KAZAKHSTAN: AMBASSADOR DELIVERS DEMARCHE ON DRAFT

UNCLAS ASTANA 001136 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: AMBASSADOR DELIVERS DEMARCHE ON DRAFT INTERNET LAW REF: STATE 65180 ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (U) This message contains an Action Request. Please see para 5. ¶3. (SBU) The Ambassador delivered reftel demarche outlining our concerns about Kazakhstan's draft Internet legislation to Deputy Foreign Minister Konstantin Zhigalov on July 8, and provided Zhigalov with a non-paper on the issue. The Ambassador stressed that adopting the legislation would not be in the best interest of Kazakhstan's international image. ¶4. (SBU) Zhigalov promised to review the non-paper. Reading from prepared points, he explained that according to Kazakhstani experts, the U.S. Senate is currently considering cybersecurity legislation which is very similar to Kazakhstan's draft Internet law, granting the U.S. government the power to shut down Internet sites on national security grounds. The Ambassador responded that as far as he understood, proposed U.S. cybersecurity legislation is aimed at protecting our computer infrastructure from cyber attacks, and thus is quite different from Kazakhstan's draft Internet law. He promised to obtain from Washington additional information on the cybersecurity legislation. ¶5. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST: Post requests that the Department provide talking points on the pending U.S. cybersecurity legislation, explaining how it differs from Kazakhstan's draft Internet law. We need to move quickly on this. Unless we can clarify the differences, Kazakhstan will continue to insist its as-yet-unsigned law differs little from U.S. draft legislation. HOAGLAND