Faced with an annual loss of £27 billion to cyber crime, Britain today committed £650 million to a fighting threats emerging from the world of internet.
Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking at a cyber conference, said such a cross-border problem needs cross-border solutions, which is why the world needs to act together.
“Globally, it’s as much $1 trillion. It costs just 69p – about the price of a song on iTunes – to buy someone’s credit card information online. Cyber criminals have their own ‘online shopping websites’, where they can buy and sell stolen credit card details in just the same way you’d buy a book from Amazon,” Cameron told delegates at post-lunch of day one at the two-day event.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cancelled her scheduled appearance, and her place was taken by vice President Jo Biden, who addressed the conference from Washington DC — through a video conference call.
“The internet has profoundly changed our economies too,” said Cameron. “Studies show it can create twice as many jobs as it destroys. It’s estimated that for every 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration, global GDP will increase by an average of 1.3 per cent.”
He noted that, “every day we see attempts on an industrial scale to steal government secrets – information of interest to nation-states, not just commercial organisations. Highly sophisticated techniques are being employed. This summer a significant attempt on the Foreign Office system was foiled. These are attacks on our national interest. They are unacceptable. And we will respond to them as robustly as we do any other national security threat.”
The prime minister called for a balance to be struck between freedom and a free-for-all. Getting there needs everyone in this room to play their part.
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Ruling on Assange’s extradition today
Even as world leaders converged in London to debate freedom of speech and right to access information on the Internet freely while tip-toeing around possible cyber attacks, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition hearing is coming up for final verdict at the Royal Court of Justice in London on Wednesday.
If the court find Assange guilty of the alleged rape charges, the 40-year-old Australian can be extradited to Sweden.
Whistle-blower Assange and his supporters have for nearly a year fought the extradition court both through regular judicial platforms like courts and social networks like Twitter.
Earlier this month, 2006-launched WikiLeaks, an international non-profit organisation, was forced to shut down -- albeit temporarily -- due to financial problems. Assange and his supporters said that leading financial institutions like MasterCard and Visa have colluded with governments around the world to allow it to access donations from supporters.