U.S. Department of State

Following is the text of a joint statement by the governments of the U.S. and Japan on the second Director General-level meeting of the U.S.-Japan Policy Cooperation Dialogue on the Internet Economy:

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On June 9 and 10, 2011, the second Director General-level meeting of the US-Japan Policy Cooperation Dialogue on the Internet Economy was held in Washington D.C. Hajime Tonegawa, Director General of the Global Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Strategy Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), and officials representing MIC, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology participated in the dialogue from Japan. Ambassador Philip Verveer and officials representing the Department of State, the Federal Communications Commission, the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology and National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Homeland Security participated in the dialogue from the United States. In addition, industry representatives from U.S. and Japanese companies participated in some of the discussions.

Recognizing that various applications on the Internet are helping to improve people’s quality of life, participants from both countries emphasized that assuring the free flow of information in a global and increasingly broadband network stimulates economic activities by fostering innovation and discussed and shared views on the following for further development of the Internet Economy:

1. Use of ICT in disaster response:

In light of the occurrence of the Great East Japan Earthquake, participants exchanged views regarding the use and importance of ICT in disaster response, and recognized the need for strong partnerships between both sides, including the sharing of best practices with each other and in various international fora, including APEC, the OECD, and the ITU.

2. Policy issues regarding the Internet Economy:

Participants recognized that technological development of the Internet, such as the dissemination of low-cost and high-speed broadband services, and the advent of cloud computing technologies have led to new dimensions in addressing policy issues on the Internet Economy, such as increasing the global flow of information.

Recognizing that the Internet accelerates and facilitates the global flow of information, various issues facing the Internet Economy are surfacing, such as the security of commercial networks; the protection of personal and commercial data; the protection of the freedoms of expression, assembly and association online; protections against the infringement of intellectual property rights; and online protection of children. Participants also recognized the recently completed G8 Deauville Communiqué where leaders affirmed the importance of international cooperation on these views.

The participants shared views on the necessity for strong partnerships between both sides in addressing these policy issues. Furthermore, they acknowledged the importance of the following five principles with respect to these issues:

(1) Preserving the open and interoperable nature of the global Internet, which underpins the global free flow of data;

(2) Protecting Internet Freedom, specifically freedoms of expression, association, and assembly online;

(3) Sharing ideas on how to improve the security of commercial networks, in order to allow everyone to use the Internet safely and securely;

(4) Promoting a balanced approach on issues, such as ensuring the protection of both privacy and intellectual property rights, so as not to impede the cross-border flow of information; and

(5) Sharing views on building an international consensus with multi-stakeholder input, in recognition that the Internet is constituted by various actors.

3. Specific cooperation

In light of the above principles in 2.(1)-(5), participants shared views on the importance of partnerships in the following areas in order to promote joint efforts to address policy issues in common for both countries.

(1) Cloud computing technology:

• Sharing best practices for use of cloud services in fields such as education, agriculture, medical care, online commerce, public administration, and transportation; and
• Sharing information to promote the development of cloud services.

(2) Enhancing the security of commercial networks:

• International collaboration on cybersecurity research and development
  
  -- Initiating a dialogue to share technical information among the governments and researchers in both countries for improving the technical capacity to respond to cyber intrusions.
   
• Security of critical infrastructure control systems
  
  -- Broadening and improving the current US-Japan cooperation between organizations such as the Japan Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center (JPCERT/CC) and the DHS Control Systems Security Program (CSSP) / Industrial Control Systems Computer Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) in areas bolstering the defense of control systems.
   
• Security issues in new environments for using the Internet
  
  -- Exchanging information about emerging security issues in the rapidly advancing Internet environment, such as security risks related to smartphones.

(3) Cooperation for research and development of new technologies through the use of test-bed networks

• Conducting joint research and development and exchanging personnel through the use of test-bed networks to promote the research and development of new technologies, such as Future Internet technologies (the New Generation Network (NWGN)).

(4) IPv6 deployment

• Sharing best practices and status updates on IPv6 deployment in both countries.

(5) Promotion of international partnerships

• Promoting discussions to further the development of the Internet Economy and Internet Freedom in various international fora, including APEC, the OECD, the ITU, and the WTO, as well as in other bilateral fora such as the U.S.-Japan Economic Harmonization Initiative.