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From: Ssemakula <james_ssemak...@yahoo.com>
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Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2011 3:50 PM
Subject: US Foreign Policy of the Internet: Dictators take note.
From: U.S. Department of State
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2011 10:35:18 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Economic, Energy, Agricultural and Trade Issues: Foreign Policy of the
Internet
Economic, Energy, Agricultural and Trade Issues: Foreign Policy of the Internet
Fri, 15 Jul 2011 10:16:03 -0500
Foreign Policy of the Internet
Op-Ed
Karen Kornbluh
U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development
Daniel Weitzner, White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Internet Policy
The Washington Post
Washington, DC
July 14, 2011
Iran’s recent announcement that it plans to disconnect Iranian cyberspace from
the rest of the world was another dramatic sign that the Internet is at risk of
being carved up into national mini-Internets, each with its own rules and
restrictions. In contrast, the United States has staked out a clear position of
leadership in building a global consensus around the benefits of an open,
interconnected Internet.
In May, President Obama issued the U.S. International Strategy for Cyberspace,
our agenda for safeguarding the single Internet. Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton has developed a groundbreaking Internet freedom agenda, a
principled approach to preserving the freedom to connect — the freedoms of
expression, association and assembly online — and to ensuring that the Internet
can be a platform for commerce, debate, learning and innovation in the 21st
century. Senior government officials and stakeholders, meeting at the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) this month, took a
major step toward these goals by committing to Internet policymaking
principles.
The Internet is a powerful tool for innovation and expression because it allows
information and ideas to flow freely. According to McKinsey, the Internet has
generated as much growth over the past 15 years as the Industrial Revolution
generated in 50 years. This is a clear jobs issue — particularly in the United
States. Over the past five years, the Internet has been responsible for 21
percent of the growth in mature economies and has created 2.6 jobs for every
job it has displaced. Its power to generate innovation is rivaled only by its
potential to help people realize their rights and democratic aspirations.
The Internet is so productive — and powerful — because no centralized authority
governs it and no nation owns it. You do not need permission to share ideas or
associate with others around the globe. Instead, a decentralized system of
public and private actors collaborates to ensure its function and expansion.
But this means that nations that choose to take a heavy-handed approach to
regulating the Internet can reduce its value for every other nation and user.
For this reason, collective action is needed to safeguard this global treasure.
A foreign policy that accounts for the Internet has become essential. We need
to work with other countries and stakeholders to build a global consensus on
the importance of open communications online among all users — everywhere in
the world. And we must build consensus around norms and expectations of
behavior essential to that vision.
That’s why the president’s strategy calls for international partnership to
support an open Internet that is secure and reliable. And it’s why the
secretary of state has called for the global community to “join us in the bet
we have made, a bet that an open Internet will lead to stronger, more
prosperous countries.”
The recent meeting called by the OECD (the international economics policy
standards organization) assembled leaders from 40 governments, business and the
Internet technical community. It produced a set of broad principles for
safeguarding the open Internet that address three key international threats to
the seamless, interconnected Web.
The first threat is posed by some governments and international institutions
intent on imposing pre-Internet-era telecommunications regulatory schemes to
provide them control over the flow of information (and money) they enjoyed in
the old days of the monopoly phone company. The OECD consensus principles
provide Internet diplomats a rallying point of best-practice guidelines,
including support for today’s multi-stakeholder approach as the pro-growth
alternative to backward-looking controls over the Internet.
The second challenge is how to address important concerns, including protection
of personal data, children and consumers; intellectual property rights; and
cybersecurity without balkanizing the Internet or restricting competition and
the free flow of information. The OECD principles provide guidelines for how to
respond. The Obama administration is already implementing them domestically and
working with other countries to find technology-savvy solutions that avoid
onerous regulations that run counter to the design of an open Internet.
The third threat comes from Iran, Syria and other cyber-autocracies that use
pretexts to deny their citizens their rights to express themselves, seek and
receive information, and freely associate. These OECD guidelines make clear
that countries can address policy challenges without violating these
fundamental rights.
Our Internet foreign policy will require building support for these principles
with governments, business and civil society. We will need to work with other
countries to demonstrate that the principles work. Our diplomacy will also
entail continuing to build support for the “freedom to connect” for everyone,
and for the human rights, innovation and free-trade benefits that flow from it.
The stakes are high, but the OECD principles are an important tool to help us
achieve those objectives.
James Ssemakula
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