China, which hosts the group's permanent secretariat, has some of the world's tightest Internet restrictions, blocking thousands of sites containing information considered sensitive or threatening by the communist regime, along with those hosting gambling and pornography.
A Russian and Chinese-led bloc of Asian states said Thursday it plans to set up an expert group to boost computer security and help guard against threats to their regimes from the Internet.
Suggesting the new group might tackle censorship, the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization said information communication technology could infringe on the "internal affairs of sovereign states," bringing "serious harm to individual, social and national security."
Tight Controls
The group's statement, issued following its annual summit in the Chinese city of Shanghai, identified no specific threats and didn't specify what kinds of information communications technology it considered vulnerable.
However, SCO members -- China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan -- are mostly authoritarian states that maintain tight controls on communications technology, including the Internet.
China, which hosts the group's permanent secretariat, has some of the world's tightest Internet restrictions, blocking thousands of sites containing information considered sensitive or threatening by the communist regime, along with those hosting gambling and pornography.
Action Plans
Russia is also the alleged home of many computer hackers and gangs that commit fraud over the Internet.
Criminals, terrorists, and even nation states could use the technology to attack individual countries or even undermine global stability, the statement said.
It said the expert group, to include representatives from its Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, would formulate plans for action against such threats and develop solutions to information security problems.
source : technewsworld.com
