The DC session of the Internet Rights and Principles Coalition (IRPC) took place in two separate sections, a first presentation of remarks by speakers, and a second half of interactive group workshops. Between in-person and online attendance up to 50 people participated in the session.

Panel Phase

Helani Galpaya

The Global Digital Compact (GDC) is praised for its focus on human rights but lacks clear guidelines on implementing business and human rights principles within its framework. The voluntary nature of these principles and ineffective stakeholder integration slow progress, with separate discussions among businesses and civil society instead of meaningful interactions. The draft document does not support effective collaboration among stakeholders, and the GDC struggles to hold nations accountable for human rights violations by private companies and states. Although the GDC acknowledges the link between human rights and socio-economic rights, addressing inequality, there is a significant gap between its vision and real-world application. Proposed regulations often restrict rights, and there's urgency in their enactment, compromising the GDC’s credibility. Additionally, the GDC underscores the importance of teaching online civic responsibility, drawing parallels with environmental protection efforts to highlight the role of individual actions in creating a safe digital space. Despite efforts to make its consultation process inclusive, it remains imperfect and dominated by privileged voices. Effective ground-level actions are essential after the GDC’s establishment to ensure national policies reflect its principles and objectives. While the GDC commits to human rights and socio-economic issues, it faces challenges in clarity, stakeholder engagement, and enforcement, undermining its impact. However, emphasizing individual online responsibilities and improving consultation inclusivity are crucial for meaningful outcomes.

Raashi Saxena

The GDC is a joint effort by the UN, governments, and civil society to integrate technology with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through a multi-stakeholder approach. The Internet Rights and Principles Coalition plays a key role in the GDC by promoting digital inclusion and connectivity for marginalized groups like women, migrants, and refugees, supporting SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities. Ensuring that human rights in digital spaces match those offline, particularly in areas like freedom of expression and net neutrality, is vital for SDG 16 – Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. The influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in sectors like finance and health, and its challenges, including privacy and the rise of deep fakes, impact SDG 3 – Good Health and Wellbeing, and SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth. The IRPC emphasizes partnerships and youth involvement, aligning with SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals and SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure. During IRPC events, interactive group activities foster engagement and idea exchange, promoting a collaborative digital future and advancing the SDGs.

Santosh Sigdel

The Dynamic Coalition on Internet Rights and Principles is committed to upholding human rights online, creating the multilingual Charter of Human Rights and Principles for the Internet, now available in 28 languages, to facilitate global and regional stakeholder engagement. The IRPC promotes a rights-based approach to Internet frameworks and has participated in various global forums, including EuroDIG and UNESCO conferences, raising awareness about digital rights and fostering collaborations. Highlighting the importance of accurate and culturally relevant translations, the IRPC engages local stakeholders in the translation process to ensure integrity and build local understanding of the charter's principles. This not only aids in language translation but also inculcates a deep understanding of human rights among local communities, empowering them to advocate and enforce these principles. However, balancing the regulation of online misinformation with freedom of speech presents challenges, particularly as governments may use regulatory measures to suppress free expression. This issue is prevalent e.g. in South Asia, where Internet regulations often threaten freedom of speech. Moreover, awareness of the United Nations' Global Digital Compact remains low in South Asia and other developing regions, impacting its effectiveness. Ensuring broad stakeholder involvement from diverse regions is crucial for the GDC’s success. In summary, the IRPC's work in translating and promoting human rights online, while building local capacities and raising awareness, is vital. Nonetheless, ongoing efforts to maintain freedom of speech in the face of regulatory challenges and to enhance global engagement with initiatives like the GDC are essential for a rights-centric digital world.

Wolfgang Benedek

Wolfgang Benedek criticizes what we know about the Global Digital Compact for its limited progress in advancing human rights. He points out two main flaws: the compact's lack of enforcement mechanisms and the difficulty in achieving consensus among stakeholders. These weaknesses, Benedek argues, hinder the GDC's ability to effectively promote and protect digital human rights. He emphasizes the need for stronger enforcement and more collaborative decision-making to enhance the GDC’s impact on digital human rights.

Dennis Redeker

As far as work of the Coalition is concerned, key developments included the translation of the 10 Principles document into Japanese to engage more local stakeholders and there are concrete plans to translate the entire Charter into Japanese until IGF 2024. To support this, a task force is seeking experts in Internet governance or international law. Dennis also pointed out that the Platform Governance Survey, conducted at the University of Bremen, highlighted a discrepancy between the expected and actual influence in shaping the GDC, with technical experts viewed as ideal leaders but businesses seen as overly dominant. In addition, the general population of 41 countries does not appear to be aware of the important role of governments in the negotiation of the GDC. The results underscore the need for broader public consultation, involving citizens, NGOs, and academics to create a more inclusive digital governance framework. The Internet Rights and Principles Coalition is advancing this inclusivity by collaborating on translations with universities and student groups, enriching students' understanding of digital rights.

Group Phase

Dennis Redeker led a group discussion as part of the workshop, encouraging participants to analyze and discuss future challenges related to specific IRPC Charter articles. This activity aimed to deepen understanding and disseminate knowledge about the charter's relevance.

Audience

The audience discussed and emphasized the following topics:

1.  Youth and diversity in Internet governance emphasizing the importance of involving young people in updating and translating governance documents to reflect diverse perspectives.

2.  Freedom of expression: Discussed the need to balance regulation and protection of free speech, emphasizing principles like legitimacy, necessity, and proportionality to prevent government overreach.

3. Responsibilities in the digital space, stressing the importance of clearly defining roles for states, businesses, and stakeholders in upholding human rights when regulating online content and protecting against harmful information.

4. Inclusivity and accessibility, acknowledging advancements and ongoing challenges in making technology accessible for individuals with disabilities, including variations in regional sign languages and Internet accessibility.

5. Protection of children and their rights, addressing the need for careful regulation to protect children online, the potential impacts of digital certificates on human rights, and the necessity of strategic litigation to safeguard digital rights against overreaching government actions.

Vint Cerf (in the audience) emphasizes the need for users and providers in the digital space to understand and fulfill their responsibilities alongside rights. He links this to Rousseau's social contract concept, which balances individual freedoms with societal obligations. This approach, including the role of social norms, aims to foster a responsible, secure online environment. Ultimately, recognizing and upholding our duties can enhance harmony both online and in broader society.

Introduction

The DC-Sustainability coordinators, Daniel O’Maley, Waqas Naeem and Courtney Radsch opened the session by underscoring the significance of balancing technology innovation governance with the sustainability of journalism and news media. The key highlight for the year was the dynamic coalition's focus on data transparency and access as vital elements for media sustainability. The coalition's annual report was launched during the session, a collaborative endeavor that offers a snapshot of the critical issues facing the news media industry. The report spotlighted topics like the power imbalances between media and tech giants, the dual nature of government regulations impacting media, and the challenges and opportunities presented by technological innovations, such as generative AI.

In the first section of the session, authors of the report presented their chapters: Prue Clarke (New Narratives - Australia), Mike Harris (Exonym - United Kingdom), Juliana Harsianti (Independent Journalist and Researcher - Indonesia) and Juliet Nanfuka (CIPESA - Uganda). Following the presentations of each chapter, members of the DC-Sustainability took the floor to present their work: Michael Markovitz (GIBS Media Leadership Think Tank - South Africa), Ana Cristina Ruelas (UNESCO - Mexico), Julius Endert (DW Academy - Germany), Michael Bak (Forum on Information and Democracy - France), Sabhanaz Rashid Diya (Global Tech Institute - Bangladesh) and Ramiro Alvarez (CELE - Argentina). The session concluded with an open discussion with the audience.

Global influence of EU/US policies

A key topic was the overarching effect of policies and tech companies from powerhouses like the EU and the US on the global digital space. Despite being localized, their ripple effect transcends borders, impacting organizations working in so-called “Global South” countries. These organisations often find themselves grappling with the daunting task of compliance, struggling to decipher a logic they didn't create and can't control. Notably, these policies (both from companies and governments) play a pivotal role in shaping how journalists and media outlets operate, offering them limited avenues to challenge the tech giants. Courtney Radsch elaborated on these techno-legal systems, emphasizing the major influence of US and EU-based tech platforms on global media. These platforms determine how content rules and policies, such as the DMCA and GDPR, are implemented. Tying into the conversation on how centralized internet governance has impacted media visibility and sustainability, Mike Harris spoke about the importance of decentralized rulebook systems to empower news media, especially in the face of challenges from large online platforms. Juliana Harsianti shed light on the evolution of digital technology in Indonesia, emphasizing the implications of regulations intended for e-commerce now being used to restrict journalistic freedom. 

Digital Equity: Paving the Way for Sustainable Journalism

Data stands as the backbone of informed decision-making in today's digital realm. Gathering the right data is the first hurdle. With tech platforms influencing the visibility and viability of content, there's an undeniable need for a coordinated approach to collect and utilize data. Such data can aid in understanding audience behaviors, advertising strategies, and the effectiveness of content distribution methods. Ensuring a fair compensation model, bolstered by clear data-driven strategies, can pave the way for the sustainability of quality journalism. In that regard, via a written statement, Michael Markovitz the Conference held in July, “Big Tech and Journalism - Building a Sustainable Future for the Global South” which culminated in the adoption of the Principles for Fair Compensation, aimed to be a framework for the design of policy mechanisms seeking to address media sustainability through competition or regulatory approaches.

Prue Clark spotlighted the disparity faced by countries like Liberia in the digital age. The challenges faced by media in such countries, from a lack of digital monetization knowledge to reliance on government support, are evident. Juliet Nanfuka offered a parallel from Uganda, emphasizing the hesitancy in the media's approach to AI, despite the challenges they face. Both Clark and Nanfuka highlighted the struggles and gaps in media adaptation and digital training in lower-income countries.

Daniel O’Maley emphasized the transformative power of data sharing, stressing the importance of understanding which data is essential for different sectors. He talks about the implications of data transparency policies, especially considering their global impact.

While Nanfuka highlighted the challenges of integrating new technology into media spaces that are already grappling with other significant issues, Julius Ender dived into the transformative power of AI in media, emphasizing the importance of AI literacy. Both Ender and Nanfuka conveyed the urgency for media sectors, especially in developing countries, to understand and adapt to AI's growing influence.

Regional Focus vs. Global Perspective:

During the Members’ Spotlight, Sabhanaz Rashid Diya offered insight into the mission of the Tech Global Institute to bridge the equity gap between the global South and dominant tech platforms. Ramiro Alvarez provided a deep dive into the media landscape of Latin America, emphasizing the influence of state-driven media and the need for more open dialogue. This regional focus complements the broader global themes discussed, reinforcing the idea that global digital governance challenges often manifest in unique regional ways. Despite the fact that the media landscape varies by region and country, there are common threads of challenge and opportunity related to digital governance, sustainability, and the integration of new technologies.

Conclusion and next steps

Overall, the session emphasized the value of global collaboration grounded in local insights. It's not just about dissecting EU or US policies, but also diving deep into what's happening in places like Uganda and Liberia. The local challenges faced in these regions have global implications, reinforcing the need for an inclusive approach in policy discussions.

While the EU and US might often take center stage due to their significant influence, the collective effort should focus on ensuring that voices from all corners of the world are heard: Global strategies must be informed by local knowledge and experiences. 

In the coming months, DC-Sustainability members will meet again to shape the priorities for the year ahead, especially when it comes to envisioning AI governance and its impact in the media. The goal is to ensure that as the world of journalism evolves, it remains rooted in authenticity, inclusivity, and the pursuit of truth.

At the beginning of the session, Dr. Arisa Ema (The University of Tokyo), one of the organizers, explained the purpose of the session. The aim of this session is to expand the concept of "Responsible AI,” which is an important topic of AI governance, to "Resilient and Responsible AI" by considering the possibility of situations including crises where dynamic interactions between multiple AI systems, physical systems, and humans across a wide range of domains may lead to unpredictable outcomes.

First, Carly and Yui who are the pilots (operators of an avatar-robot) of OriHime (an avatar robot) talked about their experiences from the user's viewpoint of the technology. They have been in wheelchairs and feel the value of participating in society through the avatar robots. On the other hand, they have encountered situations where they could not handle irregulars because of the overreliance on technology.  Carly shared the experience that he was unable to turn on the power switchboard by himself and loss of communication with outside, when a power failure occurred by a lightning strike while working at home.  Yui talked about the anxiety and unnecessary apologies that people who need assistance face in a social system that is becoming increasingly automated. In a technology-driven society, where manuals are available but not always put into practice, they realized that this assumption would be broken not only in ordinary times but also in times of disaster, and that she would have to rely on people. The common conclusions of both stories, that is, the balance between technology and the manpower is important and that it should be considered that sometimes technology does not work, is suggestive. Furthermore, it made us realize that the nature of the crisis can be diverse for a diverse society. Next, Dr. Hiroaki Kitano (Sony), a researcher and executive of a technology company, who is currently working on an AI project for scientific discovery, pointed out that such an AI brings some positive effects for human being, but it also has a risk by misuse. Then, he also highlighted the possibility of future large-scale earthquakes in Japan and the importance of how to avoid excessive reliance on AI. There is a risk that AI will not be available unless communication networks, stable power and PC/mobile devices are available in accidents such as large-scale power outage when the dependency of AI in society is increased.

The organizers and three panelists, Dr. Inma Martinez (Global Partnership on AI), Ms. Rebecca Finlay (Partnership on AI), and Dr. David Leslie (The Alan Turing Institute), led the discussion based on the issues raised by OriHime pilots and Dr. Kitano. Dr. Martinez mentioned the necessity of defining resilience, and emphasized that the power of technology should be rooted in the values we have learned from our families and national cultures. By doing so, empowerment can create resilience. Ms. Finlay pointed out that while the assessments of AI systems before the launch are discussed, attention is hardly paid to how they affect different communities after they are released. The resilience and control methods are always required throughout the life cycle of AI, i.e., during the research phase, before and after launch. Focusing on machine-learning which has been the mainstream of AI in recent years, Dr. Leslie pointed out that data-driven systems may become vulnerable in a dynamic environment. As society and culture are gradually change, machine learning based systems driven by past data has the limitations. He emphasized the importance of considering resilience because excessive reliance on data driven systems has possibility to lead to stagnation in human creativity. In response to these discussions, Dr. Ema pointed out that we need to consider how technological and social perspectives on the current discussions such as generative AI will change. The following three points were pointed out by the audience.

• The need for society to provide people with options for solutions.
• The need for a more comprehensive impact assessment (technology, ethics, human rights, etc.) 
• The risk of forgetting skills due to dependence on technology.

Then, a participant was asked about AI as a critical infrastructure. In response to this question, at first, Dr. Martinez said that AI is an infrastructure-based service, and it creates an unknown area for society. She mentioned the resilience of the communication infrastructure in which she was involved, and introduced an example in which a specific band continues to operate even if the whole network goes down in a disaster. She also pointed out the necessity of considering the self-repair mechanism of AI in the event of an infrastructural outage, and how to build not only systems but also human resilience. Ms. Finlay touched on the possibility that AI can be introduced in various ways with various implications, in response to Dr. Martinez. And she pointed out that systems need multiple layers of resilience. The way to understand how AI interact in a system is to map the system and understand its effects. Dr. Leslie pointed out that AI is rapidly becoming an infrastructure and general-purpose technology, and that it functions as an alternative for humans to think and act. AI is becoming a kind of a utility, but if it becomes an infrastructure, the question is who should control it. Dr. Ema said that it is difficult for individual companies to be held accountable when AI become infrastructural and go beyond the scope of a company, and that governmental and global discussions will be required.

As a summary of the discussion, the panelists highlighted the need for AI to be safe and have a solid foundation for society. They also emphasized the importance of defining and monitoring resilience to support society. In addition, they agreed the necessity of international research institutions to discuss AI from scientific and technological perspectives against the rapid commercialization of AI. In response to these comments, Dr. Ema concluded this discussion with the hope that all of us will work together to realize a resilient and responsible AI. The session received a variety of comments. A participant from public sector appreciated the uniqueness of the theme and the importance of discussion. On the other hand, another participant pointed out practical aspects such as how to handle large and complex systems composed by multiple AI systems. It is important to continue the discussion on this topic.

This session was facilitated by the FOC Task Force on Internet Shutdowns (TFIS), co-Chaired by the U.K. and Freedom Online Coalition-Advisory Network members Access Now and the Global Network Initiative. The session examined causes, trends and impacts of Internet shutdowns and disruptions, and explored how the multistakeholder community can work together to anticipate, prepare for, and where possible prevent Internet shutdowns before they occur, with a focus on identifying practical steps that can be taken ahead of ‘high risk’ elections in 2024.

Kanbar Hossein-Bor, Deputy Director of Democratic Governance & Media Freedom at the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, provided opening remarks, noting that Internet shutdowns pose a significant threat to the free flow of information and are a fundamental impediment to the ability to exercise human rights, underscoring the importance of a multistakeholder approach to addressing these challenges. Mr. Hossein-Bor highlighted the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) Joint Statement on Internet Shutdowns and Elections, launched during the session, which calls on States to refrain from shutting down the Internet and digital communications platforms amid electoral periods, as aligned with States’ international human rights obligations and commitments.

Speakers underlined the critical role access to the Internet and digital media platforms play in promoting free, transparent, and fair electoral processes. Panellists spoke on the negative reality of Internet shutdowns and their impact, noting its destructive consequences on economic prosperity and access to health care, as well as obscuring human rights violations. Panellists highlighted how Internet disruptions and preventing access to platforms during election periods are often justified by governments as a means to ensure national security and to mitigate disinformation, even though shutdowns and disruptions have proven to further exacerbate security risks, especially among already vulnerable groups. Speakers also highlighted big tech companies’ lack of engagement and product oversight in local contexts (e.g. hate speech moderation in local languages). Additionally, when examining government use of Internet shutdowns, panellists flagged governments’ lack of knowledge and experience regarding alternative tools to address security concerns amid elections in contexts of violence. In these contexts, full and partial shutdowns were used as a form of resistance and expression of sovereignty by governments in response to companies and systems they felt powerless to and did not know how to engage with. In addition to underlining the need for a multistakeholder approach and calling on telecommunications and digital media companies to ensure people have access to a secure, open, free, and inclusive Internet throughout electoral processes, panellists also recognised the role of disinformation as a risk cited by governments to justify Internet shutdowns and disruptions during elections. In order to address this challenge, speakers noted the following recommendations:

● Narrative forecasting: Anticipating the types of narratives that may be deployed at different points in the electoral process, and preparing a response;

● Overcoming selection bias: Finding ways to bring fact-based information into the right spaces;

● Preemptive responses to disinformation: Drafting preemptive responses to disinformation in order to reduce response time and minimise the spread of disinformation.

● Collaboration between civil society and Big Tech: Encouraging collaboration between local civil society organisations and big tech companies to address online content moderation in local contexts.

During the Q&A session, audience members enquired about government and civil society strategies to address and prevent Internet shutdowns, emphasising additional considerations to take into account when seeking to promote fair and open elections.

The U.K. closed the session by reiterating the importance of 2024 as a key election year, and also highlighted the publication of the Oxford Statement on the Universal Access to Information and Digital connectivity, developed following the Global Conference for the International Day for Universal Access to Information 2023.

This Open Forum focused on the role of AI in the Energy transition. With various perspectives at the table, the speakers discussed both the possibilities of AI and possible implications of the use of emerging technologies in the energy transition. Alisa Heaver, Senior Policy Officer at the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, opened the session by emphasizing the relevance of the topic and introducing the speakers. She highlighted the lack of references to sustainability in the policy brief presented by the tech envoy and advocated for a more pronounced emphasis on this crucial issue. Additionally, she underscored the historical relevance of the venue, where the Kyoto Protocol was signed, as a symbolic cue to prioritize sustainability in the context of digitalization and global collaboration. 

Before starting with the presentations and discussion on the role of AI in the energy transition, Hannah Boute, secretary of the Dutch Coalition for Sustainable Digitization and expert on the Guidance Ethics approach, firstly elaborated on the Dutch Coalition for Sustanable Digitzation and after thatexplained the format of the session with help of the Guidance Ethics approach. 
 

The NCDD is a Dutch initiative that, together with government, industry, university and civil society, works on enabling sustainable digitization and exploring the possibilities of technology to accelerate sustainability in verticals, for example the chances of ai for the energy transition. The NCDD is working on enabling the twin transition and next to that works, among other subjects, on the implementation of green software, enabling organizations to make their own IT green and standards for sustainability in IT. 

 
The Guidance Ethics approach is a bottom-up ethical method developed by Professor Peter Paul Verbeek, Rector Magnificus of the University of Amsterdam and Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Science and Technology, and Daniël Tijink, responsible for ethics and strategy with the management team of ECP, platform for the information society. 

The approach brings together people, or actors, from four perspectives who are involved with a technology in a specific context. People who develop the technology (ICT), the professionals that will be working with the technology, people from policy or management and people who will be confronted with the technology such as citizens.  Together with these people the possible postive and negative effects of a technology within a specific context are explores. Behind effects, values can be found. During a workshop with the guidance ethics approachways to incorporate the identified values in the design of new technology, the implementation of technology and how we use technology within a specific context are explored.  

Today, we will not be doing a workshop with the Guidance ethics approach, but we will use it to explore the ethical dimensions of the application of AI in the energy transition. Neil Yorke-Smith will explain us how AI might be applied for the Energy Transition. After his explanation. Tim Vermeulen from Alliander will elaborate on the application of AI in the energy transition from a European perspective and Peach from the innovation hub in Cambodia will do so from the South East Asian perspective. 

Hannah actively requested participants to join the process of recognising values in the session by identifying them and submitting these values in the Mentimeter. During the panel discussion these values will be used to discuss the possible options for action to sustain these values in the design of AI, the application of AI on the energy grid and how we work with the technology in this context.  

Neil Yorke-Smith, Associate Professor at Delft University of Technology and part of the working group Energy & Sustainability of the NL AI Coalition, then further explained the role of AI in the energy transition. Neil emphasized that Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize the energy sector, but its implementation must be carefully considered to ensure that it is ethical, sustainable, and beneficial for all stakeholders.   

One of the key benefits of AI in the energy system is the potential for enhancing the overall efficiency and effectiveness of energy utilization. The utilization of AI extends to various areas within the energy sector, including forecasting, system design, real-time balancing, demand response, and flexible pricing. These diverse applications of AI serve to significantly augment the efficiency and efficacy of the energy system, ultimately facilitating a shift away from reliance on fossil-based fuels. 

In the pursuit of incorporating AI into the energy sector, several crucial ethical, legal, social, and economic considerations need to be taken into account. While AI offers many opportunities, the societal impact is not yet fully understood. To ensure that AI is implemented in the energy sector in a responsible and sustainable manner, it is essential to thoroughly examine the ethical, legal, social, and economic implications.   

Furthermore, it is imperative to factor in societal values when designing AI systems, considering the preferences and values of potential consumers and society as a whole. Value-sensitive design emphasises the incorporation of values in the design. In conjunction with this, there is a call for a focus on code efficiency, aiming to reduce the size and resource consumption of AI algorithms, ultimately fostering sustainable practices. Long-term decision-making is also critical, prompting consideration of the lasting consequences of present decisions, particularly concerning infrastructure that will endure for decades. 

This also leads to the importance of accountability. It is essential to hold those responsible for developing AI systems accountable for their actions and the (environmental) impact of their technology. Furthermore, global cooperation is necessary, promoting the sharing of knowledge and experiences to facilitate the successful integration and advancement of AI within the energy system. 

Neil concludes by stating that the implementation of AI in the energy system must be done in a manner that is both trustworthy and just, with a focus on fairness and sustainability. It is crucial to consider the ethical, legal, social, and economic aspects of AI implementation from the very beginning and incorporate societal values into the design process of AI technology. Furthermore, attention should be given to enhancing code efficiency and making long-term decisions that account for potential shifts in societal values. Holding developers accountable for their technology's impact and fostering global cooperation and learning are also integral to the successful integration of AI in the energy system. 

European perspective 

Tim Vermeulen, Digital Strategy & Architecture at Alliander and member of the strategy board of the Dutch National Coalition on Sustainable Digitalisation, shared his perspective on the role of AI in the energy transition from a European perspective. He stated that the energy landscape in Europe is undergoing rapid transformation, primarily propelled by technological advancements such as AI and open-source technologies. While these developments offer promising opportunities, they also pose challenges, notably the potential introduction of biases in energy distribution and access. 

In this dynamic context, fairness emerges as a critical consideration for the energy transition, encompassing not only equitable energy distribution but also the reduction of CO2 emissions. Given the diverse energy mixes and unique challenges within different regions, it becomes crucial to approach the transition with a modular perspective, accounting for the specific circumstances and requirements of each country. 

Tim explained how the key factors shaping Europe's energy landscape include transparency, modularity, and technology. The adoption of a modular technology system enables collaborative resource-sharing among nations, fostering an open and cooperative approach to the development of a more sustainable energy sector. Sustainability, fairness, and integrity represent core values in Europe's approach to energy. Access to energy is regarded as a universal right, with the preservation of the energy system's integrity being indispensable for achieving sustainability and fairness. 

Efficiency and awareness play vital roles in the development of applications that drive the energy transition. Tim further emphasized the creation of clean and efficient code across all sectors as it directly influences the shift toward cleaner energy sources. Recognizing that every job has the potential to contribute to a clean and affordable energy future, the significance of a comprehensive approach across various sectors is highlighted. This underscores the importance of acknowledging the influence of jobs in shaping the energy transition. 

Furthermore, technology remains a significant catalyst, unlocking new possibilities and advancements across different segments within the energy sector. Experts acknowledge the potential of openness and complexity in technology, underscoring the need for continuous innovation and development. To foster a successful global energy transition, the sharing of knowledge and values on a global scale is imperative. Effectively managing the knowledge-based landscape on a global level serves as a fundamental driver of progress and collaboration within the energy sector. 

In conclusion, Europe's energy landscape is undergoing rapid evolution, accompanied by various advancements and challenges. Tim explained that fairness, transparency, modularity, technology, efficiency, awareness, and global knowledge sharing emerge as pivotal factors shaping the transition toward a more sustainable, fair, and affordable energy future. 

ASEAN Perspective 

Chantarapeach UT,Space and Sustainable Operation Officer at Impact Hub Phnom Penh, underscores that youth-driven innovation and entrepreneurship in green technology serve as crucial drivers in expediting the energy transition and combating climate change. Chantarapeach emphasises the necessity of backing the initiatives of young individuals in this domain through both financial and technical support, awareness campaigns, and the incorporation of inclusive decision-making processes. 

The scope of youth-led technological breakthroughs in green technology encompasses a diverse array of fields, ranging from green energy engineering and smart agriculture to optimizations in renewable energy, air quality monitoring, green building solutions, climate modeling, and eco-friendly transportation. Empowering young individuals to pioneer innovative responses to environmental challenges represents a significant stride toward the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and 13 (Climate Action). 

An essential aspect of facilitating youth involvement in the energy transition involves raising awareness and fostering exposure to green jobs. Green jobs contribute to the advancement of sustainable energy practices, providing a multitude of opportunities for young individuals to pursue careers in areas such as green AI research, sustainability data analysis, renewable energy engineering, and clean tech research. By disseminating information and inspiring young people about these prospects, we can encourage their active participation in careers that contribute to a sustainable energy future, aligning with SDGs 7 and 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth). 

Furthermore, the inclusion of young voices in decision-making processes concerning digital policy and climate change proves critical in ensuring an all-encompassing and fair energy transition. Platforms like the Cambodian Youth Internet Governance Forums and the Local Conference of Youth under UNGO serve as crucial spaces for young people to engage and express their viewpoints on these pivotal matters. By integrating the perspectives of the youth into the decision-making process, we can establish more efficient and inclusive energy systems, thus aligning with SDGs 7 and 13. 

She also emphasizes the role of harnessing renewable energy more effectively in Asia, where many countries heavily rely on fossil fuels. By concentrating on renewable energy technologies and enhancing energy sharing arrangements, Asia can lessen its dependence on non-renewable resources and promote sustainability, thereby aligning with SDG 7. 

In conclusion, Chantarapeach advocated for a comprehensive approach in supporting youth-led innovation and entrepreneurship in green technology. By providing both financial and technical assistance, promoting awareness of green jobs, involving young voices in decision-making processes, and maximizing the potential of renewable energy in Asia, we can empower and mobilize the youth to expedite the development of a sustainable energy future and combat climate change. Collaboration between the youth and adults remains pivotal in accelerating an inclusive energy transition. 

Panel discussion 

Collaboration and dialogue between policymakers, industry leaders, and civil society were essential themes throughout the panel discussion, emphasizing the importance of engaging multiple stakeholders from different sectors and regions to foster inclusive decision-making and equitable distribution of the benefits of an energy transition. The discussion also highlighted the immense potential of AI in driving an inclusive energy transition. However, technological advancements alone are insufficient for achieving an inclusive energy transition, necessitating a holistic approach encompassing social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Additionally, the panel discussion brought up the urgency of incorporating values in the design of technologies, addressing equity and social justice issues to prevent the perpetuation of existing disparities in energy access and affordability. 

The current dynamics of freedom of expression on the Internet are characterized by at least three aspects: i) the deterioration of public debate; ii) the need to make the processes, criteria and mechanisms for internet content governance compatible with democratic and human rights standards; and iii) the lack of access, including connectivity and digital literacy to enhance civic skills. And this is closely related to dynamics of violence, disinformation, inequalities in the opportunities of participation in the public debate and viralization of extremist content. 

Diverse and reliable information and free, independent and diverse media are effective antidotes to these dynamics. Tackling disinformation, violence and human rights violations requires multidimensional multi-stakeholder responses that are well-grounded in the full range of human rights and that brings together regulatory measures, self-regulatory approaches, soft law norms, and policy initiatives.

 As people worldwide increasingly rely on the Internet to connect, learn, and consume news, it is imperative to develop connectivity. Access to the Internet is an indispensable enabler of a broad range of human rights, including access to information. An open, free, global, interoperable, reliable and secure Internet for all facilitated individuals’ enjoyment of their rights, including freedoms of expression, opinion, and peaceful assembly is only possible if we have more people accessing and sharing information online.

Additionally, in the informational scenario of media and digital communication, citizens and consumers should “be given new tools to help them assess the origin and likely veracity of news stories they read online”, since the potential to access and spread information in this environment is relatively easily and malicious actors benefit from it to manipulate the public debate. In this sense, critical digital literacy aims to empower users to consume content critically, as a prerequisite for online engagement, by identifying issues of bias, prejudice, misrepresentation and, indeed, trustworthiness. Critical digital literacy, however, should also be about understanding the position of digital media technologies in society. This goes beyond understanding digital media content to include knowledge of the wider socio-economic structures within which digital technologies are embedded: how are social media platforms funded, for instance? What is the role of advertising? To what extent is content free or regulated?

Given their importance for the exercise of rights in the digital age, digital, media and information literacy programmes should be considered an integral part of education efforts. The promotion of digital, media and information literacy must form part of broader commitments by States to respect, protect and fulfil human rights, and by business entities. 

Likewise, initiatives to promote journalism are key in facing informational manipulation and distortion, which requires States and private actors to promote the diversity of digital and non-digital media. 38

On the other hand, the role of public officials in the digital public debate is highlighted. It is recalled that state actors must preserve the balance and conditions of the exercise of the right of access to information and freedom of expression; Therefore, such actors should not use public resources to finance content on sites, applications or platforms that spread illicit and violent content and should not promote or encourage stigmatizing discourses. States must observe obligations to promote human rights, which includes promoting the protection of users against online violence. The State has a positive role in creating an enabling environment for freedom of expression and equality, while recognising that this brings potential for abuse. 

In this sense, it is worth noting a recent example in Colombia of a decision by the constitutional court that urged political parties and movements to adopt guidelines in their codes of ethics to sanction acts or incitement to online violence. 

In this paradigmatic decision, the court recalled the obligation of the State to educate about the seriousness of online violence and gender online violence and to implement measures to prevent, investigate, punish and repair it; and iv) insisted that political actors, parties and movements, due to their importance in a democratic regime, are obliged to promote respect for and defend human rights, a duty that must be reflected in their actions and in their statutes. Additionally, the court determined that the State should adopt the necessary measures to establish a training plan for members and affiliates of political parties and movements on gender perspective and online violence against women in response.

Considering that unlawful and violent narratives are propelled by state actors on the internet through paid advertisement, it is worth noting that these actors should follow specific criteria in the ad market. Any paid contracting for content by state actors or candidates must report through active transparency on the government or political party portals the data regarding the value of the contract, the contracted company and the form of contracting, the content, resource distribution mechanisms, audience segmentation criteria and number of exhibitions.

On the other hand, to make business activity compatible with human rights possible, the Office of the Special Rapporteur reiterates that Internet intermediaries have the responsibility of respecting the human rights of users. In this sense, they should:

• Refrain from infringing human rights and address negative consequences on such rights in which they have some participation, which implies taking appropriate measures to prevent, mitigate and, where appropriate, remedy them. (Principle 11).
• Try to prevent or mitigate negative consequences on human rights directly related to operations, products or services provided by their business relationships, even when they have not contributed to generating them. (Principle 13).
• Adopt a public commitment at the highest level regarding respect for the human rights of users and that is duly reflected in operational policies and procedures (Principle 16).
• Carry out due diligence activities that identify and explain the actual and potential impacts of their activities on human rights (impact assessments), in particular by periodically carrying out analyzes on the risks and effects of their operations.

In conclusion, the challenges facing the digital public debate necessitate a multidimensional approach. Soft law principles, education, self-regulation, and legal mechanisms can together create a robust framework to mitigate the harms we face online.

• Key takeaways
  
  • Without independent quality media we (as individuals and societies) cannot understand the world we live in, we cannot create a shared reality, and we cannot form opinions and make decisions –> independent news media is essential to democracy, to enable a system where everyone has a say in how they’re govern and to hold this system to account.
  • We find ourselves in a moment of prolonged crises for the media, and for democracy – but while this is a moment of crises it is also a great moment of opportunity.
  • We have to keep it human, especially in a time when AI threatens democracy – the news media has to double-down on humanity and integrity to overcome the challenges of the pollution in our current information ecosystem.
  • Necessary to ensure access to quality news globally – currently there is a divergence between online platforms’ majority users, where they make money, and where regulation is developed.
  • Everyone needs access to quality information, it should not be limited to those who can afford it, otherwise others are at risk of exploitation and control.
  • Online platforms are occupying the public information sphere – this power must come with responsibilities. Regulation centering on human rights, public interest, and rule of law is essential in this regard.
  • Both democracy and quality news media is about empowering people, to create and sustain an active citizenry and vibrant communities, which is a prerequisite of public, political, and democratic participation.
  • News media has been transforming significantly over the last decade but identifying characteristics are being built on principles and codes, being accountable to itself, based on quality, and being transparent about its processes and itself (to avoid any undue influence, be it commercial or political). Therefore, it can serve the public interest.
  • The 2023 Joint Declaration on Media Freedom and Democracy coined what is needed for the media to take on its fundamental role in democracy: https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/3/2/542676.pdf.

• Call-to-action points
  
  • Whole-of-society approach needed to safeguard quality information and to consistently uphold public interest amidst the transitional media landscape.
  • We need to develop and implement a public interest framework to build a healthier online information space.
  • Need to create and ensure technology for democracy, opportunity to harness technology’s potential (especially by thinking of local levels rather than scale).
  • Need to recalibrate the relationship between news media and online platforms, but also with democratic institutions.
  • Online platforms have to be more accountable and play a role in overcoming global digital information inequalities.
  • As the challenges are highly complex, any response requires an intersectional and multi-stakeholder approach.

The intersection of sustainability, digitalization, and climate change has become a crucial topic in today's global concerns. This report synthesizes the key points discussed by the speakers from the session. These experts provided insights into how the digital age can both exacerbate and alleviate climate challenges, and their recommendations to address this complex issue. The Key Takeaways of the session were:

• Digitalization and Its Environmental Impact: The speakers began by highlighting the growing significance of electric and autonomous mobility, emphasizing that digital technologies, especially electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous mobility, place significant demands on energy production and computational power. This shift creates new challenges, such as the allocation of electricity from the national grid to EV users and the need for updated policies to accommodate this transition.
• Insights into the European Union's strategy of a twin transition: Combining green and digital transformations were also shared. With emphasis on ambitious climate goals, such as a 50% reduction in emissions by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050. To align sustainability with digitalization, the speaker proposed enhanced transparency regarding the environmental impact of digital devices, promoting entrepreneurial thinking for sustainability, and embedding ecological sustainability into design processes.
• The importance of affordable and accessible technology solutions: There were concerns about the lack of necessary infrastructure to implement expensive technologies in many countries, as well as legal disputes and accountability related to environmental protection laws, emphasizing the need for effective enforcement and compliance mechanisms.
• AI in Climate Mitigation and Adaptation: In mitigation, AI can optimize electricity supply and demand by considering weather conditions and electricity usage patterns. For instance, building energy management systems using AI can significantly reduce energy consumption during peak times. AI also contributes to climate adaptation by enabling the development of early warning systems and improving climate forecasting. These technologies allow us to take early countermeasures and ensure a stable food supply.
• Negative Environmental Impacts of Technology: While technology offers solutions for climate change, it also presents environmental challenges, such as the energy consumption associated with electronic devices, data centers, and communication networks primarily powered by fossil fuels. The entire life cycle of electronic devices, from manufacturing to disposal, contributes to energy consumption and carbon emissions. Hazardous chemicals and e-waste pose environmental risks when not managed properly, especially in developing countries.

The discussions by various speakers highlighted the following unified actions: Ensure that digital technology contributes to sustainability goals and consider the environmental impact of digital devices; Invest in research and development to create green and energy-efficient technologies, especially for regions with increasing energy demands; Advocate for effective enforcement mechanisms and accountability in environmental protection laws globally; Encourage responsible consumption by extending the life cycle of electronic devices, reducing e-waste generation, and adopting sustainable practices in manufacturing; and Encourage collaboration between governments, businesses, research institutions, and individuals to harness the full potential of technology in combating climate change.

The global discussion on the intersection of sustainability, digitalization, and climate change is multi-faceted and addresses various challenges and opportunities, and needs more action from governments, civil society and the private sector. Through these unified calls to action, the digital age can be harnessed to mitigate climate change and transition toward a more sustainable future.

This workshop focuses on the deep integration of digital technology with sustainable and digital dual transformations, open science, wildlife management, urban management, knowledge management, and other fields, which can help achieve sustainable development.

TAO Xiaofeng, Professor of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT),  the vice chair of Consultative Committee on UN Information Technology (CCIT),  China Association for Science and Technology (CAST),  chaired the workshop onsite. Zhou Xiang, Researcher of institute of Electrical Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the member of Consultative Committee on UN Information Technology (CCIT),  China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) chaired the workshop online.

In this workshop, seven speakers presented their views on the topic " Green and digital transitions: towards a sustainable future ", and the details are below.

Professor Gong Ke, Immediate Past President of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO)， Foundational Fellow of International Science Council, the chair of  CCIT/CAST, made a presentation on the three “Musts” for accelerating sustainable and digital dual transformations. He emphasized that we must realize the urgency of the dual transformations, take practical actions of using digital technologies to implement the UN SDGs, and cooperate in interdisciplinary, intersectoral and international ways.

LIU Chuang, Director of Global Change Research Data Publishing & Repository(GCdataPR), World Data System(WDS), Vice Chair of FAO OCOP Regional Organizing Group in Asia and the Pacific, Professor of Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGSNRR/CAS),  presented the open science for green and digital transition. She took the GIES (Geographical Indications Environment & Sustainability) as an example of actions indicating the importance of open science and how the partner cooperation together to accelerate the SDGs in mountain areas, small islands and critical regions in climate changes.

Tomoko Doko, president and CEO, Nature & Science Consulting Co. Ltd., Japan, explained the wildlife management in Japan for a sustainable future. She analyzed that Japan has established a sound legal system for the protection and control of wildlife, and uses ICT technology to monitor the movement of wildlife and implement capture, contributing to sustainable development.

Horst Kremers, General Secretary of CODATA- Germany shared his excellent ideas and thoughts about digital twins in action. He pointed out that the challenges in process models and techniques for urban digital twin management, and put forward suggestions about action and achievement of objectives.

Ricardo Israel Robles Pelayo, Professor of Universidad Anahuac online, UNIR México and EBC, Mexico, noticed the challenges and commitments in digital technology and sustainable environment. He proposed a path for digital transformation based on the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA), including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, maintaining regional and global cooperation, ensuring fairness and justice in transformation, and coordinating relevant standards and norms.  

Daisy Selematsela from the University of the Witwatersrand and Lazarus Matizirofa from the South African Department of Science and Technology and South African Science Foundation, introduced the open access repositories as an accelerator for open journal systems and enhancer for the SA-SDGs HUB. They pointed out the background of the goal of sustainable development in knowledge management and analyzed the institutional policies, practices, and initiatives that affect research productivity in South Africa.

After all speakers finished their presentations, the experts started an open discussion. Several key questions are discussed, such as the key challenges and governance issues, strength the cooperations among multiple stakeholders, including govenments, science and technology groups, how to establish a scientific policy framework and provide policy guidance and regulation. The experts mentioned that the more important thing is to accelerating Sustainable and Digital Dual Transformations.

Finally, we can draw some conclusions from this workshop. Firstly, it is now widely acknowledged that a green transition cannot proceed without a digital technology. Across the globe, ambitious targets are being set to achieve carbon neutrality and reduce carbon emissions by the end of this decade. The international community is united in its commitment to drive the green transformation of the global economy. Secondly, today's speeches and discussions have given us fresh insights into the future of the Green and Digital Transitions. We understand that different stakeholders from various fields, such as Prof. Liu and Prof. Daisy from technical community, Ms. Doko from private sectors, face distinct challenges and governing issues, requiring customized approaches to their unique circumstances. Lastly, as Prof. Gong and the other three speakers stressed, we must realize the urgency of the dual transformations, take practical actions of using digital technologies to implement the UN SDGs, and cooperate in interdisciplinary, intersectional and international ways. Our combined efforts are key to overcoming the significant challenges and governing issues we face.

Summary of Session:

Maria Mello initiated the debate by discussing recent school attacks in Brazil and the influence of the digital environment business model to exploit personal data, incentivize hateful content, and prejudice Global South children. The Global South faces unique challenges rooted in historical socioeconomic contexts, requiring tailored legislation and public policies for child rights. Two videos were shown about Brazilian children's perceptions, illustrating how they see the challenges and potential of the digital environment in their lives and in those of their peers.

Then began the speaker’s presentations:

Mikiko Otani (Attorney, International Human Rights Lawyer and immediate past chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child): The Committee on the Rights of the Child, made up of 18 experts, ensures that the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by 196 countries, is enforced. They review country reports and create "General Comments" that focus on children's rights. In 2019, they initiated a new General Comment addressing children's rights in the digital world, adopted in February 2021. This decision aims to guide the protection of children's rights, define state and business responsibilities, and empower children and parents in the digital era, enabling children’s education and preventing online risks like bullying, exploitation, and health issues. Post-COVID-19, online activity has increased, expanding discrimination. Children without digital access are excluded from essential services. The right to non-discrimination requires States to ensure that all children have equal and meaningful access to the digital environment. This involves providing free and safe access in public places and investing in policies and programs that support affordable and knowledgeable use of digital technologies by children. Discrimination can arise when automated processes make biased decisions based on unfair data collected related to a child.

Recommendations: The UN Child Committee country reviews can address specific recommendations about digital inequalities. International cooperation is needed to provide financial and technical resources for capacity building through multilateral approaches. UN Global policy must involve stakeholders, especially in the global South, whose rights are affected. Ensuring child participation in the Global South involves addressing issues like cost, access, and language barriers. Additionally, child rights impact assessments are important for businesses to safeguard child rights.

Lily Edinam Botsyoe (PhD student and information technology):  From the context of Ghana, it is important to think about actively increasing the talking about awareness with and for children on child online harms. Digital literacy is connected with the fact that not everyone is connected. Few people who are online are using the online spaces in such a way that their rights are not also trampled. Exploitation, misinformation and cyberbullying are just a few problems faced by Ghanaian children. It's important to think about the caregiver, ensuring that families and educators have enough support. Ghana already has a national online child protection policy but lacks meaningful implementation. 

Recommendations: International support is needed and can strengthen local organizations. 

Sonia Livingstone (Full professor in the Department of Media and Communications of London School of Economics): In a world marked by divisions and inequalities, it's essential for researchers and policymakers to understand how these inequalities persist from offline to online. Global Kids Online shows that as children gain more internet access, they encounter both opportunities and risks. The challenge is to maximize opportunities while mitigating risks. Risks don't necessarily lead to harm; vulnerability, protection, geographic location, and living circumstances must be considered in regulatory processes for careful interventions. Europe's experience that can be useful to the Global South is personal data safeguarding and addressing risks for consumer protection (eg. The European Digital Services Act). Concepts like Privacy by Design, Safety by Design, and Security by Design are essential for a holistic approach to children's rights.

Recommendations: Age-appropriate design codes can protect and empower children in different digital contexts, enhancing data protection and children's rights as data subjects. Risk assessments can emphasize transparency, accountability, and the provision of remedies. 

Waldemar Ortunho (Brazilian National Data Protection Authority President-Director):  The Brazilian National Data Protection Authority has the protection of children’s personal data as an absolute priority. The Authority has been investigating TikTok's data processing, particularly about children and adolescents, examining age verification effectiveness and proper data processing for those under 13 and 18. The results led to recommendations for the platform. Additionally, the Authority is investigating seven digital education platforms that share children's data with online advertising companies. These regulatory processes consider other global experiences but are adapted to Brazil's unique context, such as its large population and recent data protection legislation. The Authority recognizes the major challenges to protect children and adolescents as consent for verifying users' ages, the impact of digital platforms and games, and the potential risks in the digital environment. 

Questions: The Panel questions revolved around the following topics: a) different treatment by global platforms guidelines for children in the North and South and corporate responsibility; b) the clashes of LGBTQIA+ rights and Kids Online Safety regulation; c) the use of technology to emancipate the identities of Global South children; d) the role of the Brazilian National DPA in age verification and platform regulation; e) do we need increased attention in the field of regulation? f) does CG 25 provide international regulatory models? and g) the roles of international organizations in supporting child rights implementation in the digital environment.

Lily: Technology can provide support and awareness raising. Hotlines can be useful and new hotlines can be trained with international support. We need to balance regulation with innovation and make it useful for people. How can we replicate some of these best practices in other countries for the global South and provide further implementation of policies? 

Mikiko: We also need to understand the children's rights in a holistic way including the non-discrimination against those children who are LGBTQIA+. When the Committee drafted the General Comment 25 there was a lot of discussion about the age restriction or age verification. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is very much dependent on age cutting. What is an appropriate age? Safety by design and other protections by design require efforts from the business. In addition to protection against risks, children also need to be supported in acquiring online navigation skills. How can we use existing platforms and instruments to protect children? 

Waldemar: Brazil has been working with other actors, including internationally, to exchange information and experiences, for example, about age verification. The regulation of AI in Brazil passes through the National Congress and the Authority is present. A study is being made about AI and data protection. 

Emanuela Halfeld: A holistic approach to the environment, thinking about children’s rights outside the digital world, can be helpful to resolve inequalities and child online harms. In that sense, it would be useful to think about General Comment 25 and General Comment 26 in an integral approach.  

Take-aways

1. There are structural challenges in bringing the human rights community/civil society together with the technical community/industry in a meaningful and continued way, and participate in standard-setting processes.
2. The issue of exclusion of civil society and need to align technical standards with international human rights seems to be gaining traction; international organizations and Member-States are better aware of this issue and the urgent need to address it.

Next steps:

1. Emerging technologies, especially AI, are quickly evolving and this can be an opportunity to center human rights and include civil society from the beginning in AI standards, recognizing that historical barriers continue to make this difficult and that specific challenges related to AI may require a different approach. 
2. Regional perspectives will continue to play an important role in international standard setting, especially as national and regional regulation on technologies, including emerging technologies, develop in the coming years. It'll be important for standard setting bodies to consider issues of internet fragmentation and contribute to elevating and reinforcing human rights at the global level. 

Session report:

The session brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, including representatives from civil society, big tech companies, and policy experts, to discuss the pressing challenges of online censorship, data privacy, and the role of big tech and civil society in authoritarian states. The session also highlighted the importance of multi-stakeholder dialogues and offered actionable recommendations for all parties involved.

The session highlighted that any meaningful progress on ensuring access to the internet and combating censorship online in restrictive regimes can only be achieved in a broader context, in conjunction with addressing the lack of rule of law, lack of independent judiciary, crackdown on civil society and absence of international accountability. 

Key discussions:

• Legislative challenges: Participants highlighted the rise in authoritarian states introducing legislation aimed at online censorship, often under the guise of national security or cybercrime laws. These laws not only enable content censorship but also force platforms to share user data, posing significant human rights risks and chilling effect for online expression.
• Big tech’s responsibility: There was a general consensus that big tech companies have a significant role to play in this landscape. There was also a strong sentiment that platforms need to step up their efforts in countries like Vietnam, where civil society has limited power to effect change due to authoritarian rule.
• Lack of transparency, especially in big tech’s decision-making processes in particular regarding authorities’ user data and content takedown requests, was a recurring theme. This lack of transparency exacerbates mistrust and hinders effective collaboration between big tech and civil society. Additionally, it allows authoritarian governments to apply informal pressure on platforms.
• Other barriers that hinders collaboration between big tech and civil society that were flagged by civil society included issues with the current mechanisms available for civil society to engage with big tech - long reaction time, little progress, no consistent follow-up, concealed results of bilateral meetings between the government and the platforms and the fact that country focal points are often in contact with the government especially in oppressive regimes which puts activists at risk. 
• Civil society's role: Civil society organisations emphasised their ongoing efforts to hold big tech accountable. They also highlighted the need for more structured dialogues with tech companies to address these challenges effectively.
• Multi-stakeholder approach: Both civil society and big tech representatives agreed on the need for a multi-stakeholder approach to tackle the issues. There was a call for more coordinated efforts, including monitoring legislative changes particularly in the face of rapid changes in the online space.
• Remote participants: Feedback from remote participants underscored the urgency of the issues discussed, particularly the need for transparency and multi-stakeholder dialogues.

Turkey and Vietnam as case studies

Turkey and Vietnam were discussed as case studies to illustrate the increasing challenges of online censorship and government repression in authoritarian states. Both countries have seen a surge in legislation aimed at controlling online content, particularly during politically sensitive times, and both grapple with the complex role of big tech in their unique geopolitical contexts. Big tech in both countries face a difficult choice: comply with local laws and risk aiding in censorship, or resist and face being blocked or penalised.

The civil society representative from Vietnam highlighted that Facebook has a list of Vietnamese officials that cannot be criticised on the platform, highlighting the extent of government influence. Facebook and Google have been complying with the overwhelming majority (up to 95%) of content removal requests. Activists also pronounce big tech’s inaction in the face of the growing problem with the state-back online trolls. 

Some concrete examples showcasing successful advocacy and collaboration between big tech and civil society groups were discussed, such as, in 2022, the government in Vietnam turned the hard requirement of storing data locally to a soft requirement after civil society activism mobilised platforms to lobby with the government. 

In the case of Turkey, an amendment package passed in October 2022, introduced up to three years of imprisonment for "spreading disinformation and imposed hefty fines for big tech companies, including up to 90% bandwidth throttling and advertising bans for non-compliance with a single content take-down order, further complicating the operating environment for big tech companies. Companies are now also required to provide user data upon request of the prosecutors and courts in relation to certain crimes. 

The panel highlighted that this set of laws and lack of transparency allow authoritarian governments to place big tech under significant formal and informal pressure. The threat of throttling in the event of a non-compliance with government requests creates a particularly heightened chilling effect on platform decisions and their responsibility to respect human rights.

On the eve of the general and presidential elections on 14 May 2023, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook restricted access to certain content that involved videos critical of the government and various allegations of crime and corruption against the ruling AKP. While YouTube did not issue any public statement about the censorship on their platform, both Twitter and Meta noted in their public statements that Turkish authorities had made clear to them that failure to comply with its content removal request would lead to both platforms being blocked or throttled in Turkey.

In its transparency report, Meta explained that their top priority was to secure access of civil society to their platforms before and in the aftermath of the elections; and they made the decision to comply with government requests to remove the content because, although critical of the government, the content was not directly linked to election integrity. 

The panel also discussed that GNI principles state that ICT companies should avoid, minimise or otherwise address the impact of government demands if national laws do not conform to international human rights standards. The initiative also focuses on capacity-building within civil society to engage effectively with tech companies. The representative from GNI also mentioned a tool called “Human Rights Due Diligence Across the Technology Ecosystem” which was designed to formulate constructive asks to the relevant stakeholders depending on whether this is a social media platform, telecom company or a cloud provider. 

Recommendations for big tech:

• Develop contingency plans to protect access to platforms during sensitive periods
• Conduct human rights due diligence before taking any compliance steps
• Actively engage with local NGOs and invite them for consultations
• Full disclosure of government requests and compliance actions (Twitter’s publication of the government’s communication on censorship ahead of the Turkish elections was a step in the right direction)
• Tackle the rise of internet trolls 
• Protect civil society groups from false mass reporting and illegitimate account suspensions 
• Expand end-to-end encryption for users' data privacy 

Recommendations for civil society:

• Closer coordination on how to advocate for digital rights to avoid fragmented, unimpactful calls and align strategies to create a stronger stand against the government’s actions
• Work together with platforms to formulate a multi-pronged strategy envisaging both private sector and civil society perspectives
• Work towards increasing public literacy on digital rights 
• Bring international attention to these critical issues

Recommendations for states:

• Diplomatic efforts must extend to digital rights e.g. make them a proviso in trade agreements 
• Financial and logistic support for NGOs

This panel brought together professionals from the technology, policy, human rights and advocacy spaces to discuss international standards and policy considerations for human-rights-forward governance of encryption. The debate reflected on policymakers' need to balance the demands of national security with the protection of individual privacy and international human rights laws. The panelists discussed a number of measures that could help shape a comprehensive regulatory framework for encryption. 

1. International Framework for Encryption:

• Encourage international collaboration and adherence to human rights principles in addressing encryption and surveillance challenges. Countries should be accountable for adhering to international standards and guidelines.
• Promote the global adoption of encryption best practices across nations. Provide technical assistance and capacity-building programs to countries and stakeholders that may lack the expertise to make informed decisions about encryption policies. This includes sharing knowledge about cybersecurity, encryption technology, potential risks, and global norms for safeguarding digital communications.
• Involve stakeholders such as civil society organizations, technology companies, human rights advocates, and privacy experts in the development of international encryption standards. Ensure that diverse perspectives are considered.

2. Education and Public Awareness:

• Emphasize digital literacy from an early age, ensuring access to education that includes understanding the implications of surveillance, risks, and individual rights.
• Promote awareness of the importance of encryption in protecting privacy and security.

3. Normalize Encryption:

• Normalize strong encryption as a global standard, much like HTTPS, for all online communications. 
• Encourage all users and regulators to expect encryption by default for secure messaging and data protection.

4. Reject Mass Weakening of Encryption:

• Reject proposals for mass weakening of encryption that infringe on individual privacy. 
• Consider the potential consequences of weakening encryption, for example, examine instances where lawful intercept ports have been misused previously.

5. Protect User Privacy and Security:

• Uphold strong customer and user protections to protect user data against unauthorized access.
• Advocate for the adoption of distributed approaches and end-to-end encryption to return power to the hands of users, granting them control over their data, communications, and online activities.

6. Strengthen Legal Protections Against Surveillance:

• Strengthen legal protections against surveillance, with an emphasis on the invasive nature of surveillance technologies.
• Enshrine in international frameworks what surveillance and encryption mean, inspired by robust international standards that ensure fair trials, freedom of expression, and limits on invasive surveillance.

7. Differentiate Encryption from Content Moderation:

• Distinguish between encryption as a safeguard for user privacy and content moderation as a separate issue.
• Emphasize that encryption is not the problem, but rather a means of protecting personal data.

8. Recognize the Limits of AI in Content Moderation:

• Acknowledge the limitations of artificial intelligence (AI) in making perfect content moderation decisions. Highlight the potential for false positives in AI-based moderation systems, which can have severe consequences for individuals.
• Address concerns about child sexual abuse material proliferating on private messaging apps by implementing effective content moderation measures such as safe and responsive reporting channels for users that do not compromise encryption.

9. Ban Spyware Vendors and Technologies:

• Implement a ban on spyware vendors and technologies that have been used to enable human rights abuses.
• Address the proliferation of spyware by regulating and restricting its use.

10. Regulate Vulnerability Exploits:

• Regulate the sale and use of software vulnerability exploits, treating them as equivalent to 'small arms dealing' in the digital realm.

In addressing that, the speakers indicate that females face a lot of cyberbullying online. For example, one speaker shared that Indonesia has seen a surge in online harassment and bullying of females and gender-diverse people, especially with the fact that some of those abuses are coming from people in different jurisdictions.  In giving content, one of the speakers shared a story about the incident in Indonesia. Since the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, Indonesia has witnessed a staggering 300 percent surge in online abuse cases, leaving victims without access to essential legal and mental health support. The speakers also indicate the need for a global policy that will fight against such abuse and the role of platform regulators to also play their role. The key takeaways from the policy questions are.

    1. There should be enactment of global policy that fights against online abuse. Thus, facilitating international cooperation and forging global cooperation amongst law enforcement to address cross-border jurisdiction issues.

    2. It's pivotal to strengthen global partnerships to tackle online harassment. Policies must not only respond but must actively protect our digital citizens.

    3. Ethical AI practices and rules need to ensure that technology becomes a helper, not an enemy in our fight against online harassment.

    4. The government needs to advocate and enforce policies that foster a secure legal environment across legal enforcement. Social media and tech companies must incorporate safety by design principles, focusing not only on enabling report mechanisms but also on effectively addressing post-report issues, and preventing further perpetration.

In terms of how youth and gender-diverse groups are present currently on the Internet, the speakers mentioned that there is a prominent growth increase in the youth and gender-diversity groups in increasing and actively participating in Internet-related initiatives across various fields, and it's initially because of. There has been an increase in STEM education and other online training courses. Social media activism has promoted a lot of online groups that encourage a lot of online communities to provide a safe space for individuals and diverse group members from different backgrounds and different tech-related industries to connect and share experiences and just support each other. The speakers mentioned that the digital space can really be a minefield, especially for youth, women, and gender-diverse people. So, while it offers, a platform for advocacy and change, the backlash, especially from misogynistic and alt-right groups, is real, it's intense, and they are super organized Some key takeaways are.

    1. To give youths a platform where they can be able to share various ideas and engage with diverse people from different backgrounds from different countries.

    2. To discuss challenges and some innovative solutions that can help increase advocacy and amplify voices in interrelated issues.

    3. Platforms must invest in and reinforce rigorous content moderation to protect marginalized voices and dismantle hate-driven narratives.

The panel ended by encouraging a multi-stakeholder approach to solving the issue of online abuse. 

Digital/Platform-based Labor: Precarious Conditions and Unequal Opportunities

The session brought to the forefront a critical issue: the pivotal role of human labor in the development of AI/digital technologies. It revealed that digital development relies heavily on the human labor located predominantly in countries of the global South, where thousands of workers are engaged in activities such as data collection, curation, annotation, and validation. Companies benefit from these platforms while also often bypassing labor rights and protections such as minimum wage and freedom of association. Further, the precarious labor conditions that plague these workers include low pay, excessive overwork, short-term contracts, unfair management practices, and a lack of collective bargaining power, leading to social, economic, and physical/mental health issues among these workers in the long run. One notable initiative in this regard is the Fair Work Project, which seeks to address these labor conditions in nearly 40 countries. The project assesses digital labor platforms based on a set of fair work principles, including factors such as pay conditions, contract management, and representation. The Fair Work Project aims to drive positive change within the digital labor market and create a fairer and more equitable working environment. Speakers asserted that technology production should not merely be a process undertaken by technologists and coders but should include local and marginalized communities who possess a deep understanding of cultural nuances and the specific issues they face.

Data Colonialism: Protecting ‘Self’ Online 

The speaker discussed the exploitation of personal data without consent and argued that personal data is often used for profit without knowledge or permission, highlighting the need for more transparency and accountability in handling personal data. The speakers emphasized how the terms of service on online platforms are often unclear and full of jargon, leading to misunderstandings and uninformed consent. One of the main concerns raised is the concept of data colonialism, which the speaker explained, aims to capture and control human life/behavior for profit. She urges individuals to question data-intensive corporate ideologies that incentivise the collection of personal data, which perpetuate existing inequalities, lead to biases in algorithms, and result in unfair targeting, exclusion, and discrimination. The speaker then suggested that individuals should take steps to minimise the amount of personal data they share online or with technology platforms. They emphasised the importance of thinking twice before agreeing to terms and conditions that may require sharing personal data. They also proposed the idea of digital minimalism, which involves limiting one's social media presence as a way to minimise data. She highlighted that data colonialism is infact a silver lining in the cloud as it provides an opportunity to create systems rooted in ethics. The speaker went on to advocate for the concept of ownership by design, which includes minimisation and anonymisation of personal data. However, she cautioned against an entitled attitude towards data use, arguing that data use and reuse should be based on permissions rather than entitlements or rights. She called for more transparency, accountability, and individual action in minimising data sharing and also emphasised the need for critical digital literacy programmes.

Digital Sovereignty and Intellectual Property

The speakers explored the intricate web of internet regulation and its impact on digital sovereignty and decolonisation. Multinational companies are found to subtly impose their home country's laws on a global scale, disregarding national legal systems. Intellectual property, such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), is cited as an example of this behavior. 

Gender-Based Disinformation

Addressing the challenge of gender-based disinformation in South Asia is a central concern highlighted in the session. Women, trans individuals, and non-binary people are often targeted by disinformation campaigns that aim to silence and marginalize them. The session emphasizes the importance of documenting and combating gender disinformation and advocating for collaborative approaches that involve diverse stakeholders.

Digital Literacy and Bridging the Digital Divide

One key aspect illuminated by the session is the need for digital literacy programs and skills training to empower marginalized communities. The speakers advocated for democratizing access to digital education and ensuring that training is contextualized and relevant. This inclusive approach recognizes the diverse needs and cultural specificities of different communities, enabling them to harness the power of digital tools effectively. 

Decolonizing the Internet and Digital Technology

The concept of decolonizing the internet and digital technology production is evoked as a process that involves not only the use of digital technologies but also the transformation of the production process itself. By incorporating diverse perspectives and local context into technology creation, the aim is to avoid biases and discrimination. The speakers advocated for adapting platform policies to respect cultural differences and acknowledge human rights, rather than solely adhering to external legislation.

Conclusion:

The journey towards a decolonized internet and technology landscape is ongoing. It requires
continuous reflection, dialogue, and action. We can all strive for a digital space that respects
and empowers all individuals, regardless of their background or geographic location. By
working together, we can create a future where the internet truly becomes a force for
equality, justice, and liberation.

Introduction

As digital technologies increasingly intersect with privacy concerns, the OECD's insights on Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) demonstrate that these technologies can enhance privacy and data protection and foster trust. This workshop built on such foundational work, aiming to expand our understanding and application of PETs to explore the multifaceted role of privacy enhancing, empowering, and enforcing technologies (PE³Ts) in fostering privacy and data protection, while enabling the trustworthy use of personal data for growth and well-being.

Distinguished panelists discussed not only how the combination of PETs such as synthetic data, homomorphic encryption and federated learning can enable the trustworthy collection, processing, analysis, and sharing of data, but also explored how digital technologies can be leveraged to enforce privacy laws, enhance transparency, improve accountability, and empower individuals to take more control over their own data. In so doing the session provided a platform for multistakeholder dialogue, aiming to generate insights into the opportunities and challenges of PE³Ts, exploring how these technologies can foster greater trust in the digital landscape, critically contributing to a safer and more inclusive Internet for all.

Privacy-Enhancing Technologies in Action

Panelists detailed how PETs such as homomorphic encryption and differential privacy can be instrumental in data protection. This included the ICO's approach to PETs as tools for secure data sharing, emphasizing alignment with legal compliance and their role in facilitating safer data practices.

Panelists also shared examples, such as Mozilla's deployment of PETs and their integration into products like the Firefox browser. In this context, panelists discussed the broader implications of PETs in enhancing user privacy without compromising functionality, particularly in the context of advertising.

Digital Technologies and Privacy Enforcement

Panelists also illustrated how digital technologies for automation can streamline privacy enforcement. Insights from NOYB’s approach were shared where digital technologies are used for monitoring and addressing privacy violations effectively, highlighting the potential for scaling enforcement activities using digital tools. In this context the need for ongoing education and adoption of PETs within EU institutions and across its member states was also highlighted.

Proactive Privacy Management and Integration

Panelists later discussed concepts for proactive privacy management through software analysis, proposing methods to assess and ensure privacy from the development phase of software products. Such approach suggested a shift towards embedding privacy considerations early in the technology design process. Panelists also stressed the importance of integrating PETs with traditional privacy management practices. In this context, panelists discussed the challenges and opportunities of adopting PETs in various organizational contexts, emphasizing the need for strategic privacy risk management.

Conclusion and Recommendations:

The workshop underscored the multifaceted role of PETs in enhancing and enforcing privacy within digital landscapes. The collaborative discussions highlighted the importance of integrating technological solutions with regulatory and organizational frameworks to achieve robust privacy protections. It led to the following recommendations:

• Enhanced Collaboration: Encourage multi-stakeholder dialogues to further develop and refine PETs.
• Increased Awareness and Training: Promote broader understanding and skill development in PETs across all sectors.
• Guidance and Best Practices: Develop comprehensive guidelines that help organizations implement PETs effectively.

Session Content
Introduction and Opening Remarks:
Carina Birarda opened the session by highlighting the escalation of cybersecurity incidents globally and the importance of international standards in countering these threats.

Presentations:

Wout de Natris focused on IoT security from a consumer and procurement perspective, emphasizing the necessity of security by design in IoT devices and the role of governments and industries in demanding secure ICT services.
Carlos Martinez Cagnazzo discussed the security of critical internet infrastructure, detailing the deployment of DNSSEC and RPKI and the broader implications for routing and domain name resolution security.
Maria Luque explored the implications of quantum technologies on cybersecurity, addressing the vulnerabilities of current cryptographic systems and the potential of quantum computing to disrupt security protocols.
Olga Cavalli shared insights from the perspective of governmental cybersecurity strategies, focusing on capacity building and public policy in Argentina, and highlighted the unique challenges faced by developing countries.
Discussions and Q&A:
The discussion session facilitated by Carina Birarda allowed panelists to delve deeper into strategies for advancing cybersecurity across different sectors and the need for a unified approach to tackle emerging challenges. Topics of particular interest included the adoption of security by design, the implementation of international standards, and the potential impact of quantum technologies on global security.

Key Outcomes:
Consensus on Security by Design: There was unanimous agreement on the necessity of integrating security features at the design phase of IoT and other critical technologies.
Call for Collaborative Action: The need for collaborative efforts among governments, industries, and the technical community was emphasized to enhance the adoption of best practices and standards.
Focus on Quantum Preparedness: The discussions underscored the urgency of preparing for quantum technological advancements by developing quantum-resistant cryptographic methods.
Conclusions:
The session concluded with a strong call to action for all stakeholders to enhance cybersecurity measures, adopt robust security protocols, and prepare for the challenges posed by quantum computing. The insights shared will contribute to the formulation of comprehensive guidelines and best practices for securing cyberspace.

Session report: Can (generative) AI be compatible with Data protection?

IGF 2023, October 10^th, 2023, WS 10 - Room I

The session explored the tension between the development and use of AI systems, particularly generative AI systems such as ChatGPT, and data protection frameworks. The DC aims to present a diverse set of views, in the spirit of multistakeholder debate, from various sectors, countries, disciplines, and theoretical backgrounds.

Professor Luca Belli, Director of the Centre for Technology and Society at FGV Law School, opened and moderated the session. He discusses the concept of AI Sovereignty – “the capacity of a given country to understand, muster and develop AI systems, while retaining control, agency and, ultimately, self-determination over such systems”. Regulating generative AI is a complex web of geopolitical, sociotechnical, and legal considerations, whose core elements compose the AI Sovereignty Stack.

Armando Manzueta, Digital Transformation Director, Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development of the Dominican Republic – gave insights on how governments can try to use generative AI in their infrastructure and public services. When an AI complies with data privacy laws along with a transparent decision-making mechanism, it has the power to usher in a new era of public services that can empower citizens and help restore trust in public entities improving workforce efficiency, reducing operational costs in public sectors, and supercharging digital modernization.

Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative, Nigeria – emphasized the role of existing data protection laws, but also how this ongoing discussion on generative AI opens an opportunity for the countries that do not yet have a data protection law to start considering introducing one to regulate mass data collection and processing. There is also a need to de-mystify AI and make it more understandable to people. Sesan also pointed out that there is a lack of diversity in the models of generative AI like ChatGPT, as well as a need to establish review policies or mechanisms when they deal with information on people.

Melody Musoni, Policy Officer at the European Centre for Development Policy, South Africa – spoke on how African countries are taking steps to carve out their position as competitors in the development of AI. There is a need for AI to solve the problem in the African region. E.g., the digital transformation strategy showed the urgency for Africa to start looking into AI and innovation to develop African solutions. The speaker also mentioned setting up data centers through public-private partnerships.

Jonathan Mendoza, Secretary for Data Protection, National Institute of Transparency Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI), Mexico - explores current and prospective frameworks, giving a descriptive account of ongoing efforts to promote transparency and accountability. Due to the diverse nature of the population in the Latin American region, generative AI can pose a threat and therefore a policy to process personal data must be in place. There is also a need to balance the ethical designing of AI models and the implementation of AI to make these models more inclusive and sustainable while reducing potential threats.

Camila Leite, Brazilian Consumers Association (Idec) - explored the general risks of AI on the Brazilian consumer population. Financial and Mobility services can immensely benefit from generative AI, however there have been instances in which the output from generative AI was found to be manipulative, discriminatory, and violated the privacy of people. It is important to put consumer rights and protection at the heart of policies regulating generative AI.

Wei Wang, University of Kong - elucidates the disparate conceptualizations of AI accountability among various stakeholders at the Chinese level, thereby facilitating an informed discussion about the ambiguity and implementability of normative frameworks governing AI, specifically regarding Generative AI. China has a sector-specific approach contrary to the comprehensive one as seen in the EU, UK, etc. China has established measures to comply with sectoral laws and Intellectual property laws.

Smriti Parsheera, Researcher, CyberBRICS Project, India - discusses the why and how of transparency obligations, as articulated in the AI governance discussions in India and select international principles. She argues that the need for transparency permeates through the lifecycle of an AI project and identifies the policy layer, the technical layer, and the operational layer as the key sites for fostering transparency in AI projects.

Michael Karanicolas, Executive Director, UCLA Institute for Technology, Law and Policy - argues for the need to develop AI standards beyond the “auspices of a handful of powerful regulatory blocs”, and calls for the inclusion of the Majority World into standard-setting processes in international fora.

Kamesh Shekar, Senior Programme Manager, Privacy & Data Governance Vertical, The Dialogue - argues for a principle-based approach coupled with a detailed classification of AI harms and impacts. He proposes a detailed multistakeholder approach that resonates with the foundational values of responsible AI envisioned by various jurisdictions geared toward ensuring that AI innovations align with societal values and priorities.

Kazim Rizvi, Founding Director, The Dialogue - spoke about domestic coordination of regulation and then international coordination. Alternative regulatory approaches can also be looked upon through public-private partnerships.

Giuseppe Cicu, PhD Student at the University of Turin and corporate Lawyer at Galgano Law Firm - spoke about a framework to regulate AI by Corporate Design to fit together business management and AI governance concerns into a step-by-step implementation process, from strategic planning to optimization. He provided a game plan for responsible AI by bringing transparency and accountability into the organizational structure of the firm and having a human in the loop. The approach is grounded in the human rights global framework and privacy policies. He suggests that corporations introduce an ethic algorithmic legal committee.

Liisa Janssens, LLM MA, scientist department Military Operations, unit Defence, Safety and Security, TNO the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research - provides a focused responsible AI framework for military applications, developed through a scenario-setting methodology for considering AI regulation’s virtues and shortcomings. The disruptive nature of AI is considered in the face of the demands of Rule of Law mechanisms to trace the requirements that make up responsible use of AI in military.

Comments and questions: What are the key privacy principles at a normative level (e.g., transparency and data minimisation, purpose limitation) that should be ensured so that generative AI can comply with them? Will the data protection laws expand their scope to include non-personal data since most of the data to train a generative AI is non-personal data.

The Dynamic Coalition on Platform Responsibility (DCPR) session at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2023 provided an invaluable forum for discussing the multifaceted challenges and opportunities in digital platform governance. This session was marked by insightful dialogues among experts from diverse fields, reflecting the DCPR's commitment to fostering a multi-stakeholder approach in addressing the complexities of platform regulation.

Key Highlights and Discussions:

1. Professors Luca Belli and Yasmin Curzi, DCPR coordinators, highlighted the decade-long commitment of the DCPR in researching and addressing the challenges posed by digital platforms. They stressed the importance of not only acknowledging the necessity for platform regulation but actively engaging in research and practical solution-seeking.
2. Professor Belli underscored the need for fostering transnational dialogues to address systemic risks presented by digital platforms. The session delved into legislative frameworks in countries like Brazil, India, China, and the European Union, emphasizing the need for context-sensitive regulation.
3. Tatevik Grigoryan from UNESCO introduced the concept of Internet Universality, advocating for a global approach to internet governance based on principles of openness, accessibility, multi-stakeholder participation, and addressing cross-cutting issues.
4. Samara Castro highlighted Brazil's proactive stance in social media regulation and misinformation control, discussing legislative, executive, and judiciary efforts. Brazil's experience serves as an inspiration for other nations in creating a safer, transparent internet.
5. Anita Gurumuthy and Monika Zalnieriute emphasized the need to go beyond procedural principles and address substantive concerns like platforms' environmental impact and labor effects, calling for a holistic approach in platform governance.
6. Rolf Weber emphasized the importance of accountability beyond compliance and the necessity of observability in platform governance, suggesting a model where platforms are transparent and answerable in their operations.
7. Shilpa Jwasant provided an in-depth analysis of the Indian context, focusing on the recent developments in the IT Act. She highlighted how the Act is shaping the digital landscape in India, discussing its impact on user rights, data privacy, and the regulatory challenges faced by digital platforms operating in India. Jwasant’s insights into India’s regulatory approach underscored the balance between harnessing technological advancements and protecting fundamental rights.
8. Sofia Chang delved into the Chinese scenario, particularly the country’s approach to algorithmic regulation. She elaborated on how China is navigating the complex interplay between technology, state control, and user rights, offering a unique perspective on how algorithmic governance is evolving in a highly digitized, prioritizing digital sovereignty. 
9. Monika Zalnieriute brought a critical lens to the discussion on informational pluralism on social media platforms. She raised concerns about the private and opaque interests of big tech companies, emphasizing the need for greater transparency and accountability in how these platforms manage and disseminate information. Zalnieriute argued for a more equitable digital ecosystem that respects diversity of thought and counters the monopolistic tendencies of major tech firms.

The session benefitted from active participation from in-person attendees, who provided feedback and posed questions, enriching the discussions. Their contributions highlighted the global interest in developing effective platform governance models and underscored the need for inclusivity in these dialogues.

Conclusion: The DCPR session at IGF 2023 successfully facilitated a comprehensive exploration of digital platform regulation, stressing the importance of a multi-stakeholder, inclusive approach. The discussions and calls to action from this session are expected to guide future strategies and policies in the realm of platform responsibility.

The IGF 2023 session of the Dynamic Coalition on Community Connectivity focused on the digital sovereignty and environmental sustainability aspect of community networks. Session participants provided their perspectives and best practices. Some panelists authored and co-authored the official DC3 outcome, a report titled "Community Networks: Building Digital Sovereignty and Environmental Sustainability".

The session started with the launch of the report, presented by Luca Belli. The report is a compilation of of five different papers/ chapters.

Atsuko Okuda from ITU Asia Pacific opened the session, presenting some ITU statistics on the state of connectivity in the region and globally.

Raquel Gatto from CGI Brazil spoke about community networks initiatives in Brazil and the newly formed working group within Anatel, the telecom regulator.

Amreesh Phokeer from the Internet Society presented some of ISOC's community network initiatives, and provided insights on their environmental impact.

Pedro Vilchez from guifi.net presented guifi's efforts to incorporate circular economy into their project.

Nils Brock from Rhizomatica / DW Academy spoke about using local materials such as bamboo for building towers, and the positive impact on the environment that comes with the use of local resources.

Carlos Baca from Rhizomatica presented the initiative of National Schools on Community Networks and how capacity building contributes to environmental sustainability.

In his closing remarks, Luca Belli highlighted the link between community networks and digital sovereignty.

Moderator Olaf Kolkman introduced this Open Forum by elaborating on the role of modern security standards in securing the internet. He emphasized that we need to secure the internet for the common good. One of the challenges that comes with securing the internet is the slow adoption of security standards. Therefore, this Open Forum highlights tools that enhance the adoption of modern security standards.

The Role of Open Standards particularly in procurement, experiences in the Netherlands

Modern internet standards (such as IPv6, DNSSEC, HTTPS, DMARC, DANE and RPKI) are essential for an open, secure and resilient Internet that serves as a driver of social progress and economic growth. Gerben Klein Baltink and Annemieke Toersen explained the role of standards in procurement and their experiences in the Netherlands. The role of open standards in promoting a safer, more secure, and well-connected internet has become increasingly recognized, with initiatives like the internet.nl test tool which contribute significantly to this progress. The tool is primarily aimed at organizations, attracting both technical personnel and board members, and allows them to assess if their mail, website, and local connections comply with established standards.

In the procurement and supply chain management domain, the Forum Standaardisatie think tank has been actively promoting the use of open standards, advocating for more interoperability. With 25 members from government, businesses and science, the forum advises governments on the adoption of open standards, emphasizing their importance in promoting information exchange, ensuring interoperability, security, accessibility and vendor neutrality.

The Dutch government has pursued a three-fold strategy to promote open standards. Firstly, through the implementation of a "comply or explain" list of 40 open standards, carefully researched and consultated with experts. This have led to increased adoption, particularly in areas such as internet and security, document management and administrative processes, like e-invoicing. Government entities are mandated to use these standards, with required reporting if not followed.

Secondly, the government has fostered national and international cooperation, facilitating workshops on modern email security standards within the EU, and engaging with prominent vendors and hosting companies such as Cisco, Microsoft, and Google. They have also facilitated the reuse of internet.nl code in various projects, such as aucheck.com and top.nic.br.

Finally, the Dutch government actively monitors the adoption of open standards, evaluating tenders and procurement documents, and ensuring that the standards are included. Reports are submitted to the government, and efforts are made to support and guide vendors who may  lagging behind in the adoption of these standards.

Lessons learned from these efforts emphasize the importance of consistently checking for open standards in procurement processes and providing guidance and support to encourage their usage. The comprehensive approach taken by the Dutch government, along with collaborations with various stakeholders, has contributed significantly to the wider adoption and implementation of open standards, fostering a more secure and interconnected digital environment.

Procurement and Supply Chain Management and the Business Case

Wout de Natris and Mallory Knodel elaborated on the role of the Internet Standards, Security, and Safety dynamic coalition in enhancing internet security and safety through various initiatives. The coalition has established three working groups targeting Security by design on the Internet of Things, Education and Skills, Procurement and Supply Chain Management and the Business Case, aiming to contribute to a more secure online environment.

Their ongoing projects involve the deployment of DNSSEC and RPKI, exploring emerging technologies, and addressing data governance and privacy issues. They strive to persuade decision-makers to invest in secure internet standards by developing a persuasive narrative incorporating political, economic, social, and security arguments. The Procurement and Supply Chain Management and the Business Case working group have released a comprehensive report comparing global procurement policies, shedding light on existing practices and advocating for more transparent and secure procurement processes.

The coalition highlights the need for greater recognition and integration of open internet standards into government policies, emphasizing the importance of universal adoption of standards for data protection, network and infrastructure security, website and application security, and communication security. They aim to provide decision-makers and procurement officers with a practical tool that includes a list of urgent internet standards to guide their decision-making and procurement processes.

By focusing on streamlining and expediting the validation process for open internet standards in public procurement, the coalition seeks to enhance procurement policies, resulting in more secure and reliable digital infrastructure. Overall, their collaborative efforts and initiatives aim to create a safer online landscape for individuals, organizations, and governments by promoting the secure design and deployment of internet standards and advocating for the adoption of open internet standards in government policies.

The report from is3coalition.org highlights a concerning trend where governments fail to recognize the critical components that enable the internet to function effectively. This issue has been a recurring question in various research endeavors, prompting the Working Group (WG) to prioritize and compile existing security-related internet standards and best practices in the field of ICT.

Best practice awards go to: the GDPR in the European Union provides common understanding and harmonization with regards to the security of information systems; the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations makes mandatory standards deployment. The ‘Pas toe of leg uit’-Lijst (comply-or-explain list) of the Dutch Standardisation Forum is a document containing 43 open standards that all governments in the Netherlands have to demand when procuring ICT; and Internet.nl: the tool used to track standards adoption by an organization’s website based on three indicators: website, email and connection. The software has been adopted in Australia, Brazil, Denmark and Singapore.

IS3C provides decision-takers and procurement officers involved in ICTs procurement with a list containing the most urgent internet standards and related best practices. This assists them to take into account internet security and safety requirements and procure secure by design ICT products, services and devices, making their organizations as a whole more secure and safer. By raising awareness and emphasizing the significance of internet security and safety requirements, the report seeks to prompt officials to consider and integrate these crucial standards into their operational frameworks.

To gather insights and perspectives on this critical issue, the coalition is conducting a consultation on the report until November 5th at 10:00 UTC. This consultation aims to engage stakeholders and experts to discuss and address the challenges associated with the recognition and implementation of internet security standards by governments.

Report: https://is3coalition.org/docs/is3c-working-group-5-report-and-list/

Perspectives from India

There are many examples of good efforts and effective tools enhancing internet security. One of these examples comes from India. Mr. Satish Babu highlighted that the Trusted Internet India Initiative was initially established at the India School of Internet Governance (inSIG) in 2016 and has since 2018 been collaborating with the Global Forum for Cyber Expertise.

InSIG organized GFCE’s Internet Infrastructure Initiative (Triple-I) Workshop in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023 as Day 0 events of inSIG. The Triple-I workshop seeks to “...enhance justified trust in the Internet” by building awareness and capacity on Internet-related international standards, norms and best practices. In its 2023 edition, the Triple-I workshop announced a new initiative that attempts to measure periodically the compliance of Indian websites, DNS and email services to modern security standards (to begin in 2024).

During the T3I workshop, it was emphasized that digital technology plays a crucial role in fostering India’s growth. The digital public infrastructure, which serves over a billion citizens, facilitates applications related to financial health, logistics, and more. However, the workshop shed light on the existing weak levels of compliance within these systems. In response to this observation, volunteers associated with T3I conducted extensive research to identify areas of improvement.

Building on their research findings, the initiative now plans to conduct comprehensive testing and disseminate the results to all stakeholders. The aim of this effort is to enhance compliance levels across Indian digital platforms, ensuring that they meet modern security standards and contribute to a safer and more secure digital environment. 

Perspectives from Brasil

Mr. Flavio Kenji Yanai andGilberto Zorello shared their experiences from a Brazilian perspective. The Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br) is a non-profit civil entity that since 2005 has been assigned with the administrative and operational functions related to the .br domain. NIC.br is actively investing in various actions and programs to improve internet services across different sectors. Their initiatives are geared towards disseminating knowledge and best practices, contributing to a safer and more secure internet environment in the country.

A key project they are currently undertaking is the TOP Teste os Padrões (Test the Standards) tool, which was initiated in December 2021 and utilizes Internet.nl provided by the Dutch government. As part of the Safer Internet program, their objectives include providing support to the internet technical community. This involves collaborating with various groups to develop technical teaching materials and promote good practices aimed at raising awareness within the technical community. Their efforts have yielded positive results, as statistics indicate a reduction in misconfigured IP addresses.

Furthermore, they have implemented the Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRRS) in Brazil, leading to a notable increase in the number of participants. The statistics reflect continuous improvements in various aspects of internet security within the country. With significant incumbents responsible for approximately 50% of the internet traffic in Brazil, the implementation of version 1.7 of internet.nl, currently in the validation phase, has been instrumental. The tool is being widely disseminated in conjunction with the Program for a Safer Internet, with government entities also starting to utilize it to test their websites and email services. The TOP tool has proven to be of immense value in fortifying the internet infrastructure in Brazil.

This workshop proposed to discuss Intern Fragmentation through a forward looking exercise. The session opened with the moderator inviting the panel and audience to think of the Internet in 2043, what good would look like, and what it would take us to fulfil the hoped-for future we want.

The panellists started off by sharing their thoughts on what it entails imagining the future, based on past experience. 

Olaf Kolkman from the Internet Society highlighted it is hard to predict the future and what technologies would triumph, exemplifying with his erroneous prediction that webpages would not go beyond academic libraries. Sheetal Kumar from Global Partners Digital spoke about ubiquity of smartphones and connectivity as a crucial development and in looking to the future, encouraged the audience to think about what we want the Internet to feel like; she believes the internet will continue to grown in embeddedness and finds that how the internet will evolve will depend on what we Internet we choose to create. French Ambassador for Digital Affairs, Henri Verdier —who created his first web-based company in the 90s— shared a story about how he erroneously predicted that Wikipedia would fail to take off. Professor Izumi Aizu from Tama University mentioned that we are oftentimes overly optimistic of the future, which in reality may be composed of different shades and colours. The future is bound to surprise us with unpredictable events like Fukushima or the unfolding conflict in Gaza. Lorraine Porciuncula from the Datasphere Initiative spoke of being a digital native, and the optimism felt during the Arab spring. She recalled the sense of opportunity and “capability” brought by technology. Time showed that there are good and bad aspects to technology, yet she encouraged the audience to reconnect with a sense of optimism. 

The moderator introduced the discussion paper submitted as part of the session (https://dnsrf.org/blog/the-internet-in-20-years-time-what-we-should-hav…) which lays out there potential future scenarios:

• Scenario 1: Continued Status Quo. In the first scenario, we muddled along, continue the current course of action and end up with an internet that continues in its present trajectory with some signs of fragmentation;
• Scenario 2:  Fully Fragmented Internet. the second scenario is one of complete fragmentation, either divided at the technical layers, at ideological layers or regulatory layers or all three; 
• Scenario 3: Strengthened, non-fragmented Internet. The third scenario is one of a bright future where we get our act together.

The moderator invited the panel and audience to comment on what they see as the most likely future and why, and at what layer they see the most risk.

Olaf said that in reading the scenarios, he was struck about how the future is already here. Many of the things described in the scenarios —such as drivers for the fragmentation of the technical layers of the Internet, are already happening, and if they take off, they will splinter the internet. He explained that the value he sees in the Internet lies in its openness, the scientific method of sharing knowledge, and to be able to probe, query and scrutinise one another. He commented in particular on scenario 1, where we see a mix of closed networks coexisting with the Internet. This is about being proprietary, about the Internet being closed, about the Internet developing services that people pay for, where people connect to servers to access specific services, and the interconnectivity is less important. This is an entirely different notion from the Internet that exists to connect us to the rest of the world, where we get to choose services. To Olaf, openness is a best case scenario, where the richness of the Internet really lies. 

The moderator took a round of early comments from the audience. 

• Barry Leiba said that what has driven the evolution of the Internet is the innovation in applications and services. He therefore thinks that a great idea for an application (perhaps yet to come) is what will drive the Internet of tomorrow, including another set of standards and technologies. He highlighted the role of standards in shaping the way we will experience technology. 
• Andrew Campling stated that we are also at an inflection point. Up to now, the Internet was seen as a force for good. He finds we are now at the point where the balance is shifting to the Internet becoming a source for harm with the rise of disinformation and CSAM. Adding to the point of standards, he urged for standards development organisations (SDOs) to become more diverse.
• Michael Nelson from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace came in next. He taught a class about the internet future(s), where he highlighted to his students that the best way to understand what is coming in terms of technology, is not to understand what the technology can do, or what governments want it to not do, but rather to look at what the users want. So we should ask ourselves, what will drive companies and governments to do better? He concluded by saying “I am a technology positivist but political negativist.” 

The moderator returned to the panellists. Izumi described the first scenarios of mixed networks co-existing with the Internet as a scenario of chaos. He consulted a number of AI tools on the subject of the panel and shared the findings with the audience. Chat GPT said that, while there is fragmentation due to economic and political reasons, the ethos of the Internet as a tool for global communication will likely persist. Bard was even more optimistic and said the Internet might become even more unified. He challenged the audience to think not of a better internet, not for the sake of the Internet itself, but for the sake of a better society, which is a different perspective on how to understand the Internet. 

Lorraine, on the other hand, said that in her view, we will not have an issue of fragmentation around the Internet’s technical layers, but we will have a very concrete challenge on the regulatory side. This issue is reflective of not only the fragmentation of the Internet, but of the fragmentation of society. She urged the audience to consider “how are we (as societies) going to get along? What are the incentives?”  Regulators will regulate what they are scared off: they want to control national security, democratic processes, content, and so on. So when taking of regulatory-driven fragmentation, the question becomes “How will we work to find convergence?” 

 Ambassador Verdier said that he is uncertain what scenario will materialise, but that he knows what we should fight for. We know what the Internet brought us in terms of possibilities. Now there is great centralisation, if you look for example at submarine cables. He finds that big tech does not care for decentralised internet, and that “we need to fight for that interconnected, free, decentralised internet.” He also reflected on John Perry Barlow’s notion of Cyberspace (https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence), where the Internet felt like it was somewhere far off in “cyberspace”. Now the digital is embedded in all aspects of life: education, health, and even war and peace. He finds that the fragmentation of the technical layer would be an extremely bad scenario, as now interdependence holds it all together. If the internet were to fully fragment, the temptation to disconnect each other’s internet would be very high, war would be waged on infrastructure itself. So far we have cyberwarfare, but no attempts to disconnect internets. Beyond the technical layer, there is a political and legal layer. From a legal point of view, he sees it would be better to have regulatory convergence but if you believe in democracy, you need to respect regulatory proposals that are reflective of local prerogatives, as is the case in France. 

Sheetal came in next and said she finds that we have the capacity to build and design our own future, even though there are power asymmetries to be aware of. She picked up on the notion of how the Internet of the future should feel: it should feel liberating, especially to those who do not occupy those positions of power. She hopes for a future Internet that does not reflect the inequalities of our society. This will require that those who build the technologies and develop the standards, open up spaces to those communities affected by technology developments. In terms of what we should do, she highlighted “we know exactly what we need to do, we just don’t do it at the moment.” There are many useful tools and guidance on how to build a better, human-rights-respecting Internet. We should utilise and leverage those in shaping the Internet of tomorrow.

The audience came in with a new round of comments:

• Web 3 and money. Georgia Osborn picked up on money being a huge incentive on the Internet, and currently money being a massive driver for the development of blockchain technologies, Web 3.0, alternative naming systems, and cryptocurrencies. She asked the panel to reflect on whether those forces are bound to further fragment the Internet, or not.
• Interoperable laws. Steve del Bianco from NetChoice highlighted the impact of fragmentation through regulation, and stated that regulation is the main challenge we will confront, one that is already unfolding. There appears to be no cost associated or consequences for governments, particularly authoritarian governments that want to control what their citizens see. He highlighted how IGF 2023 was largely about AI, but not about collaboration. “We have been hearing competing views about how it should be regulated and where it needs to go. That is not going to work transnationally.” He encouraged the audience to think of ways of documenting the cost of fragmentation, and raising the “pain level” for bad regulatory proposals.
• Bertrand Le Chapelle from the Internet and Jurisdiction Network also spoke about legal interoperability. He said that fragmentation is not driven by technical objectives but by politics. The legal fragmentation is a reflection of the international political system, which today is heavily influenced by notions of national sovereignty. The legal fragmentation is what prevents us from dealing with online abuse in many cases. The framework for accessing electronic evidence is non-existing or insufficient. He agreed with Ambassador Verdier that countries have a “democratic freedom/capacity” to do what they deem right for their citizens, but if we want to preserve interoperability we need to reduce the friction at the legal level. He also thinks we need to have heterogeneous governance frameworks that allow the coexistence of government regulation, company’s self regulation, and other frameworks that operate independently yet are able to speak to and with one another.
• Involvement of the global south and regions with ideological disagreement. Nikki Colosso from Roadblocks came in next. She  pointed out how  a lot of conversation in IGF 2022 dealt with incorporating the global south and inclusivity. She asked the panel what specific steps companies and civil society can take to involve users from countries that are not represented in these conversations or those from countries where there are differences from a geopolitical perspective.
• Digital Colonialism. Jerel James picked up on the issue of profit as an incentive. Money is how power gets flexed on certain communities. He asked about digital colonialism and how it may be sanctioned. As we see antitrust regulation for monopolies exists in our traditional finance system, he asked whether there are possibilities to sanction resource extraction by big tech as a means to stop digital colonialism.
• Bad behaviour in the online realm. Jennifer Bramlet from the UN Security Council spoke next. She focuses on how bad actors exploit ICTs for terrorism, including use to recruit and radicalise individuals. They look at what is considered unlawful and harmful language across jurisdictions, from a regulatory perspective. Looking to the future, they are concerned about crime and terrorist activity in the metaverse, and how it may be tackled going forward when regulation hasn’t quite yet caught up with online criminal challenges we see today.  Her question to the panel was how do you deal with bad behaviour in the online realm.
• Call not to lose sight of the social value of the Internet. Vittorio Bertola came next. He believes Europe is producing regulation precisely to preserve the global nature of the Internet, not to break it. Also, if the future of the internet is decided by what people want from it, people want entertainment and social media attention. If we focus on that we lose sight of the social purpose of the technology. Just doing things because we can or because money is not enough.

Ambassador Verdier responded first by saying he shares the aspiration by Bertrand of interoperable legislation. But while we can work on making progress in that direction, we are not there yet. France is fighting for regulation of big tech, which they see as a private place built on the internet. In his view, “you can do that and still protect the global internet.” 

Sheetal elaborated on what we can do. On legal fragmentation, she expressed there is need for harmonisation. She finds we have human rights standards to guide us, we have the rule of law and our institutions. We can use those human rights standards and guidance for shaping the online space. She also seconded the need to protect the openness of the Internet and the ability to build your own apps and technology. She also supported the need to protect the critical properties of the internet, and how that comes hand in hand with the need to make standards bodies more inclusive. She also encouraged all participants to take the conversation home, to ensure that we are vocalising the values we want to be reflected on the Internet of tomorrow, and ensuring that those get executed. She concluded with an invitation: “Let's not be nostalgic, let’s look forward.” That requires giving users control, and not letting governments or companies determine what the future is about.  

Izumi reacted to Vittorio and Bertrand. He agreed that the future of the Internet depends on the wills of people/users, and that it also depends on legal frameworks. He wanted to add additional dimensions to consider, two factors that are unknown: climate and politics. We may get together hosted by the UN in 20 years time, independently of how politics plays out, who wins what war. Climate change, however, is an existential threat, we may think it is an external factor to the internet, but may well shape the future of the Internet, it may even lead to war. In the 1940s, we killed each other a lot. We then had the Cold War, and then came the Internet. Perhaps the timing was right, as the East and West were open to coming closer together. That political will is what allowed the Internet to get picked up. China wanted to have technology and science, that is why China accepted the Internet, to have growth and innovation and technology. Now China and India have reached the point where they do not need the West anymore. He concluded by inviting us to think of not the Internet of the future. The question has to be how the present and future will offer something better for society.

Lorraine picked up on notions of what the Internet can do for people. She highlighted that narratives matter, so it is not about the Internet, but about the digital society. Now, when we reflect on ”what is our vision for the Internet? what do we want the Internet to feel like?” she finds that we do not have a clear, shared vision. If the issue were walled gardens, we could use tools for antitrust and competition for users to move to other platforms. But the truth is that with the Internet, one government can’t fix it all, so it’s all about governance. We need to focus on asking ourselves “how do we cooperate? how do we govern? What are our economic and social objectives?”

Olaf concluded by explaining that not having infrastructure at all is the ultimate fragmentation. Empowered communities is the way forward, like IXPs, communities networks, that is truly bottom. He also added thoughts on standardisation. When you talk about economics and standardisation, standardisation is to a large extent industry driven and industry politics; we need to put that on the table and understand it. With economics, consolidation happens, even if you have open technologies, companies will try to extract money from using those open technologies. And you will have an accumulation of power to the point governments might say this is too much, and want to regulate it. But we need to remember you don’t need standards for every innovation. The founder of blockchain did permissionless innovation, open innovation (he did not innovate via standards making bodies). Innovation happens today, not just in standards organisations. If you ask me from a technical perspective, where to go in the future I say: Open architecture, so that people build on the work of others, open code so that it can be reused, and open standards.  

There was a last round of comments from the audience:

• Yug Desai, ISOC Youth Ambassador, thinks in 20 years from now we will have fragmentation, not by design, but by default due capacity gaps. He finds the standards are unable to keep up with the pace of innovation, and not sufficiently inclusive of the users.
• Mark Dattysgeld highlighted the importance of open source and the role of research driving AI. He said we should ask ourselves whether that is the new paradigm that takes things forward. This point was reinforced by Lucien Taylor on the example of TCP/IP.

The session wrapped with final recommendations from the panel about what to do next:

Raul Echeberria from ALAI finds we already have a level of internet fragmentation, and we need to live with that. The incentives of policy makers are diverse, and not always driven by the search for the best outcomes for all. Our mission has to be protecting the Internet. In terms of what to do, his proposal is to go for “gradual objectives and commitments, instead of going for the whole packet.”  In sum, he suggests an incremental approach.  He also said that in speaking to policy-makers, we need to make our messages sharper and clearer, and better outline what governments should not do. Lastly, he shared he recently participated in a discussion with parliamentarians, all of whom were over 50 years old. They spoke about fears, but it is important we do not develop policies based on fear, and let’s not let fear stop evolution. 

Lorraine reiterated the points we heard so far – being clear on what the objectives are, being incremental– and added being iterative. There is no ultimate regulation that will get it right, so we need to test stuff and iterate. The system is hard to predict and it moves fast. We need processes and institutions that are more agile. Like in software development, we need to identify the bug, and have multi-stakeholder conversations to address them. True multi-stakeholderism works when it seeks to be inclusive in an intentional way, particularly of communities that are underrepresented.

Ambassador Verdier added he thinks we can agree on a compass. In his view, we should stand for 3 aspects of the Internet’s golden age: unprecedented openness and access to information, which to date has not been fully accomplished as we still have a digital divide; unprecedented empowerment of communities and people; and permissionless innovation. He reiterated that fragmentation can come from the private sector, not just rogue states.

Olaf emphasised the point of the compass, saying our work needs to be principles-based. We need to make a differentiation between evolution OF the internet and evolution ON the Internet. We can get to those shared principles if we talk of the evolution OF the Internet. When we talk about empowerment, individualism, autonomy ON the Internet it gets more complicated to arrive at shared principles.

Sheetal added we need to assess how governments do regulation, and how companies operate from a human rights perspective. Are they human rights respecting, is there accountability, transparency? Are our governance and standards body inclusive? She summarised her points as protecting critical properties as they evolve, adopting a principles based approach, building on the human rights framework, and creating more inclusive spaces.

Lastly, Izumi highlighted that there were no Chinese or Indian representatives in the high-level session on AI, which to him is telling of the level of fragmentation that already exists. It wasn’t like that 18 years ago, we have fears. He encouraged the audience to go out into the world of chaos, to engage where there is tension, to think outside the box.

IGF 2023 DC-IoT Progressing Global Good Practice for the Internet of Things

The session considered IoT governance from various perspectives. To understand baseline IoT evolution, associated challenges, opportunities and responses, the IoT could best be understood as an internet of data, devices, systems or functions. For simplicity, we can call these “Internets of X” (IoX). Each perspective brings its understanding of what is possible, desirable or undesirable and tools and processes needed for governance.

Each approach must be considered in its own terms, but they start from a common base of experience and must ultimately come together to provide good governance. This leads to the need for an ecosystem comprising of stakeholders such as technical experts, governments, service providers, manufacturers, users, standards bodies, military vs civilian organisations, etc., varying in global and regional perspectives.

One immediate consequence is that IoT governance must respect a range of perspectives. Our fundamental principles are unlikely to be universal, especially when applied to specific IoT contexts. By analogy with the sensors and actuators of the IoT itself, governance needs to ‘sense’ the interests and perspectives of all significantly affected parties and somehow balance them to inform decisions at various levels. In other words, it requires multistakeholderism. It is not that specific expert groups (e.g., engineers) are insensitive to the needs of others (e.g., end users) but that they may misunderstand their interests, capabilities and behaviour.

The session began with a consideration of simple and recognisable use cases in which major challenges can already be seen (though they will become more complex). IoX components and their complex or hybrid assemblages will and should interact with others, so they must be identified uniquely and discovered with appropriate levels of precision, reliability, and permanence and be capable of enrolment in or separation from IoX systems. The concept of ‘identity’ has some subtlety. For instance, a smart home must be able to recognise and be recognised by new IoT components added to the system on a permanent or temporary basis, accorded the right kinds of access and privileges and tracked or remembered appropriately. These identities enable necessary functions, including the granting of trust. But they need not be unique, durable or universal. Indeed, categorical or shared identities (e.g., type certification) may be more practicable, scalable, flexible, future-proof, secure and robust to, e.g., (hardware, software or data) updates and interconnection or federation to create identifiable hybrid systems. Three subtleties linked to identity that came up in the discussion were security (including but not limited to cybersecurity), privacy (including but not limited to data privacy) and ownership (including protections against identity theft or misuse and, conversely, the use of identity to carry liability or responsibility).

Various identity schemes were discussed, ranging from central registries of semi-permanent discrete identities (along the lines of the DNS model) to purely transactional or temporary mutual authentication and identification schemes. These have advantages and drawbacks ranging from theoretical to practical, including technical, legal, commercial, security and other considerations. No single approach seemed to fit all foreseeable circumstances. In placing these in context, the panel recognised that the same concepts applied to the human beings (and organisations) that create, operate and use the IoX. For example, a person is more important than devices or data attributed to him/her, and human rights and responsibilities (e.g., of association and expression) cannot safely be extended to, say, their smart digital assistants. This cuts two ways; it may not be useful to hold a human being accountable for what their devices do in response to interactions with other systems, which the ‘user’ may not even perceive, let alone understand or control. Conversely, the automation of routine functions may result in their receiving less considered and responsible human attention, with unintended, undesirable and possibly irreversible results.

The discussion also considered desirable properties that might provide an ethical framework for IoT governance. Many are familiar, e.g., interoperability, transparency and accountability, robustness, resilience, trustworthiness, user empowerment, privacy and security. They are not IoT-specific but may need to be reinterpreted in that context. For example, IoT devices can harvest a wide range of data almost invisibly, which creates general privacy and security risks and affects global development, e.g., via ‘data colonialism’ whereby devices originating in and provisioned by the global north can be used to capture data from users in the global south to produce innovations for the benefit of the north and to lock in users in the south in ways that inhibit their techno-societal development.

One desideratum came up in relation to technologies, service provision, use cases, data issues, labelling and certification schemes and legal frameworks, and scalability. This is a generic issue, but the panel highlighted aspects that stand out clearly in the IoT context. One is complexity; as systems scale quantitatively, their qualitative properties may change and, with them, the appropriate kind of governance. Rules may need to be more general, neutral, principles- or function-based. Alternatively, governance may need to move between the data, device, software, etc., planes as systems interconnect in larger and more diverse ways. Another is practicability; effective governance may require limits on scale or interoperability. A further aspect is Quality of Service (QoS). The IoT-specific emphasis on low latency can constrain system scale, security or flexibility. Beyond this, QoS considerations may lead to multi-tier systems, which may reduce economic welfare, hinder interoperability or distort innovation. Large-scale systems may also be more susceptible to intentional or accidental compromise; effective access control in large environments may lead to inappropriate inclusions or exclusions. Under laissez-faire evolution, IoT systems may reach stable sizes and configurations, but these may not be optimal. Finally, very large systems may be difficult to govern with national or self-regulatory arrangements. For example, identification and certification schemes that identify individual devices or types scale with their number but cannot identify even pairwise interactions (which scale as the square of the number of interacting entities). As scale increases, management overloads, costs increase, and utility and use eventually decline. This, however, depends on the governance architecture; a centralised system (analogous to the cloud) offers economies of scale (or diseconomies) and a natural platform for observing systemic behaviour and emergent threats (if not weak signals). However, it creates additional power asymmetries and vulnerabilities; no one governance architecture will likely fit all cases. The group also mentioned other aspects of scale, such as environmental impact.

Another aspect that ran through the various phases of the discussion was trust and trustworthiness; beyond the customary discussion of e-trust, the panel contrasted high-trust and Zero-trust approaches to the problems of identification and interoperability.

The issue of AI in the IoT comes up often but not in depth. The panel recognised that it complicated the IoT, especially when considering smart devices and the emergent intelligence of connected systems. Foreseeability and explicability were discussed, as was the possibility that data-driven systems might be particularly vulnerable to noisy or biased data.

The panel considered various legal approaches and the ‘regulatory game’ being played out among countries, industries and civil society groups. Governance competition could spur the development of innovative and effective standards if different approaches can be compared and a suitable global standard emerges through a kind of ‘Brussels Effect’. This seems more promising than a too-rapid imposition of global standards and regulations whose implications cannot be foreseen. However, this result is not guaranteed; we could see damaging fragmentation or a rich diversity of approaches matching different contexts. Research on policy initiatives in 40 countries around the world shows that governments often do not regard modern global open source standards and global good practices with security at the core as “important”. It was suggested that governments could lead the way by taking such standards actively on board in their procurement activities. Keeping the discussion going and actively engaging with other DCs guarantees a positive outcome and an increased understanding of good global practices in IoT governance. Three important takeaways:

·       

IoT data, especially AI-enhanced, should be understandable, accessible, interoperable, reusable, up-to-date and clear regarding provenance, quality and potential bias.

·       

At the level of devices, there need to be robust mechanisms for finding, labelling, authenticating and trusting devices (and classes of devices). These should survive retraining, replacement or updating but be removable when necessary for functional, security or privacy reasons. To ensure IoT functionality, trustworthiness and resilience, market information and incentives should be aligned. Labels provide a powerful tool; many countries have developed and adopted IoT trust marks, and the time has come to start working towards their international harmonisation.

·       

Functions are not all confined to single devices, designed in or provided by system integrators; they can also be discovered by end-users or emerge from complex system interactions in cyber-physical systems (CPS) and IoT-enabled services. Governance requires methods for recognising, protecting and controlling these functions and their impacts.

-=O=-

The purpose of this session was to explore the so called “fair share” debate, which is rising in popularity especially in the European Union and South Korea and moving rapidly to Latin America. The session also discussed the connection between fair share and zero rating schemes, especially popular in the countries of the Global South.

The session adopted an evidence-based approach, featuring multiple stakeholder perspectives, discussing to what extent fair share and zero rating can be beneficial for the internet economy and to whether they contribute positively or negatively to the sustainability of the internet ecosystem.

Furthermore, panelists will explore how these two core issues connect with broader debate on Internet openness vs Internet fragmentation. The session was structured according to the following agenda:

Brief intro by Luca Belli, Professor and Coordinator CTS-FGV (5 min)

First slot of presentations (6 or 7 minutes each)  

• Artur Coimbra, Member of the Board of ANATEL, Brazil  
• Camila Leite, Brazilian Consumers Association (IDEC)
• Jean Jaques Sahel, Asia-Pacific Information policy lead and Global telecom policy lead, Google  
• KS Park, Professor, University of Korea
   

Q&A break (10 to 12 minutes)

Second slot of presentation (6 or 7 minutes each)

• Maarit Palovirta Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs, ETNO
• Thomas Lohninger, Executive Director, Epicenter.works
• Konstantinos Komaitis, non-resident fellow, the Atlantic Council  

Participants stressed that, over the past decade, we have witnessed an increasing concentration in few internet platforms, with regard to social media or cloud computing, and such players generate a very relevant percentage of internet traffic. There is a wide range of ongoing regulatory initiatives aimed at frame large platforms, but over the past two years an additional type of regulatory proposal has been surfacing: imposing network fees to large platforms so that they pay their “fair share” of network related costs.

In countries such as Brazil, 95% Of users utilize internet access primarily for instant messaging and social Media (e.g. WhatsApp Facebook and Instagram are installed on 95, 80 and 70% of Brazilian smartphone respectively) and virtually all video recordings shared online in Brazil are hosted on YouTube.

Large platforms generate enormous amount of traffic, but at the same time, they contribute to network infrastructure costs e.g. by building undersea cables or content delivery networks

The most traffic intense platforms have been zero rated for almost a decade by most operators of the world, including those currently proposing “fair share contributions” and in most Global South countries zero rated models are still very common.

Some relevant points that need debate and clarification:

1) large platforms generate a lot of traffic because they have a lot of customers, not because they engage in any illegal or inappropriate practice; It is true that in most countries they have extremely low level of taxation, compared with their profits, but to cope with distortion it would be much wiser to review their taxation regime rather than simply shift part of their revenues to interne access providers.

2) Some regulators or operators have portrayed large platforms as free riders of internet infrastructure. This it is not correct, as platforms also invest enormously in infrastructure, e.g. by building submarine cables and large content delivery networks that are essential to maintain good quality of service good user experience;

3) Participants stressed that the topic of fair share with the topic of zero-rating are connected as large platforms have not become responsible for such enormous amount of traffic by chance, but the most traffic intense apps have been zero rated for almost a decade by most operators of the world, as we demonstrated with an empirical analysis, which was to annual output of this coalition already in already in 2018.

Actions suggested:

More comprehensive analyses of interconnection market is needed, including assessing the role of content delivery network

Increased multistakeholder confrontation to foster a better understanding of the issues at stake and whether proposed solutions such as fair share are de facto needed or not.

Evolutions in Public Access

It has been 20 years since the WSIS Action Lines were defined, setting out the importance of connectivity libraries and providing multifunctional public access centres. This fitted into a broader strategy that focused not only on finding rapid and effective ways of bringing the potential benefits of the internet to more people, while acknowledging the importance of a focus on people in order to turn this potential into reality.

The introduction to this session therefore set out the question of how public access as a concept has evolved over the past 20 years, as a basis for assessing its continued relevance and to understand how its place in the wider internet infrastructure has changed. It drew on written contributions shared by UNESCO and the Internet Society in particular, which noted, in particular that public access had been proven not to compete with public access, that libraries had proven to be adaptable and responsive, that public access had been a basis for service innovation and partnership, and that the fact of offering other services made libraries particularly valuable as public access venues.

Maria Garrido and Matias Centeno (University of Washington) set out the challenge faced, based on data collected as part of the Development and Access to Information report. Crucially, this underlined that good progress in general in bringing people online was not being reflected in other areas seen as vital for making access to information meaningful, in particular around equality and fundamental rights online. This illustrated the potential weaknesses of a tech-only approach.

Ugne Lipekaite (EIFL) offered a rich set of evidenced examples of how public access had proven its ability to help solve wider policy challenges, as well as its ongoing essential role in working towards universal connectivity. It had, indeed, been a driver of entrepreneurship and growth.  Crucially, many of the same trends could be observed in very different parts of the world, opening up possibilities for mutual learning in terms of how to develop public access most effectively.

Woro Titi Haryanti (National Library of Indonesia) described how public access was at the heart of a national strategy to develop library services as a means of improving lives. Centrally, the emphasis was on ensuring connectivity, providing adaptable content and building staff skills in order to develop programming that could combine public access with other support (including via partners). Thanks to this work, the library was increasingly seen as a partner for wider social development programming.

Don Means (Gigabit Libraries Network) underlined that libraries were often early adopters of new technology, providing a means for people not just to get to know the internet, but also new ways of working with it. They had also proven their role in connecting online services with users, for example to ensure that those needing to use eGov services were able to do so. They also offered a crucial backstop of parallel access technology, which boosted resilience.

The audience was then asked to share views via Mentimeter. They underlined their agreement with the idea that public access had a key role in the connectivity infrastructure and in future strategies, as well as broadly believing that public access complements other forms of connectivity.

Key themes that emerged in the discussion included:

• Public access had proved a structure for delivering on the promise of the localisation of the internet and digital inclusion efforts in particular. Rather than a purely tech-led, supply-side approach, public access centres allowed supply and demand to meet effectively and inclusively.
• The definition of meaningful access in general needed to include access to meaningful support services for those who needed them in order to make the most of the internet.
• It was important to develop wider internet resilience strategies, in order to keep things going in times of disaster. Public access was a key part of this.
• We needed to change the narrative about libraries in particular, and recognise (inside the library sector and outside) their role as agents for digital inclusion.

Safeguarding the Knowledge Commons

As an introduction to the session, the moderator underlined that while shared knowledge resources had initially been included in definitions provided of digital public goods, they were not such a strong focus of subsequent initiatives. In parallel, UNESCO’s Futures of Education report had placed the concept of a Knowledge Commons at the centre of its vision, seen as a body of knowledge which is not only accessible to all, but to which everyone can make contributions.

Finally, organisations working around knowledge had long promoted the importance of realising the potential of the internet to enable global access to knowledge, and address barriers created in particular by intellectual property laws.  

Tomoaki Watanabe (Creative Commons Japan) underlined the particular questions that new technologies and in particular AI offered, thanks to the generation of new content that could potentially be free of copyright (3D data, scans, AI-generated content). This had the potential to create dramatic new possibilities that could advance innovation, creativity and beyond.

While there clearly were questions to be raised around information governance and AI (not least to highlight AI-generated content), copyright appeared to be a highly inadequate tool for doing this.

Amalia Toledo (Wikimedia Foundation) cited the connection between the concept of the knowledge commons and the need for digital public infrastructures that favoured its protection and spread – something that was ever more important. Wikimedia represented just such an infrastructure, but remained the only such site among the most used on the internet, with a constant risk of underfunding.

Moreover, laws were increasingly made with a focus on commercial platforms, but which caused collateral damage for non-commercial ones such as Wikipedia. Efforts to expand intellectual property laws brought particular risks when they failed to take account of the positives of a true knowledge commons.

Subsequent discussion highlighted the following issues:

• The knowledge commons as a concept raised interesting questions about governance, and in particular how to ensure that it was inclusive and meaningful for everyone. There was a need for actors applying rules, such as Wikipedia and libraries in order to make it functional and sustainable.
• The need to look beyond copyright as a tool for regulating information flows, given how blunt it was, and in particular in the context of AI to take care in taking decisions. Too often, Generative AI was mistaken for all AI, and policy choices risked imposing major costs even on research and education uses.
• The value of a more holistic approach to upholding the knowledge commons in general, and the public domain in particular, in order to safeguard them and realise their potential to support wider efforts to ensure that the internet is a driver of progress and inclusion.

DC-CIV Evolving Regulation and its impact on Core Internet Values

Report on the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Session.

Main Report

The Core Internet Values, which comprise the technical architectural values by which the Internet is built and evolves, also comprise ‘social’ or, in other words, ‘universal’ values that emerge (or derive) from the way the Internet works.

The Internet is a global medium open to all regardless of geography or nationality. It is interoperable because it is a network of networks. It doesn't rely on a single application. It relies on open protocols such as TCP/IP and BGP. It is free of any centralized control, except for the needed coordination of unique identifiers. It is end to end, so traffic from one end of the network to the other end of the network goes. It is user centric and users have control over what they send and receive and it is robust and reliable.

The Dynamic Coalition on Core Internet Values held sessions at every previous IGF. During the 2023 IGF at Kyoto, the Coalition discussed the topic of "Avoiding Internet Fragmentation"  with "International Legal Perspectives" as the sub theme - all part of this year’s “Internet We Want”.

The following questions were examined during the session:

• In a changing world and a changing Internet, should the Internet stick to its Core Values?
• Should more legislation be needed? If yes, then how should it be drafted?
• What are the risks of "changing" the Core Internet Values for the future of the Internet?
• Could we end up with fragmentation? With the end of the Internet as we know it?
• Could we end up with a better, safer, cleaner post-Internet network of networks? Is this achievable or is this a pipe dream? Does this have an impact on democracy across the world?

Panelists included  Lee Rainie, Jane Coffin, Nii Quaynor, Iria Puyosa, Vint Cerf with interventions from the floor moderated by Sébastien Bachollet as Co-Chair at Kyoto together with Olivier Crépin-Leblond.

Deliberations

The deliberations during this meeting by panelists' presentation, participant interventions and Q&A are reported here without attribution to the specific panelist or participant.

Broadly and roughly  there have been four notable 'phases' that could be seen as 'revolutions' in Internet evolution:

• Home broadband. It sharply increased the "velocity of information" into people’s lives, bringing support for the way it democratized creativity, story-telling and community building. But it also spawned concern about misinformation, for example, in the medical community – and concern about the type of content to which children might be exposed. 
• Mobile connectivity. Mobile phones became ubiquitous and became all-purpose “extra body parts and brain lobes” that allowed people to reach out and be contacted at any time, anywhere, without the need for knowledge on how to operate a computer. But a backlash grew about the ways in which phones disrupted people’s time use and attention allocation.
• Social media.  Exposed users to new information and allowed them new ways to share their lives and create. The backlash has focused on the impact of social media on people’s emotional and mental health (especially for younger women and girls), the way social media can be used for information war purposes, enabled political polarization and tribalism, and menacing behavior like bullying and physical threats.
• Artificial intelligence. Often functioning unnoticed and uncommented upon, AI allowed people to live their lives more conveniently, efficiently and safely. It promised productivity increases. But the backlash starts with people’s inherent wariness of anything that might challenge their rights, their autonomy and their agency. There are widespread concerns about job loss, bias and discrimination, and whether AI can be used ethically. 

It is worth noting that these and other concerns have mostly arisen at the level of applications, rather than the essential architecture of the Internet. Unfortunately, the concerns at the cultural, legal and social level usually drive policy deliberations that could limit the way the Internet functions.

Users almost unanimously support the Core Values of the Internet: open, free, secure, interoperable, end-to-end, permissionless innovation. The revolutions and the backlash they engendered:

Beyond those general concerns about digital functions, there is evidence that different people have different experiences of those revolutions. Those group differences drive concerns and calls for further regulations. At the group level, it is clear that divisions by gender, age, race/ethnicity, class, nationality, religious affiliations, affect people’s online experiences. There are also divisions along the lines of people’s level of awareness and their knowledge about technology, and their traits cause them to experience and react to technology differently. 

To further complicate the picture, it is clear that individual technology users act in different ways under different circumstances. They are not necessarily predictable and their actions are often contingent, transactional, and context specific. This makes it very hard for those designing policies to take into account the variety of ways people will use technology or have concerns about its impact on them.

In global surveys and other research, there is a division that pits individuals against society. Individual actors are often confident they can navigate the problems of information and communication ecosystems, but others are incapable of doing so. That results in an almost universal sense that “I’m OK, but the rest of the world is not”. 

How should policy makers understand that and take account of such an array of social, cultural, and legal variance as they try to think about regulations for the Internet? It is a chaotic picture that suggests that policy proposals affecting the basic functioning of the Internet should be undertaken with great caution and much humility.

The Internet has been self organizing its network of networks with as little regulation as possible for them to work. There is a lot of support for this self-organization on the network level even though in some cases the shared objective of developing networks for people who do not yet have access appears to have been lost.

Regulate

Caution is advised when facing pressure to “regulate fast... because some serious harm is upon us". Quick and ill-designed regulations may undermine online freedoms or lead to Internet fragmentation.

Before regulating, it is necessary to assess the tradeoffs of different policies as well as the suitable technical implementations of those policies.

Unfortunately, pressure to legislate is driven by public opinion on harms - often emphasized by governments to impose legislation. Law enforcement requests for access to private communications, national security, and cyber-sovereignty agendas dominate public debate in most countries.

The Internet will not be the same if it is run in a non open way - and we can see that with countries where there is a zeal to pass laws to "protect the interests of the regimes".

The intent may have originally been laudable but they may also have side effects.

For instance, we observe this problem in legislation threatening end-to-end encryption under the urge to provide more safety for children online, legislation establishing widespread Internet surveillance pretexting rising concerns related to violent extremism, cyber-sovereignty agendas undermining net neutrality, and cybersecurity policies that pose a risk to interoperability. 

Technical solutions to online harm must ensure respect for human rights and the rule of law in line with the principles of necessity and proportionality. Any restriction of access to the Internet must be lawful, legitimate, necessary, proportional, and non-discriminatory.

Civil society and the Internet technical community must continue collaborating in facing overregulation trends threatening Internet Core Values.

Some participants in the meeting pointed to further study in countries like Finland and Estonia, that have advanced in terms of e-governments. It was also mentioned that the borderless nature of the Internet would expand with a more widespread use of “satellite Internet” and Internet Exchange Points in Space - thus bringing a new perspective on cross-border issues.

Key Takeaways 

1. The Internet has been self organizing with as little regulation as possible for it to work and if strong regulation is introduced it will hinder its technical functioning. Too much regulation will damage interoperation. As Internet networks evolve into Space with no borders there are question marks as to how its Core Values will be sustained.
2. One of the major policy tensions in digital life pits anonymity against accountability. Anonymity has been a key aspect of Internet activity, but we have painfully learned that full anonymity can be exploited in ways that allow bad actors to escape being held accountable for the harms they cause. Systems must be developed to bring accountability without compromising essential anonymity - and layering identity levels is one way to do it.
   Such systems must be designed with clear and minimal implications for deep architectural changes. A layered approach (possibly in the application layer) may be desirable. 

Call to Action

1. All stakeholders should actively engage in understanding, appreciating, and expanding knowledge of the Internet’s Core Values and the damages that may arise from actions that, deliberately or as unintended consequences, impinge negatively on them. The list is not long and it starts by layered architecture, packet switching, “best effort” i.e. design for resilience against failure, interoperability, openness, robustness (Postel), end-to-end (meaning that most functions that are not packet transmission are a responsibility of the “edge”, and implying network neutrality), decentralization, scalability, and, as a consequence, universal reach and “permissionless innovation”.
2. Laws, norms, and treaties must all be commensurate with these values and only impinge on any of them after a deep analysis by all stakeholders, and with safety valves to avoid irreversible unexpected consequences down the road. 
3. The Internet community including the private sector, civil society, technical community should actively engage with governments to make them understand why a multistakeholder IGF is important.
4. Use of encryption needs to continue - as without encryption many of the functions of the Internet's safety will be negatively impacted.

Workshop Report  - IGF 2023 WS #209: Viewing Disinformation from a Global Governance Perspective

Workshop process

Part 1:

The workshop opened with the moderator asking participants to stand and gather along an imagined line on the floor in the room based on the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: "Disinformation is undermining democratic political participation". The moderator then walked around the room and asked people to share their views and why they agreed/disagreed or stood somewhere in the middle. They were encouraged to shift their position if the discussion led to them rethinking their initial opinion.

Views in the room were diverse.  Almost all participants stood in the area signifying agreement with the statement.  Several offered examples from their countries and larger experiences that they believed demonstrated a strong causal link between disinformation and democratic erosion.  Two people, including one of the speakers, stood in an intermediate position and argued that a nuanced and contextualized approach is needed in examining cases so a binary choice between “is/not causing” was not adequate.  One person stood in the area signifying no impact of disinformation.

The moderator also asked the panelists to share their perspectives, and, in doing so, to respond to the question: “What is disinformation, is it a serious problem, and if so, why (or why not, if you believe it is not a serious problem)?”

Interactive discussion on this question between participants and the panelists continued for about 25 minutes. One of the panelists responded by asking what impact of disinformation we care about. He also suggested that disinformation is an umbrella term that is too broad as a basis for regulation. A person from the audience added that disinformation is not new and that each media has been abused for purposes of propaganda. One panelist pointed out that there is a lack of empirical evidence about the impact of disinformation. Most of what we know concerns the production and dissemination of disinformation while its effect on people’s worldviews and voting behaviour is mostly taken for granted. Recent research suggests that disinformation amplifies extremist beliefs rather than instigating them. As a closing question, the moderator asked participants if any of them lived in

contexts where disinformation does not have a major impact. Two people responded to say that in their countries disinformation does not appear to be causing much harm due to the presence of a serious and legitimized mass media and other factors. A panelist concluded that high quality journalism is the best way to combat disinformation.

Part 2

The second question put to the panel and the participants was: “Can disinformation be regulated internationally? How strong and clear a baseline do existing international instruments provide for the governance of disinformation? What are the implications for rights to access information and freedom of expression?”

There was no common view on whether disinformation can be regulated internationally. Panelists doubted whether there can be one solution for all the different forms of disinformation. There was agreement on the need for a common set of principles to guide how we think of and act upon disinformation. Human rights, particularly Article 19, which protects freedom of expression and information must be front and center of such principles.

One speaker briefly flagged three examples of efforts to devise international Internet governance responses to disinformation.  These included some problematic proposals for binding treaty commitments among governments that have been floated in the UN cybersecurity and cybercrime discussions; the European Union’s Code of Practice on Disinformation; and the UN Secretary General’s proposed Code of Conduct for Information Integrity on Digital Platforms.  It was pointed out that while the first example involved efforts to devise constraints on state behavior that would never be agreed in geopolitically divided UN negotiations, the second two involve codes of practice pertaining mostly to the providers and users of digital platforms.  It was noted that while platforms certainly have responsibilities, focusing largely on them rather than on the governments that produce or support the production of a lot of disinformation is quite a limitation.  There are also open questions around the reliance on codes and guidelines varyingly interpreted and implemented at the national level.

The next question was: “Concerning new governance initiatives, what sort of consultation and decision-making process is best suited to the governance of disinformation, and can the IGF assume a role in the process?”

This provoked a very interesting discussion. Participants involved in the Christchurch Call shared how they put multistakeholder consultation at the centre of their efforts to combat online extremism. The key lessons they shared that are relevant to responding to disinformation was (1) the multistakeholder approach has been critical to create trust among the actors involved, (2) the need to take time and form partnerships with diverse actors involved, (3) to keep the scope and focus really tight and (4) not to rush into regulatory intervention.

Part 4 - Closing

In closing, panelists offered their main take-aways, including things they did and did not want to see.  There were calls for better empirical research and evidence about the effects of disinformation; for more nuanced policy responses, including avoidance of governments using “moral panics” on disinformation to justify restrictions of human rights; for multistakeholder participation in crafting governance responses; and for hefty fines on Elon Musk’s X for violations of the EU’s rules.

Connecting open code with policymakers to development

This session built on the work of numerous different agencies with speakers from the Government of France Digital Affairs office, GitHub Inc., and LIRNEasia. This session focused on the theme of ‘Data Governance & Trust’ and how private sector data in general and technology platform metrics in particular can inform research and policy on technology maturity, innovation ecosystems, digital literacy and the monitoring of progress towards SDGs at the country level. GitHub is the world's largest platform for collaborative software development, with over 100 million users. GitHub is also used extensively for open data collaboration, hosting more than 800 million open data files, totaling 142 terabytes of data. Their work highlights the potential of open data on GitHub and also demonstrates how it can accelerate AI research. They have done work to analyze the existing landscape of open data on GitHub and the patterns of how users share datasets. GitHub is one of the largest hosts of open data in the world and has experienced an accelerated growth of open data assets over the past four years and ultimately contributing to the ongoing AI revolution to help address complex societal issues. LIRNEasia  is a pro-poor, pro-market think tank. Their mission is to catalyze policy change and solutions through research to improve the lives of people in the Asia and Pacific using knowledge, information and technology. Joining the panel was also Henri Verdier, the French Ambassador for Digital Affairs within the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Since 2018, he leads and coordinates the French Digital Diplomacy.  He previously was the inter-ministerial director for digital information and communications systems (DG DINUM) of France; and he was the director of Etalab, the French agency for public open data.

The session opened with an overview of what connecting open code with policymakers and the previous efforts made on this topic. There has been research done on this and the panel highlighted GitHub’s work on Partnering with EU policymakers to ensure the Cyber Resilience Act works for developers. While in France, there has been policies on the implementation of “open source software expertise center” set up in the Etalab which is a part of the interministerial digital department DINUM. It is a part of an effort of setting up open source offices in governments that can be observed throughout the public administrations in Europe. The expertise center will be supported by other initiatives of the government such as projects within the TECH.GOUV programme aimed at accelerating digital transformation of the public service. Other efforts such as the French government’s roadmap for developing open source to make it a vector of digital sovereignty and a guarantee of “democratic confidence” is part of the conversation. Leading to the topic on the challenges from unmet data needs that can be supported by private sector data for development purposes which GitHub announced the Innovation Graph. The GitHub Innovation Graph dataset contains data on (1) public activity (2) on GitHub (3) aggregated by economy (4) on a quarterly basis on GitHub public data.

Finally, the panel session concluded with discussion on data privacy & consent as well as efforts to promote and support open code initiatives globally. There was extensive interest by attendees on how to encourage participation and capacity building locally, and encourage more open source development within governments.

Lived experiences

Vidhya Y:

• Digital space is huge - when we say tech, that’s the only way as a blind person I can communicate with the world. It opens up opportunities. Growing up in a village, I didn’t have access to tech and missed out on a lot. But when I got on to online platforms, there was so much I could do. I could access the news, know what time it is, communicate via emails. Most people don’t understand braille. 
• Taking help from someone to type messages would mean I don’t have privacy over messages I want to say. Digital platforms have enabled many disabled people to have privacy and more autonomy over their choices.
• Websites aren’t designed in a way all can access. There are a lot of images that aren’t labeled. 
• For women with disabilities, the barriers are too many! It’s an irony. Digital platforms have given a lot of privacy but at the same time, you have to be so careful. When Covid happened and people were trying to get on online platforms, video calls were a must. I’d adjust my screen to point a bit downwards so people are not able to see much of me. But my sister observed and told me that the camera is actually at the top of the monitor and if you put it down, people can see you more clearly. 
• I feel I have to take second opinion about a lot of things in the digital space. New things are coming up all the time.
• When you’re using a screen reader, if you’re in a crowded place, you tend to misread content. Voice messages also have privacy issues: eg. in conferences I’m unable to use voice message.
• Typing maybe easier if you have some other disability, but it’s a huge issue for visually impaired people. 

Gunela Astbrink:

• A young woman in Africa, a wheelchair user, has speech impairments, limited use of one hand. She was determined to study IT and went to school, vocational college, and now she sometimes tutors other students. The way she uses smartphone/laptop is with her knuckles. That’s how she communicates with her digital tools.
• When a person with a disability is online, there’s often a sense that we are all digital beings, and there’s an assumption that we’re all on the same level and will be able to use all tools. However, this isn’t the case. Tools, websites, platforms need to be made accessible. Important for tools and learning platforms etc. to be developed along with PwDs. 
• Nothing about us without us - so that PwDs are able to be part of development and part of the digital community.

Privacy and security concerns

Vidhya Y:

• Digital tools enable you to do a lot of things yourself, which wasn’t possible earlier. There are color recognisers, apps to tell you which currency you’re using, apps where sighted people sign up as volunteers for solving captchas etc. Captchas are designed as not being designed for machines so privacy isn’t compromised, but this is a barrier for many persons with visual impairments, if audio captchas are not enabled. Even if you can use a computer. If I want to get help in Kannada, local language, I won’t get help at night. But if you need help in English, there will be someone to assist you.
• I conducted digital literacy trainings with school teachers. Guided them to installing these tools - we found really good uses: you can call them and the volunteer who picks up the phone, they’ll tell you to point your camera at the captcha on the computer. And guide you accordingly. People have used these technologies to even take support in matching their sarees with their bangles.
• But you’re forced to depend on others at certain times. You’re also wary about where you’re pointing camera - what the other person can see - what data is being collected. At the end of banking transactions, if you have to enter captcha, you have to enter all other details beforehand, which means the person supporting you can see what all you have typed. It’s a huge privacy compromise.
• Privacy concerns around how much of you should be visible to the other person: apart from your voice you aren’t sure what else is visible. A concern for women with disabilities.
• For FB, IG etc.: If I were to upload photos I’ve taken during this conference to FB, my cousin will give me the photos with captions. But I don’t know if I’m missing anything in the photos - as I’m relying on the captions. Sometimes people have told me, only half your face is visible, or this photo shouldn’t have been taken.

Padmini Ray Murray:

• Every device we use is compromised by some form of surveillance, and it’s very difficult for non-disabled people to wrap their heads around being online, use these devices and think about how to maintain their privacy.
• Most devices or apps - even if they’re made for disabled users, might not be taking these considerations into account - while they’re being designed.
• While there are accessibility guidelines, those are often just the baseline, and there’s much more nuanced requirements of disabled users that need to be taken into account.

Imagining inclusive tech

Manique Gunaratne:

• Through assistive devices and tech, we’re able to work in an equally capable manner with non-disabled people.
• The problem is often the cost factor in accessing technologies. Eg. for hearing impaired persons, they cannot hear if someone rings the bell. But they can access a picture of doorbell ringing through a smartphone.
• For visually impaired people, smart glasses can identify what’s around us and provide a description of the surroundings.
• For people with mobility difficulty, apps and technologies can help them find spaces they can access - restaurants, movie theater etc. Through hand gestures or facial expression if they can operate computers, they can also be employed and economically active.
• Tech operating through brain functions.
• Entertainment is not only for people without disabilities. Games, etc. need to be accessible. 
• Technologies to give emotional recognition, especially for autistic people or those with intellectual disability.
• Smart homes: PwDs can cook food of their choice, make domestic choices etc.

Judy Okite

• For a long time, we’ve been advocating for physical accessibility at the IGF - hope it’s better this year. 
• One of the things we did with KICTANet this year: Evaluated 46 govt websites, just to see how accessible information is for PwDs. Unfortunately, the highest they got was 80%. The feedback from the govt was interesting: people felt if you’re at 80% you’re at a good space. But actually it means 20% of your content is not accessible to PwDs.
• From research we did: more emphasis is placed on persons who are blind when it comes to digital content. But persons with cognitive disability are more disadvantaged. If the content is not understandable/perceivable, then you’ve lost this person - they will not be able to interact with your content.
• In Kenya, only about 2 years ago, cognitive disability was recognised as a disability. So we can see how far we are on inclusion. 
• How do we ensure that PwDs are part of our change - not just because they want to, but because they have to be a part of the process.
• Forum for Freedom in Jerusalem - in Tanzania - they know my needs on physical platforms - worked with them before. There was a ramp, but I still needed to be lifted up to reach the ramp. They had an accessible room but very small cubicles for washrooms - so I called the guy from the reception who came with a wheelchair and I requested him to push it into the washroom. He asked how can I do that? I asked him back, how do you expect me to get in the washroom then?
• If they had included a PwD to be a part of this process, the ramp or the washroom wouldn’t have been this bad. Being deliberate in having PwDs as part of the process, the change.

Nirmita Narasimhan

On policy and regulatory processes

• Important to have policies - ensures that people are aware there’s a need. Mandated. Recognised by law. The fact that there’s a legal and social requirement and responsibility to comply with standards is important in ensuring that accessibility is there. Countries that have policies are better placed in terms of how accessibility is implemented.
• A lot of countries have implemented the CRPDA - domain specific policies need to come as well. Depends on different strategies and situation.
• Eg. In India when we had to lobby for the copyright law, we had to do a lot of research on what are the legal models available everywhere. We ran campaigns, meetings, signature campaigns etc. On the other hand, when we look at electronic accessibility, we had meetings with electronics and IT departments, and that’s how we worked with them to develop a policy. While developing the procurement standard in India, we worked with agencies, industries, academic groups etc. on what the standards should be and how they will be implemented. The idea is to get different stakeholders involved and be responsible for this.

Concluding thoughts

Padmini Ray Murray

• The biggest challenge we struggle with is when we design/develop technologies, we try to do it at scale, which means more nuanced and individual use experiences become harder to provide. This requires a paradigmatic shift in how tech is built - creating customised products. More layered and nuanced. More individualised and personalised experiences rather than one-size-fits-all.

Session Summary Report

As part of the 2023 UN Internet Governance Forum, held in Kyoto, Japan from October 9th to October 12, the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) organized an open forum on Whose Internet? Towards a Feminist Digital Future for Africa, on October 12. The session invited experts from the digital and policy sector to a panel discussion on opportunities and challenges faced by women, working in Africa’s digital economy and their role in shaping Africa’s digital transformation.

The session was hosted and moderated by Dr Towela Nyirenda-Jere of AUDA-NEPAD’s Economic Integration Division, supported by Alice Munyua, the Senior Director for Africa Mradi at Mozilla Corporation on-site.

Alice Munyua from Mozilla Corporation and Liz Orembo from Research ICT Africa (RIA) opened the discussion by sharing powerful personal testimonies, illustrating their experiences as women and female leaders in Africa’s digital sphere. Their reports highlighted the (mis)perception of female expertise and importance of female role models in digital spaces. Building on their reports, Bonnita Nyamwire from Pollicy and Dr. Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo, Professor of Technology Law, shared and discussed research findings on threats of online gender-based violence, barriers faced by women in Africa’s digital economy and learnings on good practices and policy implications for ensuring safe digital spaces and socio-digital equality for women on the continent. Dr. Tobias Thiel from GIZ concluded the discussion by emphasizing Germany’s commitment towards feminist development policies and its continuous efforts to eliminate discriminatory structures for women, girls, and marginalized groups within the African Digitalization and Data sphere. All panelists highlighted the barriers women remain to face when working in digital sectors and emphasized the need to leverage women’s opportunities and participation to ensure an inclusive African Digital Transformation.

Participants off- and online actively engaged in the discussion and emphasized panelists’ statements by sharing their own experiences as leading female experts in the field. The interactive discussion underlined the importance of creating safe spaces and called for policymakers to ensure the inclusion of female voices in shaping policies that ensure a fair and just digital transformation in Africa. 

Panelists and the audience called for investing in developing more meaningfully and diverse research and advocacy agendas pertaining to women and feminist that extend beyond online gender-based violence. Panelists and audience also encouraged stakeholders to continue investing in capacity-building for African women. Women who are currently actively engaging in digital policymaking and Internet governance platforms should continue to actively open up spaces for new and young women leaders who can actively participate in these conversations and discussions in the future. Finally, the panel-discussion called on every person to consider their own unique commitment towards advocating for advancing socio-digital equality for women on the continent and beyond and take tangible steps towards realizing these goals.

In conclusion, the session identified several key takeaways from the panel discussion and subsequent round of contributions from the audience: While it might have become progressively easier for women to participate meaningfully in policymaking related to digitalization (including Internet governance) over the past twenty years, there are still many barriers to overcome and to address in order to make women’s voices heard and needs met in a comprehensive and not tokenistic manner. In addition, the discussion identified a need for diversifying and deepening conversations, perspectives, terminology, and research about feminist priorities in the Internet space in order to move beyond a common focus on challenges pertaining to online gender-based violence and related issues, to broader dimensions that shape socio-digital inequalities that continue to impact women’s experiences in Africa.

The speakers presented insights into the gig economy, the future of work, the impact of Artificial Intelligence on labor rights, and corporate accountability in the context of achieving Sustainable Development Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).

Gig Economy:

• Globally, platform-mediated gig workers face challenges including: low pay, long hours, lack of job security, and the absence of social protections. Case studies were presented from India and Paraguay. 
• Gig workers face exacerbated problems due to the lack of data protection laws and regulations which apply in the workplace, and a lack of meaningful anti-discrimination regulations safeguarding independent contractors and freelance workers.

Labor Rights and Corporate Accountability:

• While there are supportive measures for labor rights in some jurisdictions, implementation issues and challenges persist. The Covid-19 pandemic revealed the inadequacy of support for gig workers, highlighting the need for a better safety net.
• Data protection laws and regulations are crucial to preventing the potential misuse of data collected in the workplace. At the same time, there is a need for worker autonomy in the digital age, especially in surveillance-heavy environments.
• The concentration of power in the data brokerage industry, market dynamics, and acquisitions raise concerns about transparency, competition, and data privacy.
• There were calls for greater accountability in venture capital and early-stage interventions in private markets. There is a need for more transparency in companies' developmental stages and more consultation with impacted workers.

Venture Capital and Economic Growth:

• The venture capital ecosystem remains insular, favoring established networks. Only 7% of female founders globally receive backing from VC firms, pointing to a significant gender disparity in entrepreneurial support, and many problematic workplace surveillance technologies are being developed by men.
• Platform cooperativism is a potential solution. Governments should promote the creation of fairer work platforms by the workers themselves.

Global Initiatives:

• UN instruments like the Global Digital Compact, and the WSIS+20 Review, are positioned as tools that could aid in achieving the objectives of SDG 8.

Session Presentation

Schools on Internet Governance (SIGs) are an important initiative that help with creating and strengthening capacity in Internet Governance. Regional SIGs have been operating in all the regions of the world, while national SIGs exist in many, but not all, countries. The DC-SIG provides a common platform where SIGs can discuss matters of their interest, share information, share innovations and discuss adaptive mechanisms as they evolve. While the global pandemic did adversely impact many SIGs, most are now back in a fully functional manner.

This session took stock of the current status of SIGs, support community members who want to establish SIGs in countries that do not have them, and examined how SIGs can improve themselves by adapting new programmes and courses.

As part of each yearly meeting, the DC-SIG takes on a topic of specific interest for discussion and further development of plans. This year, the DC looked at how the DC SIG can contribute to developing curricula in support of SDGs as the focus.

1- Slideshow of existing SIGs was shown and a presentation of the recently formed Japan SIG. New schools were given a chance to describe their schools.

2- Schools on Internet Governance (SIGs) and their impact to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)SDG 5,7 and 16)

SDG 5 on gender equality. 

• Ms Sandra Hoferichter (EuroSSIG)

Schools on Internet Governance (SIGs) contribute to this SDG because they are inclusive and the thematics are various. SIGs are a good effort  to fill the gender gap in education and to help promote women in leadership positions. For many years the application numbers of the EuroSSIG  show that more women are interested in these  topics.

• Anriette Esterhuysen: AfriSIG addresses SDG 5 through developing women as leaders in IG and by including gender specific topics in the programme. Examples would be sessions on online gender-based violence and on the gender digital divide and how to respond.
   
• Ashrafur Rahman Piaus (bdSIG)
  Bangladesh SIG works with the rural people on the SDG 5 and 9 by having women in their school and helping them achieve including transgender and many other marginalized community also 

SDG 7 on access to energy 

• Ms Olga Cavalli (South SIG and Argentina SIG)

Access to energy has a great link with climate change. So in this SIG they have a few panels discussing the impact of consuming energy. The other aspect of energy, it’s important to notice that there is a gap between some areas which have access to energy and others don’t. In the SIG, they talked with different experts and panelists about this issue.

Other SDGs

• Mr Alexander Isavnin (Russia SIG) speaks on SDG about peace and justice. The SIGs can help build new standards. Help enforce the multistakeholder process like in ICANN. Also enforces inclusion and effectiveness.
• SDG 8.6 Pakistan SIG conducts a session on digital entrepreneurship inspiring the youth to capitalize on the economic opportunities on  the internet.  For the SDG 9.5 (c), Access to the internet, they organize sessions on Access and Inclusion where Government and private sector brief the audience about their plans for expansion of ICT services and state of infrastructure in that city/area where school is being held (pkSIG is held at a different city every year). 
• Some SIGs sometimes discuss topics about SDGs but not all the time. So it is a good point to dive in after this session to see how the SIGs are promoted and present in Japan  for example.
• Abdeldjalil Bachar Bong for Chad SIG point is that  every SIG in their own and specific way already contributes  to the SDG topics  

Roundtable  Discussion on the evolution of SIGs

• SIGs are becoming references on IG in many countries on different topics : cybersecurity, regulations, and need to bring clarity to the IG understandings
• The SIGs can have a root in a solid curriculum and then adapt the content to a special target group to produce flexible and adaptable content. 
• The SIGs  can share their resources on the SIGs wiki and website to help others and promote their own achievements. This may align with the concept of open education. 
• There are different types of SIGs who cater for different groups of people.

RITEC: Prioritizing Child Well-Being in Digital Design

Open Forum #52 - Session Summary

Speakers

• Adam Ingle, The LEGO Group
• Aditi Singh, Young Advocate, Dream Esports India and Esports Monk
• Professor Amanda Third, Western Sydney University
• Sabrina Vorbau, EUN
• Shuli Gilutz, PhD, UNICEF 

Purpose: The session introduced the concept of well-being for children in the digital age before going on to examine its importance when we consider the centrality of digital technologies in children’s lives and the rapidly growing concerns around online harms. 

Part 1: Setting the scene on child safety and well-being in a digital age

This part commenced with Aditi Singh, Young Advocate, describing her own experiences with online gaming and how, from a young age, games pushed her critical thinking and collaboration skills and enabled her to grow intellectually and socially. However, Aditi also described the harms, particularly those related to being a young woman online, associated with gaming. This includes how she, and other children, often don’t understand the risks of sharing personal information and prevalence of gender-based harassment.

Aditi then discussed how forums, like the UNICEF Game Changers Coalition, has helped her and others reimagine the role of women in online gaming and drive the design of games to make them more age-appropriate spaces. Aditi called for governments and other bodies to incentivize private firms to build experiences with children at their core and how platforms themselves need to realize that their choices can unlock the benefits of games while minimizing the risk.

Sabrina Vorbau from European Schoolnet followed Aditi, discussing the EU’s revised Better Internet for Kids (BIK) strategy and how the revision process ensured the new BIK onboarded diverse views, including those of children which were instrumental to shaping the strategy. Ultimately this ensured the strategy adopted a more modern approach to promoting protection, empowerment and participation of children online. Sarbina highlighted how young voices also helped inform the Safer Internet Forum conference, informing important matters like topics, speakers and themes. Sabrina reinforced the need to educate with young people, not simply to them or for them.

Shuli Gilutz began to discuss how design philosophies within industry are critical to embedding digital well-being into online play. Shuli unpacked the concept for ‘well-being’, noting that it’s about the subjective experiences of children and includes not just safety but also outcomes like empowerment and creativity. Shuli described how RITEC is working with designers to develop a guide for business, giving them the tools to create positive digital experiences that are safe, private but also advance well-being.

Part 2: the RITEC project

Adam Ingle provided an industry perspective of why designing for children’s experiences is critical, discussing how the LEGO Group is embedding the concept in its own online play products. Adam highlighted that the RITEC project is about developing an empirical basis for understanding what digital well-being looks like while also creating the tools to proliferate responsible design throughout industry. Adam discussed the LEGO Group’s internal processes that helped the company implement best practice, this includes incorporating the views of child rights experts in product development processes, adopting clear digital design principles built around well-being as well as ensuring business metrics and KPIs also measure success against well-being. Adam concluded by noting that it’s not just about equipping businesses with design tools, but that cultural change is also needed to lift industry standards.

Amanda Third introduced the RITEC project itself, based on engagement of almost 400 children (predominately from the global south) and driven by their own views on digital play. Crucially, the project revealed that digital play brings joy and satisfaction and that children experienced many benefits – particularly through fostering social connection and promoting creativity. They are however conscious of the dangers and expect governments and firms to protect them.

Amanda noted how the perspectives of children informed design of a well-being framework with eight components (competence, emotional regulation, empowerment, social connection, creativity, safety and security, diversity, equity and inclusion and self-actualization). The project has also developed metrics to determine whether digital play experiences are meeting the above eight components of well-being, so it’s a practical, measurable framework and not just an abstract one. Amanda concluded by reinforcing the benefits of online play for children but also the criticality of involving children in research.

Shuli noted the next steps for the RITEC project, which includes the guide for business that summarizes the research and makes the findings actionable. Project managers are building the guidance with feedback from designers to ensure the tools speak design language and can be adopted with relative ease.

Panelists were asked to each note a critical action for embedding responsible digital design. Sabrina highlighted the importance of youth participation and including young voices in policy design. Adam emphasized the need for policymakers to adopt a holistic approach to online regulation, that balanced both harms and benefits and incentivizes firms to design for well-being. Shuli stated that industry needs to pivot towards more holistic design philosophies, including empowerment rather than just engagement. Amanda cautioned that we should also recognize the limits of design and how it’s one part of a wider solution that includes cultural change and education.

QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION:

How do we reach a true representational group of young people? Amanda noted that it’s important to reach to partner organizations who have expertise in engaging vulnerable and diverse perspectives but also there isn’t a perfect research method for participation, and we all need to move forward consciously.

How do we design for the evolving capacities of children? It was noted that regulatory frameworks require firms to consider the different capacities of children and Adam discussed how clever technical design can ensure that, for example, social settings are more limited for younger ages but expand for older ages who can engage with strangers in a more mature way (and with less risk).

What is the role of parents and educators and how does the framework include them? Shuli noted that the main recommendations for parents are (1) play with your kids - once you play with your kids you understand the benefits and risks and that helps the discussion happen, (2) also talk to children what you, as a parent, are worried about. Sabrina noted the conversations between parents and children about online safety is critical.

The UN is developing guidance note on human rights due diligence guidance for its use of digital technology. This process has included consultations with internal and external partners, helping mainstream human rights due diligence and align approaches across the UN system. The guidance, undergoing multiple drafts, aims to be inclusive and address different impacts, especially on gender and intersectionality. It will be considered for implementation across the UN system following feedback and endorsement.

UNHCR is actively applying human rights due diligence in its digital technology use, focusing on complex settings. They have a range of policies and are working on a formal framework to align with international human rights and ethical standards. They have been involved in developing the guidance through case studies and strategic partnerships, and the guidance has evolved to become more implementable. UNHCR plans to incorporate the guidance into their digital strategies.

The World Bank commends the principles-based approach but emphasizes the need to consider different levels of development and maturity among member states, stressing the importance of adapting the guidance to each country's specific context while maintaining universal principles.

Access Now highlights that access to effective remedy is crucial, noting the impact of technologies on marginalized and vulnerable populations. There is a need to build in elements of independent assessment for oversight and accountability reasons. Transparency on the process and practice and continued engagement with civil society are key. Effective enforcement is also a key element to the success of this guidance, as well as transparency in private-public partnerships.

The session concluded with OHCHR emphasizing the need to take seriously the questions raised in the discussion on transparency, independent assessments, and enforcement for the HRDD Policy Working Group to take on board as they implement next stages on the policy guidance.

The Open Forum "CGI.br’s Collection on Internet Governance: 5 years later" was presented at IGF-2023 in order to continue the discussion that began in 2017 with the Open Forum titled "Memory and documentation in Internet Governance: The challenge of building collections". It had an audience of 12 people and saw five interactions with the audience.

The moderator Vinicius W.O. Santos provided context by explaining that the earlier open forum was co-organized with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and focused on documentation and preserving institutional information. Additionally, the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) team shared its initial efforts to create a specialized library in Internet governance.

The Speaker Jean Carlos Ferreira reported on the main activities and progress made since the last Open Forum about the CGI.br collection. He highlighted actions taken within the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) and The Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br) related to producing and sharing information on Internet governance in Brazil.

The presentation mentioned the wide range of materials produced by CGI.br and NIC.br, including books, guides, reports, CGI.br meeting minutes, resolutions, technical notes, and other promotional materials. 

Ferreira described the main pillars of CGI.br's collection:  1) Documentation of CGI.br activities; 2) Publications; and 3) Specialized Physical Library. The project also includes the development of a digital repository that will include all materials from the Brazilian IGF.

Regarding the initiative's challenges, the presentation raised the need to build a multilingual Internet Governance vocabulary for standardized document indexing. Another highlighted challenge referred to implementing and maintaining robust, though complex, open-source tools that facilitate integration with other collections and collaboration with other organizations.

The moderator emphasized the importance of the session, as information organization and dissemination in the Internet Governance area are seldom discussed but vital.

Comments from the audience pointed out the significance of CGI.br's collections as a fundamental role in strengthening the community and knowledge development on Internet Governance in Brazil. One participant drew attention to artificial intelligence and machine learning in document indexing and designing taxonomies. Another participant also mentioned the possibility of using "language models" for term extraction to build a taxonomy. A third participant inquired about lessons learned during the project and tips for institutions interested in implementing similar initiatives. 

The speaker and the audience discussed the need to build an Internet Governance taxonomy for better information organization. Developing this taxonomy is a challenge faced by the Internet Governance community due to the diversity of topics and specializations within this field. Therefore, it is essential to bring together the librarian community, the Internet technical community, and other stakeholders to discuss and create an adequate vocabulary and taxonomy for the Internet Governance area.

The session featured comments from Mr. Winston Roberts, representing the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), who mentioned that IFLA is involved in the Internet Governance process, participating as one of the multistakeholder communities. He pointed out the critical role that Internet Governance plays in delivering library services and disseminating information. He emphasized the importance of collaboration and cooperation between libraries and the Internet technical community. He discussed the update of IFLA's Internet Manifesto, encouraging participants to reach out to IFLA and its regional representations in Latin America and the Caribbean for more information.

In conclusion, the open forum fostered an important discussion on the need for collaboration and dialogue within the Internet Governance community to create a taxonomy that addresses Internet Governance topics. It underscored the importance of CGI.br's collections in strengthening knowledge development within the Internet Governance community.

IGF 2023 Town Hall #162 How prevent external interferences to EU Election 2024

Esteve Sanz in Kyoto and Albin Birger from Brussels, the representatives of the European Commission, stressed that disinformation is false or misleading content that is spread with an intention to deceive or secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. It is not the Commission’s aim to create a ministry of Truth, but to make the online environment more transparent and its actors accountable, to empower citizens, and to foster open democratic debate. One of the new challenges is generative Artificial Intelligence, which can amplify disinformation campaigns: a human centric approach needs to clearly separate human from artificial output. Therefore, AI production will not have copyright or have free sch rights, and should be clearly identifiable (identifying the effective way to do so, for instance through watermarking, remains a challenge).

They also presented the articulation of the different EU’s initiatives (regulatory and other) and institutional set up to fight against disinformation:

• under the DG CNECT, Regulations have been developed and are now in place at EU level (Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act); The 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation was strengthened in 2022, empowering industry to adhere to self-regulatory standards to combat disinformation. The Code of Practice aims to be transformed into a Code of Conduct under the DSA (to constitute a risk mitigation tool for Very Large Online Platforms, while remaining voluntary); and the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) has been set up to support the creation of a cross-border and multidisciplinary community of independent fact-checkers and academic researchers.
• under the European External Action Service different strands of work aim to foster international cooperation, to increase situational awareness and coordinate response to Foreign Information Manipulation & Interference (FIMI), including with partner countries, e.g. a Rapid Alert System between EU Member States’ administrations the creation of the EUvsDisinfo database or that  of a FIMI “toolbox”.
• the DG COMM, provides for internal Commission coordination and factual communication on EU policies, through monitoring  and analysis of related areas,, with an accent on debunking false narratives (e.g. climate change disinformation),  and through the promotion of media literacy initiatives.

Specific situations also call for targeted and coordinated actions, e.g. the imposition of EU sanctions on state owned outlets suspending RT and Sputnik’s broadcasting in the EU.

In view of the coming 2024 elections, specific initiatives have been put in place to further cooperation between the different actors:

- within the framework of the Code of Practice there is a Working Group on Elections, with a focus on the activities of the signatories and the facilitation of exchange of information between them

- under the guidance of the Commission, EDMO also has created a task-force covering all EU countries and all EU languages with the involvement of a broad set of stakeholders to carry out a risk assessment, monitor and report on mis/disinformation trends, and increase cooperation between the stakeholders.

Stanislav Matejka, representative of the ERGA, explained that the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services functions as an expert body, which is also tasked to provide the Commission with essential evaluation of the local implementation of the Code of Conduct, the local respect of the transparency obligations. It coordinates the work of the local authorities to monitor the effective implementation of the European policies in these matters (e.g. the access to data), and handles the repository of political adverts.

Paula Gori, Secretary General of EDMO stressed the necessity of a multidisciplinary approach of the phenomena of disinformation, which required expertise in numerous fields, from emotion analysis to computing, etc. In that sense, EDMO should be considered as a platform offering tools to the experts from the different fields, from fact-checkers to academic research, without forgetting the fundamental promotion of media literacy.

Giovanni Zagni, representative of a member of the network of fact-checkers and chair of the EDMO task force on elections, explained how their work has evolved from the sole analysis of content (which nevertheless remains an important part). For example, they set up a specific task force on Ukraine which led to 10 recommendations to policy makers; they produce a monthly brief on the tactics of disinformation.

Concerning the coming European elections, EDMO set up a specific task force which has three areas of activity:

- the past, i.e. reviewing old electoral campaigns to identify the different strategies

- the present, i.e. an evaluation of the main risks, country by country

- the future, i.e. how to better prepare the network for the coming campaign.

Caroline Greer, representative for TikTok, expressed the support of the company for fact-checking.

Concerning the coming elections, TikTok has a global election integrity program, with a template that is applied to local circumstances. This includes:

- specific election policies

- community guidelines

- a full prohibition of political advertising (at all times)

- a restriction of certain political activities such as funding campaigns

- local “election hubs” that inform citizens about - for example - where to vote, ecc.

Eril Lambert, from Eurovisioni in Rome, express appreciation for the role attributed by the European Union to civil society in the mechanisms to fight disinformation and raised several questions to the representatives of the EU and of the platforms. In response to different questions on line and in the room, it was precised that the voluntary Code of Conduct was only one tool to demonstrate compliance with European rules. The objective is to bring disinformation into light, through transparency – the Commission often launches investigations, and the DSA has now added an auditing layer to the instruments at its disposal. Take downs by platforms with their motivation and eventual appeal; have to be sent to a Commission database.

In case of non-respect of the rules, the Commission has several means available such as warning letters and imposing (large) fines up to 6% of the global turnover.

It was also indicated that what is important to improve collaboration between platforms, authorities, and institutions such as EDMO, e.g. to facilitate access to platform data on behalf of researchers.

Transparency of recommending algorithms systems is also an issue. TikTok for example allows the user to reset its recommendations to avoid to remain locked in a filter bubble, or to refuse a personalized feed.

The conclusion was that an efficient fight against disinformation requires a framework for a large cooperative between the different stake-holders, a continuous monitoring of the phenomena, and rules for transparency in the different processes.

A “big stick” against those who don’t want to play along the rules is also very useful.