At Internet Conference, Signs of Agreement Between U.S. and Russia

Source: John Markoff, The New York Times.

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — For the 140 computer network specialists, law enforcement agents
and diplomats from eight countries who met in this German ski resort this week for a Russian-sponsored conference on Internet security, the biggest challenge was finding a common ground to discuss their differences.

The barrier was not the gaggle of native languages but the deep differences in the way governments view cyberspace, according to many of the cyberspecialists at the conference.

That challenge was underscored by a sharp rift between the United States and Russia. Americans speak about computer security and cyberwarfare; the Russians have a different emphasis, describing cyberspace in a broader framework they refer to as “information security.”

“The Russians have a dramatically different definition of information security than we do; it’s a broader notion, and they really mean state security,” said George Sadowsky, a United States representative to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, the organization that is the closest thing to a governing body for the global network.