The global internet is in large part a creation of the United States. The internet’s basic structure—a reliance on the private sector and the technical community, relatively light regulatory oversight, and the protection of speech and the promotion of the free flow of information—reflected American values. Moreover, U.S. strategic, economic, political, and foreign policy interests were served by the global, open internet. But the United States now confronts a starkly different reality. The utopian vision of an open, reliable, and secure global network has not been achieved and is unlikely ever to be realized. Today, the internet is less free, more fragmented, and less secure.
The United States needs a new strategy that responds to what is now a fragmented and dangerous internet. The Council on Foreign Relations launched an independent task force to develop findings and recommendations for a new foreign policy for cyberspace. This session will seek input from the DEF CON community on specific foreign policy measures, to help guide Washington’s adaptation to today’s more complex, variegated, and dangerous cyber realm.
Come prepared to discuss topics, such as: Developing a digital privacy policy that is interoperable with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR); Building a coalition for open-source software; Developing coalition-wide practices for the Vulnerabilities Equities Process (VEP); Clean up U.S. cyberspace by offering incentives for internet service providers (ISPs) and cloud providers to reduce malicious activity within their infrastructure.