On October 21st, 2011, ChinaDaily reported on how the Chinese government has called for the United Nations to formulate a set of norms and rules to govern use of the internet. Wang Qun, the Chinese ambassador for disarmament affairs, told the First Committee of the UN General Assembly that increasing information traffic accidents justify the creation of new international norms and rules which guide and regulate the internet. Mr. Qun believes that the United Nations is best suited to formulate those rules and norms. China, together with Russia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, previously submitted an "International Code of Conduct for Information Security" to the United Nations. This code also had the goal of developing, within the UN, a framework of international norms and rules for cyberspace security.
However, Gen. Keith Alexander, commander of US Cyber Command, had a different idea. Bill Gertz reported for the Washington Times on how Gen. Alexander does not favor giving the UN the power to regulate the Internet. When asked whether the UN should have the ability to regulate the internet, Gen. Alexander responded by saying “No. I’m not for regulating, per se. I’m concerned about it, and this is a tough question. I would say, generally speaking, I’m not into that portion of regulating as you would espouse." Gen. Alexander prefers individual countries stepping up cybersecurity efforts through new technologies, like cloud computing, rather than turning to the UN.
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The ChinaDaily article can be found here.
The Wasington Times article can be found here.
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