Open Forums

IGF 2020 OF #6 African Union Open Forum

Time
Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (12:30 UTC) - Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (13:30 UTC)
Room
Room 3
About this Session
As this forum is organized by the highest continental body in Africa, stakeholders are encouraged to participate and share views on the way forward on IG issues in Africa.
Subtheme

Round Table - U-shape - 60 Min

Description

The AU Open Forum aims at discussing digital inclusion especially in relation to Capacity Building; Community Networks; Digital Transformation; and Digital Cooperation. The Forum will also discuss the Internet Governance Capacity Building activities of the AU-EU Project entitled Policy and Regulatory Initiative for Digital Africa (PRIDA), which focuses on digital inclusion. 

Organizers

African Union
Moctar Yedaly, African Union

Speakers

Moctar Yedaly, African Union;Adil Sulieman, African Union; Makane Faye, African IGF Secretariat; Mary Uduma, African IGF- MAG; Mactar Seck, UNECA; Sandro Bazzanella, PRIDA.

Onsite Moderator

Moctar Yedaly

Online Moderator

Salyou Fanny, Cote d'Ivoire

Rapporteur

Aicha Jeridi, Tunisia

SDGs

GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

IGF 2020 OF #12 EQUALS in Tech Awards 2020

Time
Friday, 6th November, 2020 (13:00 UTC) - Friday, 6th November, 2020 (14:00 UTC)
Room
Room 3
Join the Session Online

This session has a special published link - already available: Please JOIN HERE

About this Session
This award will be presented in the following categories: Access, Skills, Leadership in Tech, Leadership in SMEs and Research
Subtheme

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

The EQUALS in Tech Awards is the flagship event of the EQUALS partnership, a multi-stakeholder initiative created to promote awareness; build political commitment, leverage knowledge, efforts, and resources to achieve digital gender equality at both the global and national levels.

The seventh annual EQUALS in Tech Awards celebrate initiatives that are closing the gender digital divide worldwide. This year, the number of categories will still reflect the structure of EQUALS, the Global Partnership to Bridge the Gender Digital Divide. 

Organizers

International Telecommunication Union

Speakers

Welcome Remarks
Ms. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director, ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau

Keynote Address

Ms. Silvina Moschini, Founder of SheWorks! and TransparentBusiness first Unicorn women-led.  EQUALS in Tech Award Winner 2019

 

Announcement of Winners

Presenters

  • Access Category: Ensuring that women and girls have full access to digital technologies, devices and services. Presenter: Mr. Mats Granryd, Director General, GSMA
  • Skills Category: Empowering women and girls to acquire skills to become both ICT users and creators in the digital world and STEM fields. Presenter: Mr. Houlin Zhao, Secretary General, ITU
  • Research Category: Sharing research to enable data-driven and evidence-based action in support of digital gender equality. Presenter: Dr. David Malone, Rector, UN University
  • Leadership in SMEs Category: Supporting women entrepreneurs and creators in technology. Presenter: Ms. Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director, ITC
  • Leadership in Tech Category: Promoting women in decision-making roles and leadership opportunities in the digital workforce. Presenter: Ms. Anita Bhatia, Deputy Executive Director, Resource Management, UN System Coordination, Sustainability and Partnerships, UN Women
Onsite Moderator

Carla Licciardello

Online Moderator

Loly Gaitan

Rapporteur

Therese Littleton

SDGs

GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

IGF 2020 OF #13 Trust Building in Cyberspace on Public Health Emergencies

Time
Wednesday, 4th November, 2020 (09:20 UTC) - Wednesday, 4th November, 2020 (10:20 UTC)
Room
Room 3
About this Session
Corresponding to the thematic track of "Trust" of IGF 2020, this Open Forum, under the theme of Trust Building in Cyberspace on Public Health Emergencies, invites representatives of governments, international organizations, enterprises, technical communities, and think tanks across the world to discuss the trust building in cyberspace against the backdrop of international public health emergencies.
Subtheme

Round Table - U-shape - 60 Min

Description

The COVID-19 outbreak, an international public health emergency, has not only caused isolation in physical space, but also intensified fragmentation in cyberspace. Amid this global pandemic, cyber attacks, cyber frauds, online disinformation, and hate speech are spreading more widely than ever, giving rise to cross-border regulatory, legal and ethical issues and profoundly impacting the global security and trust relationship in cyberspace. Against the backdrop of existing international governance, response and coordination mechanism in cyberspace to be improved, all the actors and entities in cyberspace should enhance exchanges and cooperation, through dialogue on trust building in cyberspace and its realization approach to explore the governance of online ecosystem and trustworthy use of emerging technologies, with a view to jointly rising up to global challenges of public health emergencies, and to joining hands in building a community with a shared future in cyberspace.

 

The proposed Open Forum will engage high-level delegates and renowned experts from governments, international organizations, enterprises, technical communities and think tanks in the global Internet sector. Starting from the topic of COVID-19 outbreak, the Forum, in accordance with the IGF 2020 programme thematic track of Trust, seeks to develop in-depth discussion on the trust building in cyberspace in the context of an international public health emergency. The Forum will share ideas and insights on the following topics: 1. Impact on the global cyberspace and changes to trust relationship in cyberspace imposed by international public health emergencies represented by the COVID-19 outbreak (e.g. cybersecurity, international cooperation, information disclosure and dissemination). 2. Role of Internet technological innovation in responding to international public health emergencies. 3. Approach to developing trust building mechanism in cyberspace amid an international public health emergency.

Organizers

Bureau of International Cooperation, Cyberspace Administration of China
Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies

Speakers

1. Address

Ms. Qi Xiaoxia, Director General, Bureau of International Cooperation, Cyberspace Administration of China

Prof. Werner Zorn, Father of the German Internet, Inductee of the Internet Hall of Fame

2. Keynote Speech

Session 1: The Impact of International Public Health Emergencies Represented by the COVID-19 on Global Cyberspace Governance and Trust Relationships

Mr. Paul Wilson, Director General, Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC)

Prof. Zhou Xiaohua, Fellow of the American Statistical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Peking University Chair Professor

Prof. David Robertson, Vice Principal and Head of College of Science and Engineering, University of Edinburgh

Prof. Dr. Dr. Ayad Al-Ani, Associated Member, Einstein Center Digital Future

Session 2: The Role of Internet Technology Innovation in Responding to International Public Health Emergencies

Prof. Kilnam Chon, Father of the Korean Internet, Inductee of the Internet Hall of Fame

Ms. Li Qian, Executive Expert of Legal and Policy Research Department, Alibaba Group

Mr. Koh King Kee, President of Centre for New Inclusive Asia

Session 3: Methods and Paths for Building Trust Mechanism in Cyberspace against the Backdrop of International Public Health Emergencies

Dr. Jiang Yang, Director of the Institute of International Governance, Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies

Prof. Luca Belli, Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation, Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV)

3. Discussion 

Mr. Karim Alwadi, Research Fellow, Renmin University of China

Mr. Oleg Abdurashitov, Head of CEO Office, Kaspersky

 

Onsite Moderator

Li Yuxiao, Vice President of Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies

Online Moderator

Li Yuxiao, Vice President of Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies

Rapporteur

Delegate from Cyberspace Administration of China

SDGs

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-Being
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

1. Key Policy Questions and related issues
Share ideas on the impact of international public health emergencies represented by the COVID-19 on global cyberspace governance and trust relationships.
Discuss the role of Internet technology innovation in responding to international public health emergencies and offer suggestions on how the Internet and Internet technology can be better improved in the fight against the COVID-19.
Share thoughts on methods and paths for building trust mechanism in cyberspace against the backdrop of international public health emergencies.
2. Summary of Issues Discussed

Experts and scholars from China, the United States, Russia, Germany, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Malaysia, and Syria had in-depth exchanges on the impact of the epidemic on cyberspace, the role of Internet technology in the fight against the epidemic, and the trust building mechanism in cyberspace. To begin with, the Internet has enhanced mankind's ability to fight the epidemic, and technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and big data are playing a key role in epidemic prevention and control. Besides, the wide application of information technology also raises the concern on its security and personal data protection, with the trust deficit in cyberspace continuously increasing. What's more, as the epidemic continues to spread, all parties in the international community should give full play to the value of the internet, enhance the capacity of digital technology to fight against the epidemic, and build a trust mechanism based on the principles of responsibility, transparency, respect, understanding, openness and cooperation.

3. Key Takeaways

Against the backdrop of the epidemic, the Internet has become an integral part of economic and social development. The international community should fully unleash the potential of digital technology to fight the epidemic and boost economic and social development. In response to the issues exposed by the epidemic, such as cyber security, the spread of false information and the lack of protection on personal information, the international community should work together to strengthen governance and promote the establishment of a trust mechanism in cyberspace.

All the actors in cyberspace should strengthen communication and cooperation , jointly explore ways to build and realize a trust mechanism in cyberspace, ensure the credible use of ecological governance and emerging technologies in cyberspace, improve legislation on the protection of personal information, and jointly respond to various global risks and challenges.

6. Final Speakers

Ms. Qi Xiaoxia, Director General, Bureau of International Cooperation, Cyberspace Administration of China

Prof. Werner Zorn, Father of the German Internet, Inductee of the Internet Hall of Fame

Mr. Paul Wilson, Director General, Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC)

Prof. Zhou Xiaohua, Fellow of the American Statistical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Peking University Chair Professor

Prof. David Robertson, Vice Principal and Head of College of Science and Engineering, University of Edinburgh

Prof. Dr. Dr. Ayad Al-Ani, Associated Member, Einstein Center Digital Future

Prof. Kilnam Chon, Father of the Korean Internet, Inductee of the Internet Hall of Fame

Ms. Li Qian, Executive Expert of Legal and Policy Research Department, Alibaba Group

Mr. Koh King Kee, President of Centre for New Inclusive Asia

Dr. Jiang Yang, Director of the Institute of International Governance, Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies

Prof. Luca Belli, Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation, Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) 

Mr. Karim Alwadi, Research Fellow, Renmin University of China

Mr. Oleg Abdurashitov, Head of CEO Office, Kaspersky

7. Reflection to Gender Issues

not discussed in the forum

8. Session Outputs

The COVID-19 outbreak, an international public health emergency, has not only caused isolation in physical space, but also intensified fragmentation in cyberspace. Amid this global pandemic, cyber attacks, cyber frauds, online disinformation, and hate speech are spreading more widely than ever, giving rise to cross-border regulatory, legal and ethical issues and profoundly impacting the global security and trust relationship in cyberspace. Against the backdrop of existing international governance, response and coordination mechanism in cyberspace to be improved, all the actors and entities in cyberspace should enhance exchanges and cooperation, through dialogue on trust building in cyberspace and its realization approach to explore the governance of online ecosystem and trustworthy use of emerging technologies, with a view to jointly rising up to global challenges of public health emergencies, and to joining hands in building a community with a shared future in cyberspace.

During the forum, all speakers agree that internet, digital technologies and digital economy play a critical role in combating COVID-19. There is far from enough to make all use of internet especially for fighting against COVID-19 and the cybersecurity risks are growing. Speakers think trust is the basis of cooperation and trust building mechanism are very important and urgent. They share the same views that trust building mechanism are very important. Dr. Jangyang propose a path for trust building mechanism focusing on building a community with a shared future in cyberspace.

Nowadays, with the increase usage of internet technology, the cybersecurity risk is growing and private data is leaking, Some of the experts suggest countries should establish and improve privacy data protection laws, the cooperate should offer trusted data service system based on blockchain technology and smart contract technology.

9. Group Photo
Trust Building in Cyberspace

IGF 2020 OF #14 Copyright and inclusion

Time
Wednesday, 4th November, 2020 (12:10 UTC) - Wednesday, 4th November, 2020 (13:10 UTC)
Room
Room 3
About this Session
WIPO is deeply involved in promoting the "Inclusion" of people with disabilities. Beyond helping countries to implement the Marrakesh Treaty, WIPO leads an ambitious set of initiatives under the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC), already changing the lives of thousands of people with a visual impairment around the world.
Subtheme

Round Table - U-shape - 60 Min

Description

This session will showcase current initiatives aimed at providing access to content and information to the wider possible audience, including notably persons with disabilities. We will talk about:

  • how the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled is being ratified and implemented at an unprecedented speed around the world;
  • the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) and how its activities (Global Book Service; accessible publishing; capacity building) are changing the lives of thousands of blind and people with visual impairment in both developing and developed countries;
  • the research undertaken on access to copyright protected works by persons with disabilities.
Organizers

World Intellectual Property Organization

Speakers

Mr. Scott Labarre, World Blind Union - “The Marrakesh Treaty and its impact on inclusion”

Ms. Monica Halil, WIPO - "the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC)"

Ms. Aria Indrawati, Mitra Netra Foundation - “WIPO ABC Capacity building programs: the experience of Indonesia”

Mr. Rafael Ferraz, WIPO - "SCCR Study on Access to Copyright Protected Works by Persons with Disabilities"

Mr. Christian Vogler, Gallaudet University - “People with disabilities and access to content: challenges and solutions” 

Onsite Moderator

Paolo Lanteri

Online Moderator

Victor Owade

Rapporteur

Paolo Lanteri

SDGs

GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

1. Key Policy Questions and related issues
How can existing IP regulation (notably the WIPO Marrakesh Treaty) support access to content for people with disabilities?
What the challenges faced by people with disabilities to access content?
2. Summary of Issues Discussed

The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled’ was signed on the 27th of June of 2013 and in few years made it possible to exchange accessible books among member countries. It represents one of the best examples of an ambitious, pragmatic and impactful multilateral treaty that the international community was able to agree upon in recent years.

The Accessible Books Consortium (ABC), is a public-private partnership led by WIPO. The platform brings together all key players to implement the objectives of the Treaty. ABC offers three services which are; ABC Global Book Service, Capacity Building ad Inclusive Publishing.

it was also explained that there’s no one way to be deaf, so people use different modalities to communicate depending on their conditions and concrete situation.  There are many different ways to access content and many software tools which don’t support all formats. Often publishers don’t invest in alternate formats

3. Key Takeaways

The WIPO Marrakesh Treaty (2012) has already reached 75 contracting parties covering 101 countries and it is having major impact allowing free cross-border exchange of books for the benefit of blind or people with visually impairement. 

People with disabilities (other than visual) do not have a similar instrument, however technological development offer some promising responses.

6. Final Speakers

Mr. Scott Labarre, World Blind Union - “The Marrakesh Treaty and its impact on inclusion”

Ms. Monica Halil, WIPO - "the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC)"

Ms. Aria Indrawati, Mitra Netra Foundation - “WIPO ABC Capacity building programs: the experience of Indonesia”

Mr. Rafael Ferraz, WIPO - "SCCR Study on Access to Copyright Protected Works by Persons with Disabilities"

Dr. Christian Vogler, Gallaudet University - “People with disabilities and access to content: challenges and solutions”

Moderator:  Paolo Lanteri

9. Group Photo
IGF 2020 OF #14 Copyright and inclusion

IGF 2020 OF #16 Internet Governance with and for the Citizens

Time
Wednesday, 4th November, 2020 (13:20 UTC) - Wednesday, 4th November, 2020 (14:20 UTC)
Room
Room 3
About this Session
Humanity deserves and asks for better governance. Both citizens and decision-makers are ready to experiment with new approaches. Decisions taken on behalf of 7+ billion human beings require to augment the traditional expertise with the vision and experience of ordinary citizens that will enrich, legitimize, and strengthen the decisions.
Subtheme

Break-out Group Discussions - Round Tables - 60 Min

Description

Internet Governance with and for the Citizens 

Humanity deserves and asks for better governance. Both citizens and decision-makers are ready to experiment with new approaches. Decisions taken on behalf of 7+ billion human beings require to augment the traditional expertise with the vision and experience of ordinary citizens that will enrich, legitimize, and strengthen the decisions. New forms of political non-partisan dialogue between citizens, decision-makers and experts are one of the most promising solutions to improve governance towards a more inclusive, more trustful, and less divided society, at all levels, from local to global. By relying on such processes, decisions become more in tune with the complexity of our age, more legitimate and more sustainable. Decision-makers gain in legitimacy, insights, and transparency. Citizens enter the realm of complexity of decision making and get the feeling of being respected and considered by the political sphere. Both are strengthened by this unique interaction. The recent global COVID crisis has shown that Internet and they way we govern it has an impact on all humanity. There is a profound need to discuss its future with everyone.

 

Bringing Citizens into Internet Governance 

The Global Citizens’ Dialogue on the future of Internet (https://www.wetheinternet.org) aims at addressing core questions of the future of Internet with ordinary citizens and stakeholder around the world. It supports the decision-making process on the future of this common good of Humanity. In 2018 and 2019, and with the support of a global coalition of partners, we prepared and tested the approach in 17 Dialogues around the world. In 2020, it’s time to scale the process:

1. Global Coalition: We will consolidate and extend the coalition and work with the Advisory Board, the Scientific committee and the community in order to design the dialogues and how they will interact with policy making.
2. Deliberation Day: Together with a group of 60+ national partners we will implement a series of at least 50 Citizens’ Dialogues on October 10th, 2020. Citizens will address following topics: Internet and me, Building a strong Digital Identity, shaping the digital public sphere, governing artificial intelligence. They will also work on a national topic and formulate joint recommendations with stakeholder of their country. National partners will receive a comprehensive capacity building to ensure a high quality of the process.
3. Stakeholder Dialogue on Internet Governance: In order to use synergies and the window of opportunity opened by the Report of the High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation, we will roll-out a Stakeholder Dialogue in parallel to the Citizens’ Dialogues. These will gather local groups of stakeholders that will work on recommendations 5a/b of the Report and produce recommendations for implementation to be submitted to the UN. The dialogues will take place online in June and face-to-face in October.
4. Impact: From Summer on, we will feed the findings into policy discussions before, during and after IGF 2020. At European Level, the German Presidency of the Council will give a major opportunity to bring the voices of Citizens into the policy discussion. At global level, the UN week in September and the activities around the 75th Anniversary of the UN will open a global stage for impact.

 Goal of the Open Forum

The Open forum aims at:
1. Presenting the results of the Dialogue to the Internet Governance Community in order to transform them into actionable actions and discussions for the multi-stakeholder process.
2. Reflecting the method in order to improve it and to understand how to best integrate it in the Multi-stakeholder process in the coming years.
3. Launch the Follow-up process for 2021.

Program
The Forum will be shaped as a participatory event: participants will sit at tables and discuss the results of the debate in order to transform them into actionable learnings and actions for them.
1. Opening (5’) Short presentation of project and process (Missions Publiques). Feedback from core partners of the Advisory Board and national partners of the project.
2. Discussion / Break-out groups (35’) Participants are randomly split into groups of 5 (maximum diversity). In each group, a facilitator and a note taker guide the discussion. They discuss the following questions (not exclusive): How do these results inspire me for my strategy, my advocacy, my position? What do they mean for us as a community? What are most meaningful results in relation with the IGF agenda?” Which discussions do they impulse, which actions?
3. Presentation of results of the groups and conclusion (20’) Participants gather in plenary, note takers present the key results of their group.

Online participation will be organized as a mirror of the f2f participation:

1. E-Opening (5’) The remote participants will be in a listening position and will be in the virtual room. Two of the feedback in the beginning will be delivered by remote participants: One organizer and one participant.
2. E-Discussion / E-Break-out groups (35’) Online participants will be invited to join virtual rooms (links will be provided at the beginning of the session - participants will be dispatched in function of the first letter of their country of origin). In each group, a facilitator and a note taker will guide the discussion. The virtual group will discuss the same two questions as the f2f groups.
3. E-Presentation of results of the groups and conclusion (20’) Online participants will join back the plenary, remote note takers will present the key results of their group.

Organizers

Missions Publiques in co-organisation with the Government of Germany, Government of Switzerland  and European Commission

Speakers

Moderator: Antoine Vergne [email protected]

Co-moderator: Benoit  VERHULST [email protected]

Speakers:

 

 

 

Onsite Moderator

Antoine Vergne

Online Moderator

Manon Potet

Rapporteur

Benoit Verhulst

SDGs

GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

IGF 2020 OF #18 Safety by Design - implementation and impact

Time
Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (10:20 UTC) - Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (11:20 UTC)
Room
Room 1
Subtheme

Other - 60 Min
Format description: Open Forum session - mix of birds of a feather, tutorial and panel session.

Session Structure: Introduction from eSafety Commissioner on role, remit and functions of eSafety. Overview of Safety by Design Panel session - with industry, civil society organisation and youth representative Open floor questions

Description

As the world's first government agency solely dedicated to online safety, the Australian eSafety Commissioner is emerging as a source of inspiration, evidence and best practice as countries around the globe seek to develop national online safety strategies and regulatory regimes. This session will provide government officials, representatives of international organisations, academics and industry partners with an overview of the role, remit and functions of eSafety.

Following this introduction, the session will focus on eSafety’s Safety by Design initiative.

The technological design and architecture of online services governs how users are able to interact and engage online. These aspects act as both a facilitator and amplifier for how humans interact, engage and behave. While technology may not drive behaviours, it is a medium through which these behaviours can manifest. As such, developers, engineers and vendors of online services play an incredibly important role in shaping online environments and users’ safety therein.

Safety by Design (SbD) seeks to drive-up standards of user safety within the technology community and secure greater consistency and standardisation of user safety considerations globally. The session will discuss:

  • the importance of multi-stakeholder consultation in the development, dissemination and uptake of SbD – and in particular, the importance of incorporating the views and needs of children and young people in policy and regulatory guidance.
  • how SbD is not common practice among industry partners, but that innovations in user safety are beginning to be developed at pace – illustrative case studies from industry and civil society organisations will be discussed.
  • the impact that embedding user empowerment and autonomy as a core business objective for those developing products, platforms or services online could have.
  • the development of eSafety's SbD Framework of guidance and resources to assist industry in implementing SbD.
  • the role of national and international collaboration, multi-stakeholder engagement and coordinated efforts of the global community in achieving long-term and sustained social and cultural change.

 

Organizers

eSafety Commissioner

Speakers

Julie Inman Grant - eSafety Commissioner

Industry representatives - Dieter Carstensen, Director, Head of Digital Child Safety, at LEGO and Stephen Collins, Senior Director, Public Policy International, at Snap Inc

Tertiary sector - Professor Amanda Third is Professorial Research Fellow in Digital Social and Cultural Research in the Institute for Culture and Society and Co-Director of the Young and Resilient Research Centre at Western Sydney University whom eSafety has consulted as part of its SbD initiative and whom it has been working alongside in its international engagements.

Youth representative - a pre-recorded video representing youth perspectives and illustration of eSafety's SbD Youth Vision Statement (provided in full in the background paper attached).

Onsite Moderator

Julia Fossi

Online Moderator

Kelly Tallon

Rapporteur

Katherine Sessions

SDGs

GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

IGF 2020 OF #20 Attention economy and free expression?

Time
Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (07:30 UTC) - Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (08:30 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
Freedom of expression is increasingly shaped by technologies that rank speech for profit and alter the business model of news outlets away from reader trust and towards “clicks”. Based on the Committee of Ministers Declaration on the manipulative capabilities of algorithmic processes, the session will discuss how to protect freedom of expression and media freedom in the “attention economy”, where the dominant business models reward engagement and noise over deliberation and facts.
Subtheme

Round Table - U-shape - 60 Min

Description

Digital technologies have significantly transformed the communication patterns and behaviors of individuals, communities and societies. Algorithmic systems and data-based micro-targeting tools shape our social, economic and political lives, affect our governance and influence the distribution of resources. Freedom of expression, which includes freedom of information and media freedom, is crucial for the fulfillment and protection of all other human rights. It enables citizens to make informed choices, to participate actively in democratic processes, and to help ensure that powerful interests are held to account. During times of crisis, more than ever, we need freedom of expression and independent journalism to keep the public informed, counter rumors and disinformation, and help scrutinize decision-making. Yet, freedom of expression is increasingly shaped in multiple ways by technologies that rank speech for profit, seek to grab attention with sensationalist headlines and alter the business model of news outlets away from reader trust and towards “clicks”. The encouragement of “likes” and “shares” crowds out analysis and nuance in favor of shocking, often hateful exchanges, ultimately silencing many. The shift to digital media and the flow of online advertising revenue towards social media and search engines rather than media websites has caused a precarious economic situation for media and has contributed in many countries to their monopolisation and fragmentation. What was once hailed as a great promoter of freedom of expression – virtually unlimited access to information online – has now been confronted with major challenges: faced with unprecedented volumes of content, it is increasingly difficult for individuals to discern what is true and who to believe. This causes confusion, contributes to ‘information disorder’ and impacts negatively on society’s trust in the media and in democratic institutions more broadly. How can freedom of expression and media freedom be protected in the attention economy, where the dominant business models reward engagement and noise over deliberation and facts?

Organizers

Council of Europe
Hamburg Media School

Speakers

Moderator: Patrick Penninckx, Head of Information Society Department, Council of Europe

Speakers:

• Amy Brouillette, Research Director, Ranking Digital Rights (RDR)

• Joe McNamee, Independent Consultant, Council of Europe Expert Committee on Freedom of Expression and Digital Technologies

• Prof. Dr. Alexandra Borchardt, Media Adviser and Journalist, Journalism Professor, Universität der Künste, Berlin/ Head of Digital Journalism Fellowship, Hamburg Media School

• Aurélien Maehl, Senior Public Policy Manager, Europe, DuckDuckGo

Onsite Moderator

Elena Dodonova, Council of Europe

Rapporteur

Elena Dodonova, Council of Europe

SDGs

GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

1. Key Policy Questions and related issues
- Digital technologies have produced powerful impact on the media and information environment. The range of related issues is wide (disinformation, hate speech, and other problematic content online; disruptions in the media ecosystem leading to fragmentation and monopolisation of the media sector; challenges to quality journalism and attention disorder among the audiences) and posing risk to human rights and to democracy itself. Do we have the full picture of this impact? What are the areas affected? What is the root cause of these critical shifts in the media and information environment?
- Business models of major internet platforms are ultimately based on large-scale data exploitation and the use of opaque algorithmic processes. Can there be a viable alternative business model, outside the attention economy? How would it function?
- How can freedom of expression and media freedom be protected in the attention economy, where the dominant business models reward engagement and noise over deliberation and facts? Would regulation help, and if yes, what do we need to regulate?
2. Summary of Issues Discussed

The session discussed the ‘attention economy’ business model in the context of the digital age. Embracing massive data collection and various uses of algorithmic systems and processes to manage attention of individuals and groups in the pursuit of economic/other interests, this business approach produces profound multi-layered impacts on freedom of expression and on information environment.

Such use of digital technologies impacts freedom of expression at several levels. At the individual level, behaviours and communication patterns are increasingly facilitated, structured and shaped by online platforms and social media. In the context of newsrooms and media outlets, the emergence/empowerment of digital platforms has reversed the flow of advertising revenues, prompting a structural shift within media markets and putting into question the sustainability of traditional media, also undermining conditions for quality journalism. At the broader societal level, algorithmic systems and data-based micro-targeting tools shape social, economic and political lives, contribute to information disorder and erode trust in the media and in democratic institutions.

The overall impact on information ecosystem remains largely underestimated. While regulatory efforts are directed at the consequences, causes remain largely unaddressed. Reliance on self-regulation by business platforms allows the latter to only introduce measures that leave the model intact, while focus on the speed of deletion of harmful online content translates into real risks to human rights.

With growing demand for digital services respectful of human rights among wider audiences, we witness the emergence of business initiatives that commit to transparency and data/privacy protection. With forces unequal, compared to major digital platforms, such initiatives have however proved economic viability.

Larger awareness about the root causes of critical shifts in the media and information environment is crucial. Further discussion on the ways to ensue digital platforms’ accountability is needed. Journalism must reinvent and reassert itself, both in equipment and relevance

3. Key Takeaways

Major digital companies’ ‘attention economy’ business model, fuelled by massive data collection and various uses of algorithmic systems and processes to manage attention of individuals and groups in the pursuit of economic/other interests, has profound and multi-layered impacts on freedom of expression.

Rooted in data exploitation and opaque algorithmic processing of data, attention economy lies at the source of a wide range of issues arising in the media and information environment (disinformation, hate speech and other problematic content online; disruptions in the media ecosystem leading to fragmentation and monopolisation of the media sector; challenges to quality journalism), ultimately carrying important risks to human rights and to democracy itself.

Regulatory efforts directed at content moderation therefore only address the consequences, while the underlying causes remain largely unattended. Reliance on self-regulation by digital platforms allows these latter to only introduce measures that leave the profitable business model intact, irrespective of its actual negative impacts.

A wider awareness of the false dichotomy between the amount of collected data and economic viability of digital platforms, as well as awareness about actual root causes of disruptions in the media and information environment should be promoted.

To address these root causes, steps should be taken to ensure digital platforms’ accountability for the business model they employ. Co-regulatory approaches should be promoted (see Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Recommendation (2018)2 on the roles and responsibilities of internet intermediaries) and further complemented by oversight mechanisms and indicators (see Ranking Digital Rights’ Corporate Accountability Index), to ensure due transparency. Careful and frequently reviewed regulation of content curation/moderation is needed.

For the media ecosystem to recover, media need to reassert control over technology, create their own distribution platforms, regain attention relying on quality content and established relationship with audiences. Indicators for quality journalism are needed to boost trust.

6. Final Speakers

Moderator:

Mr Patrick Penninckx, Head of Information Society Department, Council of Europe

Panellists:

Ms Amy Brouillette, Research Director, Ranking Digital Rights (RDR)

Mr Joe McNamee, Independent Consultant, Council of Europe Expert Committee on Freedom of Expression and Digital Technologies:

Prof. Dr. Alexandra Borchardt, Media Adviser and Journalist, Journalism Professor, Universität der Künste, Berlin/ Head of Digital Journalism Fellowship, Hamburg Media School:

Mr Aurélien Maehl, Senior Public Policy Manager, Europe, DuckDuckGo

7. Reflection to Gender Issues

Due attention was paid to gender balance in the composition of the panel.

8. Session Outputs

The ‘attention economy’ phenomenon is not new in itself. However, with the invasion of digital technologies into the media and information environment, this business model has benefited from the possibilities for covert large-scale data collection and algorithmic processing, expanding still further the possibilities for profiling and micro-targeting. Embracing various uses of algorithmic systems and processes to manage and retain the attention of individuals and groups in the pursuit of economic or other interests, it now produces critical and multi-layered impacts on freedom of expression and on information environment.

Such use of digital technologies impacts freedom of expression at several levels.

At the individual level, behaviours and communication patterns are increasingly facilitated, structured and shaped by online platforms and social media. Digital platforms and social media absorb much of the audiences’ attention that the media used to have. Their emphasis on speed and quantity has changed news consumption behaviours of individuals, leading to the shortening of attention span, erosion of trust in the news brands and growing news avoidance.

In the context of newsrooms and media outlets, micro-targeting techniques have revolutionised the news ecosystem, leading to the emergence and empowerment of new actors, including social media platforms, and to the prevalence of a business model that prioritises “clicks” over readers’ trust. This has reversed the flow of revenues, and advertising revenues in particular, prompting a structural shift within media markets and putting into question the sustainability of traditional media, also undermining conditions and incentives for quality journalism. News outlets are compelled to keep up with the speed of digital platforms’ content production, which drains quality from news, leads to the loss of control over curation and news choice and takes away energy for fact-checking and debunking mis- and disinformation.

At the broader societal level, including in political communication, algorithmic systems and data-based micro-targeting tools shape our social, economic and political lives, affect our governance and influence the distribution of resources. They amplify viral and disputable content, more easily shared, and generate more revenues for data-hungry business models. Faced with unprecedented volumes of content, it is increasingly difficult for individuals to discern what is true and whom to believe. This causes confusion, contributes to information disorder and impacts negatively on society’s trust in the media and in democratic institutions more broadly.

The overall impact on the information ecosystem remains largely underestimated. While regulatory efforts are directed at the consequences (disinformation, hate speech, and other problematic content online), causes (amplification of data exploitation and flourishing of business models based on opaque algorithmic processing of data) remain largely unaddressed. Reliance on, often badly defined and badly designed, self-regulation by business platforms that make vast profits out of this model creates conditions for these actors actors to only introduce measures that leave the business model intact, irrespective of its actual negative impacts. Alongside this, focus on the speed of deletion of possibly illegal or harmful online content translates into real risks to human rights, freedom of expression being the first on the list.

With growing awareness among wider audiences, we witness the emergence of business initiatives that respond to the demand for digital services respectful of human rights and allowing internet users to take control over their personal data (DuckDuckGo , for instance, offers a search engine that doesn’t track users, as well as privacy tools that block third-party trackers and force encryption when browsing). Renouncing data exploitation, such services invest in transparency to gain customers’ trust and rely on alternative sources of revenues (e.g., contextual ads). With forces unequal as they are, compared to major digital platforms, such initiatives have nevertheless proved their economic viability and public demand.

To make the way forward, a wider awareness of the false dichotomy between the amount of collected data and economic viability of digital platforms, as well as awareness about actual root causes of disruptions in the media and information environment should be promoted.

To address these root causes, steps should be taken to ensure digital platforms’ accountability for the business model they employ. Co-regulatory approaches should be promoted (see Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Recommendation (2018)2 on the roles and responsibilities of internet intermediaries) and further complemented by oversight mechanisms and indicators (see Ranking Digital Rights’ Corporate Accountability Index and indicators evaluating company disclosure of policies and practices affecting freedom of expression and privacy; see also Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Recommendation (2020)1 on the human rights impacts of algorithmic systems), to ensure due transparency. Careful and frequently reviewed regulation of content curation/moderation is needed (see the ongoing work of the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on Freedom of Expression and Digital Technologies).

For the media ecosystem to recover, media outlets need [market and regulatory environment which permits them] to reassert control over technology and create their own distribution platforms, regain attention relying on quality content and established relationship with audiences. Journalism should [be given the preconditions permitting it to] reinvent and reassert itself, both in terms of being fully equipped to keep up with professional standards in the digital age and in terms of relevance, topicality and capability to elicit interest and engagement from the audiences. Indicators for quality journalism are needed to boost quality and trust (see draft Recommendation on promoting a favourable environment for quality journalism in the digital age, prepared by the Council of Europe Committee of experts on quality journalism in the digital age).

9. Group Photo
Council of Europe, OF #20 Attention economy and free expression?

IGF 2020 OF #21 Strengthening Implementation Capacities for AI Ethics

Time
Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (08:40 UTC) - Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (09:40 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
How can ethical principles for AI be implemented? How do we translate high-level principles into policies? What kind of human and institutional capacities are needed to govern AI?

These are some of the questions that experts from national, regional and international organizations working on the governance of AI would be focusing on during the session.
Subtheme

Birds of a Feather - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

In November 2019, the General Conference of UNESCO, mandated the organisation “to prepare an international standard-setting instrument on the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of a recommendation”, which will be submitted to the General Conference in 2021. This request from UNESCO Member States is a continuation of the mandate given to UNESCO by the international community, at the World Summit on the Information Society in 2003 and 2005, confirmed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, to lead and facilitate international work on the “ethical dimensions of the information society”. As UNESCO embarks on this mission, it is working with a multi-stakeholder group of experts drawn from different parts of the world and representing a diverse range of stakeholders to not only identify principles for the development and deployment of an ethical AI but also to clarify what this means practically in terms of implementation of policies and programmes. The first draft of the recommendation submitted to Member States proposes options for action to Member States and other stakeholders and is accompanied by concrete implementation guidelines. The first draft of the AI Ethics Recommendation is available at https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000373434

In this regard, UNESCO has initiated the development of an AI Decision Maker’s Essential Toolkit that would support human and institutional capacities across stakeholder groups to address the challenges and opportunities of AI for achieving sustainable development goals and to strengthen capacities to implement AI Ethics recommendations. The Open Forum at the Internet Governance Forum will be an opportunity to discuss the work of the Ad-hoc Expert Group on the Ethics of AI, highlight the multi-stakeholder consultation process held online to solicit input from stakeholders around the world, and the different workstreams under the AI Decision Maker’s Essential Toolkit. The Open Forum will facilitate feedback on the standard setting and capacity development process from a wide range of stakeholders engaged in AI governance, with focus on data governance and inclusion. UNESCO’s work on AI is anchored within the “UN system-wide strategic approach and roadmap for supporting capacity development on artificial intelligence” and the Recommendation 3C of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation. The standard setting and capacity development work with respect to Ethics of AI builds on UNESCO’s commitment to a human-centred approach to digital technologies reflected in the ‘Internet Universality’ framework and the associated ‘R.O.A.M. principles’ (Human Rights, Openness, Accessibility and Multi-stakeholder participation), which were endorsed by the Organization’s Member States in 2015. The value of using the R.O.A.M. frame for assessing AI in particular is also reflected in the publication entitled “Steering AI and Advanced ICTs for Knowledge Societies: a ROAM perspective”, which was launched at the Internet Governance Forum in 2019.

 

Organizers

UNESCO
Sasha Rubel and Ang Tee-Wee

Speakers

Moderator:  Sasha Rubel, UNESCO

Panelists:

  • Dafna Feinholz, UNESCO
  • Léonard Bouchet, European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
  • Jed Horner, International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
  • Jan Kleijssen, Council of Europe 
  • Nicolas Miailhe, The Future Society
  • Clara Neppel, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
  • Sophie Peresson, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) 
  • Karine Perset, OECD
  • Benjamin Prud’homme, Quebec Institute for Artificial Intelligence (MILA) 
  • Sally Radwan, Arab League Working Group on AI (Egypt)
Onsite Moderator

Sasha Rubel

Online Moderator

Prateek Sibal

Rapporteur

Ang Tee-Wee

SDGs

GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

IGF 2020 OF #23 EU Delegation to the IGF & the Youth IGF

Time
Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (09:50 UTC) - Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (10:50 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
High Level UN IGF Open Forum

Social media: @globalyouthigf

The format of the Open Forum is intended to be a debate between the Youth IGF leaders and executives of the Information Society. 

The discussion between the leaders and the young representatives is proposed to be focused this year on the engagement of the Youth IGF leaders during the COVID crisis and the role of the youth activism in digital in the scope of resolution of crisis situations.
Subtheme

Break-out Group Discussions - Flexible Seating - 60 Min

Description

The format of the Open Forum is intended to be a debate between the Youth IGF leaders and executives of the Information Society. 

The discussion between the leaders and the young representatives is proposed to be focused this year on the engagement of the Youth IGF leaders during the COVID crisis and the role of the youth activism in digital in the scope of resolution of crisis situations.

One of the focus points will also be to see how the recommendations for action that can emerge from the present Open Forum can be taken into consideration at national and regional levels and what needs to be done to achieve this.

Organizers

TaC-Together against Cybercrime International
European Parliament European Commission

Speakers

Opening message - Fabrizio HOCHSCHILD, UN UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL

Dr. Sidi OULD SALEM, Minister of ICT and porte-parole of the government, Mauritania

Ministre de l’enseignement supérieur, de la recherche scientifique et des technologies de l’information et de la communication Porte-parole du Gouvernement, République de Mauritanie

✓Bocar A.BA, CEO & Board Member, SAMENA, Telecommunications Council, UAE

Ambassador Marina KALJURAND, MEP, Former Estonian Foreign Minister, Former Chair of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, EU 

Casper KLYNGE, Vice President of Microsoft, Former Diplomat, EU

✓Prof. Dr. Rolf WEBER, Professor of international business law, Zurich University

Co-director of the Research Program on Financial Market Regulation, the Center for Information Technology, Society, and Law and the Blockchain Center

Youth IGF Leaders: Bulgaria, Indonesia, Kenya, Philippines

MODERATOR: Yuliya MORENETS, Youth IGF, Founder 

Online Moderator

Anna KRUPNIK -Youth IGF

SDGs

GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities

IGF 2020 OF #24 Online Safety Technology: Towards a Global Market?

Time
Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (12:30 UTC) - Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (13:30 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
This session will: showcase work to define, consolidate and grow the Safety Tech market; explore the extent to which the challenges and opportunities we have identified in the UK reflect those of other countries; and, discuss how international collaboration may help to develop and grow the global market.
Subtheme

Other - 60 Min
Format description: Unsure of best categorisation, we would like a 60 minute panel discussion which includes audience participation.

Description

The session format will be 25-30 minutes of chaired panel presentations, followed by an open plenary discussion on the potential to take international action to develop the emerging sector of ‘online safety technology’. The goals of this IGF Open Forum session will be to:

  • Showcase work to define, consolidate and grow the Safety Tech market - linking these in particular to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the emergence of regulation;

  • Explore the extent to which the challenges and opportunities we have identified in the UK reflect those of other countries;

  • Discuss how international collaboration may help to develop and grow the global market.

Agenda

  1. Welcome and introductions 

  2. Technology for online safety - a global market (Mary Aiken)

  3. The role of safety tech in online regulation (Simon Saunders, Ofcom)

  4. Opportunities and barriers to international safety tech growth - the view from business 

  5. Plenary discussion - how could cross-international collaboration help grow the international market? 

  6. Conclusion and next steps

Organizers

UK Government - Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport 
 

Speakers

Chair

  • Kevin Cunnington, Digital Envoy for the UK 

Panellists

  • Professor Mary Aiken, CyberPsychologist and INTERPOL advisor (Ireland)

  • Professor Simon Saunders, Director of Emerging and Online Technology, Ofcom (UK)

  • Ian Stevenson, Chair of UK Online Safety Tech Industry Association (UK)

  • Roni Gur, VP Marketing, L1ght (US and Israel)

  • Deepak Tewari, CEO, Private.ly (Switzerland)

Onsite Moderator

TBC

Online Moderator

Graham Francis and Alice Rutherford

Rapporteur

TBC

SDGs

GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

1. Key Policy Questions and related issues
How can international collaboration help develop grow the safety technology market? 
What are the barriers and opportunities to international safety technology growth?
What role can safety technology play in online regulation?
2. Summary of Issues Discussed

UK Digital Envoy Kevin Cunnington joined a panel of experts from industry, academia and the UK communications regulator to discuss the emerging ‘online safety technology’ sector in the UK and opportunities for a growing international market.

The panel discussed how the regulatory framework proposed in the UK’s Online Harms White Paper had made space for a serious dialogue on online safety, and created an ecosystem for the safety tech sector to thrive. The panel discussed how safety tech can tackle a spectrum of harms and invited a global dialogue on standardised performance indicators, stretch goals for technology and encouraged international information sharing to benchmark high regulatory expectations on the technology available now and in the future.

3. Key Takeaways
  • “Cyber security focuses on protecting data and information from cyber attacks - safety tech focuses on protecting people from the psychological risks, harms, and criminal dangers online - everything from mis- or disinformation, to online abuse or harassment” - Professor Mary Aiken, Cyber Psychologist

 

  • “It's great for us to see the emergence of a market of independent safety technology providers - and equally of platforms that are prepared to make available their technology to other platforms to help to raise the potential of the industry as a whole… We need to play our part more actively, along with government and industry counterparts, in actually enabling and encouraging innovation in this sector.” - Professor Simon Saunders, Ofcom

 

  • “The conversations about online safety are characterized by those who want the world to be better, and those who are telling us why it's impractical, too difficult, or too expensive to actually achieve that. I think that technology can bridge that gap.” Ian Stevenson, Chair, OSTIA

 

  • “Our motto as a safety tech industry needs to acknowledge the rapid effects of online harms. If I were to suggest one, it would be, ‘We have to do better, and we can only do that together’.” Roni Gur, L1ght

​​​​​​​

  • “The UK was the first market where we got attention and traction. There has been a conversation in that market which we missed everywhere else.  So I’m testimony to the thought leadership that comes from the UK.” Deepak Tewari, Private.ly
6. Final Speakers

Chair

  • Kevin Cunnington, Digital Envoy for the UK 

Panellists

  • Professor Mary Aiken, CyberPsychologist and INTERPOL advisor (Ireland)

  • Professor Simon Saunders, Director of Emerging and Online Technology, Ofcom (UK)

  • Ian Stevenson, Chair of UK Online Safety Tech Industry Association (UK)

  • Roni Gur, VP Marketing, L1ght (US and Israel)

  • Deepak Tewari, CEO, Private.ly (Switzerland)

9. Group Photo
IGF 2020 OF #24 Online Safety Technology: Towards a Global Market
10. Voluntary Commitment

Panelists made a number of voluntary commitments to support growth of the UK and
International Safety Tech Sector.
● Digital Envoy Kevin Cunnington committed to ensure that the use of technology to facilitate safer online experiences remains a top five priority for the European Digital Envoys.

● Chair of UK Online Safety Tech Industry Association Ian Stevenson committed to make industry a constructive partner in discussion and debates internationally, sharing their expertise.

● UK Communications Regulator OFCOM committed to listen and to join the dialogue on safety technology. Simon Saunders invited companies and organisations to show off their technology and how it has made a difference to people’s lives to inform upcoming regulatory developments in the UK to tackle online harms.

● Professor Mary Aiken committed as a cyber behavioral scientist to creating a better and more secure cyberspace.

● Deepak Tewari committed to ensuring that Private.ly measures and demonstrates the positive impact that use of safety technology has on the well-being of children.

● Roni Gur committed that L1ght will support the growth of an open community around safety tech, contributing technologies, resources and ideas where appropriate.

IGF 2020 OF #25 Freedom Online Coalition Open Forum

Time
Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (13:50 UTC) - Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (14:50 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
This panel discussion will explore the challenges and opportunities faced by Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) Members in promoting human rights-based approaches to managing the growing malign threat of online disinformation.
Subtheme
Issue(s)

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

The Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) is concerned about the growing threat of disinformation. Disinformation can challenge the right to freedom of opinion and expression, necessary for the access of free, plural and reliable information constitutive of democracy. Disinformation can erode trust in public information and democratic institutions, fracture community cohesion, polarise society and, in the most extreme cases, constitute incitement to hatred and threaten public health and safety. State-sponsored disinformation campaigns are sometimes a part of military strategies and hybrid threats. This panel discussion will explore the challenges and opportunities faced by FOC Members in promoting human rights-based approaches to managing the growing malign threat of online disinformation.

An FOC Joint Statement on the Spread of Disinformation Online is currently being developed by the Governments of Finland and the UK. The statement will provide the basis for this panel discussion, featuring Members of the FOC and the multistakeholder FOC Advisory Network. Finland is also the incoming Chair for the FOC for 2021 and this open forum will provide an opportunity to learn more about the Coalition's work and its policy priorities and key issue areas.

Organizers

Global Partners Digital
Rauno Merisaari, Ambassador for Human Rights and Democracy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

Speakers
  • Rauno Merisaari, Ambassador for Human Rights and Democracy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland
  • Campbell Davis, Head of Digital Policy, Cyber Policy Department, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, United Kingdom
  • Akua Gyekye, Regional Lead for Strategic Response, Middle East and Africa, Facebook
Onsite Moderator

Lea Kaspar

Online Moderator

Zora Gouhary

Rapporteur

Minna Penttila

SDGs

GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

1. Key Policy Questions and related issues
Disinformation
2. Summary of Issues Discussed

The FOC is developing a Joint Statement on Spread of Online Disinformation. This discussion focused on disinformation around elections and content moderation efforts by governments and private sector alike. Speakers included representatives from the governments of Finland and the UK and a representative from Facebook. All speakers agreed that multistakeholder approach is needed to battle disinformation in a way that is in line with the international human rights law.

3. Key Takeaways

The governments of the FOC, working closely with the multistakeholder FOC Advisory Network, will publish the Joint Statement on Spread of Online Disinformation in the coming weeks. The statement will include a call to action to governments, civil society, private sector and other stakeholders. The FOC has identified disinformation as one of the priority policy issues in 2021 and will continue to work on the topic in relevant international processes and forums. 

IGF 2020 OF #27 Promoting Trust on the Internet through Osaka Track

Time
Friday, 6th November, 2020 (08:00 UTC) - Friday, 6th November, 2020 (09:00 UTC)
Room
Room 1
About this Session
 The Internet space is the foundation of the digitalized activities in society and economy. In order to strengthen inclusive and sustainable development, it is critical to maintain the free, open and secure Internet space where the maximum benefits of innovation are realized. Therefore, Fostering “trust” in the Internet space is essential to promote “data free flow with trust”.
Subtheme

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

 Starting with "Osaka Track" that was launched on the occasion of G20 Osaka Summit as well as agreeing on "data free flow with trust” at the Summit, 2019 was a year in which the importance of trusts in the digital economy was reaffirmed at the leaders’ level.

 The Internet space is the foundation of the digitalized activities in society and economy. In order to strengthen inclusive and sustainable development, it is critical to maintain the free, open and secure Internet space where the maximum benefits of innovation are realized. Therefore, Fostering “trust” in the Internet space is essential to promote “data free flow with trust”.

 The session will discuss the flowing points:

 -  How should we foster trust in the Internet space?

 -  How can we collect and accumulate good practices on promoting trust in the Internet space?

 -  What is the role of IGF as a place for stock taking on the good practices?

 

Organizers

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan

Speakers

■Opening Remarks

Mr.  Shintani Masayoshi, State Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, the Government of Japan

■Keynote speaker

Dr. Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google

■Panelist

- Prof. Jun Murai, Keio University

- Mr. Lacina Koné, Director-General, Smart Africa

- Ms. Rinalia Abdul Rahim, Senior Vice President, Strategy, Communications and Engagement, Internet Society

- Dr. Rudolf Gridl, Head of Division VIA5, Internet Governance and International Digital Dialogue, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, the Government of Germany (the host country of IGF2019)

- Ms. Timea SUTO, ICC Business Action to Support the Information Society (BASIS) 

 

Onsite Moderator

Yoichi IIDA, Deputy Director-General for G7, G20 Relations, Ministry of Internal affairs an Communications, Japan

Online Moderator

TBD

Rapporteur

TBD

SDGs

GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

1. Key Policy Questions and related issues
How should we foster trust in the Internet space?
How can we collect and accumulate good practices on promoting trust in the Internet space?
What is the role of IGF as a place for stock taking on the good practices?
6. Final Speakers

■Opening Remarks

Mr.  Shintani Masayoshi, State Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, the Government of Japan

■Keynote speaker

Dr. Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google

■Panelist

- Prof. Jun Murai, Keio University

- Mr. Lacina Koné, Director-General, Smart Africa

- Ms. Rinalia Abdul Rahim, Senior Vice President, Strategy, Communications and Engagement, Internet Society

- Dr. Rudolf Gridl, Head of Division VIA5, Internet Governance and International Digital Dialogue, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, the Government of Germany (the host country of IGF2019)

- Ms. Timea SUTO, ICC Business Action to Support the Information Society (BASIS) 

IGF 2020 OF #28 Swiss Open Forum on Self-Determination in the Digital Space

Time
Friday, 6th November, 2020 (10:50 UTC) - Friday, 6th November, 2020 (11:50 UTC)
Room
Room 1
About this Session
During this session, members of the Swiss Digital Self-Determination network will present their work to enhance civic and economic participation in the digital space, based on the values of self-determination and will elaborate on concrete use cases to promote high-quality data spaces that allow reliable data exchange between all stakeholders. The session will also gather international inputs and views on this initiative, with a view of considering the development of an international network.
Subtheme

Round Table - U-shape - 60 Min

Description

The use of data is growing rapidly and has an impact on almost all areas of society. On the one hand, data enables the development of new, innovative services and enhance efficiency in the private and public spheres. On the other hand, the increasing concentration of data in large technology firms or in governments creates certain risks and dependencies - both for individuals and companies, but also for the general public. The question arises how can the rights of individuals in the digital space be guaranteed, while at the same time enable the use of data for the benefit of the economy and the society?

Against this background and in the framework of the Swiss Federal Council’s “Digital Switzerland Strategy”, the network “Digital Self-Determination” was formed in 2019. It consists of committed actors from all stakeholder groups in Switzerland who aim to promote a digital ecosystem, where individuals can actively participate and use their data to support political, social or economic projects.

During this Open Forum, members of the “Digital Self-Determination” network will present their work to enhance the civic and economic participation in the digital space, based on the values of individual self-determination and will elaborate on concrete use cases (in particular energy and health/Covid-19 crisis) to promote high-quality data spaces that allow reliable data exchange between all stakeholders. The Open Forum will provide sufficient time for an open discussion and questions.

Furthermore, the session also has the purpose of gathering international inputs and views on this initiative, with a view of considering the development of an international network.

Agenda: 

1. Welcome by moderator

2. Swiss national network

  • General overview & vision: 

    • Ambassador Roger Dubach, Deputy Director of the Directorate of International Law, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), Switzerland, confirmed
  • Concrete use cases: 
    • Energy: Matthias Galus, Swiss Federal Office of Energy, confirmed
    • Fundamental rights in the health use case: Kerstin Vokinger, University of Zurich, confirmed

3. Comments from an international perspektive 

  • Mark Findlay, Singapore Management University, confirmed
  • Marco-Alexander Breit, German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, confirmed
  • Anriette Esterhuysen, Chair of the IGF Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Group, confirmed
  • Urs Gasser, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, confirmed

4. Comments and questions from participants

5. Wrap-up & next steps 

  • Ambassador Thomas Schneider, Director of International Relations, Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), Switzerland, confirmed
Organizers

Livia Walpen, Federal Office of Communications, Switzerland
Dominique Keller, Directorate of International Law, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland

Onsite Moderator

Andrin Eichin, Swiss Federal Office of Communications

Online Moderator

Livia Walpen, Swiss Federal Office of Communications

Rapporteur

Dominique Keller, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

SDGs

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-Being
GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 13: Climate Action

1. Key Policy Questions and related issues
Our new digital reality challenges the way we understand and exercise our fundamental rights and liberties. On the one hand, the rapid growth of the use of data enables the development of new, innovative services and enhance efficiency in the private and public sphere. On the other hand, the increasing concentration of data in large technology firms or in governments creates certain risks and dependencies. To address these issues and to make self-determined decisions, it is of outmost importance – especially in a democratic society – that citizens have access to data, understand its value as well as the impact it can have on their life.
With the foregoing in mind, Switzerland is in the process of developing an approach which aims at allowing citizens, businesses and public bodies to actively participate in the development of the digital transformation: citizens should move away from passive users to self-determined, participants of digital reality, who can create and shape their own digital-environment. In order for citizens to intentionally take control of their data and benefit from data and its added value, new structures and trustworthy data spaces are needed to enable this effective participation. This includes – amongst others – a shift in perception of self-determination as a defensive property right towards a right to choose and participate.
2. Summary of Issues Discussed

Digital self-determination is a human-centered and rule-based concept that aims to encourage citizens to become active as co-creators of their digital environment. One of the issues discussed was the relation between digital self-determination and digital sovereignty. While digital self-determination concerns the actor (individual, company, public cooperation), digital sovereignty relates to the question of infrastructure. Access to the digital infrastructure (clouds, hardware, etc.) on a national or international level is a prerequisite for the exercise of digital self-determination. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that suitable and high quality infrastructures and platforms are established, which are widely accessible, not only in highly developed industrial states, but also in developing countries.

Another issue discussed was the relation between regulation and innovation and the right balance thereof. It was stated that too much regulation eliminates the competition that is essential for the development of high quality products (infrastructures) as mentioned above. However, the aspect of social inequality and structural discrimination was also emphasized. It is important to design data rooms in an inclusive and fair manner in order to allow equal participation and access.

The discussion then lead to the question of which data can be seen as resources (“data as the new oil” vs. “data as the new air”). Data can be seen as a resource of its own kind: their existence is global, they are of a high instrumental value and they can be used in various manners. For the view of data being a resource sui generis speaks the fact that they cannot be consumed. On the contrary: the value of data increases the more it is shared. In this context, the great value of data sharing was pointed out.

Finally, the aspect of digital self-determination in developing countries was mentioned, where the perspective is a different one, but where strengthening local and regional initiatives is even more important. It was emphasized that the further development of digital self-determination must be considered in the context of human rights.

3. Key Takeaways

 

The concept of digital self-determination has multiple dimensions:

Ø    Digital self-determination as a defensive property right and as  a right to choose in the digital space

Ø    Digital self-determination as an individual as well as a collective right

Ø    Digital self-determination between human empowerment (“digital citizenship” and questions about infrastructure

Ø    Digital self-determination between control over data and self-determined data sharing 

Ø    Digital self-determination concerning personal data and/or data in general

 

IGF 2020 OF #29 Global Encryption Coalition

Time
Friday, 6th November, 2020 (17:10 UTC) - Friday, 6th November, 2020 (18:10 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
Session on the Global Encryption Coalition and the global encryption debate around the world - what's at stake and what we can do about it.
Subtheme

Other - 60 Min
Format description: Interactive presentation. Presentation and then active engagement with participants to get feedback and discuss applications of the framework. Other speakers may be included to discuss their own case studies using the framework.

Description

Encryption safeguards the personal security of billions of people and the national security of countries around the world. In the wake of COVID-19, this protection is more important than ever, with greater amounts of commerce, health, and everyday activities taking place digitally.

However, some are pushing to weaken encryption, which would create a dangerous precedent that compromises the security of billions of people around the world. In the last year, we’ve seen several governments pursue policies or legislation which would weaken the use of strong encryption.

Actions in one country that undermine encryption threaten us all.

In May of 2020, the Internet Society (ISOC), Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), and Global Partners Digital (GPD) launched the Global Encryption Coalition. The Global Encryption Coalition promotes and defends encryption in key countries and multilateral gatherings where it is under threat. It also supports efforts by companies to offer encrypted services to their users.

In this session, participants will hear about global trends in the encryption debate, lessons learned from other stakeholders on their own encryption advocacy experiences, and more on the Global Encryption Coalition.

Agenda

  • Opening remarks

    • 2020 trends in the encryption debate (ISOC)
    • The Global Encryption Coalition (GPD)
  • Global Encryption Coalition Members Panel (Moderated by GPD)
    • Why does the encryption debate matter to them?
    • Success stories & lessons learned
  • Q&A

For more information about the Global Encryption Coalition see: https://www.globalencryption.org/

 

Organizers

Internet Society

Center for Democracy and Technology

Global Partners Digital

Speakers

Natalie Campbell, Director, Community Organizing and Public Advocacy, Internet Society

Mishi Choudry, Legal Director and Founder of Software Freedom Law Center and Founder SFLC.in

Michele Neylon, Owner & CEO, Blacknight Solutions

Greg Nojeim, Senior Counsel and Director, Freedom, Security and Technology Project, Center for Democracy and Technology

Ryan Polk, Senior Policy Advisor, Internet Society

Courtney Radsch, PhD, Advocacy Director, Committee to Protect Journalists

Onsite Moderator

Greg Nojeim

Online Moderator

Sheetal Kumar

Rapporteur

Ryan Polk

SDGs

GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

IGF 2020 OF #30 Human rights and the use of AI in the field of health

Time
Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (17:40 UTC) - Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (18:40 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
The area of health is considered an important field for use of AI, but has also stirred many human rights discussions. Medical data and online apps can support improved health outcomes. But they might also exacerbate inequalities and erode privacy. Such concerns became more visible amidst discussions around the use of online data to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. This session addresses discusses how AI can be best used in the area of health and how governments should respond to the challenges.
Subtheme

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

The increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) based systems, often based on data collected over the internet, has stirred many human rights discussions. In particular in Europe, political processes have started to look further into the regulation of AI. The area of health is considered an important field for the development and use of AI. Medical data and online applications have the potential to support improved health outcomes and – as a result – wider socio-economic benefits by enhancing our ability to predict and diagnose diseases and track their spread. But they also run the risk of exacerbating existing inequalities and eroding privacy.

Privacy, non-discrimination and human dignity are just a few examples of the fundamental human rights put at risk by the development of online apps to track health or infection. Such concerns became ever more visible amidst discussions around the use of (online) data to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

While medical data are a crucial component of healthcare research, the current digital landscape may be ill-equipped to accommodate global cooperation mechanisms and exchange health data on such a large scale. As the development of AI systems progresses, they demand ever more sensitive personal data to train their algorithms. Data collected over the internet might suffer from a strong selection bias by covering only parts of the population with access to the internet and willing to share their data. This raises questions about the quality of data used for health-related AI systems, particularly in such data is gathered from the internet, mobile phones or inputted by the general public rather than medical specialists.

This open forum addresses the following questions: • How should governments further regulate the use of AI in high-risk areas, such as health? Would different standards be needed for different applications e.g. diagnostics vs tracking infection? • How can we maintain privacy while encouraging innovative solutions to promote and protect public health? How can informed consent be guaranteed when health related data are collected and used over smart phones? • What safeguards are needed to make sure that the principle of non-discrimination is upheld? • How can we ensure that AI applications are trained on accurate and reliable data?

Organizers

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
Council of Europe

Speakers

Martha Stickings, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

Ritva Halila, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland and member of Council of Europe Bioethics Committee

Andreas Reis, World Health Organization (WHO)

Oliver Smith, Koa Health

Katarzyna Szymielewicz, Panoptykon Foundation, European Digital Rights (EDRi)

Onsite Moderator

Martha Stickings

Online Moderator

David Reichel

Rapporteur

David Reichel

SDGs

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-Being
GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

IGF 2020 OF #31 Safe digital spaces, a dialogue on countering cyberviolence

Time
Wednesday, 4th November, 2020 (17:50 UTC) - Wednesday, 4th November, 2020 (18:50 UTC)
Room
Room 3
About this Session
-
Subtheme

Round Table - U-shape - 60 Min

Description

The Internet has the potential to open up new pathways to women’s socio-political and economic empowerment. But as Sir Tim Berners Lee highlighted in an open letter issued on the 31st birthday of the Web in March 2020, the web is not working for women and girls today. Physical and sexual threats of violence, sexist or misogynistic comments towards women – often focusing on women’s physical appearance – as well as privacy concerns like sharing intimate or sexual images of a woman without her consent are rampant online. Women with multiple and intersecting identities are at heightened risk of online abuse and disproportionately affected because the abuse often targets their different identities. UN Women, Web Foundation and IT for Change envision this Open Forum as a dialogue for shared reflection between tech companies and civil society organisations on creating a multi-stakeholder strategy to counter online gender-based violence, accounting for its diverse forms and manifestations across contexts. 

This roundtable will inform and contribute to multi-stakeholder consultative dialogues led by the Web Foundation and UN Women to develop concrete solutions to address intersectional online gender-based violence across platforms from a technological and policy perspective. This will also contribute to the development of the Generation Equality Action Coalition on Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality, to be launched in 2021

Organizers

UN Women - Hélène Molinier
Web Foundation - Eve Kraicer
IT for Change - Nandini Chami

Speakers
  • Chenai Chair, Web Foundation (Moderator)
  • Helene Molinier, Senior Manager for the Action Coalition on Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality at UN Women
  • Bhavna Jha, IT for Change
  • Marwa Azelmat, APC
  • Mariana Valente, InternetLab
  • Cindy Southworth, Facebook
Onsite Moderator

Chenai Chair, Web Foundation

Online Moderator

Eve Kraicer, Web Foundation

Rapporteur

Eve Kraicer, Web Foundation

SDGs

GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

1. Key Policy Questions and related issues
In what ways can feminist framings help us understand why the online space is unsafe and how best can the framing be used in developing policy and regulation?
What kind of research methodologies and practices do we need to undertake to create meaningful, intersectional and evidence-based policy interventions for tackling OGBV?
What role do individuals, private companies, and governments play when it comes to identifying, preventing, and responding to online abuse?
2. Summary of Issues Discussed

Broad areas of agreement: 

  • Tech companies, governments and civil society must work together through multi stakeholder initiatives to tackle online gender based violence
  • Responses to OGBV must consider local context 
  • Responses to OGBV must consider how women with multiple and intersecting identities experience online violence
  • Online and offline violence are connected
  • OGBV is not an individual issue, but one of structural power 
  • OGBV leads to violations of women’s rights online including the right to freedom of expression, association and assembly

Areas needing further discussion:

  • The role of machine learning in tackling OGBV

    • Machine learning can allow for quick removal of harmful content, and can get better and better as more people report abusive content. Those reports contribute to the ML training set
    • Machine learning can risk amplifying or reinforcing bias, and lacks contextual understandings. It must be used in conjunction with other forms of moderation, and maintain a human-centered approach. 
  • The intersection of legal interventions and OGBV
    • Many legal frameworks have gaps on issues of online abuse; laws either do not mention it at all, or fail to adequately extend existing related offline legislation to online cases
3. Key Takeaways

This Open Forum served as a dialogue for shared reflection between tech companies and civil society organisations on creating multi-stakeholder approaches to counter online gender-based violence, accounting for its diverse forms and manifestations across contexts. During the panel, we gathered specific evidence and insights from women’s rights and digital rights organisations, as well as tech companies and IGOs on their approaches to tackling online gender-based violence. 

What emerged across many panellists’ remarks was the importance of collaborative product and policy development between the tech companies, CSOs and governments. In particular, the need for tech companies and governments to learn from grassroot CSOs in order to build concrete solutions to online abuse was highlighted. This can help build more localised, effective models of content moderation and reporting flows. 

While collaborative processes between CSOs, technology companies and IGOs do exist including through the Generation Equality Action Coalition on Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality and the Web Foundation’s consultation and policy design workshop series -- there is a need for more initiatives that work across sectors. 

As one panellist pointed out, there is no silver bullet to develop technology that is safe for everyone, everywhere. But co-creation and co-design between different stakeholders will help bring gender considerations into the innovation cycle.

6. Final Speakers
  • Chenai Chair, Web Foundation (Moderator)
  • Marwa Azelmat, APC
  • Cindy Southworth, Facebook
  • Bhavna Jha, IT for Change
  • Helene Molinier, UN Women
  • Mariana Valente, InternetLab
7. Reflection to Gender Issues

Gender, and in particular online gender-based violence, formed the central theme of this open forum. During the session, our panellists discussed how online gender-based violence – including doxxing, surveillance, stalking and abuse – creates hostile spaces online for women and girls. Critically, the session focused on building policy interventions  for those who experience intersectional gender discrimination due to their race, ethnicity, caste, sexual orientation, or other identities.

8. Session Outputs

Following from the session, the Web Foundation hosted its third consultation on cnline gender-based violence and abuse. Drawing on insights from the panel, the session brought together tech companies, civil scoiety organisations and owmen in public life to tackle the issue. A writeup of key takeways can be found here

10. Voluntary Commitment

The Web Foundation commits to pursuing our work convening civil society organisations and tech companies to co-create solutions to OGBV. In addition we commit to support the documentation of experiences of challenges to online safety through our research and share the findings with the IGF community.

IGF 2020 OF #32 Trustworthy internet technologies against COVID-19

Time
Friday, 6th November, 2020 (08:00 UTC) - Friday, 6th November, 2020 (09:00 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
Technology has played a key role in the COVID-19 global health crisis outbreak and it will play an even more important role in supporting countries and citizens to overcome the crisis. This session will look at how effective technology-based measures have been in tackling the spread of the virus; how they have ensured the respect of laws and fundamental rights; and what lessons can be learned for the development of trustworthy internet technologies and their use for public policy purposes
Subtheme
Issue(s)

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

The public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented global challenge to health care systems and our way of life. Digital technologies have played an important role since the beginning of the crisis outbreak and they will play an even more important role in supporting countries and citizens to manage and overcome the crisis. In response to this emergency outbreak, the European Commission has taken a series of initiatives to coordinate a common European approach for the use of mobile applications and mobile data in the context of the coronavirus crisis. The European Commission adopted a Recommendation to support Member States in exiting the COVID-19 crisis and supported European Member States in preparing and implementing a common European Toolbox for the use of mobile applications for contact tracing and warning. These instruments were flexible and agile enough to allow the European Union to promptly react and adapt its response to the emergency. Starting from the COVID-19 crisis experience, this open forum aims at discussing how technologies can play a role in a global health crisis and yet continue to respect human rights and enact principles and values such as privacy, trust, openness, transparency, decentralisation, user control and inclusiveness. The session will look at how effective technology-based measures taken in different countries and regions in the world have been in tackling the spread of the virus; how they have ensured the respect of laws and fundamental rights; and what lessons can be learned for the development of trustworthy internet technologies and their use for public policy purposes. The European Commission has also funded several projects developing technologies and apps to fight the COVID-19 outbreak, notably in the context of the Next Generation Internet (NGI) programme. The open forum will be the occasion to present to the audience concrete projects, also from Asia, and to reflect on lessons learnt and way forward.

Organizers

European Commission

Speakers

Gemma Carolillo - Deputy Head of Unit, Next-Generation Internet, DG CNECT

Dirk-Willem van Gulik - Special advisor to NL government for COVID-19 tracing apps

Dr. Huang Yen-Nun Director for Research Center for Information Technology Innovation (CITI),  Academia Sinica, Taiwan and Hong-Wei Jyan - Director General, Department of Cyber Security of Taiwan, responsible for the development of the apps on COVID-19 

Jelena Malinina - Digital health, policy officer at  BEUC, the European consumer organisation

Onsite Moderator

Giovanni Rimassa, Martel Media

Online Moderator

Esteve Sanz, European Commission

Rapporteur

Esteve Sanz, European Commission

SDGs

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-Being
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

1. Key Policy Questions and related issues
How can contact tracing apps and covid-related technologies be trustworthy and respects fundamental rights?
How can it be ensured that all key information on app development is publicly available?
How can it be ensured that the technology is user-friendly to people with different technical and physical abilities?
2. Summary of Issues Discussed

Early on in the European Commission’s (EC) response to this emergency outbreak, it adopted a Recommendation to support Member States in exiting the COVID-19 crisis and supported European Member States in preparing and implementing a common European Toolbox for the use of mobile applications for contact tracing and warning. The discussion at the IGF open session focussed on guiding principles, including that apps should be voluntarily installed and that the information provided voluntarily; they should be effective, without tracking people’s movements; data should not be stored longer than 14 days, a retention period which corresponds to the contagion period. Discussion of principles also covered the preservation of privacy of the users and interoperability, which is important as  the disease does not know national boundaries.

 

3. Key Takeaways

Developing a trust framework is essential for the uptake of digital technologies, in particular when they are meant to be used in areas like healthcare. Form the recent experience, providing solutions that increase transparency is important. For example the Tech Review Facility, launched by the EC with some members of the Next Generation Internet (NGI) community, provides independent security and privacy analysis of COVID-19 related technology. The team performs testing and provides advice on the development of contact tracing apps based on security, privacy, accessibility and compliance with legal requirements. Through the platform there is also a drive to stimulate use of open source and gather feedback from the community of experts.

In the Netherlands,  tracing app ‘CoronaMelder’ has been installed by nearly 5 million people. Through public surveys, it was found that people trust the app because of the open-source and transparent development. Due to public concern around privacy, the app had to be built in with a ‘privacy by design’ concept with a decentralised and collaborative approach, design is now available for further applications.

Not all countries are conducting an open and inclusive approach to app development. Trust is essential for the adoption of contact tracing apps, or people will not opt in. Transparency is critical to show how the technology is made, but it is important this information is publicly available for non-experts. 

It is important for everyone to access Covid-19 contact tracing apps, thus accessibility and inclusiveness must be addressed as well.

6. Final Speakers
  • Mrs Gemma Carolillo, Deputy Head of the Next Generation Internet Unit at the European Commission
  • Mr Dirk-Willem van Gulik, Consulting Expert at the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport on the corona crisis response
  • Mrs Jelena Malinina, Digital Health Policy Officer at the European Consumer Organisation
  • Dr Yen-Nun Huang, Director for Research Center for Information Technology Innovation (CITI), Academia Sinica, Taiwan, and Mr Hong-wei Jyan, Director General of Department of Cyber Security, Executive Yuan. Taiwan
  • MODERATOR: Dr Giovanni Rimassa, Chief Innovation Officer, Martel Innovate
7. Reflection to Gender Issues

Digital health must address the needs of all people and be accessible to all. For certain national contact tracing apps, testing was performed with people with different skills and ability. Jelena Malinina, Policy Officer The European Consumer Organisation said: “There is no such thing as an average person. We are a society and there are different citizens and consumers with very different needs, capacity, values and goals when it comes to use of any kind of digital health tools. We insist that digital health solutions including COVID-19 contact tracing apps must correspond to a variety of user preferences.”
 

8. Session Outputs
  • NGI supported applications for human centric tech in times of crisis: https:/www.ngi.eu/blog/2020/04/03/next-generation-internet-human-centric-tech-in-times-of-crisis/
  • EC Tech Review Facility: https://www.ngi.eu/news/2020/07/21/introducing-reviewfacilityeu/
  • The Netherlands national Covid-19 tracing app ‘CoronaMelder’, which has been installed by nearly 5 million people https://coronamelder.nl/en/
  • Being a relatively small island, Taiwan has focused on tracing potential cases at the border and gathering grass-roots participation from citizens. For border control, there is collaboration with the Telecommunications industry and several state institutions to monitor quarantines. The information is not stored after the end of the person’s quarantine period. The central command centre has a visualisation of the isolation types as well as any travelers who avoid quarantine. This is visible only to the centre and the police and is not publicly available. The system has high security standards. Although a contact-tracing app has been developed ouside the Google/Apple system, it is not in use as cases are very low. However, if the Covid-19 situation persists, it may be deployed at the end of the year.
  • EXSCALATE is operational at the Italian Supercomputer in CINECA, analysing COVID-19 proteins based on data available from the scientific community in order to accelerate the search of an effective therapy against the pandemic virus: https://www.cineca.it/en/hot-topics/supercomputer-vs-coronavirus
9. Group Photo
IGF 2020 OF #32 Trustworthy internet technologies against COVID-19

IGF 2020 OF #33 WSIS Action Lines achieving the SDGs: WSIS Forum 2021 OCP

Time
Friday, 6th November, 2020 (09:10 UTC) - Friday, 6th November, 2020 (10:10 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
The WSIS Forum 2021 Open Consultation process (OCP) aims at ensuring a participatory and inclusive spirit of the Forum. This process actively engages multistakeholders in the preparatory process to ensure broad ownership and further improvements of the Forum. The Open Consultation Process will include a collection of inputs from regional and national WSIS related events and therefore work towards shaping the Themes and Format of WSIS Forum 2021. New open calls will be described and promoted.
Subtheme

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

WSIS Forum 2021: Open Consultation Process

17-21 May 2021

www.wsis.org/forum

Keywords: #InformationSociety #development #ICT4SDG #multistakeholder #inclusive #crowdsourced #stocktaking #prizes #HighLevel #GrassRoot #accessibility #gender #OlderPersons #youth #sports #space #infrastructure #access #CapacityBuilding #cybersecurity #regulation #eGovernment #eBusiness #eHealth #eEmployment #eEnvironment #eAgriculture #eLearning #eScience #CulturalDiversity #media #ethics #cooperation #partnership

The year 2020 has marked 15 years since the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum summit held in Tunisia, demonstrating that the foundations of a “just and equal information society” set by the Geneva Plan of Action in 2003 are still crucial to all WSIS stakeholders.

WSIS Forum represents the world's largest annual gathering of the ‘ICT for development’ community, and is co-organized by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD, in close collaboration with all WSIS Action Line Facilitators/co-facilitators.

Following 15,000 accumulative participants attending the fully virtual WSIS Forum 2020, we are expecting thousands of information and communication technology (ICT) experts from around the globe to assemble the 2021 annual event and to discuss advancing technological solutions to meet the challenges of sustainable development.

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2021 will serve as platform to discuss a range of compelling sessions on everything from building vibrant ICT-centric ecosystems to disaster risk reduction to machine learning for 5G systems.

With diverse stakeholders from around the world, the WSIS Forum brings together global commitments to create and maintain an information society that brings benefits to everyone, everywhere. And this year includes increased focus on how to leverage the power of ICTs to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The WSIS Forum has proven to be an efficient medium for coordination of multistakeholder implementation activities, information exchange, creation of knowledge, sharing of best practices and continues to provide assistance in developing multistakeholder and public/private partnerships to advance development goals.

The WSIS Stocktaking Database and the WSIS Prizes show what this multistakeholder effort can achieve on the ground in practical terms. New Calls for Submission for WSIS Stocktaking 2021 Report and WSIS Prizes 2021 contest will be presented. Additionally, the ongoing call for submissions to the Coronavirus (COVID19) Response - ICT Case Repository will be promoted.

The annual WSIS Forum hosts two days of high-level dialogues and policy statements, more than 200 specialized workshops and interactive exhibitions, annual awards WSIS Prizes, inspiring WSIS TalkX, international hackathon, various exhibitions and several special tracks focused on: o Virtual Reality for SDGs o ICTs and Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities and Specific Needs o Gender Mainstreaming o Innovation for SDGs o ICTs and Sports o ICTs and Youth o ICTs for Older Persons

The WSIS Forum is the only event of its kind where the programme and agenda are completely crowdsourced and build during the open consultation process. Involving all WSIS Stakeholders (governments, civil society, private sector entities, academia and international organizations), this process aims to ensure a participatory and inclusive spirit of the Forum.

The WSIS Forum 2021 is scheduled to be held from 17 to 21 May 2021. The inputs received during this meeting will be integrated in the outcomes of the Open Consultation Process.

Organizers

International Telecommunication Union
ITU, UNESCO, UNCTAD, UNDP

Speakers

Opening Remarks:

  • Mr. Catalin Marinescu, Head of Strategic Planning Division, SPM, ITU
  • Mr. Joe Hironaka, Programme Specialist, UNESCO 
  • Ms. Scarlett Fondeur Gil, Economic Affairs Officer, UNCTAD
  • Ms. Minerva Novero-Belec, Policy Specialist, UNDP

Moderators and Presenters:

Ms. Gitanjali Sah, Strategy and Policy Coordinator, ITU, and Mr. Vladimir Stankovic, Program Officer, ITU

Onsite Moderator

Gitanjali Sah, ITU

Online Moderator

Vladimir Stankovic, ITU

Rapporteur

Vladimir Stankovic, ITU

SDGs

GOAL 1: No Poverty
GOAL 2: Zero Hunger
GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-Being
GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
GOAL 12: Responsible Production and Consumption
GOAL 13: Climate Action
GOAL 14: Life Below Water
GOAL 15: Life on Land
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

IGF 2020 OF #34 Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE)

Time
Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (19:20 UTC) - Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (20:20 UTC)
Room
Room 1
About this Session
The Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) - increasing trust through building capacity. This Open Forum will present the efforts of the GFCE and its constituent members as a global platform for the coordination of cyber capacity building.
Subtheme

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

Session Description:

The Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) is a multi-stakeholder platform that aims to strengthen cyber capacity and expertise globally through promoting international collaboration, increasing awareness and reducing duplication of cyber capacity building efforts. As the main coordinating platform for cyber capacity building, the GFCE connects needs, resources and expertise whilst making practical knowledge available to the global community.

During the first part of this Open Forum, President of the GFCE Foundation Board Mr. Christopher Painter will introduce the GFCE to participants and outline the roadmap that the community will follow over the coming years.

This year is an important milestone for the GFCE as it celebrates its 5th anniversary. Panelists will describe the various tools and means of cooperation developed by the GFCE community over the past years, looking at the impact that the GFCE has had and how these tools can be utilized in achieving the GFCE’s long-term goal of strengthening cyber capacity and expertise globally through international collaboration.

The last part of this webinar will discuss more in depth future projects that the GFCE will be implementing, outlining how the GFCE aims to ensure that cyber capacity building incorporates a regional focus with a clear target of addressing widening capacity gaps related to cybersecurity.

The session will round off with a Q&A, with the audience able to ask questions to panelists.

 

Agenda and Speakers:

  1. Welcome Remarks (5 mins)

Opening by Moderator

Ms. Joanna Kulesza, Assistant Professor of International Law and Internet Governance, University of Lodz

  1. Introduction to the GFCE (8 mins)

5th Anniversary and Plans for the Future

Mr. Christopher Painter, President GFCE Foundation Board

  1. Cybil Knowledge Portal (8 mins)

Bringing Together Knowledge on Cyber Capacity Building

Ms. Carolin Weisser Harris, Lead International Operations, Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre (GCSCC)

  1. GFCE Research Agenda (8 mins)

Addressing Existing Knowledge Gaps

Mr. Enrico Calandro, Co-Director C3 Southern Africa & Chair GFCE Research Committee

  1. GFCE and Matchmaking (8 mins)

Experiences of Senegal as a GFCE Member

Ms. Racky Seye Samb, Head of Office, Ministry of Digital Economy and Telecommunications, Senegal

  1. Model Cooperation for Cyber Capacity Building (8 mins)

The GFCE and AU – Cooperation Towards a Regional Focus on CCB

Mr. Moctar Yedaly, Head of Information Society Division, African Union Commission

  1. Q&A (15 mins)

Moderated discussion with panelists bringing in questions from audience

 

Organizers

The Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE)

Speakers

 

Ms. Joanna Kulesza, Assistant Professor of International Law and Internet Governance, University of Lodz (Moderator)

Mr. Christopher Painter, President GFCE Foundation Board

Ms. Carolin Weisser Harris, Lead International Operations, Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre (GCSCC)

Mr. Enrico Calandro, Co-Director C3 Southern Africa & Chair GFCE Research Committee

Ms. Racky Seye Samb, Head of Office, Ministry of Digital Economy and Telecommunications, Senegal

Mr. Moctar Yedaly, Head of Information Society Division, African Union Commission

Onsite Moderator

Elliot Mayhew

Online Moderator

Elliot Mayhew

Rapporteur

Elliot Mayhew

SDGs

GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

IGF 2020 OF #39 OECD – Policy responses from COVID19 and the digital economy

Time
Wednesday, 4th November, 2020 (17:10 UTC) - Wednesday, 4th November, 2020 (18:10 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
This Open Forum will report on the key messages from the OECD work on COVID-19 and the digital economy. It will also present some highlights from the upcoming OECD publication "Digital Economy Outlook 2020". Together with representatives of government, business, civil society and international organisations, it will foster a reflection on opportunities and challenges for the digital economy during and beyond COVID-19.
Subtheme

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

The OECD has been compiling data, analysis and recommendations on a range of topics to address the health, economic and societal crisis related to COVID-19 in order to facilitate co-ordination and contribute to the necessary global action. Beyond issues related directly to health, education and taxes, for example, the OECD has been providing specific guidance related to the effects on the digital economy, particularly in the areas of:

Ahead of immediate responses, the content that the OECD is producing in the area of digital economy also aims to provide analysis on the longer-term consequences and impacts, paving the way to recovery with co-ordinated policy responses across countries, with a specific focus on vulnerable sectors of society and the economy.

This Open Forum seeks to report on the key messages from the body of work produced in the OECD since April 2020 on the subject of COVID-19 and the digital economy and to foster a reflection on the lessons learned from this crisis, together with representatives of government, business, civil society and other international organisations.

The session will look into both opportunities and challenges for the digital economy during and beyond COVID-19, by addressing two main questions:

• In which way has COVID-19 acted as a catalyst for the digital transformation? • What are the digital economy divides, limitations and risks revealed by COVID-19?

Agenda

1. Setting the scene (5 minutes) - The moderator will explain the purpose of the Open Forum and introduce the panellists.

2. Opportunities and challenges for the digital economy during and beyond COVID-19 (35 minutes) - The moderator will invite panellists to answer the following questions: “In which way has COVID-19 acted as a catalyst for the digital transformation?” and “What are the digital economy divides, limitations and risks revealed by COVID-19?”

3. Questions and answers (15 minutes) - The moderator will open the floor for a section of questions and answers between the audience and panellists.

4. Wrap-up (5 minutes) – The moderator will summarise the main points and wrap up the discussions.

Organizers

OECD

Speakers
  • Ms Audrey Plonk, Head of Digital Economy Policy Division, OECD
  • Ms Carolina Botero, Representative of the Civil Society Information Society Advisory Council (CSISAC) to the OECD
  • Mr Bengt Molleryd, Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) and Chair of OECD’s working Party on Communication Infrastructure and Services Policy
  • Ms Carolyn Nguyen, Director of Technology Policy, Microsoft
  • Ms Golestan (Sally) Radwan, Minister Advisor for Artificial Intelligence, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology of Egypt
  • Mr Mark Uhrbach, Chief of Digital Economy Metrics at Statistics Canada and Chair of the OECD’s Working Party on Measurement and Analysis of the Digital Economy
  • Mr Yves Verhoeven, Deputy Director of Strategy at the National Cybersecurity Agency of France (ANSSI) and Chair of the OECD’s Working Party on Security in the Digital Economy
Onsite Moderator

Mr Yoichi Ida, Chair of the Committee on Digital Economy Policy (CDEP), Japanese Ministry of Internal affairs and Communication

Online Moderator

Lucia Russo, OECD

Rapporteur

Lucia Russo, OECD

SDGs

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-Being
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

1. Key Policy Questions and related issues
In which way has COVID-19 acted as a catalyst for the digital transformation?
What are the digital economy divides, limitations and risks revealed by COVID-19?
2. Summary of Issues Discussed

There was unanimous agreement that the COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst tor the digital transformation. All the participants also recognised that the crisis has starkly revealed existing and increasing digital divides that build on existing socio-economic and geographic divides.

The panellists stressed that while the crisis has accelerated the transformation (“two years of progress were achieved in two months”), the journey through the digital transformation is only at the beginning. The forthcoming OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2020 shows that despite the progress, there are divides still to be bridged in connectivity and effective use of the Internet, that digital security and privacy risks are increasing and that policy action is needed to shape an inclusive digital transformation.

Participants discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased online activities resulting from lockdowns and social distancing have put an unprecedented pressure on the networks. They also reported on the increased digital security risks, on the raised level of awareness of personal data protection among the population and on the use of Artifical Intelligence in healthcare. Participants reported on the government responses and on industry initiatives to meet the increasing connectivity demand, to raise awareness and preparedness for digital risks, and to adress the skills gaps.  Civil society also reported on the need to balance emergency measures with respect of human rights and democratic values, and to design the right system of checks when deploying technologies to monitor and contain the spread of the virus. 

3. Key Takeaways

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst, we are still at the beginning of our journey towards the digital transformation.

A holistic regulatory approach such as the Going Digital Integrated Policy framework is needed to accompany and shape the digital transformation.Policy makers need to identify, measure and adress the different digital divides linked to the use of digital technologies.

The COVID-19 crisis provides an urgent but real world context for many of the digital policy initiatives underway at the OECD, such as connectivity, digital security, privacy and data protection, artificial Intelligence and responsible data sharing.
 

 

6. Final Speakers

Moderator: Mr Yoichi Iida, Chair of the OECD Committee on Digital Economy Policy (CDEP), Japanese Ministry of Internal affairs and Communication

 Speakers:

  • Ms Audrey Plonk, Head of Digital Economy Policy Division, OECD
  • Ms Carolina Botero, Representative of the Civil Society Information Society Advisory Council (CSISAC) to the OECD
  • Mr Bengt Molleryd, Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) and Chair of OECD’s working Party on Communication Infrastructure and Services Policy
  • Ms Carolyn Nguyen, Director of Technology Policy, Microsoft
  • Ms Golestan (Sally) Radwan, Minister Advisor for Artificial Intelligence, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology of Egypt
  • Mr Mark Uhrbach, Chief of Digital Economy Metrics at Statistics Canada and Chair of the OECD’s Working Party on Measurement and Analysis of the Digital Economy
  • Mr Yves Verhoeven, Deputy Director of Strategy at the National Cybersecurity Agency of France (ANSSI) and Chair of the OECD’s Working Party on Security in the Digital Economy
7. Reflection to Gender Issues

Gender issues were reflected in the discussion by the points made on the emerging digival divides that are affecting some specific groups and that are building on existing divides. There was a call to ensure that those divides are adequately measured and addressed by policy makers. 

9. Group Photo
IGF 2020 OF #39 OECD – Policy responses from COVID19 and the digital economy

IGF 2020 OF #40 Multitude of initiatives, single objective: stability

Time
Friday, 6th November, 2020 (10:20 UTC) - Friday, 6th November, 2020 (11:20 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
Over the recent years, various stakeholders launched initiatives on cybersecurity. Such rise of initiatives will inevitably influence the security and stability of cyberspace not necessarily by competing against one another, but forming a joint effort.

This Open Forum will aim to be a platform to share information and develop common responses and find common denominators to build confidence among stakeholders, in order to contribute to the stability of cyberspace.

Subtheme

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

The Internet which has brought a global social-wellbeing, prosperity and economic growth is today threatened by the increased willingness of actors to undertake malicious cyber activities to pursue their objectives. The EU stresses the importance of a global, open, free, stable and secure cyberspace where human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law fully apply. Over the years, cyber issues in the context of international security have been discussed in a number of international fora. The multi-stakeholder community is looking ahead to further discussions on responsible normative behaviour in cyberspace. Over the recent years, several governmental, regional, private-sector and civil society led initiatives on cybersecurity have been launched already, and various stakeholders have shown their commitment to share responsibility and contribute to the advancement of security and stability in cyberspace in their respective roles. Such rise of initiatives will inevitably influence the security and stability of cyberspace not necessarily by competing against one another, but forming a joint effort. The EU intends to organize an Open Forum at the upcoming IGF in Katowice, Poland, on the joint efforts of all stakeholders in promoting "conflict prevention, cooperation and stability in cyberspace" It will allow to further assess the existing linkages between threat assessment, international law, responsible State behaviour, confidence building measures and capacity building, which all contribute to stability and trust in cyberspace. Each actor has different strengths and capacities. States and organizations that are developing their cyber capacity can be inspired by these initiatives and adapt them to their own needs. Furthermore, some of the most effective mechanisms for implementation are at the regional level – thus the participation of a representative from each sector and different region would be beneficial to present its specific efforts and challenges. This Open Forum will aim to be a platform as a cooperative measure to share information and develop common responses and common denominators to build confidence among governments and other stakeholders, in order to contribute to the stability of cyberspace.

Organizers

European External Action Service

Speakers

H.E Ambassador Tadeusz Chomicki, ambassador for Cyber and Tech Affairs, Poland

Ms Farlina Said, Analyst, Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Malaysia

Mr Siim Alatalu, Director, EU Cybernet

Mr Maarten Van Horenbeeck, Director, Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST)

Mr Jérôme Nicolaï, FSociety Team, Apps 4 Digital Peace Competition 1st Place winner

Onsite Moderator

Wiktor Staniecki

Online Moderator

Camille Gufflet

Rapporteur

Camille Gufflet

SDGs

GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

IGF 2020 OF #42 Personal Sovereignty: Digital Trust in the Algorithmic Age

Time
Friday, 6th November, 2020 (19:30 UTC) - Friday, 6th November, 2020 (20:30 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
This session will explore dimensions of the challenges and opportunities in identifying innovative approaches to promote and use technologies for sustainable development. It will address how the shared goal of sustainable development can be realized by harnessing technologies, while at the same time minimizing their disruptive and adverse effects.
Subtheme

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

In the wake of COVID-19 an erroneous dialogue has appeared in multiple governmental and global environments comparing the supposed tensions between privacy and protection in stemming the spread of the coronavirus disease. However, where it is assumed citizens need to give up location, biometric or medical data based on governmental or advertising based surveillance to combat the spread of COVID, key human rights may be violated as what is "best for society" to move beyond this crisis.

It is time for the advent of Personal Sovereignty -- when the digital environment serves to enhance human interests (of humans and their meaningful groupings). By creating tools for citizens, such as data governance frameworks and machine readable privacy terms for all, society can evolve the logic of a physical passport to a digital framework where people can be placed at the center of their data. Beginning with children to strengthen GDPR and Privacy by Design focused legislation, the creation of such tools allow individuals (or their caregivers) to better understand and influence the collection and use of their (or their children’s) data, as well as access and meaningfully curate and share their data as they choose. While people may still be tracked by advertising or government surveillance oriented tools, Personal Sovereignty provides all humans with their digital voice at an algorithmic level to face the future as empowered and proactive participants in digital democracy.

This proposed Open Forum session will provide an introduction to the mature and extended suite of currently available technologies, communities and standards that can be used to empower Personal Sovereignty to become ubiquitous in the age of the algorithm.

Citing examples from IEEE’s Digital Inclusion, Identity, Trust, and Agency program and many of IEEE’s volunteers, collaborators and contributing organizations to deal with COVID and beyond, and recommendations from The IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems, this session will also provide an introduction to current efforts regarding protecting children's data and creating trustworthy experiences. It will feature discussion on the nature of data, Artificial Intelligence and ethics, as well as provide insights into the human-side of broad data-collection, sharing and use, and consequences of failure to consider the diverse users. This session will feature an interactive Q&A among the lead discussants and the participants centering on trust to gain diverse perspectives on what the future of trust in the algorithmic age looks like.

Organizers

IEEE

Speakers

Mr. John Havens, IEEE

Ms. Moira Patterson, IEEE

Dr. Salma Abbasi, eWorldwide Group

Onsite Moderator

Moira Patterson, IEEE

Online Moderator

Constance Weise, IEEE

Rapporteur

Kristin Little, IEEE

SDGs

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-Being
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

1. Key Policy Questions and related issues
During Covid-19, we have seen how digital technologies have been a lifeline for many people in very different situations and around the world. What is your key message about personal sovereignty, digital identity, and data governance?
Do you see any changes that are needed in how we fundamentally approach technology development and think about solving problems?
What do you view as an important technology or development that you think will impact (and enable) personal sovereignty and our online / offline experiences?
2. Summary of Issues Discussed

Panelists agreed about:

 

  1. Data is a commodity and is generated and, therefore, owned by us, the individual. As such, we have to demand our rights. Trust has to be earned.
  2. Enforceable laws are needed, and the general public has to think about how it will give its data to companies. People need to know what is happening to their data, and governments need to protect the people. 
  3. The need for collective effort on the part of governments, the private sector, civil society, and the technical community to [achieve] personal sovereignty.
  4. Data must be seen and owned by us and used with our permission, supported by enforceable laws to help us. 
  5. Standards can play a critical role in scaling solutions; including in empowering people, in helping to create digital literacy frameworks, which help empower people with the necessary skills. 
  6. Human dignity needs to be at the core of our thinking whereby the technology should serve people's needs and their communities. 
  7. It is possible for companies to build customer trust within a model of data sovereignty. 
  8. Consumer data use that leaves out individuals who do not fit into set profiles is a concern. 
  9. IEEE and IGF are excellent fora in which to discuss the topic of child online protection.
3. Key Takeaways
  1. All actors, including governments, the private sector, the technical community, and civil society, must work together collaboratively to create tools for citizens, such as data governance frameworks and machine readable privacy terms for all, to place citizens at the center of their data and to empower them to advocate for their personal sovereignty.
  2. AI is being used to measure trends for business, but analysis of trends in health or trends in humanitarian issues will not happen unless driven by citizens. One such issue is child online protection, and the panelists agreed that IEEE and the IGF are excellent fora in which to discuss the topic.
  3. IEEE helps to educate about the crucial role of standards in helping to create these ecosystems and tools for citizens: Standards are building blocks that can make best practices more accessible to all actors in society. 
  4. Currently available technologies, along with related IEEE communities and standards, can be used to empower Personal Sovereignty to become ubiquitous in the age of the algorithm.
6. Final Speakers
  • John C. Havens, IEEE
  • Dr. Salma Abbasi, eWorldwide Group
  • Moira Patterson, IEEE
7. Reflection to Gender Issues

The IEEE Open Forum “Personal Sovereignty: Digital Trust in the Algorithmic Age” (#42) did not discuss gender issues as the focus was on digital trust and personal sovereignty. 

 

IGF 2020 OF #43 Fostering ICT to mitigate the aftermath of human tragedy

Time
Friday, 6th November, 2020 (18:20 UTC) - Friday, 6th November, 2020 (19:20 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
Report on the initiative by CGI.br on fostering ICT to mitigate the aftermath of human tragedy.
Subtheme

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

Entrepreneurship education fosters innovative talents, which are an essential driving force for future development. The practice of entrepreneurship benefits students and learners from different social and economic backgrounds because it teaches people to cultivate unique skills and think outside the box.

To foster the entrepreneurship culture among Brazilian college students, the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br, acronym in Portuguese), along with the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations, and Communications (MCTIC, acronym in Portuguese) launched a national training program named "Entrepreneurism with Web Technologies for Brumadinho." This program targets not only college students but also the inhabitants of Brumadinho (Minas Gerais, Brazil). In this city, a Vale's dam released a mudflow on 25 January 2019, killing 270 people as a result of the collapse.

The disaster had dire consequences to the environment since the dam failure released millions of cubic meters of tailings, which were incorporated into the river's soil. Moreover, to this date, Brumadinho faces economic sustainability challenges since many agricultural areas were affected or destroyed. Furthermore, the local market, as well the tourism, were impacted due to the damages. Thus, the overall goal of this program is not only to foster entrepreneurship but also to mitigate the aftermath of human tragedies, especially concerning Brumadinho.

After releasing a national public call for projects, we received 26 innovative project proposals. Ten reviewers from different backgrounds reviewed the project proposals and selected the best five. At the time of this writing, no project has kicked off. We briefly present the proposals in the following.

1) Brumadinho Open Data Lake & Analytics. The goal of this project is to create a technological framework that collects data from different authoritative sources such as the ones from Brazilian government agencies, gathers them in a single repository, and makes them publicly available for analysis. The solution architecture is based on the Live Exploration and Mining Of Non-trivial Amount of Data from Everywhere (LEMONADE) technology.

2) BrumadinhoCoin: An Environmental Supportive Coin. The goal of this project is to develop a virtual coin, employing Blockchain infrastructure, and an interactive app so that the population can collaborate with the monitoring of Brumadinho ecosystems.

3) The SuperAÇÃO Coletiva platform. This project's goal is to collect innovative project ideas from the women of Brumadinho, easing the fundraising process for executing such ideas. The platform should be shared among multiple stakeholders, including universities, public and private companies, and NFOs.

4) Alerta Brumadinho. A Technological Complaints Solution Against Environmental Crimes. This project's goal is to strengthen the local environmental monitoring communities. For this, a platform will be developed for environmental crime complaints. Its users will be able to file complaints, monitor them, and receive feedback.

5) Real-time Monitoring Systems of River's Water Quality. The goal of this project is to develop a low-cost prototype of a water quality monitoring station using Arduino/ESP. The station will monitor rivers' water quality and send the collected data through HTTP or MQTT for a geographical information system for analysis.

In the session, we intend to present the projects, discuss, and collect ideas on how the students can proceed.

Organizers

Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br)

Speakers

Jefferson de Oliveira Silva - Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br)

Marcos Cesar de Oliveira Pinto, Director for Innovation and Entrepreneurship policies

Onsite Moderator

Vagner Diniz (NIC.br)

Online Moderator

Beatriz Matos (NIC.br)

Rapporteur

Beatriz Corrales (NIC.br)

SDGs

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-Being
GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
GOAL 13: Climate Action

IGF 2020 OF #44 ICANN Open Forum - Technical Internet Governance

Time
Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (16:30 UTC) - Thursday, 5th November, 2020 (17:30 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
The Open Forum will address ICANN’s role in technical Internet governance and some of the threats that have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. The four panelists (ICANN’s CEO and President, the Chair of the ICANN Board and a Member of the ICANN Board and ICANN’s Chief Technology Officer) will make time to answer questions you might have.
Subtheme

Round Table - Circle - 60 Min

Description

ICANN proposes to host an Open Forum with a theme closely connected to the Security, Safety, Stability and Resilience of the Internet and thus linked with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): 9, 10, 16 and 17. While this Session will allow a significant opportunity for delegates to pose any questions to the ICANN CEO and President, as well as the Chair of the ICANN Board, the main focus will be on the concept of technical Internet governance and ICANN’s role. The Open Forum will also address the threats that have emerged recently as expressed in the Covid-19 pandemic. ICANN will address topics such as Domain Name Security Extensions (DNSSEC), the ICANN Domain Abuse Activity Reporting (DAAR) Project, DNS Abuse in the time of Covid -19 and other work ICANN conducts as part of its mission.

Organizers

ICANN
Kathryn A (Mandy) Carver, Senior Vice President for Government and Intergovernmental Organization (IGO) Engagement

Speakers

Maarten Botterman, ICANN Chairman of the Board of Directors

Göran Marby, ICANN CEO and President

Merike Käo, SSAC Liaison to the ICANN Board of Directors

David Conrad, SVP and Chief Technology Officer

 

 

Onsite Moderator

Kathryn A (Mandy) Carver

Online Moderator

Luna Madi

Rapporteur

Vera Major

SDGs

GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

1. Key Policy Questions and related issues
What is meant by Technical Internet Governance?
What is the distinction between Technical Internet Governance and Internet Governance?
What is ICANN’s position and role in Technical Internet Governance and Internet Governance?
2. Summary of Issues Discussed
  • Technical Internet Governance is focused on how the Internet operates, involving more than the technical competences relevant to ICANN.
  • A common goal of the technical community is to ensure that the Internet is singular, unified, interoperable as the next billion comes online, and to support and preserve continued innovation through the international multistakeholder model
  • No stakeholder can run the Internet alone, community participation in ICANN discussions and policy-making processes is key.
  • ICANN is technology-neutral and supports the bottom-up multistakeholder process informed by objective and unbiased data-driven analyses.
  • ICANN monitors proposed and new technologies, and how they would have an impact on the DNS and ICANN’s mission.
  • ICANN’s role is to clarify and position itself as a technical non-profit organisation and help legislators, policy makers and regulators understand how the Internet functions to ensure that the Internet continues to develop safely, securely and in a stable manner..
  • As discussions are taking place in new places and by actors previously not involved in ICANN, ICANN has broaden its engagement and helps decision-makers on all levels avoid triggering unanticipated consequences: in International Governmental Organization initiatives, Standardization bodies and regulatory initiatives at regional and nation levels.
  • Governments have already recognized the importance of the DNS and ICANN’s role through their active participation in the Government Advisory Committee (GAC) within ICANN. ICANN’s mission should be discussed there rather than in a UN setting.
  • Standardization of the Internet has to stay in the existing ecosystem based on a multistakeholder model, such as IETF.
  • ICANN has undertaken a key initiative this year, the DNS Security Facilitation Initiative Study Group. Its aim is to provide recommendations to the ICANN CEO and is made up of a number of cross-functional participants with technical expertise.
  • DNS stability and security involves a lot of cooperation, with a clear cross-functional multi-community participation.
3. Key Takeaways

In 300 words or less, what do you want high-level policy decision makers to know about what your session reached consensus on? Did you define a previously nebulous problem? Were your participants able to agree on a problem statement about a new issue? Did you agree on a way forward for the issue? Did you identify particular stakeholder groups that are affected by the issue or who should take the lead on the issue?

 

Technical Internet Governance is focused on how the Internet operates with the common goal of ensuring that the Internet remains singular, unified, interoperable, secure and resilient. Discussions and policy-making processes based on a multistakeholder model such as practiced within ICANN have allowed the Internet to evolve in an innovative manner. Legislators, regulators and policy-makers might not fully comprehend the implications of proposed legislations or of new standards, and new legislations or policies might have a negative impact on the technical functioning of the Internet. ICANN, a technical non-profit organization, aims to help and inform legislators, regulators, policy makers  and others understand how the Internet functions while staying technologically neutral.

ICANN supports the bottom-up approach of the multistakeholder model that allows participation cross-functionally and multi-community participation, including that of governments through the Governmental Advisory Committee. Discussions on governments’ public interest should continue taking place within the GAC, a recognized Advisory Body within the ICANN multistakeholder ecosystem. The DNS Security Facilitation Initiative Study Group also reflects this cross-functional approach to technical expertise intended to establish and promote best practices and facilitate communication between ecosystem participants.

6. Final Speakers
  • Maarten Botterman, ICANN Chairman of the Board of Directors
  • Göran Marby, ICANN CEO and President
  • Merike Käo, SSAC Liaison to the ICANN Board of Directors
  • David Conrad, SVP and Chief Technology Officer
  • Kathryn (Mandy) Carver, SVP Government and IGO Engagement
7. Reflection to Gender Issues

Gender-related issues were not addressed during this session.

8. Session Outputs

The takeaways from this session from the questions submitted, the comments in the chat and the follow up feedback through the IGF Website will assist ICANN in the refinement of our message about technical Internet governance. The feedback to the session will inform an ongoing dialog with the Internet ecosystem community about maintaining the interoperability of the global Internet

IGF 2020 OF #46 Beyond Personal Data: Literacy, Sovereignty and Rights

Time
Friday, 6th November, 2020 (12:00 UTC) - Friday, 6th November, 2020 (13:00 UTC)
Room
Room 1
About this Session
• Global convention for the implementation of Internet governance in order to promote global understanding and respect among countries.
• Acknowledgment of everybody’s right (personal data) being held and kept by various operators in the world, as part of globally acceptable personal data protection.
• Mutual benefits in digital economy ecosystem for both international and local participants.
Subtheme
Issue(s)

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

With the rapid development of digital transformation, every country develops their ICT Infrastructure, as a result, the Internet access is enjoyed by more and more people at almost every corner of the world. At the same time the applications and contents in the Internet are highly used by those who already have the access. In addition, Operators of these Applications and Contents are not necessarily based in the country, but can be anywhere in the world. Most of the operators will ask the users’ data, for various purposes. Some of these data might be personal data of the users. With the developments of cloud system, the operators might store all data in their possession at Data Centers anywhere in the world too.

It is worth noting that the Covid-19 pandemic, has even pushed the digital transformation further. Previously, many digital activities, including online meetings for example, were carried out mainly in order to have higher productivity and efficiency. Today, it is considered primarily to protect ourselves from Covid-19 virus infection. Anything else, including higher productivity, can follow afterwards.

With the increased problems of personal data leakage, hacking, or perhaps even sold personal data by the operators, the awareness of Personal Data protection is increasing significantly. This is followed by various regulations developed by various countries to protect their citizens’ personal data. EU’s famous GDPR for example, is studied across the globe including in Indonesia, which currently is preparing the country’s personal data Act.

With the above global developments as the background, the big theme of this open forum is taken as Beyond Personal Data: Literacy, Sovereignty and Rights. Two subjects will be discussed under this theme, i.e.:

 

1. Internet Governance:

This topic has been discussed since the first WSIS in 2003, followed by the study by the UN WGIG that was then presented in the second WSIS in 2005. It was from the discussion in 2005 that IGF was then formed.

Based on various discussion in this topic which have been carried out in several international meetings, then the first subject to be discussed in this Open Forum is to review the various crucial aspects of Internet Governance and the possibility to further develop a globally acceptable Internet Governance in order to protect important data, including personal data. Even the current global development such as the introduction of some nationwide INTRANet might be partly triggered by the plan to protect those data. If this development goes further, a single global network for Internet might be the thing of the past. Hence, a discussion on a globally acceptable Internet Governance is extremely necessary.

In this first subject, several aspects will be discussed further, including but not limited to response to these questions:

  1. With Schrems II decision, US Clean Network Executive Order, Internet policy seems to deviate from a one global Internet dream, what should we expect come out from such attitude to personal data protection? Should we be prepared with Internet division based on country’s sovereignty?
  2. Such policies often being justified to serve public interest and protect national security, but that is not often the case, so how the implementation of multi-stakeholder principle in Internet governance can help to balance the dominance of a stakeholder in creating Internet policies that hamper a one global Internet affecting cross-border data transfer?

 

2. Digital Economy Ecosystem:

There is a necessity to develop global digital economy and, at the same time, regulate the digital economic ecosystem ensuring the global development will benefit all countries equally. It has to be noted, that the operators of applications and content, while they are holding the users’ some personal data, are not necessarily in the users’ country. In addition, currently, data is considered the new oil, which means personal data is a highly valued asset. This asset however is also held by the operators.

It is imperative for every country to protect their national data as well as their citizen’s personal data in the Internet, which are held by the Applications and Content Operators. At the same time the country also needs to open their cyberspace internationally for digital economy development. It means that the data, while it might be circulated around the globe and handled by various operators, must be protected. Otherwise, countries that cannot protect their data might lose in the global digital economic development.

Due to these facts, this topic will discuss the following questions:

  1. What are the reactions from industries to the emergence of various digital policies that eventually increase compliance and operational cost? Some even sees that certain policies such as data localization and data transfer restriction are difficult to be implemented.
  2. Additionally, how the stakeholders guarantee exactly that Internet based digital economy development activities, especially with data it collects, could benefit countries with less technological advancement? These countries suffer from digital divide and technological gap which are still struggling economically and at the same time also need to protect their strategic data and their citizen’s personal data. Most of the benefits will be in the hand of those who hold the data.

 

Online Moderator:
•    
Suryo Adhi Wibowo, AICOMS, Telkom University
•    Co-moderator: Larasati Muslikhah Famarsari, AICOMS, Telkom University

Rapporteur:
•    Willy Anugrah Cahyadi, AICOMS, Telkom University
•    Co-rapporteur: Faisal Budiman, AICOMS, Telkom University

Overall Advisor During the Forum:
•    Bhredipta Socarana (ID-IGF)

Organizers
  • Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of the Republic of Indonesia
  • Indonesian Internet Governance Forum (ID-IGF)
  • AICOMS, Telkom University, Indonesia
Speakers
  • Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of the Republic of Indonesia
  • Edmon Chung, DotAsia, CEO
  • Arthit Suriyawongkul, Thai Netizen Network, Trinity College Dublin
Onsite Moderator

Bhredipta Socarana (ID-IGF)

Online Moderator

Suryo Adhi Wibowo, AICOMS, Telkom University

Rapporteur

Willy Anugrah Cahyadi, AICOMS, Telkom University

SDGs

GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

1. Key Policy Questions and related issues
No data sovereignty if user cannot choose where the data is placed
PDP multilateral agreement not yet available
Data flow borders still unclear
2. Summary of Issues Discussed

The keynotes speech by Mrs Mariam Barata, stresses the importance of the Internet in Indonesia; Moreover, ICT Infrastructure development should benefit the Science, Technology, and Industries in the country as well as the Digital economy.

The first speaker, Mr. Arthit Suriyawongkul, emphasized an interesting borrowed term of Four Freedoms from the European Single Market. Free movement of goods, capital, services, and person. We note how the pandemic from COVID19 influences the change of control over the parcel, payment, work/study from home, and the traveling/social life. We observe the transactions of personal data over these changes. They also influence the privacy of each person since the limit between work life and personal life is blurred.

These transactions also caused an increase in the number of borders for more control. Therefore, cross-border implications exist due to data-driven discriminations. It is worth noting that these implications cause consequences including privacy. The ultimate catch is how the existing data protection mechanism evolves to catch up with the new reality.

Further, Mr. Edmon Chung, the second speaker, added more to Arthit's presentation, regarding our online ID. User's own digital private spaces belong to the companies. Even personal data are distributed to advertisers. There was this interesting statement from Edmon, "Customers are not the users but the companies that pay for advertisements."

Related to these issues is related to privacy in the digital domain, data sovereignty means the user owns his/her data and fully control them. The issue of personal data is just one part of the things but the bigger issue is the privately owned public spaces.

3. Key Takeaways

1/ ICT infrastructures dev should give benefit to the country, societies, people

2/ All countries should work together for integrated secured internet, PDP and increasing the digital economy

3/ ASEAN countries can discuss this issue further in the next ASEAN TelMin meeting for concrete actions

6. Final Speakers

- Mariam Barata, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of the Republic of Indonesia
- Edmon Chung, DotAsia, CEO
- Arthit Suriyawongkul, Thai Netizen Network, Trinity College Dublin
- Ashwin Sasongko Sastrosubroto, Telkom University and MAG ID IGF

7. Reflection to Gender Issues

Not discussed specifically, since Data protection and Cybersecurity should be applied to people in general, regardless of their gender.

8. Session Outputs

Not available yet

9. Group Photo
IGF Open Forum Indonesia 2020
10. Voluntary Commitment

No commitment

IGF 2020 OF #49 Upholding Rights in the State-Business Nexus: C19 and beyond

Time
Friday, 6th November, 2020 (13:10 UTC) - Friday, 6th November, 2020 (14:10 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
This session will focus on strategies and practices to advance human rights when governments procure, license or form partnerships to make use of new digital technologies. In a context where contact tracing-apps are developed through public-private partnerships, States should take additional steps to protect against human rights abuses by business enterprises that receive substantial support and services from State agencies and where appropriate, require human rights due diligence.
Subtheme

Round Table - U-shape - 60 Min

Description

This session will focus on strategies and practices to advance international human rights standards when governments procure, license or form partnerships to make use of new digital technologies. The sudden and devastating onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic has galvanized governments, citizens and the private sector to develop responses and solutions to protect public health.  Technology has played an important role in these efforts – whether to, allow vulnerable and isolated individuals to stay connected to their families, sustain delivery of essential items, to advance medical research or to enable home working.  Governments and technology companies have closely worked together, sometimes being supported by emergency legal measures and also, to some degree, by a social license for such collaboration.

In a context where contact tracing-apps are developed through public-private partnerships, States should take additional steps to protect against human rights abuses by business enterprises that receive substantial support and services from State agencies, and in the case of contact tracing apps mostly from health authorities, and where appropriate, require human rights due diligence in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Indeed, given human rights risks linked to the use of contact tracing apps, “States should encourage and, where appropriate, require human rights due diligence by the agencies themselves and by those business enterprises or projects receiving their support. A requirement for human rights due diligence is most likely to be appropriate where the nature of business operations or operating contexts pose significant risk to human rights” (Commentary UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Principle 4).

 Companies developing new technology products and solutions to fight the spread of the virus, coupled with the rapid and extraordinary government requests for access to user data raises major human rights concerns and questions.

  • How do we protect privacy rights while using technology to address legitimate public health and safety issues?
  • How can we prevent that governments use data about their citizens for nefarious purposes? How do we manage the risk of discriminatory access to information and public health outcomes, or social stigmatization?
  • What is an approporiate timing for rolling back special measures with elevated human rights risks?
  • How does user data need to be governed to uphold purpose limitation (e.g. public health)?

This session will explore what policies, processes and accountability mechanisms will ensure States meet their human rights obligations and companies meet their Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights in the course of government requests, solution design, procurement/sales, contract negotiations and solution implementation.

Part One will spotlight urgent human rights concerns as well as positive practices related to public-private responses around the world to COVID-19. Part Two will chart a course for how to more strongly embed – for times of crisis and beyond – human rights protections into the “State-Business Nexus” consistent with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The session will also inform the next steps and deliverables of a key work-stream of the UN Human Rights B-Tech Project.

The session allows also to look beyond COVID-19 in recognition that, even before the current crisis, stakeholders across government, civil society and the private sector have raised alarms about the risk of public-private partnerships not being governed by a meaningful commitment to upholding human rights. 

Organizers

OHCHR B-Tech Project

Speakers
  • Gary Davis, Global Director of Privacy & Law Enforcement Requests, Apple 
  • Stephanie Hankey, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Tactical Tech
  • Philip Dawson, Lead Public Policy, Element AI
  • John Howell, Director, Human Rights Scrutiny, Australian Human Rights Commission
Onsite Moderator

Mark Hodge, Senior Adviser, B-Tech, OHCHR

Online Moderator

Mark Hodge, Senior Adviser, B-Tech, OHCHR

Rapporteur

TBC

SDGs

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-Being
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

IGF 2020 OF #50 Technology and Governance – opportunities and risks for safety of children online

Time
Friday, 6th November, 2020 (14:10 UTC) - Friday, 6th November, 2020 (15:10 UTC)
Room
Room 3
About this Session
The session will focus on the key aspects around technology and governance that are shaping our ability to effectively respond to threats and harms faced by children online, such as: access to technology tools to protect children online, regulatory frameworks on digital platforms and their interplay with safety considerations, unequal capacities across the globe to prevent and respond to online threats and the role of international collaboration.

Subtheme

Other - 60 Min
Format description: Open Forum session - mix of birds of a feather and a panel session with an open floor Q&A component.

Description

End Violence is the largest and most diverse public-private coalition focused on accelerating progress towards SDG 16.2: ending all forms of violence against children by 2030. It acts as a global platform for evidence-based advocacy, action and investments.

Through Safe Online, End Violence is making investments in organisations designing tools, programs and technology solutions to tackle online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA). Since 2016, $44 million were invested in projects focused on building national, regional and global capacity to end online CSEA making impact in over 50 countries. At the same time, through generated knowledge and learning, End Violence/Safe Online is working with global leaders and organisations to ensure a continued focus on child online safety, placing it high in key global policy debates. 

Open Forum: While digital technologies have created risks for children online, they play a critical part in our efforts to prevent and respond to online CSEA. Given the exponential growth of abuse of children online and the speed at which new threats are emerging, there is a global consensus that with right regulatory frameworks and policies, and collaboration between main sectors, technology is the key to protecting children online.  

With its latest Safe Online investment round of $10 million, End Violence made another significant contribution to the global fight against online CSEA, welcoming 14 new grantees with cutting-edge projects into its Safe Online community.  Through new technologies, these projects will develop the knowledge and capacity of law enforcement, public authorities and other groups fighting online CSEA across the globe – especially in countries where there is currently little related infrastructure in place.   

Key themes/questions: Together with our End Violence/Safe Online partners and grantees we will discuss key aspects around technology and governance that are shaping our ability to effectively respond to threats faced by children online, including:

  1. The role technology plays in the global response to online CSEA, the types of technology currently in use, as well as variety of ways it can be applied;
  2. Regulatory frameworks that are enabling or challenging the use of tech for child online safety and the tension between privacy and safety;
  3. Unequal capacities across the world to access and use technological tools, and effective approaches to building that capacity; and,
  4. The role of national and international cooperation and cross sector collaboration in creating a sustainable global ecosystem for prevention and response to online CSEA.

Context: 1 in 3 internet users worldwide is a child. At the same time, in any single moment, an estimated 750,000 predators are looking to sexually exploit and abuse children online. When you couple these figures with the fact that digital technologies were not made with children’s safety in mind, making the abuse easier to produce, share, hide, and trade - you begin to get a picture of the threats children face in the digital world, including: child grooming on social media and gaming platforms, coercing and blackmailing children for sexual purposes, “on demand” live streaming of child sexual abuse for as little as $15, and producing, sharing and consuming Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).

COVID19 has only exacerbated this situation and helped expose the existing pandemic of online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA). Law enforcement authorities and reporting hotlines have seen a striking increase in the amount of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) being shared online. In April 2020 alone, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) registered 4 million reports of suspected CSAM online compared to 1 million for the same period last year.

Organizers

End Violence Global Partnership

Speakers
  • Baroness Beeban Kidron OBE, Founder and Chair of 5Rights Foundation
  • John Tanagho, Director of the Center to End Online Sexual Exploitation of Children, International Justice Mission
  • Signy Arnason, Associate Executive Director, Canadian Center for Child Protection
  • Emilio Puccio, Coordinator, European Parliament Intergroup on Children's Rights
Onsite Moderator

Marija Manojlovic, Safe Online Lead, End Violence

Online Moderator

Marija Manojlovic, Safe Online Lead, End Violence

Rapporteur

Trang Ho Morton, Safe Online Grant Portfolio Manager, End Violence

SDGs

GOAL 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

IGF 2020 OF #42 Personal Sovereignty: Digital Trust in the Algorithmic Age

Time
Tuesday, 10th November, 2020 (18:30 UTC) - Tuesday, 10th November, 2020 (19:30 UTC)
Room
Room 2
About this Session
This session will explore dimensions of the challenges and opportunities in identifying innovative approaches to promote and use technologies for sustainable development. It will address how the shared goal of sustainable development can be realized by harnessing technologies, while at the same time minimizing their disruptive and adverse effects.
Subtheme

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

In the wake of COVID-19 an erroneous dialogue has appeared in multiple governmental and global environments comparing the supposed tensions between privacy and protection in stemming the spread of the coronavirus disease. However, where it is assumed citizens need to give up location, biometric or medical data based on governmental or advertising based surveillance to combat the spread of COVID, key human rights may be violated as what is "best for society" to move beyond this crisis.

It is time for the advent of Personal Sovereignty -- when the digital environment serves to enhance human interests (of humans and their meaningful groupings). By creating tools for citizens, such as data governance frameworks and machine readable privacy terms for all, society can evolve the logic of a physical passport to a digital framework where people can be placed at the center of their data. Beginning with children to strengthen GDPR and Privacy by Design focused legislation, the creation of such tools allow individuals (or their caregivers) to better understand and influence the collection and use of their (or their children’s) data, as well as access and meaningfully curate and share their data as they choose. While people may still be tracked by advertising or government surveillance oriented tools, Personal Sovereignty provides all humans with their digital voice at an algorithmic level to face the future as empowered and proactive participants in digital democracy.

This proposed Open Forum session will provide an introduction to the mature and extended suite of currently available technologies, communities and standards that can be used to empower Personal Sovereignty to become ubiquitous in the age of the algorithm.

Citing examples from IEEE’s Digital Inclusion, Identity, Trust, and Agency program and many of IEEE’s volunteers, collaborators and contributing organizations to deal with COVID and beyond, and recommendations from The IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems, this session will also provide an introduction to current efforts regarding protecting children's data and creating trustworthy experiences. It will feature discussion on the nature of data, Artificial Intelligence and ethics, as well as provide insights into the human-side of broad data-collection, sharing and use, and consequences of failure to consider the diverse users. This session will feature an interactive Q&A among the lead discussants and the participants centering on trust to gain diverse perspectives on what the future of trust in the algorithmic age looks like.

Organizers

IEEE

Speakers

Mr. John Havens, IEEE

Ms. Moira Patterson, IEEE

Dr. Salma Abbasi, eWorldwide Group

Onsite Moderator

Moira Patterson, IEEE

Online Moderator

Constance Weise, IEEE

Rapporteur

Kristin Little, IEEE

SDGs

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-Being
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals