IGF 2021 Parliamentary Track

6 December 

19:00 – 20:00 & 20:30 – 22:30

7 December 

10:00 – 11:30

Plenary/Main Meeting Room - Multifunctional Hall C

14:00 – 15:30

Auditorium

Parliamentary session 1 | Privacy and data protection legislation in the digital age: challenges and approaches

With public and private entities relying on personal data and behavioural information to provide digital services (with varying degrees of transparency), and with surveillance tools increasingly used outside of rule of law frameworks, protecting privacy and personal data in the digital space is an increasingly complex matter. This complexity poses challenges when it comes to defining and implementing relevant legislation. Outlining data subject rights and establishing responsibilities for their protection, clarifying meaningful consent for data processing, and setting conditions for international data transfers are some of the key issues that legislators around the world have to unpack when devising legal frameworks. And while such frameworks have been or are being put in place in many countries around the world, the reality is that there is still a patchwork of different legal approaches to protecting privacy and personal data. How do these many legal approaches work together in the framework of a borderless digital space? What is still missing?

Key contributors

• Carla Arino Garcia | Data Protection Union, Council of Europe
• Becky Burr | Member of the Board, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
• Nigel Cassimire | Telecommunications specialist, Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU)
• Iqra Khalid | Member of the House of Commons, Canada

Moderator

• Mattia Fantinati | Member of the House of Representatives, Parliament of Italy‎

IGF 2021 Parliamentary roundtable | Legislative approaches for a user-centric digital space

This Parliamentary roundtable was open to all participants at IGF 2021.

Legislation relevant for the Internet and the broader digital space covers many areas, from security and human rights, to competition and intellectual property. Having such legislation in place is an important element in addressing risks, protecting rights, and ensuring a level-playing field for market actors. But this also comes with challenges. For instance, how to balance the different rights and interests at stake when developing legislation to address harmful content or protect copyright? How to devise regulations to tackle risks that advanced technologies may pose without unduly harming innovation? And how to minimise the risk that legislation adopted at the national and regional level could threaten the global, interoperable and unfragmented nature of the Internet? As we consider these and similar questions, is there a toolkit of principles that legislators need to keep in mind to ensure that the rules and regulations they define achieve their objectives without creating unintended consequences?

Opening remarks

• Ryszard Terlecki | Vice Marshal of the Sejm of Poland 
• Liu Zhenmin | UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs
• Duarte Pacheco | President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union 

Key contributors

• Abdulla Althawadi | Member of the ​​Council of Representatives of the Kingdom of Bahrain
• Marina Kaljurand | Member of the European Parliament
• Alexander Khinshtein | Chairman of the Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications, State Duma, Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation
• Alhagie Mbow | Member of Parliament, Gambia
• Gabriel Silva | Member of National Assembly, Panama

Moderator

• Thomas Schneider | Ambassador and Director of International Affairs at the Swiss Federal Office of Communication

18:00 – 19:30 
Conference room 20 & 24

8 December

Parliamentary session 2 | Balancing freedom of speech and the fight against harmful content

Diversity of opinion and freedom of speech form the core of democracy. The Internet has made it easier to exercise these rights, but it has also created new opportunities for abuse. Harmful content is now easily spread online, sometimes with dire consequences for democracy itself and for human rights. As Internet platforms and regulators devise mechanisms to address such challenges, several questions are raised: Where does the responsibility of Internet platforms start and where does it end when it comes to tackling harmful content? Should platforms be left to determine on their own what is harmful content and how to deal with it? Or should legislators step it and establish clear roles and responsibilities? And if laws are adopted, what are the key principles that they need to embed in order to ensure that a proper balance is achieved between fighting harmful content and protecting freedom of speech and other human rights?

Key contributors

• Guilherme Canela De Souza Godoi | Chief, Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists Section, UNESCO
• Arda Gerkens | Vice-president of the Senate, Netherlands
• Marcin Olender | Public Policy and Government Relations Manager Central and Eastern Europe, Google
• Jeremy Wright | Member of Parliament, UK

Moderator

• Neema Lugangira | Member of Parliament, Tanzania

Parliamentary session 3 | AI governance: What do we regulate and how?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now at the core of multiple digital services and products, from guiding our online experiences and powering smart devices, to shaping the decisions others make about us (e.g. in the context of recruitment processes, financial services, or the judiciary system). Beyond its promises, AI also comes with pitfalls; for instance, algorithmic decision-making could result in discrimination, harmful stereotypes and wider social inequality, while AI-based systems may pose risks to human safety. Some jurisdictions around the world have started working on regulatory frameworks to address such pitfalls. But what is it about AI that needs to be regulated? To what extent do we need new laws and how do existing ones apply to AI? How should regulations for AI be developed, and what principles should they embed? And to what extent can regulations developed in some jurisdictions serve as inspiration for others?

Key contributors

• Alessandra Basso | Member of the European Parliament
• Laura Galindo | AI Policy Analyst, OECD
• Alison Gillwald | Executive Director, Research ICT Africa

Moderator

• Sabin Sărmaș | Chairman, Committee on information and communications technology, Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of Romania