Tokyo Seminar on Securities Market Regulation

Abstract

Professor Anthony Neoh, Professor at Peking University, Chief Advisor to the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and former Chairman, Securities and Futures Commission, Hong Kong, China, and Technical Committee, International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), discussed the methods of policing the Internet. He first raised the question of whether it is possible to police the Internet, and noted that there are great difficulties in doing so. The reasons for this include that the Internet is based on an open architecture, that it operates anywhere in the world and can be accessed from anywhere, that it guarantees anonymity, that it allows connectivity between all participants, and that it is not confined by national borders or national laws. He then quoted with approval Geoff Huston, Secretary General, Australian Internet Association, who said that 'You can no more trace the path of a drop of water through the world's oceans as trace the information on the Internet... The network doesn't respect legislative borderlines. It is very hard to know who is doing what, where.'