- Session Type (Workshop, Open Forum, etc.):
Round Table, 60min
- Title:
Has it become a luxury to disconnect?
- Date & Time:
12 November 2018, 12:30-13:30
- Organizer(s):
Cathleen Berger, Mozilla
- Chair/Moderator:
Cathleen Berger, Mozilla
- Rapporteur/Notetaker:
Solana Larsen, Mozilla
- List of speakers and their institutional affiliations (Indicate male/female/ transgender male/ transgender female/gender variant/prefer not to answer):
Ephraim Kenyanito, Article 19, male
Shashank Mohan, SFLC, male
Solana Larsem, Internet Health Report, Mozilla, female
- Theme (as listed here):
Cybersecurity, Trust, and Privacy
- Subtheme (as listed here):
Data Privacy and Protection
- Please state no more than three (3) key messages of the discussion. [150 words or less]
The continued push for meaningful access comes against the background of a new digital divide: the one where protecting your privacy comes at significant economic cost.
While privacy is a fundamental human right, technological developments such as smart cities, smart homes and other connected devices, or digital ID initiatives all seem to raise the bar of being able to disconnect and assume one's agency.
Agency is a precondition to reinstate trust in technological change and the ongoing digitisation of our lives, protecting privacy is therefore of paramount importance.
- Please elaborate on the discussion held, specifically on areas of agreement and divergence. [150 words]
We discussed the paradox of wanting to connect everyone, while understanding that ubiquitous technology carries a risk of permanent loss of choice, the inability to opt out of digital technology and tracking by corporate or public entities.
We agreed that privacy is important, but acknowledged that convenience and social norms hold high currency in human society. We are only beginning to push back as civil society on excessive use of technology in the family realm as well as in public and civic spaces.
Disconnecting is a luxury that is increasingly unattainable at all levels of society, but disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable worldwide. We touched on national digital ID systems, such as Aadhaar, children’s rights, mobile finance, LGTBTQ+ rights, free speech, and we lamented public and private expectations that all movements and interactions must be recorded in the name of commerce, national security or efficiency.
- Please describe any policy recommendations or suggestions regarding the way forward/potential next steps. [100 words]
- Encourage the changing of social norms around sharing information, for instance parents sharing images of children.
- Hold governments accountable to continuously revise and improve digital services and policies with the input of civil society and technical community.
- Without privacy there is no human dignity, which is an absolute right. On that basis policies should challenged in courts on necessary and proportionate principles.
- Support arts, culture, and storytelling that challenges norms and helps envision a positive future with technology and the internet.
- Empower public libraries as educational centers to support digital security and web literacy, and help disseminate curriculums.
- What ideas surfaced in the discussion with respect to how the IGF ecosystem might make progress on this issue? [75 words]
- IGF can contribute to international solidarity by reaching out to governments in support of the work of civil society allies who face closing of civic spaces.
- Safer Internet Day should be strengthened and promoted to continue raising awareness worldwide and create a window for local civil society allies to engage with government actors.
- To resist fear-mongering in communications, and focus on empowerment and responsibility.
- Please estimate the total number of participants.
50
- Please estimate the total number of women and gender-variant individuals present.
24
- To what extent did the session discuss gender issues, and if to any extent, what was the discussion? [100 words]
Gender was not a primary focus of the conversation, but it surfaced as part of a conversation around who is vulnerable in society when it comes to excessive tracking or inability to disconnect, as well as in education and family dynamics surrounding childcare.