Australia is among 56 nations signing a political commitment to push for the future of the internet to be underpinned by democratic values, in the face of hostile internet policies from countries such as China and Russia.
Key points:
- The Declaration for the Future of the Internet lays out values based on the free flow of information, privacy and a regulated digital economy
- It is the first such commitment of its kind
- Experts cite Russia’s incursions into Ukraine’s cyberspace as reason to act now
The commitment — the first such effort of its kind, and known as the Declaration for the Future of the Internet — aims to protect human rights, promote the free flow of information, protect the privacy of users and set rules for a growing global digital economy.
Other countries taking part include Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States and Ukraine.
Australia’s ambassador for cyber affairs and critical technology, Tobias Feakin, told the official launch of the declaration that Australia was “genuinely proud” to be part of the declaration.
“We really must ensure that cyberspace reflects and is strengthened by human rights and liberal democratic values,” Dr Feakin said.
“It really needs to be resilient to those who would use digital technologies to undermine those rights and subvert those values.
“Over the last two decades, however, we have witnessed significant challenges to these values, and that is ongoing.
Dr Feakin said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its “blatant abuse” of cyberspace was a reminder that other nations must work together.
“We must come together through initiatives like this, united by a shared belief and the potential future of an internet that enables digital technologies to promote connectivity, sustainable development and the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” he said.
“We can achieve this by creating deeper trust in the global digital ecosystem — something states cannot do alone.”
Concerns over web tactics of authoritarian countries
Since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has launched cyber attacks, including hacking into a satellite internet provider’s network at the beginning of the war.
Senior US officials said the United States was witnessing a global trend of rising digital authoritarianism, with countries such as Russia repressing freedom of expression, censoring independent news sites, interfering with elections, promoting disinformation and denying their citizens other human rights.
“Look at what … Russia is doing, some of the steps China is taking, and I think we see this as a response to these kind of ‘splinternet’ tendencies by a number of authoritarian countries around the world,” one official said, referring to a characterisation of the internet as splintering and dividing due to various factors, including politics.
Ukraine’s Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, said his country had witnessed misuse of the internet firsthand.
“We can see how Russian propaganda on a new technological level, including using the internet, is transforming people into zombies that are ready to kill, ready to rape children, ready to destroy whole cities,” he said.
“We are living in a strange time; one part of the world is on the way of outstanding technological progress, democracy and sustainable development, while another part of the world is trying to use modern technologies for this genocide.”
US officials said the Declaration for the Future of the Internet was not an attempt to address cyberwarfare.
The declaration is a modified version of the White House’s efforts from last year to rally a coalition of democracies around a vision for an open and free web.
“We face every day a rising tide of disinformation that sows division and conflict and hate around the world,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.
ABC/Reuters
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