IGF 2023 WS #145 Workshop on Internet Measurement and Monitoring Throttling

Subtheme

Global Digital Governance & Cooperation
Digital Commons as a Public Good

Organizer 1: Katherine Townsend, 🔒World Wide Web Foundation
Organizer 2: Lai Yi Ohlsen, 🔒
Organizer 3: Stephen Soltesz, Google
Organizer 4: Cristina Leon, Google

Speaker 1: Katherine Townsend, Civil Society, Intergovernmental Organization
Speaker 2: Lai Yi Ohlsen, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Stephen Soltesz, Private Sector, Intergovernmental Organization

Moderator

Katherine Townsend, Civil Society, Intergovernmental Organization

Online Moderator

Cristina Leon, Private Sector, Intergovernmental Organization

Rapporteur

Lai Yi Ohlsen, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Format

Other - 90 Min
Format description: This session will run as a classroom style presentation with hands on training and q&a. A room with tables and power outlets for those who have brought their own laptops is welcomed.

Policy Question(s)

A. How does the current ability to publicly monitor the Internet impact questions and decisions by policymakers about where to invest in increased services?
B. What is the current status of the Internet in any given region in the world?
C. How can disruptions or slowdowns of Internet services be understood by consumers and by Internet monitors around the world?

What will participants gain from attending this session? In a brief workshop, participants will gain greater personal literacy and understand of how the Internet functions and how to access and understand publicly available data about the current status of the Internet globally and as relates to local experience. This information is useful for those who want to engage in policy decisions about where to increase infrastructure, whether services are adequate, and when a disruption on the network is widespread.

SDGs

Description:

Ensuring the digital commons as a public good is only policy with engagement from global multistakeholder leaders actively engaged in monitoring the Internet. Understanding how the Internet works, what it's current status is around the world is possible and publicly available from organizations that monitor the Internet every day. In this workshop participants will learn how the Internet is monitored, how they can understand the data about their own locations and regions, and how to understand whether a slowdown is due to an accidental or intentional disruption.

Expected Outcomes

A. A better understand from those engaged in internet governance, particular government representatives, on the technical process of monitoring and understanding the Internet, and how this knowledge feeds into the questions they are being asked to tackle such as: "Where should we invest in increased infrastructure?"
B. Any participant gains greater literacy in how to monitor and understand the Internet and thereby supporting more citizen science and interdisciplinary knowledge.
C. Specific support for those who are concerned about Internet disruptions, including data journalists and advocates, on how to better engage with accurate monitoring and response.

Hybrid Format: 1) We will have virtual participants join ahead of the session and will require pre-registration, video off and sound off, and will turn on video and sound for those who have registered(this is to prevent zoombombing that has happened at regional and global IGFs in 2022). In previous IGFs we have not been given the zoom link from the organizers until after the session is initiated, and afterward did not have moderator power to mute or boot disruptors. We will include an additional registration and provide a link to a shared note taking and communication document so that everyone can connect ahead of time and can continue to ask questions on the chat and in the document to be addressed in real-time by virtually connected team members. We will have adequate staff to have dedicated engagement in-person and virtually.