Open Forums

The AU Open Forum aims at discussing digital inclusion especially in relation to Capacity Building; Community Networks; Digital Transformation; and Digital Cooperation. The Forum will also discuss the Internet Governance Capacity Building activities of the AU-EU Project entitled Policy and Regulatory Initiative for Digital Africa (PRIDA), which focuses on digital inclusion. 

The EQUALS in Tech Awards is the flagship event of the EQUALS partnership, a multi-stakeholder initiative created to promote awareness; build political commitment, leverage knowledge, efforts, and resources to achieve digital gender equality at both the global and national levels.

The seventh annual EQUALS in Tech Awards celebrate initiatives that are closing the gender digital divide worldwide. This year, the number of categories will still reflect the structure of EQUALS, the Global Partnership to Bridge the Gender Digital Divide. 

The COVID-19 outbreak, an international public health emergency, has not only caused isolation in physical space, but also intensified fragmentation in cyberspace. Amid this global pandemic, cyber attacks, cyber frauds, online disinformation, and hate speech are spreading more widely than ever, giving rise to cross-border regulatory, legal and ethical issues and profoundly impacting the global security and trust relationship in cyberspace. Against the backdrop of existing international governance, response and coordination mechanism in cyberspace to be improved, all the actors and entities in cyberspace should enhance exchanges and cooperation, through dialogue on trust building in cyberspace and its realization approach to explore the governance of online ecosystem and trustworthy use of emerging technologies, with a view to jointly rising up to global challenges of public health emergencies, and to joining hands in building a community with a shared future in cyberspace.

The proposed Open Forum will engage high-level delegates and renowned experts from governments, international organizations, enterprises, technical communities and think tanks in the global Internet sector. Starting from the topic of COVID-19 outbreak, the Forum, in accordance with the IGF 2020 programme thematic track of Trust, seeks to develop in-depth discussion on the trust building in cyberspace in the context of an international public health emergency. The Forum will share ideas and insights on the following topics: 1. Impact on the global cyberspace and changes to trust relationship in cyberspace imposed by international public health emergencies represented by the COVID-19 outbreak (e.g. cybersecurity, international cooperation, information disclosure and dissemination). 2. Role of Internet technological innovation in responding to international public health emergencies. 3. Approach to developing trust building mechanism in cyberspace amid an international public health emergency.

This session will showcase current initiatives aimed at providing access to content and information to the wider possible audience, including notably persons with disabilities. We will talk about:

• how the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled is being ratified and implemented at an unprecedented speed around the world;
• the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) and how its activities (Global Book Service; accessible publishing; capacity building) are changing the lives of thousands of blind and people with visual impairment in both developing and developed countries;
• the research undertaken on access to copyright protected works by persons with disabilities.

Internet Governance with and for the Citizens 

Humanity deserves and asks for better governance. Both citizens and decision-makers are ready to experiment with new approaches. Decisions taken on behalf of 7+ billion human beings require to augment the traditional expertise with the vision and experience of ordinary citizens that will enrich, legitimize, and strengthen the decisions. New forms of political non-partisan dialogue between citizens, decision-makers and experts are one of the most promising solutions to improve governance towards a more inclusive, more trustful, and less divided society, at all levels, from local to global. By relying on such processes, decisions become more in tune with the complexity of our age, more legitimate and more sustainable. Decision-makers gain in legitimacy, insights, and transparency. Citizens enter the realm of complexity of decision making and get the feeling of being respected and considered by the political sphere. Both are strengthened by this unique interaction. The recent global COVID crisis has shown that Internet and they way we govern it has an impact on all humanity. There is a profound need to discuss its future with everyone.

Bringing Citizens into Internet Governance 

The Global Citizens’ Dialogue on the future of Internet (https://www.wetheinternet.org) aims at addressing core questions of the future of Internet with ordinary citizens and stakeholder around the world. It supports the decision-making process on the future of this common good of Humanity. In 2018 and 2019, and with the support of a global coalition of partners, we prepared and tested the approach in 17 Dialogues around the world. In 2020, it’s time to scale the process:

1. Global Coalition: We will consolidate and extend the coalition and work with the Advisory Board, the Scientific committee and the community in order to design the dialogues and how they will interact with policy making.
2. Deliberation Day: Together with a group of 60+ national partners we will implement a series of at least 50 Citizens’ Dialogues on October 10th, 2020. Citizens will address following topics: Internet and me, Building a strong Digital Identity, shaping the digital public sphere, governing artificial intelligence. They will also work on a national topic and formulate joint recommendations with stakeholder of their country. National partners will receive a comprehensive capacity building to ensure a high quality of the process.
3. Stakeholder Dialogue on Internet Governance: In order to use synergies and the window of opportunity opened by the Report of the High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation, we will roll-out a Stakeholder Dialogue in parallel to the Citizens’ Dialogues. These will gather local groups of stakeholders that will work on recommendations 5a/b of the Report and produce recommendations for implementation to be submitted to the UN. The dialogues will take place online in June and face-to-face in October.
4. Impact: From Summer on, we will feed the findings into policy discussions before, during and after IGF 2020. At European Level, the German Presidency of the Council will give a major opportunity to bring the voices of Citizens into the policy discussion. At global level, the UN week in September and the activities around the 75th Anniversary of the UN will open a global stage for impact.

 Goal of the Open Forum

The Open forum aims at:
1. Presenting the results of the Dialogue to the Internet Governance Community in order to transform them into actionable actions and discussions for the multi-stakeholder process.
2. Reflecting the method in order to improve it and to understand how to best integrate it in the Multi-stakeholder process in the coming years.
3. Launch the Follow-up process for 2021.

Program
The Forum will be shaped as a participatory event: participants will sit at tables and discuss the results of the debate in order to transform them into actionable learnings and actions for them.
1. Opening (5’) Short presentation of project and process (Missions Publiques). Feedback from core partners of the Advisory Board and national partners of the project.
2. Discussion / Break-out groups (35’) Participants are randomly split into groups of 5 (maximum diversity). In each group, a facilitator and a note taker guide the discussion. They discuss the following questions (not exclusive): How do these results inspire me for my strategy, my advocacy, my position? What do they mean for us as a community? What are most meaningful results in relation with the IGF agenda?” Which discussions do they impulse, which actions?
3. Presentation of results of the groups and conclusion (20’) Participants gather in plenary, note takers present the key results of their group.

Online participation will be organized as a mirror of the f2f participation:

1. E-Opening (5’) The remote participants will be in a listening position and will be in the virtual room. Two of the feedback in the beginning will be delivered by remote participants: One organizer and one participant.
2. E-Discussion / E-Break-out groups (35’) Online participants will be invited to join virtual rooms (links will be provided at the beginning of the session - participants will be dispatched in function of the first letter of their country of origin). In each group, a facilitator and a note taker will guide the discussion. The virtual group will discuss the same two questions as the f2f groups.
3. E-Presentation of results of the groups and conclusion (20’) Online participants will join back the plenary, remote note takers will present the key results of their group.

As the world's first government agency solely dedicated to online safety, the Australian eSafety Commissioner is emerging as a source of inspiration, evidence and best practice as countries around the globe seek to develop national online safety strategies and regulatory regimes. This session will provide government officials, representatives of international organisations, academics and industry partners with an overview of the role, remit and functions of eSafety.

Following this introduction, the session will focus on eSafety’s Safety by Design initiative.

The technological design and architecture of online services governs how users are able to interact and engage online. These aspects act as both a facilitator and amplifier for how humans interact, engage and behave. While technology may not drive behaviours, it is a medium through which these behaviours can manifest. As such, developers, engineers and vendors of online services play an incredibly important role in shaping online environments and users’ safety therein.

Safety by Design (SbD) seeks to drive-up standards of user safety within the technology community and secure greater consistency and standardisation of user safety considerations globally. The session will discuss:

• the importance of multi-stakeholder consultation in the development, dissemination and uptake of SbD – and in particular, the importance of incorporating the views and needs of children and young people in policy and regulatory guidance.
• how SbD is not common practice among industry partners, but that innovations in user safety are beginning to be developed at pace – illustrative case studies from industry and civil society organisations will be discussed.
• the impact that embedding user empowerment and autonomy as a core business objective for those developing products, platforms or services online could have.
• the development of eSafety's SbD Framework of guidance and resources to assist industry in implementing SbD.
• the role of national and international collaboration, multi-stakeholder engagement and coordinated efforts of the global community in achieving long-term and sustained social and cultural change.

Digital technologies have significantly transformed the communication patterns and behaviors of individuals, communities and societies. Algorithmic systems and data-based micro-targeting tools shape our social, economic and political lives, affect our governance and influence the distribution of resources. Freedom of expression, which includes freedom of information and media freedom, is crucial for the fulfillment and protection of all other human rights. It enables citizens to make informed choices, to participate actively in democratic processes, and to help ensure that powerful interests are held to account. During times of crisis, more than ever, we need freedom of expression and independent journalism to keep the public informed, counter rumors and disinformation, and help scrutinize decision-making. Yet, freedom of expression is increasingly shaped in multiple ways by technologies that rank speech for profit, seek to grab attention with sensationalist headlines and alter the business model of news outlets away from reader trust and towards “clicks”. The encouragement of “likes” and “shares” crowds out analysis and nuance in favor of shocking, often hateful exchanges, ultimately silencing many. The shift to digital media and the flow of online advertising revenue towards social media and search engines rather than media websites has caused a precarious economic situation for media and has contributed in many countries to their monopolisation and fragmentation. What was once hailed as a great promoter of freedom of expression – virtually unlimited access to information online – has now been confronted with major challenges: faced with unprecedented volumes of content, it is increasingly difficult for individuals to discern what is true and who to believe. This causes confusion, contributes to ‘information disorder’ and impacts negatively on society’s trust in the media and in democratic institutions more broadly. How can freedom of expression and media freedom be protected in the attention economy, where the dominant business models reward engagement and noise over deliberation and facts?

In November 2019, the General Conference of UNESCO, mandated the organisation “to prepare an international standard-setting instrument on the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of a recommendation”, which will be submitted to the General Conference in 2021. This request from UNESCO Member States is a continuation of the mandate given to UNESCO by the international community, at the World Summit on the Information Society in 2003 and 2005, confirmed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, to lead and facilitate international work on the “ethical dimensions of the information society”. As UNESCO embarks on this mission, it is working with a multi-stakeholder group of experts drawn from different parts of the world and representing a diverse range of stakeholders to not only identify principles for the development and deployment of an ethical AI but also to clarify what this means practically in terms of implementation of policies and programmes. The first draft of the recommendation submitted to Member States proposes options for action to Member States and other stakeholders and is accompanied by concrete implementation guidelines. The first draft of the AI Ethics Recommendation is available at https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000373434

In this regard, UNESCO has initiated the development of an AI Decision Maker’s Essential Toolkit that would support human and institutional capacities across stakeholder groups to address the challenges and opportunities of AI for achieving sustainable development goals and to strengthen capacities to implement AI Ethics recommendations. The Open Forum at the Internet Governance Forum will be an opportunity to discuss the work of the Ad-hoc Expert Group on the Ethics of AI, highlight the multi-stakeholder consultation process held online to solicit input from stakeholders around the world, and the different workstreams under the AI Decision Maker’s Essential Toolkit. The Open Forum will facilitate feedback on the standard setting and capacity development process from a wide range of stakeholders engaged in AI governance, with focus on data governance and inclusion. UNESCO’s work on AI is anchored within the “UN system-wide strategic approach and roadmap for supporting capacity development on artificial intelligence” and the Recommendation 3C of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation. The standard setting and capacity development work with respect to Ethics of AI builds on UNESCO’s commitment to a human-centred approach to digital technologies reflected in the ‘Internet Universality’ framework and the associated ‘R.O.A.M. principles’ (Human Rights, Openness, Accessibility and Multi-stakeholder participation), which were endorsed by the Organization’s Member States in 2015. The value of using the R.O.A.M. frame for assessing AI in particular is also reflected in the publication entitled “Steering AI and Advanced ICTs for Knowledge Societies: a ROAM perspective”, which was launched at the Internet Governance Forum in 2019.

The format of the Open Forum is intended to be a debate between the Youth IGF leaders and executives of the Information Society. 

The discussion between the leaders and the young representatives is proposed to be focused this year on the engagement of the Youth IGF leaders during the COVID crisis and the role of the youth activism in digital in the scope of resolution of crisis situations.

One of the focus points will also be to see how the recommendations for action that can emerge from the present Open Forum can be taken into consideration at national and regional levels and what needs to be done to achieve this.

The session format will be 25-30 minutes of chaired panel presentations, followed by an open plenary discussion on the potential to take international action to develop the emerging sector of ‘online safety technology’. The goals of this IGF Open Forum session will be to:

• Showcase work to define, consolidate and grow the Safety Tech market - linking these in particular to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the emergence of regulation;

• Explore the extent to which the challenges and opportunities we have identified in the UK reflect those of other countries;

• Discuss how international collaboration may help to develop and grow the global market.

Agenda

1. Welcome and introductions 

2. Technology for online safety - a global market (Mary Aiken)

3. The role of safety tech in online regulation (Simon Saunders, Ofcom)

4. Opportunities and barriers to international safety tech growth - the view from business 

5. Plenary discussion - how could cross-international collaboration help grow the international market? 

6. Conclusion and next steps

The Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) is concerned about the growing threat of disinformation. Disinformation can challenge the right to freedom of opinion and expression, necessary for the access of free, plural and reliable information constitutive of democracy. Disinformation can erode trust in public information and democratic institutions, fracture community cohesion, polarise society and, in the most extreme cases, constitute incitement to hatred and threaten public health and safety. State-sponsored disinformation campaigns are sometimes a part of military strategies and hybrid threats. This panel discussion will explore the challenges and opportunities faced by FOC Members in promoting human rights-based approaches to managing the growing malign threat of online disinformation.

An FOC Joint Statement on the Spread of Disinformation Online is currently being developed by the Governments of Finland and the UK. The statement will provide the basis for this panel discussion, featuring Members of the FOC and the multistakeholder FOC Advisory Network. Finland is also the incoming Chair for the FOC for 2021 and this open forum will provide an opportunity to learn more about the Coalition's work and its policy priorities and key issue areas.

　Starting with "Osaka Track" that was launched on the occasion of G20 Osaka Summit as well as agreeing on "data free flow with trust” at the Summit, 2019 was a year in which the importance of trusts in the digital economy was reaffirmed at the leaders’ level.

　The Internet space is the foundation of the digitalized activities in society and economy. In order to strengthen inclusive and sustainable development, it is critical to maintain the free, open and secure Internet space where the maximum benefits of innovation are realized. Therefore, Fostering “trust” in the Internet space is essential to promote “data free flow with trust”.

 The session will discuss the flowing points:

 -  How should we foster trust in the Internet space?

 -  How can we collect and accumulate good practices on promoting trust in the Internet space?

 -  What is the role of IGF as a place for stock taking on the good practices?

The use of data is growing rapidly and has an impact on almost all areas of society. On the one hand, data enables the development of new, innovative services and enhance efficiency in the private and public spheres. On the other hand, the increasing concentration of data in large technology firms or in governments creates certain risks and dependencies - both for individuals and companies, but also for the general public. The question arises how can the rights of individuals in the digital space be guaranteed, while at the same time enable the use of data for the benefit of the economy and the society?

Against this background and in the framework of the Swiss Federal Council’s “Digital Switzerland Strategy”, the network “Digital Self-Determination” was formed in 2019. It consists of committed actors from all stakeholder groups in Switzerland who aim to promote a digital ecosystem, where individuals can actively participate and use their data to support political, social or economic projects.

During this Open Forum, members of the “Digital Self-Determination” network will present their work to enhance the civic and economic participation in the digital space, based on the values of individual self-determination and will elaborate on concrete use cases (in particular energy and health/Covid-19 crisis) to promote high-quality data spaces that allow reliable data exchange between all stakeholders. The Open Forum will provide sufficient time for an open discussion and questions.

Furthermore, the session also has the purpose of gathering international inputs and views on this initiative, with a view of considering the development of an international network.

Agenda: 

1. Welcome by moderator

2. Swiss national network

• General overview & vision: 

  • Ambassador Roger Dubach, Deputy Director of the Directorate of International Law, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), Switzerland, confirmed
• Concrete use cases: 
  
  • Energy: Matthias Galus, Swiss Federal Office of Energy, confirmed
  • Fundamental rights in the health use case: Kerstin Vokinger, University of Zurich, confirmed

3. Comments from an international perspektive 

• Mark Findlay, Singapore Management University, confirmed
• Marco-Alexander Breit, German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, confirmed
• Anriette Esterhuysen, Chair of the IGF Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Group, confirmed
• Urs Gasser, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, confirmed

4. Comments and questions from participants

5. Wrap-up & next steps 

• Ambassador Thomas Schneider, Director of International Relations, Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), Switzerland, confirmed

Encryption safeguards the personal security of billions of people and the national security of countries around the world. In the wake of COVID-19, this protection is more important than ever, with greater amounts of commerce, health, and everyday activities taking place digitally.

However, some are pushing to weaken encryption, which would create a dangerous precedent that compromises the security of billions of people around the world. In the last year, we’ve seen several governments pursue policies or legislation which would weaken the use of strong encryption.

Actions in one country that undermine encryption threaten us all.

In May of 2020, the Internet Society (ISOC), Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), and Global Partners Digital (GPD) launched the Global Encryption Coalition. The Global Encryption Coalition promotes and defends encryption in key countries and multilateral gatherings where it is under threat. It also supports efforts by companies to offer encrypted services to their users.

In this session, participants will hear about global trends in the encryption debate, lessons learned from other stakeholders on their own encryption advocacy experiences, and more on the Global Encryption Coalition.

Agenda

• Opening remarks

  • 2020 trends in the encryption debate (ISOC)
  • The Global Encryption Coalition (GPD)
• Global Encryption Coalition Members Panel (Moderated by GPD)
  
  • Why does the encryption debate matter to them?
  • Success stories & lessons learned
• Q&A

For more information about the Global Encryption Coalition see: https://www.globalencryption.org/

The increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) based systems, often based on data collected over the internet, has stirred many human rights discussions. In particular in Europe, political processes have started to look further into the regulation of AI. The area of health is considered an important field for the development and use of AI. Medical data and online applications have the potential to support improved health outcomes and – as a result – wider socio-economic benefits by enhancing our ability to predict and diagnose diseases and track their spread. But they also run the risk of exacerbating existing inequalities and eroding privacy.

Privacy, non-discrimination and human dignity are just a few examples of the fundamental human rights put at risk by the development of online apps to track health or infection. Such concerns became ever more visible amidst discussions around the use of (online) data to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

While medical data are a crucial component of healthcare research, the current digital landscape may be ill-equipped to accommodate global cooperation mechanisms and exchange health data on such a large scale. As the development of AI systems progresses, they demand ever more sensitive personal data to train their algorithms. Data collected over the internet might suffer from a strong selection bias by covering only parts of the population with access to the internet and willing to share their data. This raises questions about the quality of data used for health-related AI systems, particularly in such data is gathered from the internet, mobile phones or inputted by the general public rather than medical specialists.

This open forum addresses the following questions: • How should governments further regulate the use of AI in high-risk areas, such as health? Would different standards be needed for different applications e.g. diagnostics vs tracking infection? • How can we maintain privacy while encouraging innovative solutions to promote and protect public health? How can informed consent be guaranteed when health related data are collected and used over smart phones? • What safeguards are needed to make sure that the principle of non-discrimination is upheld? • How can we ensure that AI applications are trained on accurate and reliable data?

The Internet has the potential to open up new pathways to women’s socio-political and economic empowerment. But as Sir Tim Berners Lee highlighted in an open letter issued on the 31st birthday of the Web in March 2020, the web is not working for women and girls today. Physical and sexual threats of violence, sexist or misogynistic comments towards women – often focusing on women’s physical appearance – as well as privacy concerns like sharing intimate or sexual images of a woman without her consent are rampant online. Women with multiple and intersecting identities are at heightened risk of online abuse and disproportionately affected because the abuse often targets their different identities. UN Women, Web Foundation and IT for Change envision this Open Forum as a dialogue for shared reflection between tech companies and civil society organisations on creating a multi-stakeholder strategy to counter online gender-based violence, accounting for its diverse forms and manifestations across contexts. 

This roundtable will inform and contribute to multi-stakeholder consultative dialogues led by the Web Foundation and UN Women to develop concrete solutions to address intersectional online gender-based violence across platforms from a technological and policy perspective. This will also contribute to the development of the Generation Equality Action Coalition on Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality, to be launched in 2021

The public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented global challenge to health care systems and our way of life. Digital technologies have played an important role since the beginning of the crisis outbreak and they will play an even more important role in supporting countries and citizens to manage and overcome the crisis. In response to this emergency outbreak, the European Commission has taken a series of initiatives to coordinate a common European approach for the use of mobile applications and mobile data in the context of the coronavirus crisis. The European Commission adopted a Recommendation to support Member States in exiting the COVID-19 crisis and supported European Member States in preparing and implementing a common European Toolbox for the use of mobile applications for contact tracing and warning. These instruments were flexible and agile enough to allow the European Union to promptly react and adapt its response to the emergency. Starting from the COVID-19 crisis experience, this open forum aims at discussing how technologies can play a role in a global health crisis and yet continue to respect human rights and enact principles and values such as privacy, trust, openness, transparency, decentralisation, user control and inclusiveness. The session will look at how effective technology-based measures taken in different countries and regions in the world have been in tackling the spread of the virus; how they have ensured the respect of laws and fundamental rights; and what lessons can be learned for the development of trustworthy internet technologies and their use for public policy purposes. The European Commission has also funded several projects developing technologies and apps to fight the COVID-19 outbreak, notably in the context of the Next Generation Internet (NGI) programme. The open forum will be the occasion to present to the audience concrete projects, also from Asia, and to reflect on lessons learnt and way forward.

WSIS Forum 2021: Open Consultation Process

17-21 May 2021

www.wsis.org/forum

Keywords: #InformationSociety #development #ICT4SDG #multistakeholder #inclusive #crowdsourced #stocktaking #prizes #HighLevel #GrassRoot #accessibility #gender #OlderPersons #youth #sports #space #infrastructure #access #CapacityBuilding #cybersecurity #regulation #eGovernment #eBusiness #eHealth #eEmployment #eEnvironment #eAgriculture #eLearning #eScience #CulturalDiversity #media #ethics #cooperation #partnership

The year 2020 has marked 15 years since the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum summit held in Tunisia, demonstrating that the foundations of a “just and equal information society” set by the Geneva Plan of Action in 2003 are still crucial to all WSIS stakeholders.

WSIS Forum represents the world's largest annual gathering of the ‘ICT for development’ community, and is co-organized by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD, in close collaboration with all WSIS Action Line Facilitators/co-facilitators.

Following 15,000 accumulative participants attending the fully virtual WSIS Forum 2020, we are expecting thousands of information and communication technology (ICT) experts from around the globe to assemble the 2021 annual event and to discuss advancing technological solutions to meet the challenges of sustainable development.

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2021 will serve as platform to discuss a range of compelling sessions on everything from building vibrant ICT-centric ecosystems to disaster risk reduction to machine learning for 5G systems.

With diverse stakeholders from around the world, the WSIS Forum brings together global commitments to create and maintain an information society that brings benefits to everyone, everywhere. And this year includes increased focus on how to leverage the power of ICTs to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The WSIS Forum has proven to be an efficient medium for coordination of multistakeholder implementation activities, information exchange, creation of knowledge, sharing of best practices and continues to provide assistance in developing multistakeholder and public/private partnerships to advance development goals.

The WSIS Stocktaking Database and the WSIS Prizes show what this multistakeholder effort can achieve on the ground in practical terms. New Calls for Submission for WSIS Stocktaking 2021 Report and WSIS Prizes 2021 contest will be presented. Additionally, the ongoing call for submissions to the Coronavirus (COVID19) Response - ICT Case Repository will be promoted.

The annual WSIS Forum hosts two days of high-level dialogues and policy statements, more than 200 specialized workshops and interactive exhibitions, annual awards WSIS Prizes, inspiring WSIS TalkX, international hackathon, various exhibitions and several special tracks focused on: o Virtual Reality for SDGs o ICTs and Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities and Specific Needs o Gender Mainstreaming o Innovation for SDGs o ICTs and Sports o ICTs and Youth o ICTs for Older Persons

The WSIS Forum is the only event of its kind where the programme and agenda are completely crowdsourced and build during the open consultation process. Involving all WSIS Stakeholders (governments, civil society, private sector entities, academia and international organizations), this process aims to ensure a participatory and inclusive spirit of the Forum.

The WSIS Forum 2021 is scheduled to be held from 17 to 21 May 2021. The inputs received during this meeting will be integrated in the outcomes of the Open Consultation Process.

Session Description:

Agenda and Speakers:

1. Welcome Remarks (5 mins)

Opening by Moderator

Ms. Joanna Kulesza, Assistant Professor of International Law and Internet Governance, University of Lodz

2. Introduction to the GFCE (8 mins)

5^th Anniversary and Plans for the Future

Mr. Christopher Painter, President GFCE Foundation Board

3. Cybil Knowledge Portal (8 mins)

Bringing Together Knowledge on Cyber Capacity Building

Ms. Carolin Weisser Harris, Lead International Operations, Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre (GCSCC)

4. GFCE Research Agenda (8 mins)

Addressing Existing Knowledge Gaps

Mr. Enrico Calandro, Co-Director C3 Southern Africa & Chair GFCE Research Committee

5. GFCE and Matchmaking (8 mins)

Experiences of Senegal as a GFCE Member

Ms. Racky Seye Samb, Head of Office, Ministry of Digital Economy and Telecommunications, Senegal

6. Model Cooperation for Cyber Capacity Building (8 mins)

The GFCE and AU – Cooperation Towards a Regional Focus on CCB

Mr. Moctar Yedaly, Head of Information Society Division, African Union Commission

7. Q&A (15 mins)

Moderated discussion with panelists bringing in questions from audience

The OECD has been compiling data, analysis and recommendations on a range of topics to address the health, economic and societal crisis related to COVID-19 in order to facilitate co-ordination and contribute to the necessary global action. Beyond issues related directly to health, education and taxes, for example, the OECD has been providing specific guidance related to the effects on the digital economy, particularly in the areas of:

• data protection and privacy related to COVID-19 (e.g. protecting privacy and data while using apps and biometrics)
• digital security during COVID-19 crisis (e.g. dealing with digital security risk during the epidemic)
• connectivity issues during and beyond COVID-19 (e.g. bridging digital divides and keeping the Internet running)
• artificial intelligence tools for COVID-19 response (e.g. use of AI for health policy, medical research and to track and trace the virus’ spread)
• combating COVID-19 disinformation on online platforms
• e-commerce in the time of COVID-19

Ahead of immediate responses, the content that the OECD is producing in the area of digital economy also aims to provide analysis on the longer-term consequences and impacts, paving the way to recovery with co-ordinated policy responses across countries, with a specific focus on vulnerable sectors of society and the economy.

This Open Forum seeks to report on the key messages from the body of work produced in the OECD since April 2020 on the subject of COVID-19 and the digital economy and to foster a reflection on the lessons learned from this crisis, together with representatives of government, business, civil society and other international organisations.

The session will look into both opportunities and challenges for the digital economy during and beyond COVID-19, by addressing two main questions:

• In which way has COVID-19 acted as a catalyst for the digital transformation? • What are the digital economy divides, limitations and risks revealed by COVID-19?

Agenda

1. Setting the scene (5 minutes) - The moderator will explain the purpose of the Open Forum and introduce the panellists.

2. Opportunities and challenges for the digital economy during and beyond COVID-19 (35 minutes) - The moderator will invite panellists to answer the following questions: “In which way has COVID-19 acted as a catalyst for the digital transformation?” and “What are the digital economy divides, limitations and risks revealed by COVID-19?”

3. Questions and answers (15 minutes) - The moderator will open the floor for a section of questions and answers between the audience and panellists.

4. Wrap-up (5 minutes) – The moderator will summarise the main points and wrap up the discussions.

The Internet which has brought a global social-wellbeing, prosperity and economic growth is today threatened by the increased willingness of actors to undertake malicious cyber activities to pursue their objectives. The EU stresses the importance of a global, open, free, stable and secure cyberspace where human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law fully apply. Over the years, cyber issues in the context of international security have been discussed in a number of international fora. The multi-stakeholder community is looking ahead to further discussions on responsible normative behaviour in cyberspace. Over the recent years, several governmental, regional, private-sector and civil society led initiatives on cybersecurity have been launched already, and various stakeholders have shown their commitment to share responsibility and contribute to the advancement of security and stability in cyberspace in their respective roles. Such rise of initiatives will inevitably influence the security and stability of cyberspace not necessarily by competing against one another, but forming a joint effort. The EU intends to organize an Open Forum at the upcoming IGF in Katowice, Poland, on the joint efforts of all stakeholders in promoting "conflict prevention, cooperation and stability in cyberspace" It will allow to further assess the existing linkages between threat assessment, international law, responsible State behaviour, confidence building measures and capacity building, which all contribute to stability and trust in cyberspace. Each actor has different strengths and capacities. States and organizations that are developing their cyber capacity can be inspired by these initiatives and adapt them to their own needs. Furthermore, some of the most effective mechanisms for implementation are at the regional level – thus the participation of a representative from each sector and different region would be beneficial to present its specific efforts and challenges. This Open Forum will aim to be a platform as a cooperative measure to share information and develop common responses and common denominators to build confidence among governments and other stakeholders, in order to contribute to the stability of cyberspace.

In the wake of COVID-19 an erroneous dialogue has appeared in multiple governmental and global environments comparing the supposed tensions between privacy and protection in stemming the spread of the coronavirus disease. However, where it is assumed citizens need to give up location, biometric or medical data based on governmental or advertising based surveillance to combat the spread of COVID, key human rights may be violated as what is "best for society" to move beyond this crisis.

It is time for the advent of Personal Sovereignty -- when the digital environment serves to enhance human interests (of humans and their meaningful groupings). By creating tools for citizens, such as data governance frameworks and machine readable privacy terms for all, society can evolve the logic of a physical passport to a digital framework where people can be placed at the center of their data. Beginning with children to strengthen GDPR and Privacy by Design focused legislation, the creation of such tools allow individuals (or their caregivers) to better understand and influence the collection and use of their (or their children’s) data, as well as access and meaningfully curate and share their data as they choose. While people may still be tracked by advertising or government surveillance oriented tools, Personal Sovereignty provides all humans with their digital voice at an algorithmic level to face the future as empowered and proactive participants in digital democracy.

This proposed Open Forum session will provide an introduction to the mature and extended suite of currently available technologies, communities and standards that can be used to empower Personal Sovereignty to become ubiquitous in the age of the algorithm.

Citing examples from IEEE’s Digital Inclusion, Identity, Trust, and Agency program and many of IEEE’s volunteers, collaborators and contributing organizations to deal with COVID and beyond, and recommendations from The IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems, this session will also provide an introduction to current efforts regarding protecting children's data and creating trustworthy experiences. It will feature discussion on the nature of data, Artificial Intelligence and ethics, as well as provide insights into the human-side of broad data-collection, sharing and use, and consequences of failure to consider the diverse users. This session will feature an interactive Q&A among the lead discussants and the participants centering on trust to gain diverse perspectives on what the future of trust in the algorithmic age looks like.

Entrepreneurship education fosters innovative talents, which are an essential driving force for future development. The practice of entrepreneurship benefits students and learners from different social and economic backgrounds because it teaches people to cultivate unique skills and think outside the box.

To foster the entrepreneurship culture among Brazilian college students, the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br, acronym in Portuguese), along with the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations, and Communications (MCTIC, acronym in Portuguese) launched a national training program named "Entrepreneurism with Web Technologies for Brumadinho." This program targets not only college students but also the inhabitants of Brumadinho (Minas Gerais, Brazil). In this city, a Vale's dam released a mudflow on 25 January 2019, killing 270 people as a result of the collapse.

The disaster had dire consequences to the environment since the dam failure released millions of cubic meters of tailings, which were incorporated into the river's soil. Moreover, to this date, Brumadinho faces economic sustainability challenges since many agricultural areas were affected or destroyed. Furthermore, the local market, as well the tourism, were impacted due to the damages. Thus, the overall goal of this program is not only to foster entrepreneurship but also to mitigate the aftermath of human tragedies, especially concerning Brumadinho.

After releasing a national public call for projects, we received 26 innovative project proposals. Ten reviewers from different backgrounds reviewed the project proposals and selected the best five. At the time of this writing, no project has kicked off. We briefly present the proposals in the following.

1) Brumadinho Open Data Lake & Analytics. The goal of this project is to create a technological framework that collects data from different authoritative sources such as the ones from Brazilian government agencies, gathers them in a single repository, and makes them publicly available for analysis. The solution architecture is based on the Live Exploration and Mining Of Non-trivial Amount of Data from Everywhere (LEMONADE) technology.

2) BrumadinhoCoin: An Environmental Supportive Coin. The goal of this project is to develop a virtual coin, employing Blockchain infrastructure, and an interactive app so that the population can collaborate with the monitoring of Brumadinho ecosystems.

3) The SuperAÇÃO Coletiva platform. This project's goal is to collect innovative project ideas from the women of Brumadinho, easing the fundraising process for executing such ideas. The platform should be shared among multiple stakeholders, including universities, public and private companies, and NFOs.

4) Alerta Brumadinho. A Technological Complaints Solution Against Environmental Crimes. This project's goal is to strengthen the local environmental monitoring communities. For this, a platform will be developed for environmental crime complaints. Its users will be able to file complaints, monitor them, and receive feedback.

5) Real-time Monitoring Systems of River's Water Quality. The goal of this project is to develop a low-cost prototype of a water quality monitoring station using Arduino/ESP. The station will monitor rivers' water quality and send the collected data through HTTP or MQTT for a geographical information system for analysis.

In the session, we intend to present the projects, discuss, and collect ideas on how the students can proceed.

ICANN proposes to host an Open Forum with a theme closely connected to the Security, Safety, Stability and Resilience of the Internet and thus linked with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): 9, 10, 16 and 17. While this Session will allow a significant opportunity for delegates to pose any questions to the ICANN CEO and President, as well as the Chair of the ICANN Board, the main focus will be on the concept of technical Internet governance and ICANN’s role. The Open Forum will also address the threats that have emerged recently as expressed in the Covid-19 pandemic. ICANN will address topics such as Domain Name Security Extensions (DNSSEC), the ICANN Domain Abuse Activity Reporting (DAAR) Project, DNS Abuse in the time of Covid -19 and other work ICANN conducts as part of its mission.

With the rapid development of digital transformation, every country develops their ICT Infrastructure, as a result, the Internet access is enjoyed by more and more people at almost every corner of the world. At the same time the applications and contents in the Internet are highly used by those who already have the access. In addition, Operators of these Applications and Contents are not necessarily based in the country, but can be anywhere in the world. Most of the operators will ask the users’ data, for various purposes. Some of these data might be personal data of the users. With the developments of cloud system, the operators might store all data in their possession at Data Centers anywhere in the world too.

It is worth noting that the Covid-19 pandemic, has even pushed the digital transformation further. Previously, many digital activities, including online meetings for example, were carried out mainly in order to have higher productivity and efficiency. Today, it is considered primarily to protect ourselves from Covid-19 virus infection. Anything else, including higher productivity, can follow afterwards.

With the increased problems of personal data leakage, hacking, or perhaps even sold personal data by the operators, the awareness of Personal Data protection is increasing significantly. This is followed by various regulations developed by various countries to protect their citizens’ personal data. EU’s famous GDPR for example, is studied across the globe including in Indonesia, which currently is preparing the country’s personal data Act.

With the above global developments as the background, the big theme of this open forum is taken as Beyond Personal Data: Literacy, Sovereignty and Rights. Two subjects will be discussed under this theme, i.e.:

1. Internet Governance:

This topic has been discussed since the first WSIS in 2003, followed by the study by the UN WGIG that was then presented in the second WSIS in 2005. It was from the discussion in 2005 that IGF was then formed.

Based on various discussion in this topic which have been carried out in several international meetings, then the first subject to be discussed in this Open Forum is to review the various crucial aspects of Internet Governance and the possibility to further develop a globally acceptable Internet Governance in order to protect important data, including personal data. Even the current global development such as the introduction of some nationwide INTRANet might be partly triggered by the plan to protect those data. If this development goes further, a single global network for Internet might be the thing of the past. Hence, a discussion on a globally acceptable Internet Governance is extremely necessary.

In this first subject, several aspects will be discussed further, including but not limited to response to these questions:

1. With Schrems II decision, US Clean Network Executive Order, Internet policy seems to deviate from a one global Internet dream, what should we expect come out from such attitude to personal data protection? Should we be prepared with Internet division based on country’s sovereignty?
2. Such policies often being justified to serve public interest and protect national security, but that is not often the case, so how the implementation of multi-stakeholder principle in Internet governance can help to balance the dominance of a stakeholder in creating Internet policies that hamper a one global Internet affecting cross-border data transfer?

2. Digital Economy Ecosystem:

There is a necessity to develop global digital economy and, at the same time, regulate the digital economic ecosystem ensuring the global development will benefit all countries equally. It has to be noted, that the operators of applications and content, while they are holding the users’ some personal data, are not necessarily in the users’ country. In addition, currently, data is considered the new oil, which means personal data is a highly valued asset. This asset however is also held by the operators.

It is imperative for every country to protect their national data as well as their citizen’s personal data in the Internet, which are held by the Applications and Content Operators. At the same time the country also needs to open their cyberspace internationally for digital economy development. It means that the data, while it might be circulated around the globe and handled by various operators, must be protected. Otherwise, countries that cannot protect their data might lose in the global digital economic development.

Due to these facts, this topic will discuss the following questions:

1. What are the reactions from industries to the emergence of various digital policies that eventually increase compliance and operational cost? Some even sees that certain policies such as data localization and data transfer restriction are difficult to be implemented.
2. Additionally, how the stakeholders guarantee exactly that Internet based digital economy development activities, especially with data it collects, could benefit countries with less technological advancement? These countries suffer from digital divide and technological gap which are still struggling economically and at the same time also need to protect their strategic data and their citizen’s personal data. Most of the benefits will be in the hand of those who hold the data.

Online Moderator:
•    Suryo Adhi Wibowo, AICOMS, Telkom University
•    Co-moderator: Larasati Muslikhah Famarsari, AICOMS, Telkom University

Rapporteur:
•    Willy Anugrah Cahyadi, AICOMS, Telkom University
•    Co-rapporteur: Faisal Budiman, AICOMS, Telkom University

Overall Advisor During the Forum:
•    Bhredipta Socarana (ID-IGF)

This session will focus on strategies and practices to advance international human rights standards when governments procure, license or form partnerships to make use of new digital technologies. The sudden and devastating onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic has galvanized governments, citizens and the private sector to develop responses and solutions to protect public health.  Technology has played an important role in these efforts – whether to, allow vulnerable and isolated individuals to stay connected to their families, sustain delivery of essential items, to advance medical research or to enable home working.  Governments and technology companies have closely worked together, sometimes being supported by emergency legal measures and also, to some degree, by a social license for such collaboration.

In a context where contact tracing-apps are developed through public-private partnerships, States should take additional steps to protect against human rights abuses by business enterprises that receive substantial support and services from State agencies, and in the case of contact tracing apps mostly from health authorities, and where appropriate, require human rights due diligence in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Indeed, given human rights risks linked to the use of contact tracing apps, “States should encourage and, where appropriate, require human rights due diligence by the agencies themselves and by those business enterprises or projects receiving their support. A requirement for human rights due diligence is most likely to be appropriate where the nature of business operations or operating contexts pose significant risk to human rights” (Commentary UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Principle 4).

 Companies developing new technology products and solutions to fight the spread of the virus, coupled with the rapid and extraordinary government requests for access to user data raises major human rights concerns and questions.

• How do we protect privacy rights while using technology to address legitimate public health and safety issues?
• How can we prevent that governments use data about their citizens for nefarious purposes? How do we manage the risk of discriminatory access to information and public health outcomes, or social stigmatization?
• What is an approporiate timing for rolling back special measures with elevated human rights risks?
• How does user data need to be governed to uphold purpose limitation (e.g. public health)?

This session will explore what policies, processes and accountability mechanisms will ensure States meet their human rights obligations and companies meet their Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights in the course of government requests, solution design, procurement/sales, contract negotiations and solution implementation.

Part One will spotlight urgent human rights concerns as well as positive practices related to public-private responses around the world to COVID-19. Part Two will chart a course for how to more strongly embed – for times of crisis and beyond – human rights protections into the “State-Business Nexus” consistent with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The session will also inform the next steps and deliverables of a key work-stream of the UN Human Rights B-Tech Project.

The session allows also to look beyond COVID-19 in recognition that, even before the current crisis, stakeholders across government, civil society and the private sector have raised alarms about the risk of public-private partnerships not being governed by a meaningful commitment to upholding human rights. 

End Violence is the largest and most diverse public-private coalition focused on accelerating progress towards SDG 16.2: ending all forms of violence against children by 2030. It acts as a global platform for evidence-based advocacy, action and investments.

Through Safe Online, End Violence is making investments in organisations designing tools, programs and technology solutions to tackle online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA). Since 2016, $44 million were invested in projects focused on building national, regional and global capacity to end online CSEA making impact in over 50 countries. At the same time, through generated knowledge and learning, End Violence/Safe Online is working with global leaders and organisations to ensure a continued focus on child online safety, placing it high in key global policy debates. 

Open Forum: While digital technologies have created risks for children online, they play a critical part in our efforts to prevent and respond to online CSEA. Given the exponential growth of abuse of children online and the speed at which new threats are emerging, there is a global consensus that with right regulatory frameworks and policies, and collaboration between main sectors, technology is the key to protecting children online.  

With its latest Safe Online investment round of $10 million, End Violence made another significant contribution to the global fight against online CSEA, welcoming 14 new grantees with cutting-edge projects into its Safe Online community.  Through new technologies, these projects will develop the knowledge and capacity of law enforcement, public authorities and other groups fighting online CSEA across the globe – especially in countries where there is currently little related infrastructure in place.   

Key themes/questions: Together with our End Violence/Safe Online partners and grantees we will discuss key aspects around technology and governance that are shaping our ability to effectively respond to threats faced by children online, including:

1. The role technology plays in the global response to online CSEA, the types of technology currently in use, as well as variety of ways it can be applied;
2. Regulatory frameworks that are enabling or challenging the use of tech for child online safety and the tension between privacy and safety;
3. Unequal capacities across the world to access and use technological tools, and effective approaches to building that capacity; and,
4. The role of national and international cooperation and cross sector collaboration in creating a sustainable global ecosystem for prevention and response to online CSEA.

Context: 1 in 3 internet users worldwide is a child. At the same time, in any single moment, an estimated 750,000 predators are looking to sexually exploit and abuse children online. When you couple these figures with the fact that digital technologies were not made with children’s safety in mind, making the abuse easier to produce, share, hide, and trade - you begin to get a picture of the threats children face in the digital world, including: child grooming on social media and gaming platforms, coercing and blackmailing children for sexual purposes, “on demand” live streaming of child sexual abuse for as little as $15, and producing, sharing and consuming Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).

COVID19 has only exacerbated this situation and helped expose the existing pandemic of online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA). Law enforcement authorities and reporting hotlines have seen a striking increase in the amount of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) being shared online. In April 2020 alone, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) registered 4 million reports of suspected CSAM online compared to 1 million for the same period last year.

In the wake of COVID-19 an erroneous dialogue has appeared in multiple governmental and global environments comparing the supposed tensions between privacy and protection in stemming the spread of the coronavirus disease. However, where it is assumed citizens need to give up location, biometric or medical data based on governmental or advertising based surveillance to combat the spread of COVID, key human rights may be violated as what is "best for society" to move beyond this crisis.

It is time for the advent of Personal Sovereignty -- when the digital environment serves to enhance human interests (of humans and their meaningful groupings). By creating tools for citizens, such as data governance frameworks and machine readable privacy terms for all, society can evolve the logic of a physical passport to a digital framework where people can be placed at the center of their data. Beginning with children to strengthen GDPR and Privacy by Design focused legislation, the creation of such tools allow individuals (or their caregivers) to better understand and influence the collection and use of their (or their children’s) data, as well as access and meaningfully curate and share their data as they choose. While people may still be tracked by advertising or government surveillance oriented tools, Personal Sovereignty provides all humans with their digital voice at an algorithmic level to face the future as empowered and proactive participants in digital democracy.

This proposed Open Forum session will provide an introduction to the mature and extended suite of currently available technologies, communities and standards that can be used to empower Personal Sovereignty to become ubiquitous in the age of the algorithm.

Citing examples from IEEE’s Digital Inclusion, Identity, Trust, and Agency program and many of IEEE’s volunteers, collaborators and contributing organizations to deal with COVID and beyond, and recommendations from The IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems, this session will also provide an introduction to current efforts regarding protecting children's data and creating trustworthy experiences. It will feature discussion on the nature of data, Artificial Intelligence and ethics, as well as provide insights into the human-side of broad data-collection, sharing and use, and consequences of failure to consider the diverse users. This session will feature an interactive Q&A among the lead discussants and the participants centering on trust to gain diverse perspectives on what the future of trust in the algorithmic age looks like.