IGF 2022 Lightning Talk #65 Internet Internationalism: A New Model to Defend the Future of the Internet

Securing geopolitical and a resilient internet that provides for a shared and common future requires a new approach. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has expanded the potential fault lines that could cause the free, open and interoperable internet to break apart. Whilst, calls to action such as disconnecting Russia from the web were resisted, it points to the pressure on these fault lines and the urgent need to for creative, hybrid policy solutions to strengthen the internet from current, future and emerging threats. This requires innovative solutions that can align an array of state and institutional actors, even while rivalry between the great powers thwarts attempts to build effective mechanisms for international coordination. The Declaration on the Future of the Internet is a huge step forward, however, it fails to set out steps or body to practically capitalise on this union of thought with action. In this interactive session we will present and stress test two potential vehicles that could help fill this gap towards a new internet internationalist mindset and revitalising internet governance. 1. A Digital Infrastructure Defence Alliance (DIDA): A new progressive alliance that is goes beyond just collective defence to a grater package of collaboration that supports the resilience of internet networks, infrastructure and supply chains and works towards regulatory harmonisation through commitments to underpin the security of their connectivity and access to the internet ecosystem. 2. A Multi-Stakeholder Panel on Internet Policy (MPIP): Siimilar to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) this ecosystem oversight body would report on the health of global networks and internet openness, acting as an early-warning system and provide the objective, technical basis on which to measure progress.

1) How will you facilitate interaction between onsite and online speakers and attendees? As our speakers and team will attend onsite and online, we will ensure that the audience present at IGF sees the online participants on a dedicated screen. One team member will act as “online delegate” to report the online audience experience to the onsite team. This person will also monitor the chat and communicate interventions to the onsite team in real time via an internal chat to ensure that online attendees actively are included in the session. We will also do a test run to use the onsite technology to its full capacity, for example to adjust the camera angle when the discussion is occurring and if there is a zoom capacity, zoom in and out. In a live document with a script, our team will encourage active participation at the beginning and throughout the session; and we will use audience engagement tools including Sli.do or Moodle to additionally stimulate interactions between onsite and online attendees. 2) How will you design the session to ensure the best possible experience for online and onsite participants? Both online and onsite participants will have access to the written reports in advance of the session to be able to bring questions in advance, but the session will also include a brief overview of the report and the recommendations to ensure everyone is up to speed. This will be followed by the expert speakers sharing their experience of implementing/obstacles to working in this field. The moderator will invite key questions via sli.do or Moodle for open discussion and knowledge exchange. 3) Please note any complementary online tools/platforms you plan to use to increase participation and interaction during the session. In addition to the chat function on the videoconferencing platform provided by IGF, our panel will engage speakers and attendees with the virtual audience engagement tool Sli.do to conduct instant polling at the beginning of the session. All speakers will additionally use Twitter during the session to share quotes and reply to participants’ posts, comments and threads.