The United Nations Commission on Science & Technology for Development needs to open its doors and allow many more organizations to join an Internet-related group, according to Google.  Vint Cerf, who serves as "Chief Internet Evangelist" at the search giant, spoke up this morning following a row over a governments-only proposal.

Cerf explained on the Official Google Blog,"[L]ast week the UN Committee on Science and Technology announced that only governments would be able to sit on a working group set up to examine improvements to the IGF – one of the Internet’s most important discussion forums."

Then Cerf, who’s considered a father of the Internet, continued, "This move has been condemned by the Internet Governance Caucus, the Internet Society (ISOC), the International Chamber of Commerce and numerous other organizations – who have published a joint letter (PDF) and launched an online petition to mobilize opposition."

Finally, Cerf wrote, "Today, I have signed that petition on Google’s behalf because we don’t believe governments should be allowed to grant themselves a monopoly on Internet governance.  The current bottoms-up, open approach works – protecting users from vested interests and enabling rapid innovation.  Let’s fight to keep it that way."

That call to action is sure to motivate many, many people to follow Cerf’s/Google’s lead.  And the petition’s already collected over 1,000 signatures.

It should be interesting to see where this goes.  The recent WikiLeaks problems have caused many politicians to suggest that governments keep a closer eye on the Web.