Hague calls for end to cyber ‘free-for-all’

Addressing an international cyberspace conference in London, Mr Hague said it was vital that countries came together to agree online “rules of the road” to ensure the huge global benefits of the digital age were protected.

Sixty nations are represented at the conference, including China and Russia who were accused yesterday by a No 10 adviser on cyber-security – former security minister Baroness Neville-Jones – of launching cyber attacks on other countries.

Mr Hague said that countries needed to agree “norms of behaviour” online, based on “opportunity, freedom, innovation, human rights and partnership between government, civil society and the private sector”.

He stressed the importance of governments acting both “proportionately” and in accordance with international law in cyberspace. “The truth is that in cyberspace, no one country can go it alone,” he said. “In place of today’s cyber free-for-all, we need rules of the road.”

Mr Hague also issued an impassioned plea for human rights online – including the the right to freedom of expression, a view which he acknowledged was not shared by all participants.

“We reject the view that government suppression of the internet, phone networks and social media at times of unrest is acceptable,” he said.

“We know that this is not a view that is shared by all countries. But states will find it harder and harder to try to restrict their citizens’ demands for the freedom to express their ideas on the internet.”

He painted a potentially bleak picture, with stolen intellectural property sapping innovation, individuals exposed to crime through illegal practices on networks in other countries; disruptions in service due to state intrusion or crude censorship and the general uncertainty, fear and loss of confidence in a compromised cyberspace.

Prime Minister David Cameron told the conference that it was essential to strike a balance between security and freedom.

“Governments must not use cyber security as an excuse for censorship or to deny people their opportunities that the internet represents. The balance we have got to strike is between freedom and a free-for-all.”