Towards a values-based European foreign policy to cybersecurity

‘The internet changes everything’ is a buzz phrase that promises to enable more rights and freedoms for people. However, it is hampered by the various ways in which states seek to strengthen their national security or control their populations under the guise of ‘cybersecurity’ policies. In closed societies with authoritarian regimes such as China and Russia, people's opportunities for greater access to information and freedom of expression are increasingly suffering from rigid ‘cybersecurity’ policies that treat the internet's infrastructure as an extension of the state. In open societies, the promise of a networked society that empowers individuals is hampered too by the conflation of cybersecurity and national security. As a result, the space to develop a values-based approach to cybersecurity, which focuses on (1) preserving and promoting the security and integrity of the open internet, (2) encouraging restraint of governments which want to adopt national security policies that negatively affect the security of the internet's network and (3) streamlining digital rights in its external policies is wide open. The European Union has the opportunity to take a leadership position both at home and abroad if it develops a clear cybersecurity that incorporates people's rights and freedoms.