Discussion: The DFI and how to keep the Internet open, trusted, interoperable

This workshop was proposed to discuss the principles of openness, interoperability and resilience of the Internet, and policies that are needed in order to safeguard it.

The two questions on the table were:

• How to ensure that the Internet remains open, global, and interoperable, in line with universal values and fundamental rights?
• How can governments, private entities, civil society, and the technical community translate the principles of the DFI into concrete policies and actions and work together to promote this vision globally?

Connection with previous IGF outcomes

The workshop was organised as a follow-up to IGF 2021 and earlier IGF meetings on the ‘Economic and Social Inclusion and Human Rights’, ‘Universal Access and Meaningful Connectivity’, ‘Inclusive Internet governance ecosystems and digital cooperation’ and ‘Trust, Security, and Stability.’

The purpose of the workshop was to have a multi-stakeholder discussion on how to preserve an open, global, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet, and how this is a key objective in the drive to achieve sustainable development and digital inclusion. This further includes providing meaningful and sustainable Internet access to everyone and safeguarding Internet openness to promote democracy and human rights.

The discussion was also intended to tackle the open internet policies and actions that are needed to promote the trust, security, stability, and interoperability of the Internet including a human-centric approach. This cannot be achieved without considering the sustainability of the internet governance ecosystem that hinges on well-structured coordination and consolidation among the different stakeholders in order to promote a positive vision for the future of the Internet.

While an Internet that imperils fundamental freedoms and human rights online threatens the achievement of almost all the SDGs, there is a direct link between the proposed workshop and the following SDGs:

• Decent Work and Economic Growth: a free, open, global, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet creates new working opportunities and contributes to growth. It would also provide career opportunities, support the emergence of new businesses, extend distribution channels to remote areas, increase employment in higher-skill occupations, and create new jobs for less-educated workers.
• Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure: a global and open Internet promotes innovation, also contributing to industrial development and infrastructure building/roll-out. It also has a positive impact on economic growth and social well-being which are important for the peace and happiness of individuals and societies at large. It further allows for cultural exchanges and the open exchange of knowledge and creativity which could greatly influence a lasting peace.
• Reducing Inequality: A global and open Internet contributes to reducing inequalities between those who have studied and those who have not, urban centers and rural areas, developed and less developed regions, men and women, and ultimately between rich and poor.
• Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions: a global and open Internet ensures transparency, rule of law, democratic societies and processes, reliable institutions capable of regulation but also respective fundamental rights.
• Partnerships for the goals: the session would allow structuring the effort of stakeholders around a global, open, and human-centric Internet to build/further partnerships around accelerating the achievements of the SDGs. In this context, the DFI is open to the broadest group of countries from all geographies and development levels, who actively support a similar future of the Internet and want to re-affirm the commitment to protecting and respecting human rights online.

Declaration for the Future of the Internet

Many internet stakeholders grapple with complicated questions that relate to Internet safety and openness. This includes how to expand Internet access while keeping the Internet safe from illegal content and dangerous goods; how to fight against disinformation while protecting fundamental rights, i.e. freedom of expression and freedom of information; and/or how to keep the digital space contestable, open for innovation and inclusive.

At a time when the negative developments of the Internet – including high market concentration and abuses of market power, diminishing pluralism and data privacy, and increasing disinformation, harassment, and censorship – are justifiably and decisively being addressed we must not forget and give up on the great benefits a well-functioning internet can add to our societies and economies.

Against this backdrop, the Declaration for the Future of the Internet (DFI) was published on 28 April 2022, rallying over 60 countries around an affirmative, positive agenda for a free, open, global, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet. The DFI sets out shared fundamental principles that re-emphasise the great positive potential of the Internet. A well-functioning global Internet will reinforce democracies, promote social cohesion, and protect universal rights while allowing for digitally spurred economic growth and development.

To this end, the workshop discussed how stakeholders can ensure that the Internet remains widely accessible, open, human-centric, and in line with universal values and fundamental rights. In the same vein, discussion focused on how these stakeholders can translate the principles of the DFI into concrete policies and actions and how countries and stakeholders can work together to promote this vision globally.

Reaffirming the principles of Openness and the multi-stakeholder governance model

The Declaration for the Future of the Internet can be seen as an attempt to reaffirm the basic principles of openness, resilience and interoperability on which the Internet was founded. These principles are common currency within the multi‑stakeholder community. However, there is a need to reaffirm them at a time when geopolitical tension threaten the integrity of the Internet and some analysts have raised the prospect of a splintering of the Internet.

The objective of the DFI was to produce a declaration including a set of principles that national governments around the world could to sign up to. At the same time the DFI allows countries to state that there are certain things they can and cannot do to ensure the Internet is and remains an open, interoperable trusted space which respects the individual including their integrity, physical and online, their personal data as well as their identity. 

The key issue at stake is trust. All citizens as well as businesses should be able to trust that they are safe when they are online, that their data is secure and that their transactions are confidential.  This will lead to a trusted environment and further innovation.  It also means that the data economy can thrive and it can be something to which individuals can place their trust. 

Relationship between the DFI and the IGF

Some critics have identified possible tensions between the stated aims and principles of the DFI and the mission of the IGF.  However, these are exaggerated. On the contrary, the DFI can be seen as a timely and useful expression of the principles of openness and inclusion that have been established by the IGf for over 20 years.  The IGF has shown that it has been able to adapt itself to address the questions of the day in order to ensure that, in the future, not only is the multi‑stakeholder community, but the Internet governance forum which you have all invested so much in will continue to play and an increasing central role with regard to the governance of the internet.

Key Take Away 1: The DFI states important principles in favour of the Open Internet. But what now?

The DFI can be viewed as a response to what the US and partner states have viewed as alarming patterns behaviour by certain nation states with regards to Internet governance, and the technical standard setting processes on which the stability and interoperability of the Internet relies. The stated goal of the DFI is to reaffirm basic norms, and to restate basic principles that have long been taken for granted. These notably concern how nation states are expected to comport themselves when it comes to governance issues and the management of critical internet resources.

A key aspect of the DFI is respect for the Internet’s multi-stakeholder governance processes, and the notion that one of the Internet’s founding principles was that it couldn’t be controlled by a single country. However, there are growing concerns that certain nation states are seeking to increase their power or increase their leverage at the expense of the multi-stakeholder governance process, particularly affecting the technical sides of it. 

What next? With 70 signatories overall, including a small fraction from the Global South, this suggests that significant work still needs to be done to achieve buy-in for the values, standards and governance principles as put forward in the DFI. This should be an objective in the run-up to upcoming multi-lateral, multi-stakeholder processes e.g. the UN Global Digital Compact (Sept 2023) which is expected to “outline shared principles for an open, free and secure digital future for all”. 

The DFI can serve to smooth the path for the principles of the Open Internet to be encapsulated in whatever comes out of the GDC (involving 170+ countries) but a more inclusive, transparent process, may need to be put in place to ensure that all stakeholders, have an opportunity to engage.

Key Take Away 2: Risk that a DFI might be perceived as exclusive (either you’re in or you’re out). A roadmap for more inclusive, multi-stakeholder consultation may be needed to ensure wider international buy-in.

The DFI has been promoted as reflecting global aspirations to build an inclusive rights-respecting Open Internet, and using the potential of the Open Internet to foster economic and social development.  

However, the DFI was ostensibly drafted by actors of the Internet ecosystem in the US and Europe. It appears not to have been the product of a broader consultative process involving ecosystem actors from other regions of the world. This may have led to perceptions around the world that it is a declaration to which like-minded actors or like-minded states can subscribe to. But it may also have led to the perception that “either you are in, or you are not”, an unintentional deviation from the path of inclusive dialogue on which the future of the Open Internet undoubtedly relies.

To ensure greater buy-in to the principles and standards of the Open Internet, a wider consultative process which takes into account, more explicitly, the concerns of countries in the Global South could be sought. This might involve fixing what some might see as a procedural weakness and allowing non-state actors to become signatories of the DFI.   

Concern was expressed during the workshop about the perception that the internet may be being used as political football in terms of global geo-political tension and conflict. This will harm the Internet, and the Internet's potential as a platform for holding peace will be compromised. In this sense, the declaration should perhaps be a viewed starting point rather than an end point. Instead of being a declaration perceived as having been prepared by well-identified actors in the multi-stakeholder (but not necessarily internationally representative) internet ecosystem, to which other countries should simply come to the table and “sign on”, it might be better if it was perceived as an invitation to join-in in the process of building a global consensus.

There are lessons that can be drawn from the Net Mundial process in 2014 in Sao Paolo, Brazil. This resulted in a powerful, and simple document. However, it never quite made it into the multi‑lateral space.  Therefore, it never went any further. This may call for a re-appraisal of the multi-stakeholder model of internet governance; how it is defined; how it works in practice; and how individual stakeholders (including states) that take part in the system can be held accountable.

Key Take Away 3: Greater support for DFI in Global South will result from enhanced cooperation between development agencies to deploy internet infrastructure, and promote connectivity

Conspicuously the DFI lacks signatories from the Global South (two countries in Africa). Before it is reasonable to expect strong buy-in for a rights-based Internet, built on the principles of openness and multi-stakeholder Internet governance, it is vital to ensure the deployment internet infrastructure globally, and the delivery of reliable, affordable, physical access to the Internet to a majority of the world's population. This can be achieved through better coordination between development agencies, and better engagement with countries regarding local needs and practices.

The future of the open, interoperable Internet will be assured insofar as civil society and the non-governmental multi stakeholder community are empowered to comment on the deployment of internet infrastructure, and Internet based services, freely and without intimidation.

Multi-stakeholder actors should feel free to positively advise governments regarding the practical implementation of the principles set forth in the DFI. This will also serve to reinforce accountability. 

Video & Session Transcript

Video: https://youtu.be/KY3N-0NaVBw

Transcript: https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/igf-2022-day-2-ws-440-declaration-for-the-future-of-the-internet-%E2%80%93-raw