Session
Round Table - U-shape - 60 Min
The technologies that underpin the Internet continue to evolve. As the significance of the Internet for our economies and societies grows, so does the importance of supporting the evolution of the Internet’s infrastructure and protocols, as well as its system of multistakeholder governance. At the 2021 Internet Governance Forum in Katowice, the United Kingdom hosted a multistakeholder session on the future of the Internet. It set out priorities for a positive vision that stakeholders could come together around and promote over the next decade. In the year since IGF 2021 and the UK’s Open Forum on the Future of the Internet, technical and geopolitical developments around the globe have shown that a shared positive vision for the future is needed now more than ever. Stakeholders have stepped up to these events and developments, and have taken concrete action, including through the IGF and its newly formed policy network on Internet Fragmentation. Reflecting on the values that stakeholders agree are vital for the future, and the actions necessary to translate principles into reality, the UK’s open forum will consider key questions:
- In the UK, and as a multistakeholder community, what have been some of the successes of the past year in building support around a shared positive vision for the future of the Internet? How can we build on these successes?
- What do developments of the past year mean for the Internet’s future? How should our shared positive vision adapt to take them into account?
- How are we turning our shared vision and principles into action and output? What areas are easy wins and what will take more effort or a longer time to see our shared vision come to fruition?
The session will be facilitated in a hybrid format, ensuring inclusive tools and sufficient time for panellists to address key questions, as well as participants to raise additional points and questions for discussion.
Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), United Kingdom
Marek Blachut, DCMS, Government, WEOG Nigel Hickson, DCMS, Government, WEOG
Yoichi Iida, Deputy Director General for G7 and G20 relations at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan
Dr. Marielza Oliviera, Director for Partnerships and Operational Programme Monitoring, Communications and Information Sector, UNESCO
Dr. Olga Cavalli, Argentinian National Cybersecurity Director, and Academic Director of the South School on Internet Governance
Kieren McCarthy, Board member of Nominet (UK’s ccTLD registry), and author
Andrew Campling, 419 Consulting
Dominique Lazanski, Last Press Label
Eva Ignatuschtschenko, DCMS
Marek Blachut, DCMS
Marek Blachut, DCMS
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
17. Partnerships for the Goals
Targets: 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure - with respect to the opportunities and benefits of upholding a positive vision for the future of the internet, namely the potential for innovation in the evolution of the Internet to deliver advances in infrastructure and connectivity. 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions - with respect to the opportunities and benefits of upholding a positive vision for the future of the internet, namely in strengthening multistakeholder institutions and contributing to their efficient functioning. 17: Partnerships on the goals - with respect to the roles and expertise of all stakeholders in upholding and contributing to the future evolution of the Internet and its governance.
Report
Over the past year, various events have shown the Internet’s strength, its resilience, and why we must protect it, all of which should inform actions taken by the Internet community in realising a shared future-looking multistakeholder vision, building on existing successes.
Over the next year, we need to continue to translate positive principles for the future of the Internet into practice in the areas of extending connectivity, role-modelling to build capacity and empower national-level communities, strengthening global governance institutions and their leadership, and collaborating towards shared solutions to key challenges including Internet fragmentation and Internet consolidation.
The UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport convened stakeholders from across the Internet community to discuss a positive future for the Internet, and how to translate this vision into reality.
The session took stock of initiatives since the last IGF which have contributed to a shared positive Future of the Internet, and which have made progress towards realising this vision.
- At the national level, the UK has articulated our vision for the future of the Internet in the refreshed 2022 Digital Strategy, and UNESCO has worked with a range of other countries to conduct measurement and assessment against the ROAM indicators.
- In the multilateral space, we have seen almost 70 countries sign up to the Declaration for the Future of the Internet.
- Participants noted that over the course of this year, three major ITU conferences occurred, including a successful Plenipotentiary where a new Secretary General was elected.
- It was discussed that in the technical community, ICANN has continued work to close the language divide for 3000 languages, and within the IETF work has continued to analyse and address Internet consolidation.
- Here at the IGF, progress has also been made, with the intersessional Policy Network on Internet Fragmentation starting its work, and the appointment of a new Leadership Panel.
Across these developments, a number of themes emerged from the discussion in the session.
- There was a sense of awe at the evolution of the Internet through adversity. Participants noted that hundreds of millions of new users have come online over the past two years, and that governments as well as the rest of the Internet community have been able to keep working through the pandemic. There was a renewed optimism in Internet governance as global meetings across the community such as IGF, ICANN, IETF have been re-energised by a move to a hybrid of virtual and physical participation. However, through this time of change, participants urged that we remain conscious of the strength as well as the frailty of the Internet, and take action to guard against two trends in particular: Internet fragmentation on the one hand, and Internet centralisation on the other.
- Much of the discussion focused on leadership, and the need to set a positive forward-looking and ambitious vision for the Internet, rather than focusing solely on threats, challenges, and other negative aspects. Participants discussed the importance of reinforcing forums and their roles, while also noting the room for fine-tuning of leadership and governance such as the new Leadership Panel of the IGF. In the vein of leadership, the participants also spoke about bottom-up approaches, and the power that each of us have as role models to spread awareness and build capacity in our local communities, and in doing so root global discussions in local context. There was also consensus around the importance of leadership making processes more inclusive to participation from a wider set of stakeholders, as well as working to extend access to the Internet itself.
- On a more practical note, the discussion touched on the ways in which stakeholders can translate their commitments and principles into impact. Participants noted the trend at the national level of updating technology regulations, as well as the need to enhance ICT infrastructure. Capacity building initiatives at local and national levels were also highlighted, as were measurement initiatives as a tool for targeting action, and tracking progress.
The session also looked ahead at the next year, and surveyed the critical moments to come together and shape the future of the Internet by translating principles into action.
- In 2023, the Japanese government will host the IGF and the G7 presidency, and IETF116 will be held in Japan. Discussions on approaches to the Internet and cyberspace will also be hosted by UNESCO, and other parts of the UN system like the OEWG.
- The Global Digital Compact was highlighted as an important ongoing process which could serve to build consensus on a range of issues relevant to the future of the Internet. However, the process for developing the Compact would need to allow for meaningful contributions from the multistakeholder community, beyond an initial consultative round eliciting responses.
- In the longer-term, the WSIS+20 review process was highlighted as a juncture at which the global community can come together and reaffirm our support for a multistakeholder Internet for the benefit of all, as well as setting ourselves new collective goals for the future, for example on development.