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Interesting article in Today's UK Guardian Newspaper.</div>
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Ahead of a <a href="https://plus.google.com/events/ccctkbj9ldslvsm392t6mae48ac" title="">Google+ Hangout</a> on the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/series/battle-for-the-internet" title="">battle for the internet</a>, Jemima Kiss looks at how tech giants are fighting for supremacy</div>
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<span style="color:#333333;"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;">Have you ever noticed that wherever you are in the world, every telephone keypad looks the same? Or wondered why satellites don't crash into each other? Or why you dial 64 to reach New Zealand, but 65 for Singapore? These are some of the mundane but essential logistical achievements of the <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.itu.int%2Fen%2FPages%2Fdefault.aspx&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGkPS1MSVqJVle3MAJ6siz-iQ55Bw" title=""><span style="text-decoration:none;"><span style="color:#333333;">International Telecommunication Union</span></span></a>, a specialist UN agency that dates back to 1865.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color:#333333;"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;">Yet as it gears up for its first global conference in 14 years, the ITU has found itself under unprecedented attack. The first assailant is the powerful US technology lobby. Companies, including Google, are claiming that new ITU proposals would mean <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/internet" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Internet"><span style="text-decoration:none;"><span style="color:#333333;">internet</span></span></a> companies paying hefty fees to local telecoms companies, reigniting historic tensions between US internet giants and incumbent telecoms firms across the world.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color:#333333;"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;">But that's not the only battle that will be played out this December when the ITU's 193 member states gather in Dubai. Russia and China have been explicit in their goal of taking control of the internet away from the US, while developing countries feel the western technology hegemony is limiting their economic opportunities. With the world's internet population predicted to reach 3.4 billion by 2016, there is everything to play for.</span></span></span></div>
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/17/who-rules-internet">http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/17/who-rules-internet</a></div>
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