Introductory Breakout Session: Security, Safety, Stability & Resilience

During the breakout discussions, the groups discussed the issues that will be covered by many of the sessions on the program and some of their observations and insights offer an interesting set of suggestions.

Human Rights

- Put people first: The group discussed about the difficulty to put human rights into practice, from the regulatory framework design all the way to its implementation, the group identified that different sessions recommend to add emphasis on the end user, to be more inclusive (specially with the youth) during the design of the different regulatory approaches, while balancing the protection of their rights and their safety, without hindering their opportunity to participate.

- Platforms should not only focus on compliance with community standards but also to incorporate mechanisms where harmful content -although removed from the public- can be kept (not deleted) to support law enforcement investigation and criminal prosecution. Platforms should be reminded of their responsibility in countries where human rights are not enforced with the rule of law.

Security

- Multistakeholder dialogue is key to understand norms in cyberspace and their impact.

- Strengthen collaboration among different stakeholders and across different jurisdictions to fight cybercrime, not only with the large tech companies but also with smaller/emerging ones

- Public policy should look at incentives to adopt best practices and modern security technologies based on solid technical knowledge.

- Technical capacity building around security should be supported at all levels, from end-users to operators, to law enforcement and criminal investigators 

- More research around security incidents, adoption of security practices and compliance with law enforcement requirements is required to be able to design security approaches based on evidence and not on fear alone.

Internet Ethics

- An inclusive ethical framework should be the starting point for companies and governments when defining the regulatory and non-regulatory approaches that will address issues of concern. Such framework should incorporate monitoring mechanisms that allow to identify unintended consequences, abuse of power, miscarriage of justice, human rights violations, among others.

- It is paramount to do more intensive and extensive work around clearer definitions to seek consensous building at a global level while documenting localized interpretations that reflect cultural differences

- Education around ethics and how it impacts the online and offline world, targetting different age groups and sector of society should be supported and encouraged, and adopted as part of the formal education system. Rights and responsibilities need to be better understood by users to become mature digital citizens.

Stability and Resilience

- Cooperation among operators is key to increase the number of peering agreements and interconnection points that can improve the resilience of the network by offering more paths for network traffic to operators: less peering among IPv6 networks means lower resilience.

- Lack of interoperability between IPv4 and IPv6 means a possible fragmentation and creating two islands in the Internet.

- IPv4 is gaining value and a high cost can hinder enterance of new network operators or the expansion of the coverage of existing network operators, that could have an impact on both stability and resilience of the network.

- There are a variety of DNS technical implementations to filter/block content that are not in line with the architecture of the Internet, intended to be neutral. Consideration to intermediary liability is part of the framework to consider when addressing issues around content blocking and filtering to understand the burden placed on network operators to have the skills, the computer power and the budget to cover the legal costs to comply with such regulations across different jurisdictions.

- Balance between security, encryption, and human rights including personal freedom is a challenge for the stability and resilience of the Internet. It is key that law enforcement and policy makers get a deeper understanding -through education and training- to the architecture of the Internet and how these solutions affect its growth, so that they can design and implement frameworks that are more inclusive, technologically sound and future-looking.

Technology, industry & trade

- The group suggested that information exchange around cyber security and privacy is key for the development of new devices and services that will enter the market. This information exchange could lead to develop a general playbook how to address concrete problems, for better understanding and adoption of security practices.

- Diversity considerations around access to the cloud were discussed, as cloud resiliency in a concentrated market is a key policy issue. The more the cloud is used to collect, analyze and store data for online services and applications around the world, concerns about ownsership, security, misuse, as well as local access and localization continue to emerge. Approaches that are inclusive and considers diversity are required to balance economicaly driven approaches that may have a negative impact on developing economies.

Safety

- The need to rely on robust data in a topic that is sensible and frequently covered by the press.

- To bear in mind that risk does not equal harm and, therefore the, importance of putting in place protective and coping mechanisms to prevent harm.

- Importance of equilibrating protection speech with the exercise of other rights, such as freedom of expression.

- Need to consider the complexity of achieving safety: it involves all stakeholders, it involves different levels of intervention, from the legal and regulatory, to technical solutions focused on systems, to education of individuals (both children and mediators, such as teachers and parents, key figures to improving child online safety).