I. BUILDING CYBERSPACE POLICY
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Grounded in Principle
The United States will confront these challenges—while preserving our core principles.
Our policies ow from a commitment to both preserving the best of cyberspace and safeguarding our
principles. Our international cyberspace policy reects our core commitments to fundamental freedoms,
privacy, and the free ow of information
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Fundamental Freedoms. Our commitment to freedom of expression and association is abiding, but does
not come at the expense of public safety or the protection of our citizens. Among these civil liberties,
recognized internationally as “fundamental freedoms,” the ability to seek, receive and impart information
and ideas through any medium and regardless of frontiers has never been more relevant. As a nation, we
are not blind to those Internet users with malevolent intentions, but recognize that exceptions to free
speech in cyberspace must also be narrowly tailored. For example, child pornography, inciting imminent
violence, or organizing an act of terrorism have no place in any society, and thus, they have no place on
the Internet. Nonetheless, the United States will continue to combat them in a manner consistent with
our core values—treating these issues specically, and not as referenda on the Internet’s value to society.
Privacy. Our strategy marries our obligation to protect our citizens and interests with our commitment
to privacy. As citizens increasingly engage via the Internet in their public and private lives, they have
expectations for privacy: individuals should be able to understand how their personal data may be
used, and be condent that it will be handled fairly. Likewise, they expect to be protected from fraud,
theft, and threats to personal safety that lurk online—and expect law enforcement to use all the tools
at their disposal, pursuant to law, to track and prosecute those who would use the Internet to exploit
others. The United States is committed to ensuring balance on both sides of this equation, by giving law
enforcement appropriate investigative authorities it requires, while protecting individual rights through
appropriate judicial review and oversight to ensure consistency with the rule of law.
Free Flow of Information. States do not, and should not have to choose between the free ow of infor-
mation and the security of their networks. The best cybersecurity solutions are dynamic and adaptable,
with minimal impact on network performance. These tools secure systems without crippling innovation,
suppressing freedom of expression or association, or impeding global interoperability. In contrast, we see
other approaches—such as national-level lters and rewalls—as providing only an illusion of security
while hampering the eectiveness and growth of the Internet as an open, interoperable, secure, and
reliable medium of exchange. The same is true commercially; cyberspace must remain a level playing
eld that rewards innovation, entrepreneurship, and industriousness, not a venue where states arbi-
trarily disrupt the free ow of information to create unfair advantage. The United States is committed to
international initiatives and standards that enhance cybersecurity while safeguarding free trade and the
broader free ow of information, recognizing our global responsibilities, as well as our national needs.
Too often, such principles are characterized as incompatible with eective law enforcement, anonymity,
the protection of children and secure infrastructure. In reality, good cybersecurity can enhance privacy,
and eective law enforcement targeting widely-recognized illegal behavior can protect fundamental
freedoms. The rule of law—a civil order in which delity to laws safeguards people and interests; brings
stability to global markets; and holds malevolent actors to account internationally—both supports our
national security and advances our common values.