ICANN chief targets UN policy on Internet crimePosted 22/07/2004
The Chairman of ICANN, Vincent Cerf, has criticised the United Nations approach to regulating the Internet.
Addressing delegates at an ICANN conference in Malaysia, Mr Cerf, a founding father of the Internet, claimed that the UN was veering off-track in its discussions on whether government officials should set Internet policy.
Rather, Mr Cerf believes that individual governments around the globe should pool their resources and pursue a co ordinated, united front to fight electronic crime globally and develop best practices to encourage the growth of Internet commerce.
Speaking to the Reuters news agency, Mr Cerf said: "We need the UN to foster global standards, global frameworks."
"We don't need redundant coordinating bodies, but what we do need and don't have are parts of the UN to look at issues such as electronic commerce, the question of digital signatures, tax, fraud and enforcement."
Pursuing the philosophy that prevention is better than a cure, Mr Cerf suggested that education would be the best tool to utilise in the global fight against Internet crime.
"We can try technical methods to stop abuses like spam, but there is a limit to technical means. We can use enforcement to try to detect and punish them (offenders). But if we can't detect them all, then all we can do is try to teach people what is morally right, what isn't," he said. © DeHavilland Information Services plc
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