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Repressive regimes are playing a key role in drafting new United Nations-backed rules on the worldwide use of the Internet that could be passed at the World Summit on the Information Society, scheduled for December in Geneva and organized by the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Telecommunication Union. Their proposed rules, if adopted, would not only allow but also encourage widespread Web censorship as well as increased state control of TV and radio.

Earlier this year, Cuba arrested 75 so-called dissidents - a group that included 26 independent journalists - and sentenced them to 28 years in prison for "crimes" that included possessing a tape recorder, having an unauthorized copying machine, or publishing articles in the foreign media. More recently, Iran arrested a Canadian photojournalist for taking pictures of a political demonstration at a Tehran prison; she later died in her cell from head trauma sustained after allegedly being beaten into a coma by Iranian police.

Now, these repressive regimes are playing a key role in drafting new United Nations-backed rules on the worldwide use of the Internet that could be passed at the World Summit on the Information Society, scheduled for December in Geneva and organized by the U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Telecommunication Union. Their proposed rules, if adopted, would not only allow but also encourage widespread Web censorship as well as increased state control of TV and radio.

According to the Miami Herald, some of the most disturbing suggestions for regulating the Internet are being proposed by Cuba and include:

* adding to the summit's Declaration of Principles paragraph calling for universal and affordable access to the Internet the words, "in conformity with domestic legislation of each country" - language that would advocate state control of the medium

* changing the document's paragraph about Internet domain names and other oversight rules, which establishes that Internet governance must be "multilateral, democratic, and transparent," to include the word "intergovernmental" meaning that all major decisions regarding Internet traffic be subject to governments' approval

* including a paragraph in the summit's action plan stating, "legal and administrative measures should be taken to prohibit undue concentration of private ownership and control of the media." In Cuba, control of the media is in government hands.

* adding a paragraph to the action plan stating that accountability by the global media "should be enhanced through targeted measures of screening by governments"

The U.S. government, set to rejoin UNESCO later this year after the group's campaign for greater state controls led it to withdraw 18 years ago, is reportedly worried that some of the language proposed by the repressive countries may be adopted. The key issue at the December conference will be whether the international community condemns or endorses the walls that many dictatorships are erecting to block access to Web sites that they consider politically threatening, U.S. officials say.

To access the draft declaration, visit www.itu.int/wsis.