Digital Policies and Trends: Build-up to the Internet Governance Forum

20 Sep 2017

Geneva, Switzerland

The Geneva Internet Platform (GIP) and Internet Society Switzerland invite civil society to an open discussion about the opportunities to strengthen civil society’s contributions and participation in the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which will take place in Geneva on 18-21 December.

The event will be held on 20 September 2017, between 12.00 and 14.00 CEST, at the WMO building, Avenue De la Paix 7bis, 1202 (Salle De Mello), in Geneva, Switzerland.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) in general, and the Internet in particular, are having profound and wide-reaching effects on most aspects of our lives, including media and entertainment, health services, transportation, production and distribution of many goods and services, employment, etc. Artificial Intelligence (AI) based on big data has the potential to transform many industries, such as for example the automobile industry, with driverless cars.

The IGF is an annual forum for stakeholders working in digital policy, who meet to discuss implications, find areas of convergence, and to connect and co-operate on various issues. Bringing together more than 2 000 experts from different sectors, the IGF provides an exciting opportunity to engage in cross-cutting issues affecting your daily work.

The event is aimed at Swiss NGOs and Geneva-based civil society perspectives in Internet-related processes. Civil society has had a strong role to play from the early days of the Internet, further formalised in the World Summit on Information Society in 2003 and 2005. Currently, civil society organisations and individuals are right in the middle of initiating and negotiating policy, and making decisions jointly or in collaboration with the various stakeholder groups involved.

This open discussion will review and examine critically issues of trust and choice on the Internet, among other topics relevant to civil society.  It will zoom in on the links between civil society’s work and the digital aspects covered at the IGF. The topics under discussion will include data transfers and sensitive information, as well as surveillance, privacy and e-commerce.

Programme

12.00 | Welcome & light lunch

12.30–14.00 | Roundtable & Open discussion

  • Introduction to the Internet and key policy issues, including Tunis Agenda – Dr Jovan Kurbalija, DiploFoundation
  • Internet Governance Forum 2017 – Mr Chengetai Masango, IGF Secretariat
  • Current governance structures and the multistakeholder model in Internet policy – Dr Roxana Radu, ISOC-CH
  • Strengths and weaknesses of civil society participation in Internet policy – Dr Richard Hill, Association for Proper Internet Governance
  • Update on e-commerce discussions – Dr Rashid Kaukab, CUTS International

register button dw  Fill in the registration form to reserve your place. Participation is on a first-come-first-served basis.

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