FINISHED TRANSCRIPT
HIGH LEVEL LEADERS MEETING
ON MULTI-STAKEHOLDER COLLABORATION
FOR ACHIEVING A SAFE, SECURE AND TOLERANT CYBERSPACE:
ENABLING GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH CYBER ETHICS
BALI
21 OCTOBER 2013
SESSIONS 1 and 2
The following is the output of the real-time captioning taken during the Eigth Meeting of the IGF, in Bali, Indonesia. Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid to understanding the proceedings at the session, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
>> TESSA BOMBONG: Ladies and gentlemen, please be informed that the meeting is about to start and we would kindly like to invite you to take your seats. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, we would like to invite you to take your seats, as the meeting is about to commence. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, we will begin our meeting shortly. So we would like to invite all of you to take your seats. Thank you.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to Bali, Indonesia, for the High Level Leaders Meeting on globally Multistakeholder Collaboration for achieving a safe, secure, and tolerant cyberspace, en Enabling Growth and Sustainable Development through cyber ethics on 21st October, 2013.
This High Level Leaders Meeting on global Multistakeholder Collaboration for achieving a safe, secure, and tolerant cyberspace Enabling Growth and Sustainable Development through cyber ethics will be Chaired by Mr. Sasongko, Director‑General of ICT Application from the Minister of Communication and Information Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, and Professor Kalamullah Ramli, Senior Advisor for Technology to the Minister of CIT of Indonesia. Chairs, the floor is yours.
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, cyberspace presented opportunities for development in many aspects of life. It has generated contributions and produced growth and economic development. However, rapid expansion of technology and cyberspace may create challenges with individuals, societies and nations and may lead to tensions and eventually conflicts. It is in this context promotion and implementation of privacy, respect for cultural and traditional values, more and more relevant address, particularly when it touches National sovereignty and protection of public interest. Recognizing wider spectrum of cyberspace ‑‑ individuals, peoples, communities and nations ‑‑ essential value of respect and tolerance in achieving a safe, secure and tolerant cyberspace.
For that purpose today we conduct High Level Leaders Meeting on the theme global Multistakeholder Collaborations for achieving a safe, secure and tolerant cyberspace, Enabling Growth and Sustainable Development through cyber ethics. Through an in‑depth discussion, involving all interested stakeholders to initiate global actions. We altogether need to act and establish common values to build a safe, secure and tolerant cyberspace, based on a common cyber ethics that respect every stakeholders' interest.
Distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen, our agenda today will consist of three sessions. The first one is the opening speech from the Minister of CIT Indonesia. It will be followed by two remarks from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. After the remarks we will have the main theme presentation from Indonesia National ICT Council.
The second session is a panel session. In these panel sessions, 13 panelists will be invited to give comments, to give their contributions concerning the theme of the High Level Leaders Meeting from the floor. The panelists are from the Government of U.K., U.S., Japan, Brazil, China, Azerbaijan. And after the comments, we also will invite companies from Telkom Indonesia and Google to give comments and their contributions. Then we'll continue panel sessions with comments from ISOC and APNIC as representative from Internet communities.
Finally we would conclude our second sessions with comments from Citizen Lab, Internet Democracy, and DiploFoundation as representatives of Civil Society organisations. Due to limited time panelists hopefully can deliver their comments and contributions in around 5 minutes to give their contributions.
The third session is a Plenary discussion which will be chaired by my colleague Professor Kalamullah Ramli. All participants will be invited to contribute or in case you would like to ask something, you can ask your questions.
Now I would like to start the first session by inviting His Excellency Mr. Tifatul Sembiring, the Minister of Communication, Information Technology, Republic of Indonesia to the podium to give the opening speech. Your Excellency, please.
[ Applause ]
>> TIFATUL SEMBIRING: Peace and prosperity to us all. His Excellency Minister for Culture, Communication and Creative Industries of United Kingdom, His Excellency, Minister of CIT Azerbaijan, His Excellency Mr. Paulo Bernard Silva, Minister of ICT Brazil, His Excellency Mr. Masahiro Yoshizaki, Vice‑Minister for Policy Coordination, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, Japan, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased and honored to welcome you to Indonesia, and especially to the beautiful island of Bali. Indonesia is an archipelagic state which comprises more than 17,000 islands, 34 Provinces, with hundreds of native ethnics and languages. Bali is our most famous island, but I can assure you that you can find many islands in Indonesia as beautiful as Bali.
We all presence here to attend the High Level Leaders Meeting on Global Multistakeholder Collaboration for Achieving a Safe, Secure, and Tolerant Cyberspace: Enabling Growth and Sustainable Development Through Cyberspace.
Today, I see many actors who has significant role in establishing and developing cyberspace or Internet: Governments and regulators, Internet services providers, private sectors, non‑governmental organisations, academician, and experts in Information and Communication technology as the panelists and participants of this meeting. Therefore, I am certain that from multistakeholder perspectives, we would produce comprehensive and beneficial outcomes for the interests of all stakeholders.
Communication is one fundamental need of humankind. It is our nature to communicate with others with all available means of communication. Technologies also give birth to cyberspace. Cyberspace is not only a virtual borderless space that created from the fusion of information and communication technologies, but also has become our new common environment, our global virtual market, where global communities live and communicate, and where people can transact products, of which more and more are transubstantiated into digital form. Now we live, we communicate, we transact both in real‑space and cyberspace.
We understand that there is a huge difference between real space and cyberspace. We believe that in cyberspace, just like in real world, people need norms of interactions. Further, many activities in cyberspace can have legal consequences in real space. Therefore, we need technology and norms to maintain sustainability, stability, security, and robustness of the cyberspace.
Ladies and gentlemen, to manage virtual and borderless cyberspace, we need norms that beyond National laws and legislations. As an essential foundation to establish acceptable norms for all in cyberspace, we should reaffirm Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, that this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media, and regardless of frontiers.
Communication is a fundamental social process, a basic human need, and the Foundation of all social organisation. We also should reaffirm our responsibility in cyberspace as defined on the Article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that everyone has duties to the community in which allowed the free and full development of their personality, and that, in the exercise of their rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined solely by law for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others, and meet the just requirements of morality, public order, and the general welfare in Democratic society.
In this way, we shall promote an Information Society where human dignity is respected. These two‑sided coin principles ‑‑ that on one side we should protect and foster freedom of speech and expression, and on the other side, that we have responsibility to our communities, securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and meets the just requirements of morality, public order, and the general welfare in a Democratic society ‑‑ are embedded in Indonesian Constitution. We believe that exercising our fundamental rights must be in line with our responsibility in protecting other rights.
Our country believe that the extensive use of ICT and the distribution of its contents as the manifestation means of freedom of speech and freedom of expression should respect as well fundamental freedoms of others. In this sense, we as global community, should accept that each country might have its own values and needs which are specific to its local societies and local wisdoms. The development of mutual understanding that we are fostering among global communities should consider the diversity of values and wisdoms between countries.
Ladies and gentlemen, we also believe that a safe, secure, and tolerant cyberspace would enhance civilization for current generation and future generations as the future work force and leading creators and earliest adopters of ICTs. We are fully aware to potential threats from misuse of ICTs, which can adversely affect the integrity of infrastructure and applications, cause detrimental effect on people's welfare, security and stability both in National and international levels.
Therefore, to build and develop a safe cyberspace for all requires National, regional and international and multistakeholder collaboration and cooperation, as well as holistic approaches. Governments, Civil Society, private sector, and international organisations have an important role, contribution, and responsibility in the development of a safe environment of cyberspace, to facilitate the implementation of ICTs in various aspects of life around the globe, and to protect public interest from any threat as results of misuse of ICTs.
Ladies and gentlemen, the role of ethics in cyberspace is getting more crucial now than ever. Regarding this issue, I would like to reiterate the importance of cyber ethics as enshrined in United Nations digital millennium that cyber ethics can be developed from our common fundamental values that are essential to International Relations in the 21st century.
Ladies and gentlemen, therefore, Indonesia propose that we as one global community acknowledge cyber ethics as norms of transactions and norms of living in cyberspace that based on mutual respect of interests. These norms provide the basis for all stakeholders to conduct transactions and interactions in cyberspace.
Cyber ethics complements National laws and regulations. Cyber ethics would become common guidelines for global communities to respond to ethical issues. For that, it is important to have strong commitment from all stakeholders to establish cyber ethics that would enhance our efforts in pursuing our common goal: A safer cyberspace for our people, for our family, and for our children. Usually I begin my speech with a traditional poem, but it is difficult to create in English version, but I try this.
Thank you and see you later.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you, His Excellency Mr. Tifatul Sembiring, for the opening speech and of course for the Indonesian English poem. From the speech it is noted the emergence of cyber ethics to supported Sustainable Development of a safe and secure cyberspace. It is also noted that it is important to have a strong commitment from all stakeholders to pursue our common goal, a safer cyberspace. Ladies and gentlemen now I'd like to invite Mr. Thomas Gass, Assistant Under‑Secretary General for the coordination of political and inter‑organisational affairs in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs UNDESA, to the podium to give his remarks. Mr. Gass, please.
>> THOMAS GASS: Distinguished co‑chairs, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to welcome by thanking our hosts, the Government of Indonesia, and particularly the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, for convening this High Level Leaders Meeting. The Under‑Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs of United Nations is honored to have been asked to attend this important event. Mr. Wu Hongbo regrets he can't be with us. He's been asked to represent the Secretary‑General at another Congress. However, I am honored to attend on his behalf.
I look forward to fruitful discussions today and throughout the 8th IGF and I will brief him on our deliberations. Now if you'll allow me to present some brief remarks by Mr. Wu, and I quote ‑‑
Our theme today is Global Multistakeholder Collaboration for Achieving a Safe, Secure, and Tolerant Cyberspace: Enabling Growth and Sustainable Development Through Cyber Ethics. Last week, I participated in the 2013 Seoul Conference on Cyberspace, where we shared a vision for the future. This Vision for Cyberspace included harnessing Information and Communication Technologies and the Internet for accelerating the progress on Millennium Development Goals in the post‑2015 development agenda.
Cyberspace has a critical role to play in improving the lives of all, particularly the most vulnerable, beyond the target dates of the world's historic millennium Declaration. This vision is directly linked to not the Seoul conference theme which was Global Prosperity through an open and secure cyberspace: Opportunities, threats, and cooperation, it is also linked to the theme of the 8th IGF: Building Bridges: Enabling Multistakeholder Cooperation for Growth and Sustainable Development.
And one could say this is an ends‑based approach to cyber ethics, which is as important as the means based approach to cyber ethics, one that concerns Internet Governance. The Member States of the United Nations gathered in Rio de Janeiro last year for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20. Together with global partners they had economic, environmental, and social as the three main pillars of Sustainable Development. To realize the potential for Growth and Sustainable Development, the international community needs to consider ethical principles to achieve safety, security, and tolerance in cyberspace.
About safety, we agreed that citizens of all countries should feel as safe in the online world as they do in the offline. Public policies for cyberspace should be grounded in creating an online world that is free of criminal activity and malicious attacks. There needs to be a fundamental safeguard to protect the safety of all who inhabit the virtual space.
On security, I have no doubt that the multistakeholder community will deliberate where to find the right balance between individual freedom of expression and collective security. It will find common ground on some basic Internet Governance principles that will assure an open but secure cyberspace.
The IGF again this year is the ideal platform to allow all stakeholders to express their concerns, and to offer solutions on an equal footing. Paragraph 39 of the Tunis Agenda points out the necessity to further promote, develop and implement, in cooperation with all stakeholders, a global culture of cybersecurity, as outlined in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 57/239 and other relevant regional frameworks. This culture requires National action and increased international cooperation to strengthen security while enhancing the protection of personal information, privacy, and data.
Continued development of the culture of cybersecurity should enhance access and trade, and must take into account the level of social and Economic Development of each country, and respect the development oriented aspects of the Information Society.
This paragraph signals the tolerance that needs to support the culture of cybersecurity. Today, and throughout the week, the multistakeholder dialogue will help shape such a culture through promoting tolerance and openness. Closely linked to tolerance is inclusiveness. We can empower the most vulnerable populations including those living in remote areas, such as small island development states, to use ICT to leapfrog previously unavoidable development hurdles.
The third International Conference on Small Island Developing States will be held next year. It will focus the world's attention on a group of countries with unique and particular vulnerabilities. We can bring unique insights on how to assist these countries to prosper through cyberspace.
In speaking about safety, security, and tolerance in cyberspace, for Growth and Sustainable Development, I have addressed three pillars of the work of the United Nations. As you know, they are peace and security, development, and Human Rights. To achieve Global Prosperity in cyberspace, it seems that we must craft cyber ethics towards these same aims. Peace and security, development, and Human Rights. Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Mr. Gass, thank you for your valuable remarks, and thank you also for giving ‑‑ reminding us the clear relations from the Tunis agenda up to today's High Level Leaders Meeting and tomorrow's IGF activities.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to invite to the podium our next speaker, Mr. Fadi Chehade from ICANN, to give his remarks. Mr. Fadi Chehade, please.
[ Applause ]
>> FADI CHEHADE: Your Excellencies, and all the excellent ladies and gentlemen here, good morning. It is such a pleasure to be in Bali. I want to personally thank Minister Tifatul and his team that has done a remarkable job for us here. Thank you very much.
[ Applause ]
We come together at a very special time. I look at the term "cyberspace," and I think the term should be put to bed. There's no more cyberspace. There's one space. It's the space we live in. In Dubai, I was watching plants using the Internet to call for water. In Los Angeles, parking spaces tell your GPS when they're empty. The world that we live in is now the cyber world. There's no difference. And therefore, the cyber world that has now been merged into our real world needs to become central to our thinking, to our planning together. It is no longer a side show. It is no longer a virtual world. It is now where we all live.
The Internet has brought tremendous value to all of us, economic value. It brought human development. It brought free expression. It brought creativity and innovation. And it continues to bring peace, and I say peace, yes, because so much divides us, but the Internet brings us together. So many things are barriers between us and other humans. The Internet, through understanding, through education, removes these barriers.
The Internet is a good force, and it's a force we should safeguard.
In the last few months, things happened that started making the public less trusting of the Internet. That's not good. It's not good. Because the public trust in the Internet is extremely important. If we, as a humanity, start doubting that medium and its value, we take away something very important. Therefore, we come together in Bali to safeguard this trust. Each one of us here should consider oneself a public steward of this trust, a public trustee to serve the users and the consumers who look at many of us here ‑‑ Governments, technical organisations, Civil Society, and businesses who serve us ‑‑ we're all in this room, and we're all together, equal stewards of the public trust in the Internet.
Now, how do we do that? Where do we go from here? This week in Bali, we have a unique opportunity to start finding a new way to cooperate. We have seen movement by some Governments, organisations, such as the Montevideo statement. The technical organisations also made recently movement towards a new way of cooperation, an open, transparent, democratic, equal way of cooperation, where everyone has a voice, where the only goal is to maintain the public trust in the Internet.
So I, on behalf of all of us in this room, invite us together to talk, to collaborate, to cooperate. We have a whole week to do that, to be open, to listen to each other, and to consider all points of view on how we can build together an Internet where we're all equal in its cooperation and its governance.
Particularly today, I'd like to welcome the Civil Society members who are in the room. Many of you have come to the IGF for years, and have energized this process. We join you, Governments, businesses, organisations, to energize the cooperation between us. And I emphasize energize cooperation, not change what we do, not change the organisations and the institutions that have served us well, but rather to build and evolve them, and bring them to a new place where we can together address all the issues that are left on the table.
Today's high level meeting focuses on ethics. There are many other issues that have been left orphaned on the table. It is time address them through the models of multistakeholder cooperation that all of us emphasize. They do not erase existing models. They support them. They enhance them, they energize them. So let's do it together.
We have an opportunity this week, in good faith and in Goodwill to do it. And once again, thank you, Minister Tifatul.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you, Mr. Fadi, for the remarks regarding the Internet development in the world.
Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, our High Level Leaders Meeting uphold the theme Multistakeholder Collaboration for achieving a safe, secure and tolerant cyberspace: Enabling Growth and Sustainable Development through cyber ethics. In order to have more comprehensive information of the theme I would like to invite to the podium, Professor Zainal Hasibuan, the Vice Executive Chairman from the Indonesia National ICT counsel. Mr. Hasibuan, please.
>> ZAINAL HASIBUAN: Ladies and gentlemen, a very good morning to all of us. Allow me to start the discussion with our main theme in IGF 2013. The slide, please.
Next. Next. Okay.
As we all know, now we live in the global village as the previous speaker mentioned. Also, to the local routes, the world move to our fingertips. Next. Internet, bring us to open world and also to the local route that makes us so diverse, with Internet, we go global, but at the same token we seek our original, we seek our old friends. We make new friends.
Next. We are connected to each other. What's good for us maybe not good for others. We think we want to inform others. Instead, we hurt others. We think we deploy knowledge. In the State, we destroy others. We are connected to each other. Next.
Globalization change our living. Globalization change our living style. We compete, at the same token we also collaborate, but we have to respect the norms and ethics.
Next. The potential chaos is high, not only among countries and stakeholders, but also within a country and its stakeholders.
We don't want this global village to become chaotic due to the advance of ICT.
Next. Threats to a country's security and sovereignty are growing. Not only logical attacks, physical attack, but also social and cultural attacks that can destroy generations, and also next generation. We need to protect and secure our asset, our social life, and our culture.
Next. Hence, we have to cultivate the global world, but maintain local one.
Next. This respected IGF High Level Leaders Meeting Forum should lead the transformation of the world to a safe, secure, and tolerant cyberspace for enabling growth and sustainable development.
Thank you very much.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you, Professor Hasibuan, for your clear description of the theme. It is noted this respected Forum should lead the transformation of the world to a safe, secure, and tolerant not only in the real space but also in cyberspace, for Enabling Growth and Sustainable Development.
Ladies and gentlemen, these presentations completed our first session. Before going to the next session, as a remembrance of the meeting, His Excellency Mr. Tifatul Sembiring would like to invite his Fellow Ministers from U.K., Brazil, and Japan, also accompanied by Mr. Gass from UNDESA and Mr. Fadi from ICANN to a group photo. You are all invited to stand in front of the desk for the group photo. Thank you.
And also our fell low members from Azerbaijan. Please.
Excellencies, distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen, next according to our agenda we will move to the second session. In this session, we'll have certain panelists to contribute, respond and give comments concerning theme presentations.
Achieving a safe and secure cyberspace and emerging issues, it would be the High Level Leaders Meeting of interest of concern and it's truly a great opportunity for all of us to have these three panelists that could enrich our horizon considering the role and urgency of this issue in this meeting.
Due to our time, you're requested to finalize the comments in around 5 to 7 minutes. For the first panelist, I would like to give the floor to the Minister of Culture, communication and creative industries of the United Kingdom, His Excellency Mr. Ed Vaizey. You're invited to give your comments. And the floor is yours.
>> ED VAIZEY: Thank you very much. Wasn't clear whether I was going to speak from the desk or from the podium but I've chosen to speak from the podium. But I don't want to set a precedent. If you want to speak from your desk Minister please do. Could I thank Minister Tifatul for hosting this week's conference. I'd like to thank him and his Ministry, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology for hosting what I think is going to be a fantastic event. It's a pleasure to be back in Bali. It's a pleasure to be in Indonesia which is such an astonishing country and which has achieved such significant economic growth over the last decade or so.
And also a country that has put Information Technology at the forefront of its Economic Development. We're all very aware of how many Indonesians are now on the Internet and using the Internet for social and economic growth, so this is the perfect country in which to have a conference such as this, and for all of us to learn from the Indonesian experience.
I'm used to saying that if I had a dollar for every person that began their speech saying how central the Internet is to economic growth, I would be a very rich man, and I probably wouldn't be at this conference. I would be sitting on a beach in Bali. But the reason everyone begins their speech by saying how important the Internet is to economic growth is because it is true. It is now absolutely central and countries that are growing significantly are doing so on the back of the Internet, not just developed countries but developing countries, as well.
In the U.K., we estimate the Internet contributes to something like about 1/8 of our economic growth, and that is only going to grow. And we also know that the Internet touches every aspect of our lives. And it's important, as countries, that we join up our policies on the Internet, not just internationally but domestically. It affects how we deliver Government services. It will start to affect how we deliver health services, how we deliver education. It will affect our relationships in Foreign Affairs. It will start to change social norms.
And that is why it is very important that we support a multistakeholder approach. As the Internet evolves, we need to hear from everyone and involve everyone, not just Governments, but also business, and also Civil Society. Governments may indeed be surprised that business and civic society have ideas and innovations that could be incredibly useful and it's important that we continue to hear from those voices.
I, too, came from the conference in Seoul, where we discussed the future of the Internet. And that conference was important because it complements what happens here at the IGF. It helps us as IT Ministers to engage Ministers from other parts of our Government, and in particular to engage foreign Ministers, so that is an important and complementary process.
But the IGF will give us a good opportunity to debate new models for the Internet, for Internet Governance, and how they can contribute to economic growth, and I hope as well to discuss the effect that too much control may have on stifling the innovation in the Internet that we have seen over the last 20 years.
But it's important, as well, as somebody who comes from a developed economy, to recognize the impact of the digital divide, and I hope the IGF will also look at how we can close the digital divide, and how wealthy nations can help their neighbors and friends to establish the Internet.
In that sense, there is a clear role for Government. Even in the U.K., a developed nation, Government still has to play a role in building digital infrastructure, in educating its citizens about the Internet, in encouraging people to start to use the Internet. And that kind of expertise and experience we hope can also be used for developing nations.
We in the U.K. of course set great store as well by freedom of expression, and the Internet is a vital tool in extending freedom of expression in accordance with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the United Kingdom, we take the view that any restriction on freedom of expression must be proportionate although it must of course be balanced with issues to do with privacy and acceptable behaviors.
It's clear that a lot remains to do. There's a lot of work ahead to find a global consensus on ways to ensure the future ‑‑ that the future cyberspace is open and secure. And at the Seoul conference, the U.K. Government shared a paper on next steps, pulling together our planned collective efforts in the coming months. Among other activities, it identified the work of this IGF, the Bali IGF, to collect policy models and best practice, and so help nations develop growth‑friendly approaches.
We think that all our activity in cyberspace must bear in mind the fundamental goal of the Internet, to drive economic growth, the prosperity of our citizens, and social development. And I'm sure that with the support of our Indonesian hosts, this IGF will help bring us closer to our vision of an Internet that is truly transformative for every nation.
So I look forward to hearing from all nations and all stakeholders here in Bali about how we can work best together to achieve that. Many thanks.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you, Your Excellency, for the contribution of the Internet, global Internet development. Now I'd like to invite the next panelist and our panelists can deliver the contribution either from the podium or from your tables, please, on your decisions.
For the next panelist I would like to invite Coordinator for Cyber Issues, Department of State of the United States, Mr. Christopher Painter, to give you contributions on the theme presentations. Mr. Painter, you have the floor.
>> CHRISTOPHER PAINTER: Thank you and good morning. I want to thank you Chairman Sasongko and also add my thanks to Minister Tifatul for all this organisation today and really throughout the week and I'm going to elect if you haven't guessed to talk from here rather than the podium although I very much support what my U.K. colleague said, I'll do it from my Chair instead of from the podium.
It is truly a pleasure to join you all in beautiful Bali and an honor to take part in this high level meeting. As this important meeting is adjacent to the Internet Governance Forum. Although they're distinct meetings to have all the countries here to discuss these important issues in each of these forums is a way to mutually reinforce these discussions. We have a full agenda, so I'll focus my remarks this morning on two key areas in which the United States are heavily engaged under the meeting theme of global Multistakeholder Collaboration that address some of the subthemes in the dialogue today.
First, however, I'd like to introduce my colleague Danny Sepulveda, our new Ambassador for communications and information policy who will be joining the discussions both today and throughout the week at the IGF, and we're very privileged also to have a very strong contingent of U.S. Government representatives, but also representatives of Civil Society and the private sector.
Second, I should mention that I come just like Minister Vaizey did to Bali directly from Seoul, where I was privileged to lead our Delegation to the Seoul Conference. The third installment of a conference that began in London was in Budapest last year, was in Seoul this year, and will be ‑‑ the next iteration will be hosted by the Dutch in the Hague.
This conference was very important because it dealt with all the different issues in cyberspace, including social growth, economic benefits, cybercrime, cybersecurity and international security, but importantly this year, it added another dimension, which is the dimension of capacity building and the importance of capacity building underlying all those areas in cyberspace and particularly as a way for the developing world to increase its capacity in each of these areas and really join the global conversation as they are this week.
The Korean hosts welcomed more stakeholders this year than ever before from developing countries. They had over 80 countries represented. They had foreign Ministers and Vice‑Ministers, approximately 44 of those, and I agree with what Ed Vaizey said, it was important to have the perspectives of Communication Ministers and the Foreign Ministers, and in some cases Interior Ministers, and certainly of the other stakeholders in the societies.
Many of the topics in Seoul are obviously very pertinent here. And I think there's a real direct connection between those two processes. There is a Seoul framework that was released by the organisers in Seoul that included a set of agreed internationally agreed statements or principles which I commend to everyone in this meeting for further reading. I think it would help our discussions this week.
The subthemes laid out for this discussion today we reflect the breadth and diversity and complexity of Cyber Issues and it's not possible sadly for any of us to address these in our comments and hopefully we will throughout both today and this week. But the one area I want to introduce and the first of the key areas I want to focus on is the progress in the last year or so that we've made in the pursuit of international consensus on principles that should guide us when we think about some of these issues, particularly in the area of international security.
I should first say that the U.S. regards cyberspace as something that is neither owned nor controlled by states. We see states as one of many stewards working to ensure that this resource is available to all of the world's people. Yet in the cyber realm as elsewhere states do have a special responsibility working with other stakeholders both to protect their National Security and to promote peaceful and stable relations between themselves and other nations.
That is why promoting cooperation in order to keep the peace in cyberspace is critically important. Some years ago, the U.S. concluded that the international community needed to strive for a state of what we call international cyber stability. That's an environment where all states are able to positively and dependably exploit the benefits of cyberspace, where there are benefits to cooperation and to avoiding conflict and there's little incentive for states to disrupt one another's computer networks or Internet activity. We believe the appropriate framework for this international stability is to achieve this stability through recognition of international norms and confidence building measures between countries.
The framework of existing international law and norms of acceptable State behavior which guide states in other contexts must also apply to cyberspace. Often people think we need a whole new framework to think about cyberspace and I think that's really wrong. We can use the existing framework for the physical world and apply it to cyberspace.
Along with norms, the United States believes that practical operational confidence building measures are needed to enhance predictability and reduce the risk of conflict or misunderstanding. On June 7th of this year in the context of the UN Group of Governmental Experts, 15 states including our hosts and many of the states here today achieved a groundbreaking consensus report. The group agreed that confidence building measures such as high level communication and timely information sharing can enhance trust and assurance among states and help reduce the risk of conflict by ensuring predictability, and reducing misperception.
The group agreed on the vital importance of capacity building to enhance global cooperation in securing cyberspace. The group agreed state efforts to address is security of ICTs must go land in hand with respect for Human Rights and fundamental freedoms set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments and the group reaffirmed the importance of open cyberspace as it enables economic and social development and finally the group agreed a combination of all these efforts supported a more secure cyberspace.
Perhaps the most significant single achievement was the group's affirmation that existing international law applies to cyberspace. That affirmation was coupled with a consensus that states must meet their international obligations regarding internationally wrongful acts attributable to them. States must not use proxies to commit International wrong acts, and States should seek to ensure their territories are not used by non‑state actors for unlawful use of ICTs. It is our expectation that's future discussions on these subjects will use the results of this report as the foundation for discussion on how international law applies to cyberspace, how the international community can work with developing states to improve their own capacity and how to implement specific practical measures to achieve the goals. The U.S. believes broad recognition of norms will help promote a safer and more secure cyberspace. In particular the understanding the international law applies to Internet is helpful for the discussion around the second key area here today, the topic of cyber ethics.
For the United States, discussion about cyber ethics must begin with a fundamental understanding that Human Rights apply equally online as they do offline. This principle has been widely recognized by the international community and in fact, the UN Human Rights Council affirmed this principle by consensus just last year. So further conversations on this topic need to begin by acknowledging that Human Rights obligations, commitments we each have.
Notably, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not limit the protections given for expression only to what is termed, quote, ethical, unquote, expression. In contrast, some states try to seek to define, quote, ethical standards, to suppress speech they do not agree with.
We stress that Human Rights are universal and do not vary from place to place, or from culture to culture and they're not subject to jurisdictional bubbles around countries. They're universal Human Rights.
Some view network technologies like the Internet as disruptive. Some use the term cybersecurity not in the term I think we all think of it but as a way to suppress speech. But when states curtail freedom of expression online in the interest of social stability, they limit their future development. And we've heard about this earlier today.
The young people miss out on conversations and debates elsewhere in the world and they lack exposure to the free inquiry that spurs people to question old ways in doing business and invent new ones and spur innovation.
Freedom of thought is part of what fuels economic innovation and growth around the world. In the United States the ability of citizens to exercise their right to freedom of expression has paid large and continuing dividends for us. There's a clear connection between our freedom to express our thoughts and our ability to organise our companies and our societies in creative and innovative ways that make us more productive, efficient, and more prosperous. We can have both security and freedom and prosperity together. All of those are concepts that are important but they must all co‑exist.
In conclusion there's been significant progress in forging international consensus on the issues under discussion today. The United States will continue to work with regional and international ‑‑ with regional and international bodies and collaborate on these key cyberspace activities including norms, and also areas where capacity building, multistakeholderism and trusts can contribute to the greater international cyber stability, Growth and Sustainable Development.
Thank you for the opportunity to address you. I look forward to the conversations both at the meeting today and throughout the week.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you, Mr. Painter, for your valuable comments and contributions.
For our next panelist we'd like to invite His Excellency Mr. Paulo Bernardo Silva, the Minister of Communication from Brazil, to deliver his contributions. Your Excellency, you have the floor, please.
>> PAULO BERNARDO SILVA: Thank you very much. First of all, I congratulate the organisers of this Forum which is so representative to all those who think and make the Internet. My sincere thanks to the Government and people of Indonesia for the warm reception dedicated to the Brazilian Delegation.
It's a great pleasure to take part in this Forum in order to debate ideas, exchange experiences, and share our world views regarding Internet Governance.
We see an incredible window of opportunity that must be taken if we want to view the new way of achieving the endless possibilities of the world Web under a truly Democratic and transparent management. Internet is not an end in itself. It is a great instrument in favor of humankind. It must be used to help the development of peoples and nations, and the Internet nowadays became a fundamental instrument for the growth of nations in every sense.
The employment of the Internet for illegal means of obtaining information or deprivation of fundamental liberties of human beings as we have often seen produces noxious effects to the uniqueness and globality of the Web.
Facing the immense challenge of this issue, no state will be successful when it tries to manage the Internet in an isolated way according to its sole perspectives. We have to change the status quo. If the Internet is so widely known as a place where new forms of democratic participation is practiced, then I believe it's time we bring more democracy to the Internet.
Mechanisms of decision‑making which do not take other voices into consideration are not sustainable. It has been a long time since Brazil has been talking about it. We search for a model that would reflect the principles mentioned by the President at the United Nations General Assembly this year, which are: Freedom of expression, individual privacy, and respect for the Human Rights. Democratic, multilateral and open governance exercised with transparency which encourages the collective creation and the participation of society, Governments and the private sector.
The President told me to reinforce this idea that the Internet, the governance must be a multistakeholder. We are also for the universality that ensures social and human development and the construction of inclusive non‑discriminatory societies, cultural diversity with no imposition of creeds, habits or values, and neutrality in the Web by respecting only ethical and technical aspects, thus making any kind of restrictions inadmissible, be it political, commercial, religious or any others.
Over the last 20 years, Brazil has had the very positive ‑‑ a very positive experience regarding the most relevant issues of Internet management. The Brazilian Committee for Internet management is a world reference as an open model where Government, private sector and academic community sit together side by side.
For this reason, we can say that we are ready for a high‑level dialogue aiming to design a new model for Internet Governance in the world. World challenges demands world solutions, so we have to bring more players to the debate.
Therefore, we are to host in Brazil for the first semester next year a big event to debate Internet Governance. We will bring together world leaders, the private sector and every other interested party in order to design an agenda of the new principles for the Internet Governance.
We aim to reach clear commitments and to establish a well‑defined common agenda pointing to concrete actions to be developed by all of us. Brazil brings to Bali its best, and we have to take the opportunity of this meeting to set new standards for the Internet Governance.
I hope these days are successful, and that we leave this event better than when we arrived. Thank you very much.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you, Your Excellency. Now we move forward to the next panelist, and I would like to invite Mr. Masahiro Yoshizaki, Vice‑Minister for Policy Coordinations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication of Japan, to deliver his contributions. The floor is yours, Mr. Masahiro.
>> MASAHIRO YOSHIZAKI: Thank you Mr. Chairman. Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I'm Masahiro Yoshizaki of Japan. First of all I'd like to thank the Government of Indonesia for hosting this Forum. I also commend the tremendous effort of the IGF Secretariat members and the supporters for organising this Forum.
It's my great pleasure to attend this Forum for the first time in two years, since Kenya Forum. Global number of individuals using the Internet nowadays is about double that of 2005. Furthermore, development of mobile communications such as the spread of mobile phones and smart phones is tremendous.
The development of mobile communications make it easy and offers diversified ways in which to access the Internet. As a result, this development will expand the use of the Internet on a world scale in the future.
It's reported that the Internet has contributed 21% of economic growth of advanced countries for the past 5 years, coupled with development of mobile communications, as well as the facilitation of the use of applications of the Internet.
The further spread of use of the Internet keeps economic growth expanding on a world scale. The chance to be a part of this growth is open equally to developing countries and developed countries. This will result in the increase of the quality of use of the Internet as a basis for the social and economic activities.
Moreover, it's important to ensure the free flow of information in order to maximize the benefit that people can obtain from the Internet. The free flow of a wide variety of content in terms of culture and language can lead to dynamism in innovation, which is essential for this growth. In addition, in order for people to safely utilize the, it's also important to ensure both security and privacy. Therefore, we have promoted recent development and international collaboration for early response to counter the threat of cyber attacks.
We also have taken necessary measures to protect the privacy of Smartphone users. As I expressed until now, in light of the expansion of the volume of use of the Internet on the world scale, as well as the increase of the quality of use of the Internet, on the basis of social and economic activities, construction of a safe environment for use of the Internet and the highly transparent and reliable management of Internet resources, what we call Internet Governance, become increasingly important year‑by‑year.
This is a very important point. Concerning Internet Governance, it is necessary to consider a more specific way of governance. This consideration should be made not from the view of an individual or an individual business anymore, but from the view of humanity and wider growth, in some cases. It may be a mechanism to ensure accountability and transparency of ICANN at the higher level.
In other cases, it may be the enhancement of GAC function. In order to achieve this, cross‑border cooperation and Government industrial cooperation is essential. Value of each stakeholder in each country should be closer. It will be more important to make fundamental effort to have a common view of the global community.
One of the ways to effectively realize such an Internet Governance system may be by way of multistakeholders. In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly will make an overview of the implementation of WSIS outcomes this decade. In this context, IGF will continue to play a large role in the future. We need to find a more specific way of Internet Governance through deepening international discussion and dialogue between various stakeholders, such as Governments, business sectors, academia, Civil Society, and so on.
Japan will make an active contribution to these activities. Thank you very much for your kind attention.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you very much, Mr. Masahiro Yoshizaki, Your Excellency, for your valuable contributions. Now we go to the next panelist from the Peoples Republic of China. I would like to invite Liu Duo, Vice President of China Academy of Telecommunication Research, Ministry of Industry and IT. Ms. Duo, the floor is yours.
>> LIU DUO: Thank you, Chairman. Distinguished Ministers, distinguished Delegates, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Please allow me on behalf of the Chinese Delegation to extend our sincere thanks to the Indonesian Government for convening this High Level Leaders Meeting during the 8th IGF. It's my great honor to present and exchange views on the important issues of the Sustainable Development of the Internet.
Today, the rapid development of Information and Communication technology plays an important role in promoting the economic and social development, improving the welfare of the people, and ensuring the National Security. China attaches great importance to the development of the Internet and regards it as an important tool of the construction of National information networks, Economic Development, technical innovation, and the improvement of people's lives.
Since joining the global Internet family in the early 1990s, China has contributed to building an open, free, and cooperative Internet. Now China has become the country that have the largest population of Internet users and the largest scale of Internet networks. It has made ever growing progress in the Internet infrastructure, network applications, technological innovations, policy and enabling environment and the mature Internet industry. As of this year the number of Internet users in China has received 591 million, with a penetration of 44.1% and the number of registered websites of 2,900. The Chinese companies have been in the top 20 largest Internet companies.
We wish to thank the Indonesian Government for setting the theme of the High Level Leaders Meeting as global Multistakeholder Collaboration for achieving a safe, secure and tolerant cyberspace: Enabling Growth and Sustainable Development through cyber ethics. This theme follows closely with today's world development and shares a common perspective of the world to utilize the Internet as a tool to support world peace, development and progress.
I'm delighted to take this opportunity to elaborate our views on this very important theme especially how to develop and utilize the Internet.
Firstly, emphasis shall be made on the ICT infrastructure development. Since 1990s, China has recognized the importance of the ICT infrastructure to the economic and the social development, and has been taking initiatives such as connecting village where telecommunication projects to enhance the ICTs for all the villages throughout China. We've accomplished providing telephone service as a village global and Internet broadband service at the country level.
China has also been making efforts in improving the Internet bandwidth with the initiative as National broadband speeding up project to provide broadband service to about 50% broadband users. It is estimated that by the year of 2020, the fixed broadband penetration will reach 70% and the mobile broadband, 85% in China.
Secondly, more efforts has been put on the Internet innovation and information consumption. Social network applications are developing fast in China and have attracted more than 300 million users which make them the world's largest social network applications. The electronic comments also has brought rapid development in China with more than 240 million online banking users and 344 million online payment users.
Information consumption is expected to expand in China more than 20% each year from 2012. 1072 training to training in 2015. Information communication technology has become the fundamental and the strategic pillar application in supporting the upgraded version of China's whole industry.
Thirdly, we should strive to build a secure, safe, and tolerant ICT networks. In China, measures have been taken in such areas as scaled key network elements protection and the development of standards to enhance the protection capacity and to guarantee the security of the network. The self‑discipline of Internet industries advocated by the China Internet Association also contributes to building a safe Internet environment, including anti‑virus, self‑discipline Convention, a multinetwork operators, Domain Name Registration and the registrars, the search engine providers, the network security vendors and other Internet stakeholders.
The initiatives on completing the trojan, botnets, phishing and regulations on protecting the privacy of the users have both great potential on building the trust of the consumers and the credibility of the Internet environments.
Ladies and gentlemen, Internet is the global interconnected network. The more cooperation, the more progress. In the past 8 years, IGF has played an important role in facilitating the exchange of views, discussion of issues and promoting cooperation related to Internet Governance, among all stakeholders. To make use of IGF platform, to exchange views, on how to implement the multilateral democratic and the transparent principles formulated by the World Summit on the Information Society, which encourages Governments to play a greater role in the Internet Governance and to ensure that each country has equal rights and the same on the issues related to the critical Internet resources.
We hope that through our joint efforts the Internet can make the world more peaceful, brighter, and more civilized. Thank you very much.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you, thank you Liu Duo. Excellencies, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, now we'll have our next panelist from Azerbaijan. I'd like to invite Mr. Elmir Valizada the Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technology of the Republic of Azerbaijan to give his comments. Mr. Valizada, please.
>> ELMIR VALIZADA: Distinguished Ministers, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank the Government of Indonesia, especially Mr. Tifatul, Minister of Communication and Information Technologies, for organising this meeting. It's my great honor today to delivery marks on behalf of the Azerbaijan Delegation. Our today's meeting is held in framework of IGF Bali gathering, and the main subject is a safe, secure, tolerant cyberspace and cyber ethics. This event gives us the opportunity for fruitful discussions on these very important issues, and to share Azerbaijan experience that went through enormous access space of the period of last years.
I would like to note that 2013 was declared as the ICT year by the President of Republic of Azerbaijan. It's not accidental that Azerbaijan stood 8 of 144 countries in the ranking for Government achievements in ICT, importance of ICT in the Government's view for the future, and 55th ‑‑ sorry, and 20 for the Internet ‑‑ for the ability according the world economic Forum's global Information Technology report 2013.
Besides that, the launching of the first telecommunication satellite was the most remarkable event of ICT year. ICT Sector in the Republic of Azerbaijan gives a clear picture of the high progress of the country, who have achieved 10.5% growth in ICT Sector in the first half of year, and society continued to benefit from broader application of e‑Government, increasing Internet and mobile penetration.
Simultaneously, Azerbaijan is working on several international and local projects and strategies for the future development of ICT Sector in country and region. Let me name some of the primary ICT strategies and projects.
For example, Azerbaijan 2020 the vision of the future development concept National strategy on Information Communication Technologies, development of broadband Internet services, development of capacity for e‑Participation, the Gateway Project, the establishing IT University, state IT fund and the regional data centers and cybersecurity centers in particular, Information Superhighway project, and establishment of the operation connectivity alliance.
On this opportunity, I would like to thank all countries who supported the initiative in UN General Assembly 68th Session which concluded with the adoption of resolution on establishing the connectivity alliance in 2013. We believe that not only our country but the whole region will benefit from your work.
We can consider the project as major regional initiative aiming at creation of transnational fiber optic backbone targeting primary the countries of our Asia and accelerating information flow from Eastern Republic to China. In this regard we look forward to your ideas as how ICT tool can be harnessed to advance Sustainable Development.
Excellencies, colleagues, in addition, I would like to cordially invite you all to the International Conference on Cybercrime: Partnership, Problems and Perspectives that will be held in 2013, and the international ICT Exhibition and Conference on 2nd and 5th December.
During this conference, we will have a unique opportunity to contribute to the global development with intense discussions on challenges of cybercrime and cybersecurity issues. Thank you for your attention.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you, Excellencies. Mr. Valizada. Ladies and gentlemen after hearing Government perspective, now let's listen to practical insight and ideas from the private sectors.
Firstly we'd like to invite Mr. Patrick Ryan, Public Policy and Senior Counsel, Free Expression and International Relations at Google Incorporated to deliver his comments. Mr. Patrick Ryan, please.
>> I'm not Patrick. Patrick is sitting right there. Good afternoon, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to thank my colleagues at the Indonesian Government and the multistakeholders community that has made this even possible for the opportunity to be here today and for hosting this event.
It is a source of great pride that my country is embracing the IGF and I am certain that this will be a very engaging week. The diverse representatives that are here today and who have been invited to speak demonstrate Indonesia's commitment to the multistakeholder model through democracy and to open debate and discussion. I am proud to be here and to have the opportunity to speak on behalf of Google.
There are three topics that I would like to address. The first topic is the one that ties with the ethics theme, that is surveillance. This topic is, as they say, the elephant in the room. It doesn't need to be. We should be able to discuss surveillance, individual freedoms and civil liberty this week, and at every conference. I should disclose that surveillance is not my area of specialty. I joined Google only a few months ago and came here from the Indonesian trade Ministry. However, I've learned more about surveillance in the last 6 months than I have in the past 20 years. I've learned in recent months that surveillance is not limited to any single Government. Although the press is currently focusing on the role of the U.S. Government in surveillance this is by no means limited to the U.S. Government. All of the Internet stakeholders, Governments, private companies, Civil Society, and the technical community must look inward to figure out what is the right answer, and how to strike the right balance on this matter.
We hope that the discussions about striking the balance of protecting users' Civil Liberties, and the Government desire to protect its citizens, can happen in the balanced global context.
The second important point is turning on another trend we're seeing in the global policy space, one that is sometimes related to surveillance but not always. I'm referring to the increased desires of Governments globally to require that data be stored locally, sometimes it's being called data localization. This is a global issue that affects everybody and it is a trend we're seeing around the world.
For example, there has recently been discussions of creating a zone for data. Our zones around the world ‑‑ for those who don't know what a zone is, it is agreement between countries and Europe to allow for the free flow of people and goods across borders and the free flow of people with major historical accomplishment.
The Iron Curtain is gone, but at one point, it cut right through the middle of many countries. Take an example of Berlin. At one point, the entire city was literally encircled with a physical wall that prevented flows of people, information, and commerce. It severed families and relationship from each other.
When the citizens in East Berlin had enough, they destroyed the wall. And, in fact, they took it apart so quickly and with so much passion that there was nothing left at all. If you travel to Berlin today to visit the wall, what you actually see isn't the wall itself, but instead a rebuilt replica of it. Europeans then moved on to embrace the free flow of people among borders and signed the Treaty to guarantee it.
Closer to home, there's a country of 52 million people that is another democracy in the works. Our Chairman Eric Schmidt recently spent some time there, and while he was there, he had the opportunity to speak with some of the former political prisoners. They told him about how the Internet is the thing that kept them going while they were in prison they knew that the world was watching and listening to their plights and struggle. When they were freed, it was the Internet, the open and uncensored Internet, that brought them up to speed with the world.
Another example still in Asia is a country of 25 million people where there is really no Internet. The entire society in this country is essentially encircled by wall just like Berlin until 1989. The control of all access and possibilities is the ways that the Government keep its people oppressed and behind the rest of the world economically. The Berlin wall is a perfect analogy and admittedly is a bit provocative but still building a Berlin wall in the Internet is wrong.
Today we are seeing countries do this. It's not just authoritarian countries that are doing it. Some of the world's strongest democracies are also insisted on building internet islands and erecting walls. We're seeing this trend in many different places throughout the world. It is worrisome and it is a topic that we should be able to discuss openly this week and be concerned about.
Finding the right balance between the growth of the Internet and the understandable request of many countries to have bet infrastructure in their countries is an area of mutual interest. It won't be solved this week, but we can and we should listen to each other carefully, and continue the dialogue in positive way.
My last point is about the IGF itself. As IGF enters its 8th year, it is time to look hard at the governance of the IGF itself and to make sure that we openly discuss how to make the IGF a stronger place for hard discussion like this. There are many things that the IGF can do to become stronger and to establish in the space of Internet Governance, a place where we can all openly engage on really difficult topics.
The IGF currently operates on a five‑year cycle, yet Internet Governance is a permanent discussion. We are here today and this week as if the IGF is proceeding on the basis of business as usual. Sadly, this is not business as usual. Many people across the room worked extremely hard to make sure that IGF happened this year.
This has been an extraordinary truly multistakeholder effort, and without looking at what could have been done better we should take the opportunity to look forward, to be introspective and to think hard about how to make sure that the institution becomes stronger and continues to thrive. There are many areas where the IGF can improve and this is perhaps not the best setting here today to go into all those points. However, we hope that the discussion can take place this week in multiple fora.
The main areas where we would like to discuss include some of the possible improvements that can make the IGF stronger, improving ability to fund the IGF, better transparency to look at ways to improve the IGF's own governance models and others. We hope there will be opportunities this week to discuss this important topic, to strengthen the IGF of the future.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your time. We look forward to engaging in this conversation as the week continues and hopefully you will all have some time to enjoy the beautiful island of Bali. Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you for your interesting contributions. And it gives us ‑‑ it gives an open to our mind of the value of cyberspace and its impact to our society. Now we move to our next panelist from PT Telkom of Indonesia. Mr. Rizkan Chandra. We want to hear the insight and ideas from the largest Telecom operator in Indonesia what are the challenges to a safe, secure and tolerant cyberspace. Mr. Chandra. Please.
>> RIZKAN CHANDRA: Excellencies, distinguished co‑chairs, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I would like to thank the host for this opportunity, and let me briefly introduce about the company first.
We are the largest telecommunication provider in Indonesia. We have around 140 million customers, which 55 million of them are Internet users. We also listed in New York Stock Exchange, London stock exchange. The good news is we have good very high penetration of mobile phone in Indonesia, both in locative and non‑locative areas. While the bad news is we still have low penetration of fixed broadband in Indonesia.
In order to do that we have promoted a programme called Indonesia digital network, IDN 2015, Indonesia the digital network 2015, which also includes the development of around 20 million home paths across Indonesia and also 1 million access points wi‑fi all over Indonesia.
On top of that, we also have Indonesia Digital Society, or we call it IndiSo, which one of them is in the school which promotes connectivity to all schools in Indonesia. We have currently have more than 30,000 schools in Indonesia deployed by access point wi‑fi all over Indonesia.
Now let's get back to the business to the objective of the Internet which I believe is to promote equality, tolerance, fairness, and openness. In order to achieve that, I think we should get back also to the basics of the Internet. I would like to quote the thing from Bill Clinton: It is dangerously destabilizing to have half the world on the cutting edge of technology while the other half is still struggling on the bare edge of survival.
And that leads us back to the digital divide. The second is about public trust, and the third is like as stated by the main presenter about cultivating global while maintaining local.
So I would like to address first of all the digital divide. I think the case for Indonesia and other developing countries is about more healthy and appropriate Internet business platform, which may contribute to the digital divide problem that developing countries are still experiencing.
The second is about the public trust. From telco point of view, certification be it local or global or infrastructure and content, of course in Internet era is not in the form of license, but it is a voluntary certification, including also telco's role to valid prepaid users which happen to be dominant in most Asian markets, including Indonesia.
And those two I believe would lead to promote local content, which may prevent the cultivating global and maintaining local, which I mentioned previously. And with those three in mind, the digital divide, public trust and cultivating global, maintaining local, along with the suggestions on a more healthy and appropriate Internet business platform for infrastructure and content, and also a certification on infrastructure and content, and promoting local content I believe we are getting near to the better world.
And that shall conclude my comments. We look forward to engaging more in this area. Thank you very much.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you, Mr. Rizkan Chandra for your valuable contributions. Now we'll move toward the next panelist. I would like to invite Lynn Marie President and CEO of ISOC to deliver her comments.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In order to ensure that a precedent wasn't inadvertently set, I will speak from my seat which is also certainly a more equitable position. So it's my pleasure to join you today in this lovely country, and to thank the Indonesian Government for hosting this event. So I'd like to discuss the pivotal role of global Multistakeholder Collaboration in achieving a safe, secure, and tolerant cyberspace. But first, let's take a quick look at what safe, secure, and tolerant means in the context of the Internet.
The open and global nature of the Internet built on fundamental principles of open standards, voluntary collaboration, reusable building blocks, integrity, permissionless innovation and global reach amongst others has enabled astonishing social and economic advancement in a way that we never could have imagined.
At the same time, the Internet, like many other good things, is not without risk. It is important though to appreciate that while malicious actors will exploit any opportunity, the Internet's key characteristics are neither the origin nor the cause of the malicious activity.
By and large, there's no such thing as absolute safety and security. There will always be threats, so our concept of safe and secure should reflect that reality. We need to think about secure in terms of residual risks that are considered acceptable in a specific context. And we must recognize the inherent escalating nature of threats to security.
Tolerance is not a word often heard in Internet Governance dialogue, perhaps because it has different and sometimes inconsistent connotations across stakeholders and communities. Being open, though, is heard much more frequently. The open, decentralized, borderless nature of the Internet has allowed non‑traditional and sometimes disruptive opinions and ideas to more easily cross communities, countries, and regions. These can be confronting, particularly to societies unaccustomed to unreserved statements of opinion.
It is sometimes human nature to push away things that are different, new or contrary to our thinking, but if, as a global community, we truly wish to be tolerant, we must accept that everyone may not share the same views, and importantly, the diversity of opinion and the opportunity for discussion and debate such as that offered through the IGF provides greater opportunity for creativity and invention.
At the same time, tolerance demands that when we express our opinions, we are mindful of the impact they might have, respectful of the rights of others, and thoughtful in how they are delivered. Openness, tolerance, and trust are all very important for effective, sustainable policy development.
Not all stakeholders are as well or equally equipped to contribute their opinions and ideas, whether through lack of resources, language, or otherwise. Some may prefer more formal interactions, while others are more comfortable in less formal environment. Multistakeholder Collaboration aims to bridge the differences so that everyone can contribute effectively, and thereby offer the world better opportunities and better decisions.
The highly publicized covert Government sanctioned surveillance activities are alarming, and are a major threat to trust, which is particularly fundamental in cyberspace. The Internet must be a trusted Channel for secure, reliable, private communication between users.
One of the key building blocks for that trust is respect for internationally recognized Data Protection standards. Actions that undermine that trust such as systematic surveillance threaten to disrupt natural economic and social interactions that are the foundations for sustained Global Prosperity.
Now more than ever it is imperative that the international community strengthens cooperation to ensure that appropriate policies are collaboratively developed and fairly implemented, and that restrictive or harmful policies are not pursued. Tough and controversial issues should be debated in the open.
In closing, the citizens of the world deserve and will demand a global and open platform for communication, built on solid foundations of security and privacy. Therefore, we must work together to find solutions that give that to each and every one of us. And we need to restore the principles and relationships of trust upon which the global Internet has been built. The IGF meeting this week will provide an excellent opportunity for all stakeholders to discuss how best to restore these principles.
Finally, returning to more traditional roles for Governments and policymakers is unlikely to be adequate to restore these principles or to restore trust. Particularly given this is how such pervasive surveillance flourished in the first place. To be clear, we are not saying no role for Governments, but we are asking everyone to look to the future and move very thoughtfully as a lot is at stake. We need to look very carefully at the decentralized distributed nature of the Internet and its management and development, as it has given the world so very much and has shown its robustness and scalability time and time again.
We should not throw that out in response to the current set of threats or desires of some. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you very much, Lynn Marie. The next panelist is Mr. Paul Wilson, who is Director‑General of APNIC that looks after the Asia Pacific area for the NIC. Mr. Paul, the floor is yours.
>> PAUL WILSON: Thank you very much. Good morning, Your Excellency, Minister Tifatul Sembiring, Honourable ICT Ministers from all over the world and all the other excellent people who are here. We've come a long way to be in Bali and for me it's a huge honor to be sitting here as a panelist in this High Level Leaders Meeting.
It's a great thing actually that this meeting has been constructed as a multistakeholder event, in the true spirit of WSIS, the spirit of the IGF coming up, and of the Internet itself, so Mr. Minister, I'd like to thank you not just for your kind hospitality, but for extending it to everyone who's in this room.
A big thank you needs to go also to the Indonesian IGF organising community which is in itself a multistakeholder group. It supported the Ministries in Indonesia to make this IGF happen and that's been a huge effort in itself. I think a great achievement actually to have an IGF which is maybe for the first time fully organised by a local multistakeholder community for us, the global multistakeholder community. Thank you.
So when I saw the title of this meeting a Multistakeholder Collaboration for achieving a safe, secure and tolerant cyberspace, I couldn't help but relate it to the vision of APNIC, the organisation I've been leading for some time now. Our own vision is for a global open, stable and secure Internet that serves the entire Asia Pacific community. And it's clear how this vision maps almost directly to the theme of the High Level Leaders Meeting. For the community both these expressions represent what we aim for in building the Internet across the Asia Pacific.
You may know APNIC is a technical organisation that distributes essential Internet resources primarily IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. Like many of the others in the technical community where cooperative organisation we work together as a community and also as part of a much broader community to support the development of the internet.
When we think about cyber ethics, I think most of us here would think about human behaviors on the network of privacy, intellectual property, freedom of information and Human Rights, et cetera. And these are things that at first sight may have not much to do with IP addressing, but we are all part of the Internet Governance ecosystem. We're all in this together. We share a vision, and I think we're actually united by some fundamental ethics which I'd like to talk about now.
Since the WSIS, we've heard a lot about Internet Governance. It's an important concept. It refers to a whole range of activities, but in a sort of objective way. It refers to what we all do technically but to me what's missing is how Internet Governance happens. The dynamics, the actions, and also the ethics which guide Internet Governance processes.
Many of you may have seen a recent statement from the leaders and Chairs of Internet technical organisations. We met in Uruguay just a couple of weeks ago and produced something we called the Montevideo statement. And in this statement we use a different term, a concept of Internet cooperation, and what Internet cooperation represents is, I think, Internet Governance in action. It encompasses the ideas of Internet Governance and of enhanced cooperation. It refers to cooperation of course but it's cooperation in the Internet realm which is very special, it's very specific, because it's absolutely open and multistakeholder by its nature.
And cooperation exists across society and governance, as well. At APNIC we know APEC through our involvement as a guest in involvement in APEC TEL. The C in APEC is very meaningful. It refers to an engagement of people who choose to work together for common good. In cooperation I think it's not so important to agree on everything, but instead find some agreement to simply work together.
And in Internet terms, for those who know a bit of history, it's exactly the same idea as the old mantra of rough consensus and running code. So I think in these times of change, the IGF needs to strike a balance to provide continuity for this discussion on Internet Governance and also to adapt with the times.
And one change I'd like to see is the adoption of cooperation as an ethic of the IGF even as part of its name, because cooperation is an ethic of the Internet and it's a very potent human ethic, as well.
Just a few other things that I'd like to mention from this statement, from Montevideo. One of them is the importance at this particular time of regaining trust in the Internet, the trust that users have started to lose after learning about pervasive surveillance programmes undertaken by various Governments.
The architecture of the Internet including its global integrity, it' protocols, its standards, it is robust enough to keep building the Internet as an essential element of our lives, but the recent revelations have reminded us that we can't take the Internet for granted.
Second is the importance of a unique, integrated, cohesive Internet, and avoiding the corresponding risk of nationally fragmented Internets.
Thirdly, we mentioned the importance of an international oversight, a global oversight meaning that no single Government with a special role exists with respect to Internet Governance issues. All stakeholders and including all governments participate on an equal footing.
The fourth element in the statement establishes that the deployment of IPv6 should continue to be a global priority, and that's a subject which as you may know has got a lot of importance for the technical community, but it's also important to restore the end to end connectivity, the global uniformity of the Internet and that's a critical key today to maintaining the open, stable and neutral Internet, the Internet that we all know and love and that we want to continue.
So I mention all of these things in the recent statement because I think they're very important. Their full realization in the years to come will require effort and community from this community. In summary it's the regaining of trust, the maintenance of a global, stable and international Internet, swiftly moving to IPv6, last, not least.
In conclusion, to Honourable Ministers and the members of this community, the Internet is a global platform that crosses over jurisdictional, geographical and National boundaries. Any initiative taken at a National level or a local level on the Internet can have a global impact. And hence the importance of cooperation and a framework for Internet cooperation or even as Fadi Chehade said himself, an energized cooperation for the Internet.
IGF can help to take National and regional discussions to a global space. And have a dialogue that is not insular but global and cooperative as is the Internet itself.
The IGF is unique. The fact that we're here for the 8th year running shows clearly that it remains important to many, many people. That reflects the importance of the Internet itself as we heard from speakers this morning, and I believe that while the Internet continues to grow and to create challenges for all of us there's going to be a role for the IGF, and that is for the foreseeable future.
At APNIC we placed a lot of effort this year to support the global IGF happening on our side of the world. Here in Bali, it's great to have this level of engagement at this very interesting time. We probably haven't seen these sorts of times since in all the days of the World Summit on Information Society, and I trust that we face this new era, these good times for the Internet, in full cooperation mode and in the full spirit of Internet cooperation.
The regaining of trust, the maintenance of a global, stable and secure Internet, and IPv6, these should be things that we could all easily cooperate on and share as a common vision. Thank you very much, and I'd like to attempt something local.
[ Speaking language other than English ]
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you, Mr. Wilson. Ladies and gentlemen, now we move forward to the next panelist, and I'd like to invite Mr. Ronald Deibert, Director of Citizen Lab, to give his comments. Mr. Deibert, please.
>> RONALD DEIBERT: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm honored to be here representing the Citizens Lab and my colleagues of the cyber stewards network of which we're a part here at the High Level Leaders Meeting. I'm going to begin my presentation with an "E" word. Not "ethics." "Edward." That's right, Edward Snowden. I know in bringing this up ‑‑
[ Applause ]
‑‑ I know in bringing his name up, I'm making many people in this room uncomfortable. It makes Governments uncomfortable for the obvious reasons. It makes some in private sector uncomfortable. Data we entrust to them that we assumed was protected based on the terms of service we sign with them, have, it turns out, routinely been shared with third parties without our consent.
How often this goes on among other companies and in other parts of the world, without user consent, is an open question that we at Citizen Lab intend to explore. We have to address it because as the representative from Google said, it is the elephant in the room. Everyone here is wondering what impact will these revelations have on Forums like the IGF, on standard‑setting bodies like the IETF, and on Internet Governance broadly?
We are clearly at a watershed moment. My own fear is that the reactions to these revelations are, in the short term, going to make matters worse. Will have a negative impact on openness, Human Rights and even international security, as Governments detach and seek to insulate themselves.
I worry that programmes for a clean, healthy, or even an ethical Internet will be used in practice to stifle free expression and access to information. I worry that what started out as a globally distributed network will be slowly subsumed and swallowed up by a system of Nationalized controls.
Although I applaud efforts by Governments to build confidence and norms in cyberspace, I worry that these processes will result in a condominium of the lowest common denominator, as long as it is a process undertaken behind closed doors and without the full participation of Civil Society.
I worry most of all about an escalating arms race in cyberspace serviced by a growing market for censorship, surveillance and computer network attack, products and services, that are directed by Governments not only at each other, but also at their own citizens and dissidents at home and abroad.
Capabilities are being put in the hands of policymakers that they never before imagined. Deep packet inspection, cell phone tracking, social network monitoring that are being used to identify, isolate, and arrest Civil Society. I fear the market for digital arms unconstrained as it is will now explode as cybersecurity demands grow, and Governments seek their own signals intelligence capabilities.
So what to do about all of this? Some of my colleagues in Civil Society feel that we should take the Internet back, that we should bypass Governments and the private sector altogether because they can no longer be trusted. But I believe that is not only impossible, it is undesirable. Without organised Government, without the rule of law, the very rights we cherish would quickly diminish in a Hobbesian world of "might makes right." I believe that Civil Society needs to put forward a security strategy for cyberspace from the starting point of Human Rights and the rule of law.
We have to begin by asking: Security for whom? And security for what? Part of that must include a rational and open discussion of the role of law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the world of big data and the Internet of Things. At the very time we are turning over our digital lives inside‑out, entrusting our own thoughts, actions and intimate communications to private companies, we are delegating power and authority to secure this space to some of the world's most secretive and unaccountable National Security agencies.
To be clear, law enforcement and intelligence are essential to the protection of commerce, governance, and Human Rights, but wholesale surveillance without judicial oversight is incompatible with liberal democracy and Human Rights. We have to give meaning in the real world to the idea of multistakeholderism. The term is mouthed so often by those who don't practice what they preach that it has become an empty euphemism that has to change outside of the IGF.
Finally, we have to lift the lid on the Internet and subject it from the top to the bottom, from the code all the way to forums like this, subject them to greater oversight, transparency, accountability, and legal restraint. The Internet is ours, all of ours. It is what we make of it. We need to remember that before it slips through our grasp.
Thank you very much.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you very much, Mr. Deibert, for the interesting contributions.
Next I would like to invite our next panelist, Ms. Anja Kovaks, the Project Director of Internet democracy. Ms. Kovaks, the floor is yours.
>> ANJA KOVAKS: Thank you, Mr. Chairperson, and good morning Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, and especially Your Excellency Mr. Tifatul Sembiring for hosting the meeting and also for allowing me to contribute here and make some remarks from the perspective of people, not just Internet users, but people in general.
There were three aspects of the title for this event that I would like to touch on. The first one is cyber ethics. What immediately came to mind when I saw that phrase was the title of an Article that a colleague of mine recently wrote, in which he asked: Are we moving towards a system of accountability without power? Not power without accountability, but accountability without power, as those who do not have power are increasingly pushed towards being responsible and accountable without rights being put against it.
Cyber ethics is essentially about norms and principles. That's appropriate when it comes to ideas about how to steer Internet Governance, how to take decisions about Internet architecture, perhaps also to further guide to behavior of Governments and businesses.
But for users, norms and principles are actually a step down from a framework that we already have to ensure a safe, secure, and tolerant Internet, which is that of Human Rights. Asking for responsibility and accountability without providing strong protection for Human Rights actually undermines those rights, and rather than emphasizing ethics, what we should emphasize and teach is mutual respect for Human Rights.
What we see at the moment, and let's examine this in some more detail, is a lack of balance. The issues of accountability and responsibility especially are pushed on users frequently when it comes to freedom of expression, and reference is then made to hate speech to emphasize the importance of these norms. As an organisation coming from India where recently almost 50 people died in riots caused by content that was spread on the Internet, this is clearly a concern for us, as well. But all too often, while restrictions might be legitimate in some cases, we see that responsibility and accountability are words that are simply used to reinforce restrictions on freedom of expression that are not necessarily legitimate, and that do not take into account the fact that freedom of expression is embedded in a network of rights that are interlocked and that require each other in order to be enjoyed and exercised.
Because this emphasis on the interconnectedness of rights is not made, it's not possible anymore to see where to draw the line. Thresholds need to be in place to end restrictions on free speech which are put into place, and it has to be remembered that the right to shock, disturb and offend is not an unpleasant after‑effect, but an integral part of Human Rights and of the right to freedom of expression.
What we need, then, if we want to strengthen free speech and curb hate speech, uncomfortable speech, is more speech, first of all, and non‑legal measures by states, as exemplified in much of the work of UNESCO for example to strengthen freedom of expression. In censorship benefits the status quo and not people's empowerment. While the powerless are called on to be responsible and accountable, unfortunately it has become clear in recent times that we cannot have the same expectation of Governments and businesses as their lack of commitment or so it seems from users' perspective at least to a safe and secure Internet indicates.
The narrative of cybersecurity intermeshes a number of debates. It goes from cybercrime including spam and cyber pornography, over critical Internet infrastructure, to National Security. And in the context of the latter, surveillance is often upheld as a solution. But surveillance and security actually frequently contradict each other, as surveillance exploits the very vulnerabilities that should be patched to make the Internet secure.
By not drawing on the Human Rights framework, security debates does little to further security from the perspective of users and gives strongly the impression that the debate is not really about security, but about control, in particular control of people.
How do we then move forward if safety is really a concern? First of all, to protect the public interest, it is crucial that Human Rights are protected in their interconnections. This is what is needed before we move to the framework of cyber ethics.
In addition, multistakeholderism is essential as well. This is not a matter of ethics but a matter of democracy. Over the past few years, we've seen a strong push in Internet Governance to move towards more multilateralism and greater Government interference in the governance of the Internet, often guided by traditional ideas of sovereignty. But the Internet is a global network. It's not a National one, and it is often owned by private actors, not by Governments, which makes the architecture of the Internet and the environment very different from what we are used to offline.
Sovereignty will continue to be relevant, but they have to be reimagined. Sovereignty as a predate to the Internet cannot continue to exist. We have to be aware of the interconnections between states as much as between rights and the impacts decisions in one country have on people in another. The different architectures from the Internet also means that checks and balances as we know them in the offline world do not work anymore. It is not by keeping actors separate that we achieve balance, but by bringing them together in governance, and that's where multistakeholderism comes in.
As the Tunis Agenda emphasizes, Internet Governance is crucial about shared decision‑making, and that's a crucial aspect of multistakeholderism. It is not just about consultation. It is about joint participation and decision‑making at every step of the process, and this also means we cannot simply have one body at the UN or elsewhere, or one process to resolve all Internet related problems, that we ‑‑ but that we meet a multitude of processes, the exact form of which is to be determined by the issue.
How to move forward on the important topic of this meeting? Human Rights and multistakeholderism will best be linked together to do so, so that we can move from the Internet to an Equinet. I look forward to continuing the conversations with you on that topic this week. Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you very much, Ms. Kovaks.
Ladies and gentlemen, we come to the last panelist and last but not least I would like to invite Mr. Jovan Kurbalija, Founding Director of DiploFoundation, to give his contributions. Mr. Jovan, the floor is yours.
>> JOVAN KURBALIJA: Good morning, Honourable Minister, Excellencies, dear IGFers. I'd like to thank our great hosts here in Indonesia for an excellent event and for choosing a very appropriate topic. Ethics is the underlying theme of our IGF, 8th IGF, and as we know, ethics is the key question of any sound politics, and including politics of the Internet. We have heard already quite a few key words which were mentioned: Tolerance, trust.
And I would add one which I think is appropriate place to introduce in discussion, to introduce in discussion in Bali, Indonesia. It is empathy. And what I have learned from many friends from Indonesia and from my stay over the last two days, it is the capital, world capital of empathy. People can create bonds, they can understand the interlocutors friends and indeed we have a growing deficit of empathy worldwide. We have it all here in Bali and Indonesia and I hope this general atmosphere that is around us will also influence our discussion and develop what we may call cyber empathy or e‑Empathy or something along these lines.
Well, being the last speaker is both challenge and blessing, challenging the way that it's difficult to add anything else to the excellence presentations and insightful thoughts that we have heard this morning. And blessing is that I can in a way summarize the main points and highlight a few key words.
And while I was listening to the key presentation, I was struck by the recurrence of what we can call three Cs: Crisis, challenge, and change. And make no mistake, Internet Governance is in crisis. And we should recognize reality. The old Internet Governance that served us so well and that has facilitated such enormous growth of the Internet shows its limitations.
Trust, an important building block of this system, has been shaken in the last few months after Snowden revelations and the crisis that followed after that. We're now facing unique challenge to try to preserve what is good from the old system and to address the major shortcomings and to develop something new. This is the major challenge. And then the last C out of these three Cs, the change, and I think that we have been hearing this as underlying message. We are living in tame of change, and in Asia the change sometimes has contradictory meaning.
And while we agree about the need for change, there is still disagreement how this change should be achieved. And if I can paraphrase John Lennon, incremental change started happening while we are discussing a big change. And we noticed evacuate a few initiatives. Some of you came from Seoul. We heard from the Honourable Minister of Brazil about the next year event in Brazil. Therefore, we are noticing challenging and I would say to large extent tectonic shifts in Internet Governance.
Now while we're recognizing this reality, we should think about the ways and means how to make next steps, how to move forward. And I would share with you a few thoughts based on my experience in the IGF process and my experience as both researcher and teacher in the areas of Internet diplomacy. First, we can no longer continue with the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.
Or worse, we cannot longer move in different direction, and even unintentionally or intentionally create confusion. More policy coherence and knowledge about what is going on will help all players in the process to move forward and to at least and even trivially reduce or avoid travel expenses by attending the meetings discussing the same issues with a slightly different title.
And on this point I would like to inform you that we in Geneva together with the Swiss Government, authorities, and Geneva international organisations are preparing Geneva Internet platform aimed at increasing the level of Internet Governance discussion and achieving evidence based Internet Governance as much as it is possible.
Second point that I would like to highlight is that we have to realize that preserving the diversity of Internet Governance and so‑called multistakeholder approach has moved beyond being a simple ethical and political issue, it is now a very practical issue. The more involved other players beside Governments we have, the more they will feel responsible for their roles in the future of Internet Governance. Without such diversity of players, our nice declarations, conventions and even treaties simply won't be implemented.
And ultimately they will not be worth the paper on which they are written or printed in this time. Now, it is important again to be honest with ourselves and say that while we are aiming to win‑win solutions, which should make everybody happy, we have to be prepared to make evacuate a few balancing acts, acts which will as every good compromise make everybody equally unhappy.
Such is life. Internet Governance is no different from any other facet of how we live, and we should accept that reality. Lastly, we should be also realistic and modest in our expectations. We cannot predict earthquakes or digital earthquakes, but we can prepare to deal with the consequences, and robust, inclusive Internet Governance is a way to prepare for the future digital earthquakes which will come in one or other form.
Ultimately, ladies and gentlemen, as ethics is the theme of our conference of the IGF, our work requires also our sense of responsibility. As we know, the more the society depends on the Internet, the higher the stakes is, and the more responsible we should be. And we should keep this in mind as we navigate through these complex issues and discuss it over the next few days. It will be our practical contribution to this underlying theme of the IGF. And with this I'd like to use a bit of my basic Indonesian thanks to my friends around and tell ‑‑
Terimah‑Kaseh. Is it correct? Thank you.
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Thank you, Mr. Kurbalija. Finally before we move to the next sessions, I would like to invite one more remarks from the representative of the UN, in this case from the UNESCO, to give his remarks.
>> Thank you, thank you Mr. Chairman, Honourable Ministers, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to start by thanking Indonesian host for associating UNESCO to this debate and I would like to share some thoughts about the ethical dimension of Information Society as we see it from UNESCO. Many of the spectacular developments and challenges that we are witnessing today such as remote surgical interventions or surfing the net from the International Space Station have been made possible by the Internet.
In every part of the world, people can access digital treasures of Balian cultural heritage, centuries old manuscripts containing precious literary assets. Also thanks to Internet and later today we'll have a chance to hear more about this cultural important project during the workshop this afternoon.
The effects of the Internet along with the increasing computational power and lower prices of information and communication technology is technological convergence and other aspects of scientific progress have led to emergence of a new paradigm which is often to as an Information Society. UNESCO as you probably know however prefers the term of knowledge societies as it connotates a vision of ICTs and other technologies that is development oriented, people centered, inclusive and founded on the respect of Human Rights and universal values.
Today, more people than ever before have access to interactive Information and Communication Technologies. New technologies are helping to overcome others and bring societies together. It is changing the way we learn, work, and communicate. It is helping to promote the attainment of such key development goals that are central to human development and empowerment, such as literacy, health, and gender equality.
The Internet allows almost unlimited access to information, provides a voice to previously voiceless and marginalized, empowers people and enhances their participation in Democratic processes. We're also witnessing new challenges with regard to freedom of expression and questions of personal and collective identities in the digital world, as well as issues of privacy, security, amongst others.
These are all facets of the new landscape that we must navigate as we seek to better understand and manage the complex and ever‑changing interfaces of Information Technology, social transformation, and governance. These concerns transcend borders, ethnicities, social groups, and any of the Conventional categories that we're accustomed to.
UNESCO has been drawing attention to and seeking to work with other stakeholders to develop approaches for dealing with interplay and social consequences of the use of information communication technologies. This work began already in mid‑'90s when UNESCO launched several INFOethics World Congresses that helped draw attention to these issues. The World Summit on Information Society played an important role in placing the issue of information ethics firmly on the international agenda.
UNESCO has organised international Symposiums on ethical dimension of Information Society with diverse stakeholders, as well as regional meetings to better understand the global concerns and priorities. This led to development of information for all programme code of ethics for the Information Society, which was presented to UNESCO general conference in 2011.
As a follow‑up to this work, in 2012, UNESCO's Executive Board adopted the document entitled UNESCO on the ethical dimension of Information Society to provide a formal framework for its activities in this area, and also activities which involve all Member States. These efforts are focused on four areas, and I will list them.
The multistakeholder partnerships to raise awareness and strengthen actions related to ethical dimension of Information Society, to build them. To contribute to the international debate on ethical dimension of access to and use of information. Support capacity building at the National level and continue making research in this area.
The scope of ethical challenges is vast and will not only ‑‑ and will only continue to expand as the number of Internet users grow. We need to ensure that Internet is used in a literal manner and I emphasize in literate manner as we can expect literate use of Internet also will be ethically sensitive. For this reason, particularly media information literacy must be integrated into all formal, non‑formal and lifelong learning programmes. This will help to shape attitudes, to provide the necessary skill set, practices and competencies that ensure that every Internet users is well equipped to fully embrace the benefits and responsibilities of citizenship in the knowledge societies.
UNESCO Member States will continue to examine complexities surrounding the actual use of Internet. After debating ethical and privacy issues at the last Executive Board meeting just a week ago, the issue has been placed on the agenda of upcoming general conference of UNESCO in early November. The Secretariat of UNESCO is currently working on the discussion paper that will inform the debate at UNESCO's general conference on the wide range of issues such as freedom of expression, privacy, access to information and knowledge and ethical considerations. And this current Internet Governance Forum and this high level meeting certainly will contribute to the substance of this discussion paper.
In concluding let me tell that we also hope that this high level meeting will be an important landmark in on going National debate. The tasks of engagement and consensus building are collective, and UNESCO welcomes opportunity to collaborate with partners from all sectors, public sector, private sector, academia, Civil Society. Only through collective actions that are informed, built on consensus and mutual respect and grounded in the universal values can coherent, sustainable, responses to the current and emerging opportunities and ethical challenges be developed.
I thank you for your attention.
[ Applause ]
>> ASHWIN SASONGKO: Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, we have listened to the salient points from all the panelists. Comments from UNESCO and our second sessions and before we move to the next agenda, I would like to break the meeting for 10 minutes for any of you would like to go for toilet or so on before we move to the third session.
And we will start the third session in 10 minutes time, 10 past ‑‑ sorry, 7 past 12:00 from now. Thank you.
[ End of Session ]
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