It sounds like something from science fiction. But in fact it is with us as we live and breathe. And next month, 1 and 2 November, the Foreign Office will host a conference on cyberspace in London – the opportunities for social good, increased democratic engagement and prosperity it represents, along with its dark side, a breeding ground for crime and malicious behaviour. Consensus is needed on how the cyber world should be managed, and how to respond to the challenge of those who want to undermine it. A start will be made at the conference.
The Holy See will be represented. Some people may ask why we should have invited them. Well, any organisation whose Twitter site has 70,000 followers after the first four months of operation, and whose news website receives 400,000 hits a day, is clearly already a cyberspace player. Not only that, but as a global network, the Catholic Church and the Holy See needs to be engaged. Take some examples:
– A networked world provides huge social benefits, especially for developing communities, be it virtual education for remote communities in Burkina Faso to monitoring of HIV patients in South Africa.
– The cyberworld is transparent and a great economic leveller. It is estimated that for every 10% increase in broadband penetration, global GDP increases by an average of 1.3%.
– At the same time, a digital divide is as dangerous as any other economic divide. Two thirds of the world’s population has no access to the internet. Many cannot benefit from it. While 95% of Icelanders are connected, just 0.1% of Liberians share the same advantage.
The London Conference will aim to establish a better collective understanding of how to preserve and protect the opportunities that cyberspace offers. I am delighted that the Holy See will be there, along with many other nations and organisations.