23 November 2016

23 November 2016 — Divisions within the EU member states have become widely apparent this week as 5 members called on the EU to introduce rules on encryption across the union. Croatia, Italy, Latvia, Poland and Hungary want the new law to allow investigators access to encrypted data and access to data outside their jurisdictions.

Following a review by the Cyber Readiness Index Italy has received low marks for defence and crisis response amongst others whilst scoring higher marks for its overall national strategy…


The following is summary of the most recent IEEE Global Internet Governance Monitor report. To access the full reports containing additional details and other news items, please join the Internet Technology Policy Community on IEEE Collabratec.

Divisions within the EU member states have become widely apparent this week as 5 members called on the EU to introduce rules on encryption across the union. Croatia, Italy, Latvia, Poland and Hungary want the new law to allow investigators access to encrypted data and access to data outside their jurisdictions.

Following a review by the Cyber Readiness Index Italy has received low marks for defence and crisis response amongst others whilst scoring higher marks for its overall national strategy.

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the UK’s data surveillance agency GCHQ may be forced to respond to freedom of information requests, in line with European rights to free communication between individuals.

In the United States of America, President Elect Donald Trump has appointed net neutrality opponents to his FCC transition team, who are expected to overturn Democratic rules on net neutrality. Elsewhere the FCC has responded to the requests of Congressional Republicans by removing all decision making meetings from its upcoming calendar.

In Congress a bi-partisan alliance of legislators have proposed a bill to challenge the government’s power to use a single warrant to investigate computers across jurisdictions and countries. The bill is intended to delay the introducation of an amendment to Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure which would grant the US government wide ranging powers for investigations.

Elsewhere the Department for Homeland Security has announced that it has debunked the alleged myth of a cybersecurityskills shortage in the US with the announcement that 14,000 people signed up for 6,500 new cybersecuiry jobs this year.

At the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, China, this week Chinese businesses have repeatedly called for tougher cyber governance, with the government citing terrorism and fake news sites as the reason for the country’s tough internet controls.

This week Australia announced a new partnership with India designed to advance the cyber security capabilities of Indian companies. A delegation of Australian experts will work closely with local companies to introduce Australian security solutions to the Indian market.

In Thailand new internet laws from the military government have been criticised for placing greater monitoring on online activity, raising concerns for individual privacy. The new rules come as an amendment to a 2007 law and would give Government officials sweeping powers to spy on users and restrict online speech.

The Russian Government’s security services have stated that they have no interest in a new exchange set up by Russian Hackers that deals in security vulnerabilities in internet browsers and operating systems.

Finally in institutional news this week the Head of Administration for ENISA has suggested that an EU wide framework on cyber security should be developed. Amongst his suggestions Mr Paulo Empandinhas suggested a common procurement system to ensure a baseline in the security of IoT products in particular.

Also this week the ITU has announced its annual global ICT data and development index which ranks countries on their ability to connect citizens to the internet. The index is designed to monitor aspects of the Sustainable Development Goals for countries looking to develop their ICT capabilities.