China's 'Sovereign Internet' - increasingly seeking not just domestic but international influence over cyberspace
China's 'Sovereign Internet'
China is increasingly seeking not just domestic but
international influence over cyberspace.
By Shannon Tiezzi June 24, 2014
A new report in People’s Daily interviewed five Chinese
experts on Internet security and political thought, including Fang Binxing
(credited with creating China’s “Great Firewall”).
The report focuses on the idea of “Internet sovereignty”
— the idea that each country has the right to control its domestic internet
space. Yet by moving from a discussion of China’s rights to talk of
international law, the report moves beyond a defense of China’s internet
censorship to outlining China’s vision for global internet governance.
The idea of China’s “Internet sovereignty” is a
high-profile resurrection of a concept first rolled out in a 2010 white paper
called “The Internet in China.” The white paper explained the “Internet
sovereignty of China” as meaning that “within Chinese territory the Internet is
under the jurisdiction of Chinese sovereignty.” All persons and organizations
operating within Chinese territory are expected to follow China’s Internet laws
and regulations, the white paper said.
In an interview with New Yorker’s Evan Osnos at the time,
Columbia University professor Tim Wu noted that China’s idea of “Internet
sovereignty” was simply “a statement of private international law as typically
practiced.” Most countries, Wu noted, have decided that the Internet is subject
to national laws. The difference between China and the rest of the world,
according to Wu, was simply one of scale: “Other countries, if they don’t
consider the Internet sovereign, have a certain respect for the network as a
platform for free speech … Again this varies from place to place, but China is
unique in its lack of respect for the idea of an open Internet.”
Thus, among China’s rules and regulations for the
Internet are typical prohibitions against “divulging state secrets” and “subverting
state power” as well as more unique bans on “damaging state honor,”
“propagating heretical or superstitious ideas,” “spreading rumors [and]
disrupting social order and stability.” These rules were lumped into the
category of “internet security,” equating these actions to hacking and other
forms of cyber crime.
The People’s Daily article seeks to argue not only that
China has the right to set up its own rules and regulations for the Internet,
but that an international consensus should be reached to recognize this right.
The article begins by noting that, in the Internet age, China now has
“information borders” in addition to traditional sovereignty over land, air,
and sea. The report argues that each country has a right to strengthen control
over its own domestic Internet, and that such actions will help safeguard order
and stability on the global Internet system.
In the interview with People’s Daily, Fang Binxing
pointed to a 2013 report from a UN-commissioned group of experts on information
security. That report noted that “state sovereignty and international norms and
principles that flow from sovereignty apply to State conduct of ICT
[information and communication technologies]-related activities, and to their
jurisdiction over ICT infrastructure within their territory.” Fang argued that
this statement proves the UN has already accepted China’s idea of “Internet
sovereignty.”
Fang made no mention of the next item in the UN report,
which requires that “state efforts to address the security of ICTs must go
hand-in-hand with respect for human rights and fundamental freedom set forth in
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” The juxtaposition of these two
points in the UN report outlines the basic difference between China’s concept
of the Internet and the Western concept: is cyberspace entirely made up of
domestic spheres, each under a different country’s sovereign rule, or is the
Internet as a whole subject to international rule in the name of “universal
values”? People’s Daily argues for the former approach.
The next expert interviewed, Wang Jun of Minzu
University’s Marxism school, acknowledges the difficulty of defining boundaries
for cyberspace, but offers some suggestions. “Although cyberspace has no
national boundaries, network infrastructure has borders. Internet users have
home countries. Internet companies and organizations always belong to a
specific country.” Thus Wang suggests that each country can control these
physical aspects of cyber space and “other countries have no right to interfere.”
Yet even while holding that “Internet sovereignty” is
immune to external interference, the People’s Daily article acknowledged the
importance of international consensus on defining cyberspace boundaries and
rules of conduct. Currently, disagreements between countries are a major
barrier to defining boundaries and implementing control of cyberspace, Wang
Xiaofeng of Fudan University’s Center for America Studies said. Lang Ping of
the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences noted that no country can independently
face the challenges posed by cyberspace.
Lang and Wang also see a competition among major powers
for influence in cyberspace. Wang said that “some countries” (almost certainly
a reference to the U.S.) are “abusing” their technological advantages to
conduct cyber-espionage and cyber-attacks. Later, both Fang and Lang explicitly
complained that the United States has an outsized role in controlling
cyberspace due to its technological prowess. The experts generally agreed on a
need for international dialogue and consensus on clear boundaries and rules for
Internet control.
China’s goal for this dialogue would be to codify its own
interpretation of “Internet sovereignty” into international law, much as
Western countries have been able to codify their idea of “universal values.”
The People’s Daily article sees cyberspace as a contested zone where the U.S.
wields too much influence; it seeks to combat this by pushing for international
consensus modeled on its own vision for the Internet.
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