Oh man, those at Netzeitung don't have much of a clue, do they? Calling the ITU the UN is more than silly. The ITU is indeed a UN organization - but it is primarily carried by companies, especially large telecommunications enterprises. Above all, the ITU is one thing: the arch-enemy of the IETF.
Because the ITU thinks it's responsible for all communication systems and believes it should have a say in the Internet as well. But the IETF is the standards body there (or rather, not a standards body, but just an RFC manager). Standards in the IETF are created in a completely different way than in the ITU.
The ITU defines standards in committees. Access is regulated and burdened with hefty fees. Private individuals have no chance of getting into the ITU - that only works through national institutions or large companies. What becomes a standard is drafted in closed working groups - and based on what the participants want. As a rule, an ITU standard ends up as a collection of all requirements. The standard itself is often only available for a fee, reference implementations before standardization work is rarely available, and implementations in general are usually proprietary and cost money.
The IETF, on the other hand, only manages the organizational part - the actual RFCs are created in open working groups. Anyone who wants to can participate. RFCs must - if they want to be on the standards track - demonstrate two independent but interoperable implementations that must be accessible to everyone. Existing and free code defines what becomes a standard.
ITU statements on the Internet topic are often simply attempts to gain influence in an area where the ITU plays no role, even though communication technology is increasingly oriented in that direction. You only need to think about Internet telephony to see what kind of problem this could cause for the ITU - which currently controls almost the entire telephony sector.
But precisely because of the very different working methods, almost nobody actually wants the ITU as a relevant organization in the Internet sector. An Internet in which standards are defined by national representatives and large companies would not be where the Internet is today thanks to the sleeves-rolled-up and pragmatic approach of the IETF.
So please don't sneak the ITU into titles as the UN. It's not the UN that wants something, but the ITU - and what it wants is only indirectly related to our problems. What it wants is influence and control.
At NETZEITUNG.DE Internet you'll find the original article.