Safeguarding the security of online information
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Ladies and gentlemen:
The Internet has become a vital component of a country's infrastructure. When the Internet permeates all aspects of our life, it is no longer a "virtual society" aloof from reality, but is a substantial part of reality. It is evolving into a "nerve system" that a country depends on for its normal operation. How to guarantee Internet security is therefore a subject of great importance for safeguarding national security and interests in the information era.
An important part of network security is to ensure the security of online information. Pornography, fraud, spam, online attacks and computer viruses are serious threats to information security and they impair the public's confidence in the Internet. Under such circumstances, it is not enough to emphasize the free flow of information alone. Information security should be put in a more prominent position. If network information security is not guaranteed, the information flow will become irregular; if illegal and harmful information are allowed to flow rampantly without checks, there will be great harm to the real society. Network information security and the free flow of information are actually two interdependent parts of a whole, and should receive equal attention. All countries in the world should therefore take effective measures to ensure that the information on the Internet is safe, reliable and maintains a smooth flow. In this way we can create favorable conditions for the healthy development of the Internet.
We need to regulate the dissemination of information online. As an advanced technology, the Internet should spread advanced cultures and convey the achievements of human civilization. Governments should improve laws and regulations overseeing Internet development, help build an environment that facilitates the online dissemination of advanced cultures, and encourage lawful and useful information on the Web. All stakeholders of the Internet are obliged to observe related laws and regulations, and to curb any online abuses that damage information security and jeopardize public interest or the interests of other people. We are responsible for building the Internet into a booster for social progress.
Our first priority of ensuring online security should be to protect adolescents. Teenagers have become the largest online group, whose growth is increasingly influenced by the Internet. At present, there is a lot of harmful information online, including pornography, violence and fraud, all of which have severely impaired teenagers' physical and mental health. Youngsters are the future of the world. It's our shared responsibility to protect them from harmful information. The Internet industry should enhance self-discipline and adopt the necessary administrative and technological measures to prevent the spread of obscene information. Moreover, the industry should be open to public surveillance and should make efforts to provide a safer online environment that is conducive to teenagers' growth.
Ensuring online security should fully respect the cultural diversity and concerns of all countries. Every country has its own unique circumstances. Concerns regarding online security also vary country to country, due to differences in Internet penetration, economic and social development, cultural traditions and laws. Therefore, Internet security around the world is unable to be measured by a unified standard. It is impossible to regulate security with a single law or manage it in a single pattern. We should fully understand and respect the differences of each country's national conditions, online cultures and security concerns. We need to find a common and harmonious way to promote the prosperity and development of the World Wide Web.
Ensuring online security depends on feasible international cooperation. According to statistics from the Internet Society of China (ISC), in 2008, online attacks that originated overseas to the Chinese mainland increased by 148 percent year-on-year. As a victim, China firmly fights back against these attacks. The whole world should join hands to combat all types of online crimes, including hack attacks. According to the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center, China punished 4,000 porn Web sites in the first half of 2009, 70 percent of which had their servers in America. Thus, I propose that all countries, including China and the USA, adopt effective measures to strengthen online management and prevent online domestic risks from both destroying normal Internet orders and impairing the public interests of other countries.
