Charles Mok discusses various threats facing the internet, including digital repression, surveillance, misinformation, internet shutdowns, and data/cyber sovereignty. He notes that data, standards, infrastructure, and values are fragmenting. Regulatory fragmentation is also occurring as democracies seek backdoors, while authoritarians view cybersecurity as a means of regime security and push for more government control over internet governance through conferences like the World Internet Conference. Overall, Mok argues the vision of "One World, One Internet" is under threat from increasing fragmentation across many areas.

1. Charles Mok | Internet Society | July 26 2023
Threats to the Internet

2. My brief background
A “multi-roles” stakeholder’s view
• Technical engineering background
• ISP entrepreneur
• Trade associations and civil
society (ISOC HK co-founder)
• Legislator
• Academia (Stanford Cyber Policy
Center)
• ISOC Trustee
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesmok/

3. Threats to the Internet?
• Digital repression
• Surveillance & privacy protection
• Misinformation & disinformation
• Internet shutdowns
• Digital sovereignty
• Cybersecurity
• AI
• The Internet meets geopolitics

4. Whatever happened to: One World, One Internet?

5. All about fragmentation?

6. Data fragmentation
Data/cyber/digital sovereignty

7. Not to mention AI & the supply chain
Fragmentation of everything on/of/for the Internet

8. Regulatory fragmentation

9. Standards fragmentation
• Who sets the standards?
• IETF/IERF/IAB, IEEE,
W3C…
• Or the ITU?
• Multi-stakeholderism or
government control?

10. Infrastructure fragmentation
Undersea cables meet geopolitics

11. Regulatory fragmentation
But democracies wants backdoors too 🤦

12. Values fragmentation
Declaration for the Future of the Internet ~ US Summit for Democracy

13. Values fragmentation
World Internet Conference — China and friends
• Extending the Digital Silk
Road
• “Internationalization” of
Internet governance?
• “Cyberspace”
governance?

14. The authoritarians’ view of Internet governance?
Cybersecurity = Regime security
• China’s top diplomat has called for “fairness and
justice” in cyberspace, urging emerging economies
to jointly oppose all attempts at scienti
fi
c,
technological or internet dominance, and prevent
the web from being used to foment military
one-upmanship or “colour revolutions”.
• The meeting on cybersecurity included delegates
from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa,
the emerging markets giving the informal bloc its
name. Representatives of several other countries
also attended, including Belarus, Iran, Saudi Arabia,
the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Egypt,
Burundi and Cuba.

15. Charles Mok
Visiting Scholar, Global Digital Policy
Incubator, Cyber Policy Center, Stanford
University
Trustee, Internet Society