Session
Organizer 1: Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 2: Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 3: Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 2: Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 3: Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 1: Elise Lindeberg, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Jayne Stowell, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Olaf Kolkman, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Michael Karimian, Private Sector, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 2: Jayne Stowell, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Olaf Kolkman, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Michael Karimian, Private Sector, Asia-Pacific Group
Format
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: We aim for an interactive workshop with engagement from the room. We expect to attract a combination of policymakers, industry leaders and subject matter experts with a deep understanding of the infrastructure landscape. A roundtable layout will best encourage participation.
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: We aim for an interactive workshop with engagement from the room. We expect to attract a combination of policymakers, industry leaders and subject matter experts with a deep understanding of the infrastructure landscape. A roundtable layout will best encourage participation.
Policy Question(s)
How can governments and private actors best collaborate to protect the integrity of basic Internet infrastructure?
How can we build and finance the monitoring and repair capacity needed to prepare for submarine cable cuts?
How can the need for national control of critical infrastructure be addressed in an open Internet?
What will participants gain from attending this session? The session will give insights into the basic infrastructure that carries the Internet, with a specific focus on subsea cables and data centres. Participants will get insights into threats and challenges to this infrastructure, and what governments and private actors do to counter these threats. We will discuss hybrid threats against Internet infrastructure, and the need for capacity to monitor, protect and repair subsea infrastructure.
SDGs
Description:
The Internet is the world’s preferred platform for communication and data access. This success has partly been driven by the openness of the Internet architecture, where users can communicate across networks without regards to national borders or jurisdictions. Lately, the growing importance of the Internet has led to increased scrutiny of the core building blocks of the Internet infrastructure from authorities on national and regional levels. Central problems from a government perspective include the resilience of the physical network infrastructure that carries the Internet, and the perceived need for national control over infrastructure, platforms and data. The war in Ukraine and related threats against sea cables in the Baltic Sea and elsewhere has contributed to further increase the relevance of these topics. In this workshop, we will gather experts who are central in the efforts to build a robust Internet infrastructure including subsea fibre cables, data centres and regulatory frameworks. We will discuss challenges and threats to this infrastructure, particularly in the light of current geopolitical tensions. We will also look at recent efforts from the public and private sector to meet these challenges. Finally, we will discuss the interplay between national and regional regulations aimed at achieving increased local autonomy on one side, and the borderless Internet architecture on the other.
The Internet is the world’s preferred platform for communication and data access. This success has partly been driven by the openness of the Internet architecture, where users can communicate across networks without regards to national borders or jurisdictions. Lately, the growing importance of the Internet has led to increased scrutiny of the core building blocks of the Internet infrastructure from authorities on national and regional levels. Central problems from a government perspective include the resilience of the physical network infrastructure that carries the Internet, and the perceived need for national control over infrastructure, platforms and data. The war in Ukraine and related threats against sea cables in the Baltic Sea and elsewhere has contributed to further increase the relevance of these topics. In this workshop, we will gather experts who are central in the efforts to build a robust Internet infrastructure including subsea fibre cables, data centres and regulatory frameworks. We will discuss challenges and threats to this infrastructure, particularly in the light of current geopolitical tensions. We will also look at recent efforts from the public and private sector to meet these challenges. Finally, we will discuss the interplay between national and regional regulations aimed at achieving increased local autonomy on one side, and the borderless Internet architecture on the other.
Expected Outcomes
We expect the workshop to identify priorities and specific policy recommendations for a more secure and resilient Internet infrastructure. Participants will get an improved understanding of the central infrastructure building blocks on the Internet, and how these are shaped by the interplay between private investments and government regulations. We will summarise workshop outcomes in a workshop report that will be published online.
Hybrid Format: We plan for an interactive agenda consisting of three parts: short introductions from each speaker, a short moderated discussion among the invited speakers, and finally an interactive session with questions from online and in-person participants. An online moderator will foster online discussion via chat during the session and relay highlights and questions in the room. We will consider showing the online chat room on a large screen in the room. We plan to use Mentimeter as a tool to engage the online audience through polls and questions during the session.