IGF 2025 WS #280 The DNS Trust Horizon: Safeguarding Digital Identity

Organizer 1: Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 2: Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 3: Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 1: Lucien Taylor, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Graeme Bunton, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Hilde Thunem, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Mark Datysgeld, Private Sector, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 5: Sarmad Hussain, Technical Community, Asia-Pacific Group
Speaker 6: Nathan Alan, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 7: Benoit Ampeau, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 8: Swapneel Sheth, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 9: Rima Amin, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Format
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: The goal will be for people to share their experiences and expertise as well as identify common threads and themes across three seemingly different topics - a roundtable is best suited to that kind of discursive approach where people should feel free to enter the conversation if they have a powerful point to make. Due to the complex nature and size of the topics under consideration - IDNs, blockchain identifiers and online fraud - it will be difficult to make progress and build common understanding in a session less than 90 minutes long.
Policy Question(s)
What are the best ways to encourage active engagement across the complex Internet ecosystem? How can you introduce change and innovation into an established infrastructure while retaining confidence and security? How do you make digital spaces both inclusive and safe?
What will participants gain from attending this session? As well as gaining an understanding of the different layers of the Internet from a purely practical perspective - how the technical layer connects to the content and application layers, for example - participants will also hear first-hand how the multistakeholder model works to connect very different groups of people - from technical communities to governments to civil society - connected through the same overall goal. The issues under review will enable people to interact easily on the internet in their native tongue (IDNs), incorporate new technologies into established infrastructures (blockchain), and collaborate together to stamp out pernicious criminal activity (online scams and fraud). The hope will be to illustrate both the struggles and successes that come in trying to drive large global change, and provide confidence that future efforts will also be achievable. Participants will be able to ask questions.
Description:

As the Internet continues to drive extraordinary change, we will use this session and the WSIS+20 process to look at digital trust and digital identity through the lens of three issues: internationalized domain names (IDNs), blockchain identifiers, and multistakeholder measures to fight online harms including scams and fraud. Each of these requires the domain name system (DNS) to evolve, and each has struggled to achieve effective adoption - often despite significant support - because of the complexity involved. Nevertheless, 2025 may prove to be a turning point for all three. We propose hearing from those that have played an important role in these topics to identify common concerns and challenges, and then identify the most effective solutions to overcoming them while at the same time retaining trust and resilience in the DNS itself. We will aim to provide a blueprint for navigating similar complex issues in the future. This session will traverse numerous action lines, sustainable development goals and objectives within the Global Digital Compact. Universal Acceptance and IDNs (GDC 1,3; WSIS C5, C8; SDG 16) Blockchain identifiers (GDC 2; WSIS C3, C5; SDG 9) Fighting online harms including scams and fraud (GDC 3,4,5; WSIS C5, C10; SDG 9, 16) In keeping with the underlying principles of the IGF, this session will ensure gender parity and geo-diversity in its panellists, and include a broad range of multistakeholder voices.
Expected Outcomes
The session should give participants an insight into the complexities of making changes to how the global domain name system (DNS) operates while at the same time providing both philosophical and practical guidance for how to achieve it. We would produce a thoughtful summary of the session, encourage participants to share stories and contact details, and look to the session to provide inspiration for future research to be carried out by the DNS Research Federation. Our goal would be to inspire and encourage others’ efforts.
Hybrid Format: The session will have a combination of online and onsite speakers to encourage participants in both spaces to actively engage during the session. The DC-DNSI will promote the activity between coalition members and its associated community to line up additional event participants – beyond the speakers– interested in actively contributing. To ease the flow between onsite and online participants, people in the room will be asked to join the virtual room. The online moderator will encourage online participants to join the discussion and bring those who request the floor online into the conversation. An online tool for audience interaction such as Slido will also be used to encourage engagement among both online and in-person attendees.