After PRISM: Toward a New World Internet Order (People's Daily,
China)
Does the mass surveillance conducted by the United States mark a
turning point, at which the world must work in earnest to develop rules of the road
for cyberspace, and dispel international suspicion with cooperation? For China's
state-run People's Daily, senior
editor Ding Gang suggests that recrimination helps no one, but if the U.S. refuses
to take take corrective action, a way must be found
to act without it.
Snowden
has finally reemerged, and his fate remains a central topic of global media
attention, but that should not be a pretext for avoiding hard questions about
the PRISM affair. Washington still owes the world, including China, a
reasonable explanation. The fallout from PRISM will be hard for Washington
to contain, and will continue to spread and give new impetus for the formation
of a new Internet order.
In
essence, this event reflect the extension of real-world international relations
into the virtual Internet world. Its far-reaching significance bears on the
growing connection between the virtual world and the real world in terms of
security, a subject therefore vitally linked to global security.
However,
no matter how "virtual" the virtual world may be, it is influenced
by changing trends. If it violates the fundamental rules of global development, the
Internet cannot survive and prosper; just like the real world, it must be bound
by certain restrictions. In the real world, a certain consensus has evolved about
how international relations should be
conducted, and this consensus must apply to the virtual world, as well. The
Internet cannot be based on the law of the jungle. Its abuse by a single
dominant power cannot be permitted - even if that power has the technological
means to do so.
While
the transformation of the world order is in the process of casting off antiquated
norms, the old hegemony of international relations [the U.S.] with its accompanying
"winner take all" mentality, for which strength determines what rational
thinking consists of, still maintains a certain hold. This tempts certain
powers which possess a significant advantage in terms of Internet technology to
extend such hegemonic principles into the virtual world. Not only does this introduce
significant chaos into the virtual world, it poses a threat to real-world peace.
As
far as the global financial and economic order, the Internet world must
facilitate and improve upon the way things have been traditionally done. They
must ne conducted in a fairer, more orderly and more governable way, and must respect
the sovereignty and level of development of all countries. Individual powers must
not be permitted to usurp control. These basic principles are an inexorable
trend in the development of real-world global relations, and show the way
for development of the virtual world.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
J
The
development of Internet technology is competitive, but that competition must
not be disorderly as it is in the areas of trade and economics. It must not be
organized in the shadows, with the most powerful using their influence to
infringe on the sovereignty and interests of the weak. The maintenance of a
virtual world order requires more sophisticated technology, but this
technological progress should benefit humanity and promote cooperation, not serve
as a tool for consolidating the dominant position of the most powerful - for it
to control or take over other nations.
All
of the world's nations confront new Internet security challenges. Taking
advantage of new technology while ensuring network security is at the heart of the
challenge. Recriminations will solve nothing. Communication and cooperation for
the establishment of mutual trust, out of which will grow the rules we can all
abide by, is what is required. Perhaps that is the reason German Chancellor
Angela Merkel's spokesman warned that trust between the United States and its
European allies must be rebuilt. That rebuilding is only necessary because of
the negation of the previously existing confidence between America and its closest ally.
Among
the many consequences of PRISM, there is one most worthy of attention: no
matter the power of American Internet technology, whether or not the United
States is willing to engage in introspection and take corrective action, its
domination of the virtual world must from now on be in the "past tense."
But
how to develop a U.S. framework and create relevant international rules for
cyberspace? There are still many question marks, and a long road ahead.
