Open Internet: The Devil Is In The Detail

Open Internet: The Devil Is In The Detail

Attitudes to online privacy depend on a range of factors and vary widely according to where people are in the world, but the most important thing is maintaining the open nature of the Internet, according to the Internet Society.

Speaking to eWEEK Europe ahead of the Internet Society’s INET conference in Frankfurt next week – and amid moves by the European Commission to strengthen the rules governing the collection and use of personal data online – Markus Kummer, executive coordinator of the Secretariat supporting the Internet Governance Forum, described Internet governance as a “moving target”.

“There is a bit of a generational gap between the digital natives and the digital immigrants,” he said. “The older generation that did not grow up with the Internet has a different attitude, and also there are cultural differences. In different areas of the world it is felt differently,” he said

“Even between Western Europe and the United States, which are culturally very close, the approach [in Europe] is on the whole much more prudent when it comes to privacy. whereas US citizens seem to be somewhat less concerned. I am not saying there are not individuals or groups that are very active, but the average citizen seems to be less concerned.”

He explained that the average American citizen tends to place a greater degree of trust in the state and the government, whereas Europeans tend to be more wary of government taking on a ‘Big Brother’ role.

“Even if you have a trust-based relationship with your authorities, there are limits to what the citizen wants the government to know, and the government is also very aware of that. It’s part of the social contract,” he explained.

The notion is perhaps ironic in light of recent news that the FBI is calling for a push to expand its capabilities in intercepting online communications. FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni appeared before Congress on Thursday to discuss the increasing difficulties the agency has had in accruing electronic evidence for ongoing cases.

“In the ever-changing world of modern communications technologies, the FBI and other government agencies are facing a potentially widening gap between our legal authority to intercept electronic communications pursuant to court order and our practical ability to actually intercept those communications,” she said.

According to Kummer, the key is to define online data protection policy from the bottom up, in consultation with all relevant stake holders. “Don’t just leave it to the government to decide, and certainly not to people in charge of security, but also don’t leave it to industry. It’s important to involve the society groups and the watchdogs.”

He said that, while governments play an important role in maintaining the openness Internet, there is not necessarily a need for new laws for every problem that surfaces. Governments should be part of the Internet ecosystem, sharing their experience, exchanging information and helping to establish best practices.

“There are tendencies by governments, when a problem comes up, to have ‘knee-jerk’ reactions,” he said. “Child pornography is a particularly sensitive subject. Because child pornography is very offensive and of course very illegal, governments sometimes feel tempted to do something – they feel pressure from their voters.”

Only last week, in fact, a backbench Tory MP claimed there is a “scary degree of favourable consensus” between Internet porn campaigners, the government and the ISP community over Internet filters that would require computer users to opt in, if they want to access pornography from their home computers.

Claire Perry, the MP for the Devizes constituency in Wiltshire, is one of the main political supporters for the Safemedia campaign group, who are concerned about the possible influence that Internet pornography could have on children.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian government’s recent decision to turn off the Internet amid political protests in Cairo, followed by similar actions in Tunisia, show the kind of extreme actions that governments can take in times of crisis.

“We take the line that any solution should be based on rule of law and due process, and also it should be attacked at the source, not through blocking,” said Kummer, “because Internet blocking is technically not good for the Internet. It endangers the stability and reliability of the Internet.”

While the Internet society is in opposition to anything that damages the stability of the Internet, the organisation does believe in “appropriate regulation”. However, any regulation should not be detrimental to the further development and deployment of the Internet.

“We recognise the role of governments. We are not anarchists. We recognise there maybe illegal or illicit content, and governments have the right to enforce laws that exist, but in many cases there is no need for new legislation,” he said. “Child pornography is illegal whether in the offline world or the online world, so it does not need a child pornography on the Internet law. All you need is to enforce the law.”

Kummer explained that the very nature of the Internet transcends the nation state, making law enforcement very difficult. However, he dismisses the idea of a comprehensive international internet treaty as impractical, due to the time it would take to negotiate. Such treaties are also “only as good as the weakest link,” he said.

Instead, the Internet Society advocates collaboration and coordination between different nations to help resolve these problems.

At the INET event next week, the Internet Society will also be discussing other issues facing the future of the Internet, such as net neutrality, online copyright and IPv4 depletion.

With regard to net neutrality, Kummer said that “the devil is in the detail of the definition of what it means”. While the Internet Society’s main priority is defending the open Internet, Kummer acknowledged that there are special cases, and countries differ in their interpretations of human rights and freedom of speech.

“The internet is a tremendous vector in the globalised world. It is a vector of globalisation and it also spreads values among the internet users that are increasingly global,” he said. “But how freedom of expression, free flow of information is interpreted in different countries, it’s not the same on the global scale.”

He said the key to closing the digital divide was universal broadband access. “Providing access to the Internet comes first. And once you have access, you won’t be satisfied with bad access, you will want good access. Improving the access is an important part of reducing the digital divide.”