Digitalisation is sweeping the planet and societies and economies are benefitting from the opportunities this presents. However, as consumers and businesses fall prey to spam, phishing and hacks, policy makers are scrambling to catch up and limit the risks. A lack of technical knowledge among politicians and regulators however can lead to non-effective rules. A cheaper and better solution is to implement the standards that have already been agreed upon. This project aims to advance that goal in collaboration with all the key stakeholders.
The Internet Engineering Task Force has one purpose: “Creating voluntary standards to maintain and improve the usability and interoperability of the Internet”. Some of these standards present the Internet industry and manufacturers with solutions for flaws in existing programs and protocols. They include e.g. anti-spam and spoofing measures, the prevention of route hijacking, DNSSEC, etc.
Implementation or deployment of said standards would immediately make all end-users on the Internet safer and more secure. Implementation however is voluntary and often slow. Years, even decades are no exception. This pilot program foresees to look at the issue of implementation from the following angles:
- Identification of reasons for the slow implementation of Internet standards and protocols in regard to safety and security;
- Engagement of and between different stakeholders and bring them into this discussion and thus to the IGF itself, i.e. politicians, policy makers, industry representatives, the technical community, consumer and child welfare organisations;
- The formulation of practical recommendations towards swifter implementation;
- Active sharing of experiences learned in this program.
At the MAG meeting in Geneva (January 2019) the MAG expressed support for this pilot initiative, under the title: Implementation of Internet standards and protocols.
The project is led by Wout de Natris, De Natris Consult.