WRR Highlights Urgent Need to Protect the Internet Through International Policy

20 Apr 2015
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Author: HSD Foundation

In their policy brief written for the Global Conference on Cyber Space 2015 the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) argues for a new agenda for Internet Governance.

In ‘The public core of the internet: an international agenda for internet governance’ they explain that the backbone protocols and infrastructure of the internet are in urgent need of protection against unwarranted interference in order to sustain the growth and the integrity of the internet. Countering the growing state interference with this backbone requires a new international agenda for internet governance that departs from the notion of a global public good. Core ingredients of this strategy are:

  • To establish and disseminate an international norm stipulating that the internet’s public backbone must be safeguarded against unwarranted intervention by governments.
  • To advocate efforts to clearly differentiate between internet security (security of the internet infrastructure) and national security (security through the internet) and have separate parties address these different forms.
  • To broaden the arena for cyber diplomacy to include new coalitions of states (including the so-called ‘swing states’) and private companies, including both internet giants as well as internet intermediaries such as Internet Service Providers.


The policy brief was written by prof. dr. Dennis Broeders on the basis of the Dutch report De publieke kern van het internet. Naar een buitenlands internetbeleid, which was presented to the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bert Koenders, on 31 March 2015.

The policy brief can be downloaded here.

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