Vint Cerf, often referred to as one of the ‘fathers of the Internet’ since he helped design a key part of its architecture, made a strong case for a free and open Internet, and why the United Nations should not be in charge of it.

This was in relation to a meeting -apparently a ‘secretive’ meeting– by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU ) at the beginning of December. The idea is to make the ITU the Internet’s traffic cop. Observed Cerf:

“I am concerned, and I am not alone. More than 1,000 organizations from 163 countries have raised concerns about this upcoming closed-door meeting in Dubai. They are joined by hundreds of thousands of Internet users who are standing up for a free and open Internet.”

He has previously castigated the members of the ITU as a “breed of dinosaurs, with their pea-sized brains” who should not make decisions on behalf of the world. They haven’t “figured out that they are dead yet because the signal hasn’t travelled up their long necks,” he said.

The website set up to by Google (where Cerf is a vice president) to garner support for the cause, it says that “Only governments have a voice at the ITU. This includes governments that do not support a free and open Internet. Engineers, companies, and people that build and use the web have no vote. “