IGF 2014

Consultation on the CSTD ten-year review of WSIS:

Latin American and the Caribbean perspective

 

The Economic and Social Council has tasked the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) with conducting a ten-year review of the progress made in the implementation of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) outcomes.* As part of this review, the Economic and Social Council requested the Commission to collect inputs from all stakeholders. The objective of this consultation is to provide opportunity to stakeholders from the Latin America and the Caribbean region to share any experiences and insights believed to be of value for the ten-year review.

 

The discussion will center around the following questions:

 

• To what extent has a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society developed in the 10 years since the WSIS?

 

• How far do you consider the implementation of WSIS outcomes to have been achieved?

 

• What are the challenges to the implementation of WSIS outcomes and to the emergence of a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society?

 

• What should be the priorities for stakeholders seeking to achieve WSIS outcomes and progress towards the Information Society in the post-2015 development agenda?

 

Panellists:

Ms. Mervi Kultamaa, WSIS Coordinator, Science, Technology and ICTs Branch, Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD

Mr. David Souter, Managing Director, ICT Development Associates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Ms. Gisela Kopper, Minister of Science, Technology and Telecommunications of Costa Rica

Ms. Olga Cavalli, Vice-chair of the working group on Internet governance of the Plan of Action for the Information Society and Knowledge in Latin America and the Caribbean (eLAC)

 

Interactive Discussion

 

* More information of the CSTD's ten-year review of the implementation of WSIS outcomes is available at: http://unctad.org/en/Pages/CSTD/WSIS-10yearReview.aspx

 

Objective: Meeting for Seed Alliance recipients (FIRE, FRIDA and ISIF Asia). Coordination of evaluation, research communications and resource mobilization activities.

Description:

The Seed Alliance is a collaboration established by AFRINIC, APNIC and Lacnic to support their regional grants and awards programs, FIRE, ISIF Asia and FRIDA, covering Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean, respectively. The regional programs select award winners every year through a competitive process. The award package consists of a cash prize plus travel grants to IGF events (regional and/or global).

During the IGF in Nairobi, back in 2011, the ISIF Asia awards ceremony was included as part of the IGF agenda. The Seed Alliance regional partners joint efforts and conducted their awards ceremony together at the IGF in Baku as well as last year in Bali. The Awards ceremony has also being planned for 2014, details to be confirmed.

Seed Alliance Award Winners will be at the IGF for the awards ceremony and to participate at the IGF sessions. The program partners want to make the most out of this rare opportunity for a private meeting to be held on the afternoon of Day 0, to strength their capacities on:

1. How to identify and foster innovation in their organization. How to keep innovating.

2. Improve their understanding of evaluation and the benefits an evaluation approach can bring to a project/organization.

3. Get the latest updates on how to communicate the findings of their research, how to share project updates, project outcomes and impact assessments.

4. Improve their understanding of different mechanisms available for resource mobilization to secure funding needed to conduct new research and/or scale-up successful projects, according to their needs.

5. Tips to be able to expand their network of contacts at the IGF to make the most out of the networking opportunity.

The session will be structured as a facilitated workshop, were participants will receive keynote presentations on the different topics and will have the opportunity to work through questions, exercises and group discussions.

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 * This event is a private meeting for Seed Alliance Award winners and grant recipients.

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Roundtable: Do the elements required to promote the Information Society/Knowledge Economy complement "basic" infrastructural development needs?

Running concurrently with the 2014 IGF is the 3rd International United Nations Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which will be held from 1 to 4 September 2014 in Apia, Samoa (preceded by activities related to the conference from 28 to 30 August 2014, also in Apia, Samoa). The Conference will focus the world’s attention on a group of countries that remain a special case for sustainable development in view of their unique and particular vulnerabilities.

Indeed, this focus is more than timely, given the increasing interest in the economies of SIDS by international Telecommunications companies, matched with the ongoing social, economic and environmental challenges faced within.

Within small island states, basic infrastructural challenges at the social and economic levels have often taken precedence of what may termed "higher order needs".

In other words, issues such as the availability of affordable healthcare, free universal primary and secondary education, safe, potable drinking water, food security, roads and transportation, crime and safety, among others will, in any Government national agenda, naturally take precedence over the development of a knowledge economy, increased and more equitable access to information and knowledge as well as the ability to compete, on more equal terms with counterparts in the developed world.

The 2014 SIDS Roundtable will tackle this constant dilemma and profer solutions to countries engaged in this balancing act on a daily basis and answer the provocative question - "How can issues relating to Internet Governance and Development in Small Island Developing States contribute to solving social and economic challenges?"

AGENDA

1. Opening & Introductions : Moderator (10 mins)

2. Discussant Statements: Maureen Hilyard, Carlton Samuels, Patrick Hosein, Karim Attoumani Mohamed, Anju Mangal (20 mins)

3. Roundtable Discussion with "Kickstart" Questions (30 mins)

- How can issues relating to Internet Governance and Development in Small Island Developing States contribute to solving social and economic challenges?

- Do the elements required to promote the Information Society/Knowledge Economy complement "basic" infrastructural development needs?

4. Discussant Final Responses and Statements (15 mins)

5. Setting the Research and Action Agenda - Next Steps and way Forward (15 mins)

Human Rights for the Internet: From Principles to Action

A seachange has taken place as national legislatures and intergovernmental organizations now recognize that they have human rights responsibilities online as well as offline, e.g. the UN Human Rights Council resolution (2012), the successful passage into law of the rights-based Marco Civil for the Internet in Brazil (2014), the launching of the New Zealand Greens’ Internet Rights and Freedoms Bill (2014), and the central role given to human rights as part of Internet governance processes in the NETmundial Outcome Document (2014). These developments underscore the achievements of Civil Society Organizations, global networks of engaged academics, grassroots groups, and digital activists, and courageous individuals who have been working to raise awareness about human rights online, and how they impact on Internet governance agendas. This work has been gathering momentum since the IGF began, inspired by earlier precedents. It includes research and campaigns around specific human rights concerns for the online environment, e.g. privacy and freedom of expression, alongside cross-sector collaborations to generate authoritative human rights frameworks for decisions on how we design, access, and use the Internet.

In light of how these aspirations have become actions, the workshop brings together representatives from initiatives that (i) link their work in this area to the IRPC Charter of Human Rights and Principles for the Internet, and (ii) those initiatives that underpin and develop the objectives and content of the IRPC Charter. All participants have contributed to this wider historic recognition of the formative role that international human rights law and norms play in the future of global Internet governance. It is also a workshop that is taking place in the “post-Snowden” context of Internet governance decision-making, which throws up a number of pressing issues around inclusiveness and participation, rule of law, jurisdiction, technical standards, and the ongoing need to educate and raise awareness about rights and fundamental freedoms in the online world. The accent is on bringing to the discussion current examples of how each project represented here has been implementing human rights issues for the Internet, for which constituency and for what purpose. We will address achievements as well as tackle the particular obstacles and opportunities that each initiative encounters. We will share knowledge and brainstorm ways forward. We also consider those sections of the IRPC Charter that need updating or reconsideration in light of the changing context of human rights and Internet governance discussions across stakeholder groups and terrains.

This workshop marks the next step in the “Charter 2.0” project set in motion at the Bali IGF now that the IRPC Charter has proven its worth at the level of national legislatures, grassroots awareness-raising, and global campaigns to call public and private Internet service providers to account in how they ensure human rights online can be protected and enjoyed. It links to two other workshops co-organized by the IRP Coalition that flesh out the details of rights-based Internet governance principles at the individual and process level.

Agenda: The session will be divided into two parts: 1) brief panellist interventions and audience Q&A, 2) Break-out groups led by panellists to brainstorm, and where appropriate take part in some “policy-jamming” on specific points. Remote Participants will also be invited to provide examples and suggestions to the panellists about how they can move their work forward.

Outcomes: All participants will take away with them at least one concrete recommendation or insight from the session for their work. The session itself will also generate 3-6 concrete recommendations for further action that apply to all participants.

What makes protecting the public from cybersecurity risks such a challenge for governments, private sector and civil society? The governance frameworks and diversity of interest that comprise the Internet infrastructure are complex and no one institution, agency or organization can solve these issues on their own and every digital citizen plays a role in protecting themselves and the Internet. The sheer breadth and depth of these issues can be daunting because of the ever-changing nature of the threats. As a result, no one entity has “the answer.”

The session will discuss the multistakeholder approach to addressing cybersecurity issues: Why should a multistakeholder approach be used and what are the elements of a successful public private governance model. The damage done to the culture of trust that had been developing among governments, private sector and civil society - key players in cyber security and the question becomes - Can multistakeholder efforts continue to succeed in a post Snowden World?

These questions lend themselves to a more interactive session with lots of discussion.

The anticipated participants, NCSA, NorSIS and DSCI will add perspectives of successful programs from both the developing and developed worlds. Microsoft will add the private-sector perspective and government representatives from India and Australia will share their unique insights.

Our goal for this workshop is to have industry, governments and civil society come together in countries where the multistakeholder approach is not present and look at ways to replicate and implement these program. Agenda is as follows:

·Introduction

·Two Brief Scene Setting Presentations

·Short Responses from Discussant

·Audience Q&A/Discussion

The evolution of Internet governance principles frameworks and accountability mechanisms has been the focus of considerable discussion in 2014. This process must proceed through careful analysis. Some governments highlighted concern about Internet-related policy issues for which they cannot identify relevant existing mechanisms. However, before concluding that new mechanisms should be created to address these issues, alternative options must be sought to ensure that changes would contribute to enhancing the security, stability, privacy, resiliency and interoperability of the Internet, and to economical and societal benefits.

This workshop will examine how governance/operational problems can be addressed in a manner that continues to safeguard the security and stability of the Internet. It will use a four-step process ICC-BASIS submitted to NETmundial.
1. A potential issue should be identified to the global stakeholder community, indicating the implications to governance and to determine whether the issue has already been addressed in an existing mechanism.
2. Upon assessment, proposed solutions should be described to the global stakeholder community.
3. Proposed solutions should be analysed to determine whether it would violate the principle of "first, do no harm" to the functionality, stability and interoperability of the global Internet.
4. Finally, solutions should be evaluated to determine potential effectiveness for addressing the issues and their potential for unintended consequences.

This workshop also will examine the WGEC mapping analysis and consider how to utilize the WGEC's work to enable a stakeholder to identify existing mechanisms - developed through private sector, (inter)-governmental organizations - to address governance issues.

In previous years our workshops have looked at data flows, surveillance, and freedom of expression. As the world embraces the cloud business model, we look at the cloud world 18 months after revelations alleging mass-government surveillance. We propose looking at how policy makers, regulator, cloud businesses, and users have responded to potential government access to user data in the cloud. What has been the resulting policy? What has the business world done to address concerns? What has worked and what hasn’t? Has there been an impact? We’ll address how these measures have affected cloud adoption, and explore potential solutions for addressing multi-stakeholder concerns in the post-revelation era.

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

Enforcing the correct level of human rights protection is very often a matter of jurisdictional reach. In the cyberspace, there could be two obvious alternatives to create a separate jurisdictional space: the technological option and the legal option.

Over a year before German Chancellor Merkel travelled to France in February 2014 to speak with French President Hollande about creating the foundations of a “protected” EU Internet, the EU-funded MAPPING project had already spelt out its plan of researching if “parallel universes” in cyberspace could be a solution for promoting human rights. This objective of creating spaces within cyberspace where European values on privacy and other human rights may be applied could conceivably be created by technological or legal means.

In its first stakeholder assembly (Rome 20-21 May 2014) MAPPING will be dedicating a session to “On-line mass surveillance, security and privacy: is an international treaty the only way forward?” including a discussion of the recent ECJ decision declaring “invalid” the EU Data Retention Directive.

In the IGF, the MAPPING consortium aims to take this debate even further with as many Internet governance stakeholders as possible - from Europe and beyond. How can we have human rights embedded in the current Internet structure? Are there technological or legal solutions to this issue? Would a “Schengen cloud” human rights Internet, as suggested by French and German leaders, be the solution? How would others see such a possible space?"

This roundtable is co-sponsored by Internet Rights and Principles Coalition and the Pirate Party of Turkey.

Tying into the theme of “Connecting Continents” and building on the youth panel from IGF2013 – Bali WS 55 “Online Anonymity,” this workshop brings together leading researchers, technologists, human rights defenders, private industry, and government representatives to assess the role of Internet governance in supporting the development of a more secure and enabling online ecosystem.

This roundtable acknowledges anonymous online communication protects the extrinsic good of liberty, political freedom, self-determination, autonomy, dignity, power, and the ability to think and speak without censorship, surveillance, or retribution (Ermert 2009; Hosein 2006; Tavani 2011; La Rue 2011; Article 8: Right to Privacy Online in the IRP Charter). Anonymity is essential for voters, political dissidents, and whistleblowers to communicate without repercussion or retribution; “a safeguard against political oppression” (Hosein, 2006, p. 129). Online anonymity also protects people from violence offline, including vulnerable and marginalized populations.

This roundtable drills down to the specifics of how anonymous communication is being used to uphold human rights, and how mass surveillance undermines them which includes protection from harm, safety from reprisal, freedom of the press, and freedom to engage in democratic participation (see: Human Rights Watch report “Witness:The Price of Mass Surveillance”). Case studies from several countries will be presented, including the IGF host country of Turkey, Ethiopia, Malaysia, and others. The roundtable will also include discussion of anonymity-enabling technologies and emerging projects, in order to envision and push forward a clear role for Internet governance to protect people, while connecting them.

Critics of multistakeholder Internet governance have long focused on ICANN accountability and transparency. But issues of who is accountable to whom exist throughout the Internet governance ecosystem. Traditionally, Internet technical organizations have prided themselves on the way that people participated as individuals, rather than as representatives of organizations or businesses, when developing standards and policy. However, as the Internet has grown and become more integrated with all aspects of life, more stakeholders are wishing to participate. Resource limitations, however, mean individual voices are becoming less common and more organizations are beginning to represent, or claim to represent, their communities in wider Internet governance discussions. In addition, as more stakeholders enter Internet governance discussions, it becomes more difficult to assess via direct experience whether the individuals and those stating that they representing wider groups of stakeholders are acting as responsible stakeholders or have other reasons for engaging in processes.

This workshop will discuss accountability mechanisms and gaps in today’s hybrid multistakeholder Internet governance system where stakeholders participate as individuals, as representatives of organizations or groups of stakeholders, or as representatives of entire nation states. Using accountability literature available in (non-Internet) governance as a starting point, the workshop will examine ways to strengthen the accountability mechanisms available to:

• Stakeholders participating directly in multistakeholder Internet governance decision-making processes;
• Organizations representing the collective voice of their communities in high-level Internet governance discussions such as the UN and IGF; and
• Organizations tasked with implementing policies and decisions by their stakeholders.

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.

The paradox of the Internet for advancing human rights is well known: it has created new vistas for citizen mobilization and knowledge-sharing, yet also created new means for governments to monitor, censor, and harass. As the Internet has grown, the technical means have gone from obvious methods like blocking sites to more nuanced techniques such as DNS re-routing and use of DPI to monitor or redirect traffic. In some cases these efforts are couched within national legislative frameworks; in others they are ad hoc and sub rosa. More and more they also include political attempts in some countries to “de-legitimize” the Internet and online media as sources of information, and to control the Internet as a discursive space through spamming and trolling, or through direct pressure on private sector media or Internet companies.

Providing the tools for users to share information and protect themselves technically is an important part of preserving online freedoms, but no less important is making the normative argument for their right to use those freedoms. This interactive dialogue will take a multi-stakeholder, comparative approach to discussing the changing environment for online freedoms and how activist, media, technical, and private sector communities can work together. By bringing together various stakeholders from civil society, media, and the private sector, the session aims to spark cross-disciplinary conversations that would encourage participants and audience to think about how the Internet can be preserved as a platform that facilitates participatory democracy.

Country code top level domains (ccTLDs) are vital for countries’ national interests; they provide an economic and social platform, a focal point for the development and dissemination of ICT expertise, a platform – and therefore potential single point of failure - for the provision of government online services, and a catalyst for local and diaspora content development and communication. ccTLDs have the potential to be a target of vulnerability across all of these activities. Their cyber security is therefore of critical national importance.
As ccTLDs can attract malicious attacks from non-state and state-associated actors, they also raise critical questions for global Internet governance. This workshop poses and aims to provide globally sourced answers to the question:

How can the over 250 country code top level domains around the world, each with its own governance and operational model and challenges, address and improve national and global cyber security in a sustainable way?

Using the Oxford University Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre’s ‘ccTLD Cyber Security Best Practices and Metrics’ as a jumping off point, this workshop will ask the experts, policymakers and practitioners how to address critical Internet governance issues in the ccTLD context: DNS security and national sovereignty, data privacy and law enforcement access, intellectual property rights protection, malicious activities and attacks.