IGF 2014

Following the 2013-2014 disclosures of large-scale pervasive surveillance of Internet traffic, various proposals to "localize" Internet users' data and change the path that Internet traffic would take have started to emerge.

Examples include mandatory storage of citizens' data within country, mandatory location of servers within country (e.g. Google, Facebook), launching state-run services (e.g. email services), restricted transborder Internet traffic routes, investment in alternate backbone infrastructure (e.g. submarine cables, IXPs), etc.

Localization of data and traffic routing strategies can be powerful tools for improving Internet experience for end-users, especially when done in response to Internet development needs. On the other hand, done uniquely in response to external factors (e.g. foreign surveillance), less optimal choices may be made in reactive moves.

How can we judge between Internet-useful versus Internet-harmful localisation and traffic routing approaches? What are the promises of data localization from the personal, community and business perspectives? What are the potential drawbacks? What are implications for innovation, user choice and the availability of online services in the global economy? What impact might they have on a global and interoperable Internet? What impact (if any) might these proposals have on user trust and expectations of privacy?

The objective of the session is to gather diverse perspectives and experiences to better understand the technical, social and economic implications of these proposals.

The proposal of training workshop relates to demonstrate and empower participants in the platform used by civil society in the last NETMundial, which occurred in April 2014 in Brazil. Initially, a public consultation raised hundreds of ideas and more than a hundred thousand votes on Internet Governance through the methodology of AllOurIdeas, by voting in pairs (allourideas.org). Fifteen proposals that served as a guide to the HUB São Paulo, which also used a separate platform of systematization were elected. People were able to attend using social networks and a collective interface and transparent preparation of public input, which guided the intervention on the floor of the HUB at NETMundial. This material was also used as input to a letter delivered to the demands of Internet Forum in Brazil. Our goal is to demonstrate in practice these platforms and make it available for other events of governance. All the code is published and tools are licensed under GPL v.3.

Independent, volunteer-based special-interest communities fill a very significant role in the Internet ecosystem. These communities of technical specialists provide an important forum for knowledge and resource sharing, skill development, relationship building and global networking.
While common in developed economies, there is still much to be done to develop robust local and regional technical communities in developing regions.
This workshop will focus on how such communities emerge and evolve; models for management, support and regional and international collaboration; and the role they play in strengthening Internet Governance at a local and regional level in developing countries.

As Internet governance and Internet-related public policy issues rise to the top of the international political agenda, a variety of states are exploring measures that may lead, deliberately or inadvertently, to Internet fragmentation. Such measures include (but are not limited to) those intended to prevent or mitigate harms associated with digital connectivity, as well as measures intended to capture economic benefits resulting from online activity, such as implementing alternate models for monetizing the exchange of Internet traffic or taxation or imposing fees on online activity. Extreme efforts entail the creation of entirely separate national Internet analogues with limited or non-existent connectivity to the World Wide Web. Other efforts include extensive firewall and censorship schemes and “opt-in” regimes that, for example, require individuals to explicitly declare their intent to view adult material online.

The effectiveness of such approaches to reducing digital harm and capturing economic benefits is unclear and can pose potential risks to the end-to-end accessibility of the Internet. This workshop will focus on this latter set of issues, by attempting to scope the magnitude of the costs of Internet fragmentation. Detailed cost estimates require a great deal of economic and other research, outside the scope of an IGF workshop; however, there is value in setting the framework for such a research and policy agenda. Panelists will be invited to speak to these issues according to the nature of their expertise. The panel includes technical experts, economic policy analysts, diplomatic practitioners, Internet governance practitioners, experts in international development, and entrepreneurs.

Agenda
Panel introduction by the moderator
Introductory remarks by each panelist
Panel moderator to pose a set of questions to the panel
Moderator will open the floor to questions from attendees and remote participants
Concluding remarks by the panelists
Moderator to conclude the panel

This session brings together policy makers, business and civil society to discuss how to best enable the Internet of Things (IoT). In the coming decade billions of devices in homes and businesses will be connected.

The workshop will enable an interactive exchange and discussion in six areas:

• Openness: The development and deployment of IoT needs to be inclusive, innovation promoted and the role of competition underlined.
• Trust: IoT devices and systems will collect and store enormous amounts of public and private data often in new realms of our daily lives. This should be subject to the highest standards and good practices that enable the protection of personal privacy and the exploitation of public goods that such data may enable for economic and social development.
• Access to (public sector) information: Public sector actors need to view sharing data as a key function. Private sector actors may need new frameworks in which they can share data, which could be beneficial to society as a whole.
• Numbering: The deployment of IPv6 is essential to the IoT as well as the role of other identifiers that extends to the numbers in mobile networks, such as telephone and IMSI-numbers.
• Spectrum: Many IoT devices will require wireless connections. Access to spectrum is therefore critical.
• Jobs and skills: IoT will push a further revolution in manufacturing, transport and many other fields with implications for skills and employment.

It is critical that all stakeholders identify the governance issues and share best practices.

During IGF 2013, a session was held to discuss emerging issues related to fair trade and taxation of virtual goods. During the session, and throughout the week, issues related to the need for payment standards on the Web were raised. These issues were taken to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Technical Plenary (TPAC 2013) and discussed. The result of those discussions solidified into a plan to hold a global Web Payments workshop in 2014.

In March 2014, the W3C hosted the first ever Workshop on Web Payments in Paris, France. The result of the two day workshop was consensus around the desire to address a number of problems related to sending and receiving money on the Web. Potential standardization targets focused on identity, initiating payments, digital wallets, and verifiable digital receipts.

Trust is a fundamental part of many financial transactions, and while the role of establishing trusted identities on the Internet was seen as vital, it was clear that the policy discussion would require a more in-depth multi-stakeholder approach.

Ensuring that any identity standard will be flexible enough to 1) align with national and international laws, 2) protect privacy and anonymity, and 3) not aid mass surveillance initiatives, while 4) working in concert with international anti-terrorism-funding laws requires input from civil society, government, intergovernmental organizations, private sector, and the technical community.

Agenda
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1. An Introduction to Web Identity (15-20 minutes, by panelists)
2. Web Identity Use Cases (30 minutes, group discussion)
3. Privacy and Regulatory Concerns (30 minutes, group discussion)
4. Government Input and Coordination (15 minutes, group discussion)

Attendees are urged to watch the speaker presentations BEFORE the event as only a brief “less than 5 minute, no slides overview” will be provided for each during the event. In this “no presentations” 90 minute group work session, attendees will generate input that will be fed into this year's W3C Technical Plenary (October 2014). The input provided by the IGF community will include comments on what an Internet Identity system should and shouldn’t do from a technical, privacy, surveillance, taxation, and legal policy perspective.

Policy Questions
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1. Should the Web/Internet have an extensible identity mechanism as a part of it's core architecture?
2. Should the identity mechanism be globally decentralized, centralized at each government, or something else?
3. Should privacy and pervasive monitoring be primary design concerns?
4. How should the technology interface with the regulatory environment in the nations in which it operates?
5. What regulatory hurdles does such a technology face?
6. Which groups and governments should have an ongoing interest in this activity?

Videos
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Check out the YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmwV_GNAvYmA4Qtssit6_U5AgLGYodxtI

The main purpose of this panel is to discuss the emerging issues in the world of Internet, New concepts are emerging nowadays, those not only have a technological aspect; but also have social, economic and probably political ramifications. These emerging concepts bring with them a myriad of issues, polarizations, and possibly conflicts among different stakeholder groups. Policy making bodies needs to keep pace with these developments. The Panel will discuss policy dimensions from an Arab Internet Community perspective.
Panelists will present strategic inputs and discuss different points of view existing within a wide community of experts and policymakers in the Arab world regarding a number of emerging issues. In their discussion experts will cover a wide range of Internet topics and areas of high priority for the region.
Thematic areas of priorities to the Arab region, (such as Critical Internet Resources, Peering, Freedom of expression, Privacy,…etc) remain challenging, despite significant progress achieved over the last decade.The Panel will focus on those challenges in these typical Internet Governance areas.

Emerging Issues (such as Transition of IANA functions, Evolution of related governance frameworks; Smart governments; Cloud computing, Internet of Things, …etc), that stem out of technological advancement. Each of these emerging concepts will pose challenges to the way we redefine privacy, openness, and security. The Panel will discuss contending views on those new modalities, and will help shed some light on the future of the Internet in the next decade.