itu proposes cyberspace treaty
from nettime.org by way of Heiko Recktenwald
ITU To Propose Intl Cyberspace Treaty At Information Summit
279 words
14 November 2002
Nikkei Report
English
(c) 2002 Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. All Rights Reserved. TOKYO
(Nikkei)–The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) will propose
at the World Summit on the Information Society in December 2003 the
creation of an international cyberspace treaty to set forth basic rules
on Internet taxation, copyright protection and crime prevention,
according to Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi.
In an interview with The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Utsumi said the ITU, a
United Nations agency, believes that different rules among countries
will hamper cross-border e-commerce and lead to more Internet crimes.
The ITU announced a basic plan for the treaty at a preparatory meeting
for the summit held in Europe in early November. It will seek
cooperation from the Japanese government at a preparatory meeting in
Asia in January. The union hopes to incorporate plans to sign the treaty
in an actionprogram to be compiled at the world summit, which will be
attended by heads of state. The treaty will cover taxation of
international e-commerce; copyright protection for content; prevention
of Internet crimes, such as cyberterrorism and release of offensive
material; security measures such as prevention of illegal access and
data tampering; and privacy protection. It will set forth uniform
domestic and international guidelines to handle problems that occur. If
countries have different rules, some countries will gain a commercial
advantage over others, fair competition will be hindered due to the
spread of illegal products, and countries without rules could become a
hotbed of crime, according to Utsumi. The ITU believes the international
rules will be helpful for developing countries in Africa and Asia when
they draw up their information technology policies.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Thursday morning edition)
