Intersessional news

The IGF Dynamic Coalition on Blockchain Assurance and Standardization (DC-BAS) has announced it will run as a global DAO - Decentralized Autonomous Organization, a pioneering approach at the IGF. "DAO showcases blockchain’s potential to boost transparency, inclusivity, and trust in decision-making, setting a new governance model standard."

Read the full article belw and learn more about DAOs and DC-BAS! 

The IGF Coalition on Data and Artificial Intelligence Governance (DAIG) is inviting researchers and practitioners to submit essays focused on AI initiatives and experiences from the global majority by 25 August 2024.

The Policy Network on Internet Fragmentation (PNIF) is kicking off its 2024 activities with a first webinar on 19 June!

Webinar: ‘Avoiding Internet fragmentation. Still a matter of concern in 2024?'

The Dynamic Coalition on the Sustainability of Journalism and News Media (DC-Journalism) is inviting researchers, media development professionals and journalists to contribute articles and case studies to its annual report on the theme of AI & Journalism. Interested candidates can submit an abstract or article idea (max. 500 words) by 31 May 2024 using the Google Form linked below. We prefer submissions that explore topics at the intersection of Internet governance and news sustainability.

DC-IS3C (Internet Standards, Security and Safety Coalition) invites you to participate in a public consultation on how to persuade workplaces to deploy the security-related Internet standards DNSSEC and RPKI. IS3C experts have worked on an alternative narrative for employees' use. Please share your views and experience, so IS3C can present the strongest and most convincing arguments possible. The consultation runs until 5 April. 

On 1 March, the Dynamic Teen Coalition, one of the IGF's twenty-nine independent, bottom-up dynamic coalitions (DCs), addressed open consultations for the UN Global Digital Compact (GDC), a digital principles pact to be presented to Member States at the Summit of the Future in September this year. 

DTC member Omor Furuque called for "clear commitments" and "achievable goals" in the GDC, and urged policymakers to take young people's voices into account.

At the IGF in Kyoto Selby Abraham, chair of the IS3C (Internet Standards, Security and Safety Coalition) SDG working group, presented on how IS3C's work contributes to the SDGs.

The Policy Network on AI (PNAI) held its inaugural meeting in May, setting the stage for exploration of artificial intelligence and related aspects of data governance in the coming months. Currently, PNAI is in the process of defining the topics and focus areas for its forthcoming report on AI and related aspects of data governance.

The BPF Cybersecurity will review the feedback on its initial selection of cybersecurity incidents for further analysis. Participate to the call and join one of the teams that will unpack the incidents.

BPF Cybersecurity page: https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/bpf-cybersecurity 

Registration https://intgovforum.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0sdO2rqD8vE9f4MHMi5bQUYo…

Dynamic Coalition on Environment (DCE) Global Interactive Session on - Urbanisation, Biodiversity & Mental Health 
Brief - The online interactive session will focus on how rapid and unchecked urbanisation is depleting green cover and causing loss of biodiversity which in turn is affecting mental health and human behaviour, and how technology can be used to help in this regard. 

Speaker - Dr. Shalini Dhyani, Senior Scientist, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research - National Environmental Engineering Research Institute

On 25 May, the Internet Safety, Security and Standards Coalition (IS3C)'s coordinator Wout de Natris intervened in the UN-organized Thematic Deep Dive on Trust and Security. The deep dives are organised within the Global Digital Compact process; IS3C was invited to share its recommendations and guidelines as part of GDC consultations. 

See the statement HERE. 

To Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Initiatives (NRIs) , and especially Youth NRIs:

YCIG is pleased to return to a regular schedule with biweekly updates. These updates are specifically designed to provide news, events, and opportunities of interest to youth who are eager to participate in the field of Internet Governance. 

Following an intensive period facilitating youth-led workshop proposals, YCIG continues to recognize and highlight the significant contributions made by young leaders in this dynamic sphere. 

The IGF Policy Network on Internet Fragmentation (PNIF) invites all interested stakeholders to join its second webinar on "Internet User Experience" on 24 May, 17:00-18:30 UTC. 

Regsister HERE

More Info, Including Agenda and Discussants, HERE

The IGF's Policy Network on Internet Fragmentation (PNIF) held its first open thematic call on "Internet Governance & Coordination" on May 16th, 13:00 UTC. 

The Internet Standards, Security and Safety Coalition (IS3C), an IGF dynamic coalition, is conducting a global study into whether governments, industry and other large organisations demand security by design when purchasing ICTs. They invite all stakeholders, if they you know of procurement documents within their country or organisation, to please share this knowledge with IS3C's research team! You can learn more through the link to IS3C's website below.

The PNIF and UK Department for Science, Innovation & Technology are co-organising a session at RightsCon titled 'Avoiding fragmentation: Options and tradeoffs in support of the interoperable global Internet' on Tuesday 6 June at 11:30 CST / 17:30 UTC for 60 minutes. A joining link will be available on the RightsCon website for registered participants.

The 2023 IGF BPF Cybersecurity is proposing a deep dive into a selection of high-profile cybersecurity incidents.

Stakeholders are invited to use the below form to propose incidents for consideration in the research. Please provide as much information as you can to assist with the decision making. If you have any questions, please reach out to the BPF mailing list.

We look forward to diving into this year's initiative together with you all! Please submit your suggestions by Tuesday 16 May 2023 for consideration.

YCIG are pleased to return to our regular schedule with our biweekly updates! These updates are specifically designed to provide news, events, and opportunities of interest to youth who are eager to participate in the field of Internet Governance. Following an intensive period facilitating youth-led workshop proposals, we continue to recognize and highlight the significant contributions made by young leaders in this dynamic sphere.

The IGF 2023 Best Practice Forum on Cybersecurity is holding its kickoff call Tuesday May 2, 7:00-8:00am UTC. The coordinating team will share the proposed work plan, discuss next steps, and explain how community members and stakeholders can participate in this year's work. 

Learn more here and join! https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/bpf-cybersecurity-kick-off-call

The Internet Standards, Security & Safety Coalition (IS3C) has started an Advisory Panel on the creation of an advisory list with must-deploy Internet standards and ICT best practices to use when procuring ICTs. The coalition is searching for two industry representatives to join the panel.

See IS3C Working Group 5 on the IS3C website for more information!

Details & Contact:

https://is3coalition.org/working-groups

Internet Standards, Security & Safety Coalition (IS3C), an IGF dynamic coalition, is organising a webinar on Education and Skills on cyber security education, Wednesday 24 May at 14.30 UTC. What are the challenges faced? How to align the demand from industry and society with the current offer from tertiary schools and universities? Discuss the future (of our work) with our experts.

For more information: 

The IGF Policy Network on Internet Fragmentation is holding its Kick-off call for the 2023 cycle on 26 April at 14:00-15:00 UTC. All are invited!

To join:

https://intgovforum.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEpdOivrDkpE9WU9gjJAmlkKt…

To learn more:

https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/policy-network-on-internet-fragm…;

The Internet Standards, Security and Safety Coalition (IS3C) submitted its annual report. It shows the progress the DC made in 2022 and its ambitions for 2023. Learn about: solutions to solve the skill gap in tertiary cyber security education between the curriculum on offer and the demands made by industry and society; the announcement of a public consultation on global research into IoT security by design policy, in which a host of best practices and policy recommendations are presented.

The Dynamic Coalition on the Sustainability of Journalism and News Media (DC-Sustainability) will hold its annual online planning meeting with its members on Monday, 30 January, at 1000 hrs U.S. Eastern Time (1500 hrs UTC) via Zoom. The meeting will discuss the dynamic coalition’s goals for 2023, get members to share ideas for the IGF process, and talk about potential collaboration around the UNESCO Global Conference in February and the World Press Freedom Day event in New York in May.

On 6 December 2022, the IGF's Best Practice Forum (BPF) on Cybersecurity delivered remarks at the Informal Inter-Sessional Meetings of the UN Open-Ended Working Group on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies. Speaking specifically in a session on "Confidence-building measures", the BPF highlighted the role of effective leadership, stakeholder inclusion, and clarity in the interplay of norms and lega

IS3C’s goal is to make the Internet more secure and safer through speeding up the deployment of security-related internet standards and best practices. At IGF 2022 IS3C presented its first report ‘Closing the gap between the needs of the cybersecurity industry and the skills of tertiary education graduates’. The report provides insight into the, global, gap and potential solutions to close it. Two working groups, security by design – Internet of Things and, Data governance and security, announced their reports for the winter of 2023.

The IGF Dynamic Coalition (DC) on Digital Health is one of the co-organizers of India's first Global Digital Health Summit. The Global Digital Health Summit, Expo & Innovation Awards will be held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, on 28th & 29th October 2022. Read more below!

PNIF Webinar - What does Internet fragmentation mean to you? Identifying Internet fragmentation and its key stakeholders. The IGF Policy Network on Internet Fragmentation (PNIF) is hosting a webinar to explore how different stakeholders understand and define Internet fragmentation.

When? Wednesday 19 October, 1330-1530 UTC

Details at https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/policy-network-internet-fragment…

The IGF Dynamic Coalition, the Internet Standards, Security and Safety Coalition (IS3C) announced the start of two new Working Groups. WG5 on prioritizing and listing Internet standards and ICT best practices. The creation of this “top 40” and ICT standards repository is led by Wout de Natris. WG 6 on Data Governance is led by Louise Marie Hurel. This WG will perform a comparative study into data governance regulations and present policy recommendations at the UN level.

Healthcare is moving digital. In 2028, it will be 50 years since the Alma Ata declaration, which promised to achieve 'Health for All by 2000'. We are still not there. We must now take steps to ensure that there is 'Digital Health For All by 2028'. This pledge was drafted by DC-Digital Health to work towards the same.

We invite suggestions and encourage you to support as a signatory to this pledge. Organizations supporting the same may send a high-resolution logo to [email protected]. 

The Policy Network on Meaningful Access and its Multistakeholder Working Group of experts (PNMA MWG) invite any interested stakeholder to contribute to its Call for Inputs by sharing cases and practices under this year’s three focus areas of work:

The BPF Cybersecurity published a paper "Mythbusting: cybercrime versus cybersecurity" and invites the community to review and provide feedback. The goal of the paper is to help stakeholders understand the key policy differences between cybersecurity and cybercrime such that their advocacy strategies can better align with a human rights centric approach to internet governance. Today, cybersecurity and cybercrime policy practitioners are often asked to “stretch” between both domains. This poses risks in terms of approaches that may not cleanly translate from one to the other.

Meetings of the IGF Policy Network on Meaningful Access (PNMA) are open to anyone interested in joining!

The main objective is to continue the discussion of the 2022 PNMA, building upon last year's work on: - Connectivity (infrastructure and business models, analysed within the framework of the Roadmap for Digital Cooperation) - Digital Inclusion (accessibility and multilingualism), with special attention to local contents in local languages - Capacity Development (technical skills training). 

ArmSIG held its sixth capacity building programme, seeking to impart knowledge and skills to allow participants to more effectively participate in national and global Internet governance processes. Sessions were open to all stakeholder groups, with student attendance especially encouraged, and led by academics and IT experts, as well as representatives from the UN IGF Secretariat, the Armenia IGF, Global ISOC, and ICANN. This year, the programme was separated into two main parts.

The BPF has shared findings from its recent work on international cyber norms agreements during the 'Informal Dialogue with the Chair of the Open-Ended Working Group on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies 2021-2025'. READ THE BPF's REMARKS HERE: https://www.intgovforum.org/en/filedepot_download/56/22049

The dialogue took place Thursday 21 July, 9am-12pm EST.

For more information on BPF Cybersecurity and the UN OEWG: 

The IGF's

On June 20th, the IGF Dynamic Coalition on Data and Trust (DC-DT) hosted a workshop at EuroDIG entitled "DNS Abuse – the consequences of definitions". Under the moderation of Oxford Information Labs and with participants from the European Commission, DNS Abuse Institute, CENTR, EURid and the Oxford Internet Institute, the session problematized how attempting to arrive at consensus on a definition of DNS Abuse has been challenging.

On June 20th, the IGF Dynamic Coalition on Internet Universality Indicators (DC-IUI) hosted the workshop at EuroDIG, "Assessing Internet Universality ROAM-X indicators to advance digital transformation in Euro

#ShePersisted, a participant in the IGF's Best Practice Forum on Gender & Digital Rights, has recently released the Digital Resilience Toolkit, which brings together existing resources for digital security and tactics for preventing and handling the online harms most commonly experienced by women leaders online. It targets advice specifically for women occupying or seeking leadership positions, activists, election consultants working with women’s campaigns, journalists, and the broader international women’s community, including resources and guidance on responding to do

This year the Steering Committee of the Internet Rights & Principles Coalition, an IGF dynamic coalition, is focusing on Article 5 (Freedom of Expression & Information on the Internet), Article 18 (Right to Legal Remedy and Fair Trial for actions involving the Internet) and Article 19 (Right to Appropriate Social and International Order for the Internet) of the IRPC Charter and highlightin

The Dynamic Coalition on Digital Health has released a set of women's health guidelines for public comment. Please share your inputs by 30 June 2022 at: [email protected].

These are perhaps the first guidelines for end-users developed by a team of multi-disciplinary experts! The hope is to nudge a few million women to take charge of their health through this initiative.

All are encouraged to share the guidelines widely.

The Dynamic Coalition on Internet & Jobs (DC-Jobs) is focused on leveraging the Internet for job creation. The group's efforts - including reports and meetings - aim to find ways and means to build on the agenda of leveraging the Internet to boost local economies and job creation. The DC has hosted the Government Industry Dialogue with participation from key ministries, and also held an online panel during the main session at the IGF.

The UN IGF Dynamic Coalition on Data Driven Health Technologies will be hosting a series of open, public events through June and July 2022. 
All are invited to join the summer symposium and discussion series on the following dates:

The IGF Best Practice Forum (BPF) on Cybersecurity is getting its own workshop at RightsCon 2022! The session takes places on 9 June at 21:15-22:15 UTC. It will discuss past iterations of the BPF as well as collect input for this year's work. See the full description and link to register and join below.

“CyberNorms work, kind of? Building a multidisciplinary community of cybernorms practitioners”

The Dynamic Coalition on the Sustainability of Journalism and News Media (DC-Sustainability), in collaboration with the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy and the Global Forum for Media Development, is organizing a Community Lab session at RightsCon 2022. The session titled “Frenemies: Reinventing the Big Tech versus Journalism dynamic” will examine several initiatives that are attempting to build trust in