House petition in January, but <a href="https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/de-fund-itu/mSJ49QcV">
<span style="color:blue">failed to attract enough co-signers</span></a> to require a response from the Obama administration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Pai is among the first U.S. officials to publicly sympathize with the idea. The next meeting of the ITU isn&#8217;t
 until next year in Busan, South Korea. But that gives anti-ITU activists plenty of time to build support for the movement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">&copy; The Washington Post Company<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:navy">Philip S. Corwin, Founding Principal</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:navy">Virtualaw LLC</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:navy">1155 F Street, NW</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:navy">Suite 1050</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:navy">Washington, DC 20004</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:navy">202-559-8597/Direct</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:navy">202-559-8750/Fax</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:navy">202-255-6172/cell</span></b><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;color:navy"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:navy"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:navy">Twitter: @VlawDC</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:black">&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:navy">&quot;Luck is the residue of design&quot; -- Branch Rickey</span></i></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>