ASEAN to discuss Internet policies

ASEAN to discuss Internet policies

SINGAPORE (AFP): Senior ASEAN officials meet here today to discuss Internet policies and measures to regulate the global information highway.

Delegates from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam will attend the three-day ASEAN Forum on the Internet being held for the first time, officials said.

The Singapore Broadcasting Authority is organizing the event on behalf of the ASEAN committee on culture and information.

The forum includes a seminar that will feature presentations by leading industry experts on developments and future directions of the Internet, whose explosive and unfettered growth has led to growing concern in the region.

ASEAN member-states -- which together are home to 400 million people -- have agreed to find ways of policing the Internet to safeguard local values against pornography, racism and other abuses on the global web of computer networks.