Global Commission on Internet Governance

Last updated

The Global Commission on Internet Governance, chaired by Carl Bildt and launched by two think tanks, the Canadian Centre for International Governance Innovation and UK-based Chatham House, was formed in January 2014 to make recommendations about the future of global internet governance. [1] [2] It is also considered one of the international initiatives that facilitate effective cooperation between relevant international actors, particularly according to the principles of internet governance. [3]

Contents

Activities

The Commission's research advisory network, led by Laura DeNardis, produces original research on Internet Governance topics such as the dark web, cybersecurity, and internet freedom. [4] For instance, a research published in January 2017 entitled Who Runs the Internet? The Global Multi-stakeholder Model of Internet Governance described a "multistakeholder" framework wherein the management of the global Internet architecture is in the hands of a cluster of international stakeholders such as industry, academic and non-governmental actors. [5] [6] There is a criticism from some countries against the current attempts at a multistakeholder process that cite how these appear to be led by Western nations. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ICANN</span> American nonprofit organization that coordinates several Internet address databases

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is an American multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces and numerical spaces of the Internet, ensuring the network's stable and secure operation. ICANN performs the actual technical maintenance work of the Central Internet Address pools and DNS root zone registries pursuant to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) function contract. The contract regarding the IANA stewardship functions between ICANN and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the United States Department of Commerce ended on October 1, 2016, formally transitioning the functions to the global multistakeholder community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet Assigned Numbers Authority</span> Standards organization overseeing IP addresses

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a standards organization that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System (DNS), media types, and other Internet Protocol–related symbols and Internet numbers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force</span> Multi-stakeholder initiative associated with the United Nations

The United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force was a multi-stakeholder initiative associated with the United Nations which is "intended to lend a truly global dimension to the multitude of efforts to bridge the global digital divide, foster digital opportunity and thus firmly put ICT at the service of development for all".

Technology governance means the governance, i.e., the steering between the different sectors—state, business, and NGOs—of the development of technology. It is the idea of governance within technology and its use, as well as the practices behind them. The concept is based on the notion of innovation and of techno-economic paradigm shifts according to the theories by scholars such as Joseph A. Schumpeter, Christopher Freeman, and Carlota Perez.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology</span>

The Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology is a Directorate-General of the European Commission and is responsible for EU investment in research, innovation and development of critical digital technologies.

The Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) was a United Nations multistakeholder Working group initiated after the 2003 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) first phase Summit in Geneva failed to agree on the future of Internet governance. The first phase of World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) agreed to continue the dialogue on Internet Governance in the Declaration of Principles and Action Plan adopted on 12 December 2003, to prepare for a decision at the second phase of the WSIS in Tunis during November 2005. In this regard, the first phase of the Summit requested the United Nations Secretary-General to establish a Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet governance</span> System of laws, norms, rules, policies and practices

Internet governance consists of a system of laws, rules, policies and practices that dictate how its board members manage and oversee the affairs of any internet related-regulatory body. This article describes how the Internet was and is currently governed, some inherent controversies, and ongoing debates regarding how and why the Internet should or should not be governed in future.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet Governance Forum</span>

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a multistakeholder governance group for policy dialogue on issues of Internet governance. It brings together all stakeholders in the Internet governance debate, whether they represent governments, the private sector or civil society, including the technical and academic community, on an equal basis and through an open and inclusive process. The establishment of the IGF was formally announced by the United Nations Secretary-General in July 2006. It was first convened in October–November 2006 and has held an annual meeting since then.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura DeNardis</span> American author and scholar

Laura DeNardis is an American author and a scholar of Internet governance and technical infrastructure. She is the Professor and Endowed Chair in Technology, Ethics, and Society at Georgetown University. DeNardis is an affiliated Fellow of the Yale Information Society Project at Yale Law School and served as its executive director from 2008 to 2011. She previously served as a Senior Fellow of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and the Director of Research for the Global Commission on Internet Governance. With a background in information technology engineering and a doctorate in Science and Technology Studies (STS), her research studies the social and political implications of Internet technical architecture and governance. Domestically, she served as an appointed member of the U.S. Department of State Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy (ACICIP) during the Obama Administration. She has more than two decades of experience as an expert consultant in Internet Governance to Fortune 500 companies, foundations, and government agencies.

Multistakeholder governance is a practice of governance that employs bringing multiple stakeholders together to participate in dialogue, decision making, and implementation of responses to jointly perceived problems. The principle behind such a structure is that if enough input is provided by multiple types of actors involved in a question, the eventual consensual decision gains more legitimacy, and can be more effectively implemented than a traditional state-based response. While the evolution of multistakeholder governance is occurring principally at the international level, public-private partnerships (PPPs) are domestic analogues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">An act to affirm the policy of the United States regarding Internet governance</span>

The bill H.R. 1580 (long title: "To affirm the policy of the United States regarding Internet governance") was a bill introduced into the United States House of Representatives in the 113th United States Congress. The bill primarily listed a series of Congressional "findings" regarding the internet, its use, and the way it has been governed. Finally, the bill affirms that "it is the policy of the United States to preserve and advance the successful multistakeholder model that governs the Internet."

The NETmundial Initiative (NMI) was a controversial effort to create a new platform for internet governance issues. The NMI was named after an internet governance conference held by the Brazilian government and DNS overseer ICANN in May 2014; it was intended to help turn the conference's final principles into action.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anriette Esterhuysen</span> South African human rights defender and computer networking pioneer

Anriette Esterhuysen is a human rights defender and computer networking pioneer from South Africa. She has pioneered the use of Internet and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to promote social justice in South Africa and throughout the world, focusing on affordable Internet access. She was the executive director of the Association for Progressive Communications from 2000 until April 2017, when she became APC's Director of Policy and Strategy. In November 2019 United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Esterhuysen to chair the Internet Governance Forum’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group.

The Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network, also known as "I&J Policy Network", "Internet & Jurisdiction, or simply "I&J", is the multistakeholder organization fostering legal interoperability in cyberspace. Its Secretariat facilitates a global policy process between key stakeholders to enable transnational cooperation and policy coherence. Participants in the Policy Network work together to preserve the cross-border nature of the Internet, protect human rights, fight abuses, and enable the global digital economy. Since 2012, the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network has engaged more than 300 key entities from different stakeholder groups around the world, including governments, the world's largest Internet companies, the technical community, civil society groups, leading universities and international organizations.

Multistakeholder participation is a specific governance approach whereby relevant stakeholders participate in the collective shaping of evolutions and uses of the Internet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rohinton P. Medhora</span> Canadian economist

Rohinton P. Medhora is a Canadian economist. His fields of expertise are monetary and trade policy, international economic relations, and development economics. He is a Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) distinguished fellow and former president of CIGI.

The regulation of artificial intelligence is the development of public sector policies and laws for promoting and regulating artificial intelligence (AI); it is therefore related to the broader regulation of algorithms. The regulatory and policy landscape for AI is an emerging issue in jurisdictions globally, including in the European Union and in supra-national bodies like the IEEE, OECD and others. Since 2016, a wave of AI ethics guidelines have been published in order to maintain social control over the technology. Regulation is considered necessary to both encourage AI and manage associated risks. In addition to regulation, AI-deploying organizations need to play a central role in creating and deploying trustworthy AI in line with the principles of trustworthy AI, and take accountability to mitigate the risks. Regulation of AI through mechanisms such as review boards can also be seen as social means to approach the AI control problem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace</span> Commission developing diplomatic norms limiting cyber-offense

The Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace was a multistakeholder Internet governance organization, dedicated to the creation of diplomatic norms of governmental non-aggression in cyberspace. It operated for three years, from 2017 through 2019, and produced the diplomatic norm for which it was chartered and seven others.

The African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF) is a multistakeholder forum that facilitates dialogue on Internet governance issues. It is one of the 19 regional IGF initiatives and aims to address and discuss the issues of all 54 nations in Africa.

South Eastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance (SEEDIG) is an officially recognized subregional multistakeholder Internet Governance Forum on Internet and digital policy issues. This subregional IGF National and Regional Initiative (NRI) is of particular relevance for South East Europe and its neighbours. SEEDIG has been founded in 2014 and is structured as an open and informal space for different stakeholders to discuss Internet-related issues. Annual forums are held in different parts of the region. The first annual forum was held in June 2015 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

References

  1. "CIGI and Chatham House launch Global Commission on Internet Governance, chaired by Sweden's Carl Bildt" (Press release). Global Commission on Internet Governance. 2014-01-22. Retrieved 2017-05-19.
  2. Sean Silcoff (2015-04-15). "Elite global group fights digital spying, cybertheft". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2017-05-19.
  3. Leuthard, Doris (December 6, 2018). "It's time to strengthen global digital cooperation". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
  4. Boyd, Aaron (2015-02-17). "Paper: Mapping dark web an issue of national security". FederalTimes. Retrieved 2017-05-19.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. "Cyber Sovereignty and the PRC's Vision for Global Internet Governance". Jamestown. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
  6. Governance, Global Commission on Internet (2017-01-17). "Who Runs the Internet? The Global Multi-stakeholder Model of Internet Governance". Centre for International Governance Innovation.
  7. Solomon, Howard. "Ottawa conference creates roadmap towards Internet governance amid admissions there's a long way to go". IT World Canada. Retrieved 2018-12-07.