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The US and dozens of other governments around the world have signed a declaration that says they will cooperate to keep the internet open, free, global, interoperable, reliable, and secure.

The calls for action in this "Declaration for the Future of the Internet," announced Thursday, might not seem controversial, but the last few years have seen increasing moves by governments to raise regulatory barriers that may splinter the global network, while others have restricted or outright blocked internet access for their citizens.

The roughly 2,000-word document (PDF) reflected a year or so of consultation by Biden administration officials with other governments, as well as with private-sector, academia, and civil-society representatives.

In addition to its calls to refrain from government-imposed internet shutdowns or degrading domestic internet access, and blocking or degrading access to lawful content, services, and applications on the internet, the declaration backs measures to promote affordable, inclusive, and reliable access to the internet," plus a variety of privacy, security, and human-rights goals.

For example, the document condemns using surveillance tools to develop social score cards or other mechanisms of domestic social control or pre-crime detention and arrest, a clear jab at Chinas social credit-score system. It also calls for action against cybercrime and online attempts to compromise voting infrastructure and influence elections with propaganda, all things that Russia has repeatedly been caught doing.

Sixty other countriesthe list includes Argentina, Australia, every country in the European Union, Canada, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and Ukraineas well as the European Commission signed on to the declaration.

The most obvious name absent from the declaration is India, which also happens to be the worlds leading internet-shutdown offender. India ordered 106 of them in 2021, according to Brooklyn-based advocacy group Access Now. The administrations answer about India, according to a transcript of a press call posted by the White House: The hope remains that time isnt fully passed yet for India to join.

Access Now published its latest report on network cutoffs Thursday, with India followed by Myanmar (15 shutdowns), Iran and Sudan (five each), Cuba and Jordan (four each), and Ethiopia with three. The only country to appear on both the Access list and the declaration: Niger, which staged one shutdown last year, Access reported.

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US Gets 60 Countries to Sign 'Declaration for the Future of the Internet' - PCMag