Analysis - Agreement seen distant at London cyber conference

When ministers, officials, tech executives, Internet activists and security experts meet in London next week to discuss the management of cyberspace, they will be taking some of the first steps down a very long road.
With worries over social media's ability to fuel unrest, intellectual property theft, computer hacking and military cyberwarfare all rising, experts warn that technology has far outpaced policy.
Fledgling discussions have been taking place over several years, including largely secret talks between the U.S. and China often conducted through proxies such as think tanks.
Other broader meetings -- including within the Commonwealth and United Nations -- have addressed a host of Internet-related issues. But Foreign Secretary William Hague and organisers of the London Cyber Summit -- due to take place between November 1-2 -- aim to take things further still.
A closed session at the conference on international security could be an early step to some kind of ultimate "cyber arms control," some experts suggest, although that could take years -- and would require much greater international trust.
A more likely area for imminent agreement is seen in cooperation to tackle conventional crime, child pornography and perhaps criminal hacking and militancy.
As well as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, officials say there will be senior representatives from China, Russia, India and other governments as well as Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, executives from Google (GOOG.O), Facebook and other firms alongside bloggers and civil society groups.
"We need to have a much more focussed debate about cyberspace and the issues that are involved," said John Duncan, UK special representative for the conference.
"We need to bring together the range of actors involved... The discussions we will have... provide a framework which will allow this debate to go forward in a more structured manner."
See more at: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/26/uk-technology-cyber-conference-idUKTRE79P2KV20111026