Topic: Militarization of the Internet
Country: Australia
Delegate Name: Tristan Long
School: Saline High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Australia position papers GLIMUN 2013 committees
Along with many of its allies, Australia plans to drastically increase its internet security and censorship by the year 2014. Many plans have been put into action regarding internet security, and one of them is a unit within the Australian government that is charged counteracting foreign attempts at infiltrating the country’s networks. Part of its responsibilities include cyber espionage; monitoring the affairs of other nations in covert ways to gather information through hacking and other methods over the internet.
Australia’s plans at reforming internet use also include new laws that force internet providers and major websites to censor their services as a default, and they are only allowed to reveal this censored content to people who request lifting the ban of it on their networks.
Australia also seeks to use the internet as a tool to combat crime. With the huge amount of illegal activity that takes place on the internet today, most governments, including Australia’s, have begun cracking down on cybercrime in more extreme ways. The Australian government plans to use its censorship laws to block many sources of illegal content on the internet as well as places where identity theft and offensive content often occur.
The general goal of Australia, and most of the UN, is to facilitate greater safety on the internet and protect the rights of citizens in every nation. Australia reserves the right to manipulate and censor its networks, but supports freedom of the internet and denounces the harsh actions by countries like China to censor its internet actions.
