Monday, October 8, 2012

The future of cyberspace | Inquirer Opinion

The future of cyberspace | Inquirer Opinion
See - http://opinion.inquirer.net/38188/the-future-of-cyberspace

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Our meeting came at a crucial time. The global economic climate means we must work harder to maintain and enhance the benefits of the Internet for all. And as cybercrime increases we must work together to address a threat that does not recognize national borders, is costing the world economy billions of euros every year, with the numbers and sophistication of cyberattacks on national infrastructures rising all the time. We should not ignore this, just as we should not try to shackle transparency, open information and the free exchange of ideas.
These are what have made the Internet such a success and inspired such innovation. It should be a space which is not stifled by government control or censorship, one where innovation and competition flourish across national borders, where investment and enterprise are rewarded, where information is shared easily, and where human rights carry the same force online as they do offline.
The Budapest Conference was a chance to review the international debate on how to achieve this delicate balancing act and ensure that critical work done in a variety of forums is coordinated.
In the last year we have made good progress: OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) policy principles have established a benchmark to preserve the fundamental openness of the Internet; the United Nations has begun work on norms for behavior in cyberspace including at the Human Rights Council; the Den Haag Conference Declaration established a cross-regional coalition of countries in a Freedom Online Coalition to protect and promote freedom of expression online; the Council of Europe has driven further implementation of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime; and there has been increasing agreement between members of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) and the Asean Regional Forum on how to develop confidence-building measures to reduce the risk of unintended conflict between states.
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