US playing Internet monopoly

Published: 03 February, 2012, 12:00

US playing Internet Monopoly

US playing Internet Monopoly

The US is seeking to control the Internet, which is an instrumental of its foreign policy. Writer and political scientist Igor Panarin believes Syria and Russia have been picked as a testing ground for America’s media intervention doctrine.


­In the article below, professor Igor Panarin explains his view.­­­­

The mass unrest that destabilized a number of Mideast nations in the spring of 2011 was the first real-life demonstration of how powerful a tool the Internet can be in terms of influencing the internal affairs of a sovereign state. Social networks and blog platforms proved a highly efficient means for dispersing information and dispatching voluntary protesters in order to stage rallies and even riots. The American political elite was quick to recognize the new opportunity and employ it.

On 16 May 2011, the US administration published a new document on its official website titled The US International Strategy for Cyberspace. The document laid out guidelines for American diplomacy in shaping a US-friendly global media environment using cyber technologies. In essence, the policy document outlined Washington’s new doctrine of media intervention, which emphasizes the Internet as a key component for shaping perceptions worldwide and manipulating global public opinion.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remarked in a public address on 18 May 2011: “Freedom of the Internet is an important priority for us. We want to ensure better protection for privacy through common efforts, and secure the basic freedoms of expression, association and assembly everywhere, including online.” Furthermore, Mrs. Clinton stressed this priority as a new foreign policy imperative for the US Department of State.

To that end, a special Cybersecurity Office was created within the US National Security Staff, headed by a specially-appointed Cybersecurity Coordinator, former NSS official Chris Painter.

The new doctrine was tested in Moscow last December, when Facebook, a US-based social network, was actively employed while summoning Russia’s dissenters to rallies in the wake of a parliamentary election. So-called “Team Facebook” essentially distributed appeals to support the opposition in staging anti-government protests in Russian cities. It was by no means accidental that social networks became the main means for preparing and publicizing opposition rallies, with tens of thousands of people manifesting their intention to participate in the protests. Quite tellingly, 70 per cent of them happened to be Facebook users.

It deserves a mention that the Internet was originally conceived and developed in the United States. Its precursor was ARPANET, the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network developed by the Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The punchline is that the technical facilities for running the Internet are still located in the US – and not just on American territory, but actually under the supervision of US government agencies. The latter are deeply reluctant to hand over this function to any other authority, despite numerous proposals for transferring control of the Internet to the United Nations, tabled at various international meetings by a number of countries including Russia.

The US International Strategy for Cyberspace contains another potentially destructive statement, namely America’s obligation to ensure Internet freedom by creating and maintaining “reliable, safe and secured platforms to ensure freedom of expression and association” for opposition movements in any given country. In plain language, this is an initiative for setting up a parallel Internet, which would be off-limits for any national government except the United States. It is envisaged that users around the globe would be provided access to this “shadownet,” bypassing national provider companies, and thereby exempting data exchange between a user and Washington from any unwanted oversight. The “shadownet” would mark a new stage in the United States’ strategic plan for penetrating the cyberspace and telecom environment of other countries worldwide.

Moreover, the US government intends to issue a “blacklist” of nations that allegedly restrict Internet access for their residents, and subsequently ban US-based telecom companies from doing business with these governments. This is just one of the proposals put forward in a bill titled Promoting Global Internet Freedom, which is currently being debated in US Congress. The Russian Foreign Ministry has already expressed its concern over the draft legislation, denouncing it as “undemocratic.” By advocating unrestrained freedom in the Worldwide Web in its rhetoric, the US is essentially appointing itself a global judge, denying other national governments their right to national legal sovereignty in cyberspace.

To counter the implications of the American bill, Russia, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have jointly approached the UN General Assembly with a draft resolution titled Rules of Conduct for Ensuring International Cybersecurity. These rules provide for respecting national sovereignty, territorial integrity and the political independence of all nations, as well as establishing a multilateral, transparent and democratic mechanism for managing the Internet.

The initiative, however, was blocked by the US delegation.

I am confident that Russia ought to take expedient political and diplomatic measures to protect its national sovereignty in cyberspace from American intervention.


­Prof. Igor Panarin, Doctor of Political Sciences, special to RT


­The statements, views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

 

http://rt.com/politics/us-internet-facebook-panarin-319/

Views: 54

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

Doc Vega posted a blog post

When Will the True Reparations Be Awarded?

Americans have weathered the worst storm perhaps in American history from an intentionally…See More
8 hours ago
MAC posted videos
Tuesday
tjdavis posted photos
Tuesday
Doc Vega posted photos
Monday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

Veteran’s Day a Time That Should Be Honored

 At a time in our confusing and idiotic history when a Democrat can’t define a woman when being…See More
Monday
Michael A. Pinson posted a photo
Monday
cheeki kea commented on tjdavis's blog post Mountain Miracle
"Thumbs up to this awesome school. Isn't it amazing that some of the greatest teachers are to…"
Sunday
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's photo
Sunday
cheeki kea commented on Doc Vega's blog post This is Incredible! Trump is Already releasing Plans to Dismantle the Deep State and Purge the Corrupt Players
"Oh wow he is not wasting any time. May the power of the words he just spoke resonate across America…"
Sunday
tjdavis favorited cheeki kea's video
Sunday
tjdavis favorited rlionhearted_3's photo
Sunday
tjdavis posted a blog post
Sunday
Doc Vega's 4 blog posts were featured
Saturday
cheeki kea's 2 blog posts were featured
Saturday
Doc Vega commented on tjdavis's blog post Mountain Miracle
"A creative way to get hands on participation with students and the community."
Saturday
Doc Vega favorited tjdavis's blog post Mountain Miracle
Saturday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

The Perfect Lies

The Perfect Lies Time is like an ocean with its secrets running deepLike all the lovers you’ve…See More
Saturday
tjdavis posted blog posts
Saturday
tjdavis posted a blog post
Friday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Nov 7

© 2024   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted