On Wednesday, Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.) and the bipartisan leadership of the Energy and Commerce Committee and its technology subcommittee introduced a resolution (available in PDF format ) expressing opposition to the establishment of any form of international Internet regulation. Backers of the measure said they hope to bring it to the House floor shortly.

Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the full committee, which has been marked by fierce partisanship in recent years, said that there is "no daylight between House Republicans and House Democrats on this issue."

As a matter of process, the December meeting in Dubai likely will not put the ITU treaty to a formal vote, according to Verveer. Rather, any treaty that results will probably be the product of a general consensus achieved through quiet negotiations among stakeholders.

But just as he noted that U.N. enforcement of the treaty will be scant, Verveer said that most signatories will leave themselves considerable flexibility to implement the provisions of the document in accordance with their respective laws and customs.

"We assuredly will take a very broad reservation to whatever is agreed at the conference, and virtually every other country will do the same thing," he said. "So you will have countries agreeing that they will abide by the provisions of the treaty unless for some reason they won't, and as I say, typically the reasons will be extraordinarily broad."