[LINK] Malcolm Turnbull, Minister for Communications, on Cybersecurity

[Tom Worthington]

Greetings from the National Security College at the Australian National 
University in Canberra, where Malcolm Turnbull, Minister for 
Communications, is speaking at the launch of "Strategy and Statecraft in 
Cyberspace" research. This research will use techniques of complex 
systems and natural ecology. The researchers are asking for input from 
the community and will reach out via blogs and other on-line forms.

Minister  Turnbull started by saying the Internet is the single most 
powerful driver of innovation in human history (I would nominate the 
invention of language and writing as greater influences). He included 
ASD one agency which has a role in cyber security policy. Also he made a 
reference to "Mr. Snowdens's burglary". Minister  Turnbull pointed out 
that governments had to protest publicly about being spied on by NSA, 
because the details were made public.


Minister Turnbull then turned to the digital economy. He emphasised that 
the Internet was built and is run by the private sector, not 
governments. I don't agree that this is so significant: most human 
activities are run by private individuals, non-profit and for-profit 
organisations (not government). I helped set up the structure used to 
run the Internet and it was not so different to the structures I help 
run for other civic activities. However, I agree with his assertion that 
maintaining a cyberspace not dominated by government is a goal.

  Minister Turnbull asserted that the Internet is run by US based 
bodies, but not run by the US government. He characterises the way the 
Internet is governed as ad-hoc, but this is not the case. The Internet 
was set up with a governance structure carefully designed to prevent 
government control: this is no accident.

I will post a link, when the text of the speech is available: 
http://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2014/03/international-cybersecurity-research.html


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
The Higher Education Whisperer http://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/
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Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/