Session
Organizer 1: Technical Community, Asia-Pacific Group
Organizer 2: Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 2: Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 1: Farzaneh Badii, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 2: William Drake, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Sheetal Kumar, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: William Drake, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Sheetal Kumar, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Format
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 60
Format description: The roundtable layout and duration are best suited for a conversational style and allows participants to interact freely with the speakers and moderators. Time is built in for participants to ask the speakers questions and also to respond to the guiding questions by the moderators.
Duration (minutes): 60
Format description: The roundtable layout and duration are best suited for a conversational style and allows participants to interact freely with the speakers and moderators. Time is built in for participants to ask the speakers questions and also to respond to the guiding questions by the moderators.
Policy Question(s)
A. What forms of fragmentation pose the greatest risk to digital rights?
B. Are there any positive impacts of fragmentation that could offset the impact.
C. Are there other ways that policymakers could meet their goals without fragmentation?
What will participants gain from attending this session? Our session will have four possible take aways for participants and attendees. First a categorization and understanding of the different types of fragmentation and their likelihood. Second a discussion of the application of offline human rights in the digital space. Third, how fragmentation is impacting human rights, or could in the future. And finally, ways to avoid or mitigate the impact of fragmentation, on digital rights as well as more broadly on universal access and the socioeconomic benefits of the Internet.
Description:
One of the main attractions of the Internet is the ability for anyone to go online and have a global reach to others, with corresponding economic and social benefits. The Internet also has the ability to promote human rights including freedom of expression and access to information, along with equality from universal access. Internet fragmentation can disrupt universal access and undermine human rights. Fragmentation can take three forms: technical fragmentation, which could result from different technical standards and systems; policy fragmentation, resulting from data localization or content censorship; and commercial fragmentation, resulting from proprietary platforms or geoblocking. Our workshop will cover three parts. First, it will examine existing examples of fragmentation and their impact on universal access and human rights, such as the impact of data localization. Second, it will identify other types of fragmentation that may arise, such as new Internet systems. And finally, we will discuss ways to avoid or limit the impact of such fragmentation. In addition to the impact on human rights, we will also cover the economic impact of different forms of fragmentation, as these impact may help to make the case to avoid certain types of fragmentation in addition to, or in place of, the impact on human rights.
One of the main attractions of the Internet is the ability for anyone to go online and have a global reach to others, with corresponding economic and social benefits. The Internet also has the ability to promote human rights including freedom of expression and access to information, along with equality from universal access. Internet fragmentation can disrupt universal access and undermine human rights. Fragmentation can take three forms: technical fragmentation, which could result from different technical standards and systems; policy fragmentation, resulting from data localization or content censorship; and commercial fragmentation, resulting from proprietary platforms or geoblocking. Our workshop will cover three parts. First, it will examine existing examples of fragmentation and their impact on universal access and human rights, such as the impact of data localization. Second, it will identify other types of fragmentation that may arise, such as new Internet systems. And finally, we will discuss ways to avoid or limit the impact of such fragmentation. In addition to the impact on human rights, we will also cover the economic impact of different forms of fragmentation, as these impact may help to make the case to avoid certain types of fragmentation in addition to, or in place of, the impact on human rights.
Expected Outcomes
• Insights into how fragmentation impacts freedom of expression, privacy, access to information, and other digital rights.
• Discussion of trends such as data localization laws and increasing fragmentation of the digital space.
• Strategies for ensuring transparency, accountability, and multistakeholder governance in digital policy decisions to mitigate the risks of Internet fragmentation
Hybrid Format: There will be onsite and online moderators dedicated to ensuring all voices are heard and represented in this session. We will use interactive guiding questions to open the floor to comments for the audience to ask questions and interact with the speakers and moderators.