How to respond to the challenges of a networked world?

As previously discussed in my last blog, cybercrime has hit the internet with full force. Unsuspecting users are finding themselves victims of identity theft, monetary robbery, and stolen intellectual property.

Today the London Conference on Cyberspace is wrapping up its discussion about how the networked world is impacting our society. British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, had invited internet users across the globe to join in the debate and come to some sort of international consensus. Hague hopes to leave the conference with a “set agenda that will allow the world to enjoy the full benefits of a safe and secure cyberspace for generations to come”.

In the article posted on the Globe and Mail online, he is very adamant about discussing all of the significant benefits that the internet has introduced to our society, saying, “The Web fosters innovation and creativity, as well as educating whole generations, not least by granting rapid access to information and ideas”. He continues on mentioning several more positive aspects of the internet, however, he is concerned that some countries do not place enough emphasis on the negatives associated with the internet. He warns that, “Cyber provides opportunities for criminals, who use it to steal identities and ideas, defraud governments and businesses, as well as exploit the most vulnerable in our societies. The financial cost of cybercrime is substantial, as much as $1-trillion a year globally. The human cost is far greater. Terrorists use the Internet to plan murderous attacks and flood chat rooms with their poisonous ideology to recruit the next generation”.

Hague believes that “this is one of the great challenges of our time, [but also that it is an opportunity]”. At the conference he hopes to solidify the message that “Nobody controls the Internet, and we can’t leave its future to chance. We… [can] secure a bold and innovative future, but we also face the risk that the Internet is used as a force for harm. We must start to act now if we are to protect and preserve the tremendous opportunities that the development of cyberspace offers us all.”

Read the article from The Globe and Mail at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/how-to-respond-to-the-challenges-of-a-networked-world/article2220142/