IGF 2020 Second Open Consultations and MAG Meeting - BPF Data New Technologies

The following are the outputs of the captioning taken during an IGF virtual intervention. 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, but should not be treated as an authoritative record. 

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>>CONCETTINA CASSA:  Hello, everybody.  My name is Concettina Cassa.  I work for AGID, it's the Agency for Digital Italy of Prime Minister office based in Italy.

 I am MAG member, and the co facilitator of the Best Practice on Data and New Technologies.

 I give you a short overview of the activity that the BPF has done in these three years.  But first of all, let me just tell you few words about the BPF, what's the BPF and what's the main objective.

 So BPF actually provides a platform of experts and stakeholders that can discuss and exchange their views on policy to address Internet issues.

 Since 2014, because in that year they were actually activated, the BPFs have discussed topics relevant to the future of the Internet with the aim of facilitating dialogue between stakeholders and also to collect emerging and existing practices and to address issues and policies and themes related to Internet governance.

 BPF are free, so you can join, you can share your views, and so on.  And you can find more information on how to participate and on the status of the BPF that have been activated here on the website.  You find the link there.  They are four.  Four BPF have been active this year other than the data and new technologies.  Cybersecurity, gender access, and also local content.

 So let me turn a little bit to the BPF on Data and New Technologies in Internet context.  The BPF started in 2018 with another name.  It was BPF on IoT, Big Data, artificial intelligence.  And the main objective on the first year of activity was try to have an efficient and effective stakeholder dialogue on policy challenges related to the use of IoT, Big Data, and artificial intelligence.  You can find more information on the website.  That is the BPF output document that has been released after the global event we had in Paris.

 The second year, on 2019, the best practices actually try to discuss, to share views on how to enhance justified trust in IoT, Big Data, and AI application, and also on how to stimulate their use to address societal challenges that otherwise will be more difficult to address.  

 There are two documents containing all discussion held on 2019 and the results of the events that is available on the website.

 So what about the 2020 BPF on Data and New Technology in Internet context?  This year actually the BPF has changed a little bit the focus.  Starting from the part that collection and analysis of a vast variety and the high volume of data from connected devices, networks and applications actually can contribute to solve complex problems and facing global challenges.  There are several concerns on fact that the same data that are collected can be misused and also put users in a weak and powerful position.

 So this year, the BPF is focusing on how user data is collected, analyzed and used, and what are the best practice to ensure the data is used to bring benefit and not to harm users.  You can find more information on the website.

 Now I give the floor to Emanuela Girardi  that is co-facilitator of the BPF.  She can give you more information on the activity that we are going to plan for this year.

 Emanuela.

 >>EMANUELA GIRARDI:   Hello, everybody, and thank you, Titi.

 Okay.  So this year what we will be doing is to focus on how data and new technologies are collected and are managed.  So what we did is that first we started identifying which one were the main issues and concerns related to data and new technologies.  And in particular, we tried to understand how data are collected, how data are stored, how you can unlock the value of data, and most of all, how you can share data and you can share the value.  So we tried to answer to some of the main questions that are related to data management and data process.  What kind of data are collected, which one is the legal basis used for data collection, how data is protected, how user data are protected.  And basically, I mean, trying to answer to these questions, we are trying to identify which one are the best practice related to data and new technologies.

 The second step was to identify which one are the relevant stakeholders and the existing stakeholder dialogues.  And the last step is to collect case studies and to document how these existing project and initiatives can address the concerns and the issues that have been identified related to the data process.

 So this year, unfortunately, is -- will be remembered as the year of COVID-19 crisis, and we have seen lots of initiatives focusing on the use of new technologies to collect and analyze data and especially personal data.  And as we saw during this global crisis, the health of citizen usually is being considered like kind of a higher priority than the privacy of citizens.  But what we need to keep in mind is that we need to protect user fundamental rights and in the long term.  So basically we will see lots of best practice projects during the Best Practice Forum that have been collected and analyzed related to COVID-19 analysis of data, and we will present them and we will assess them and we will be trying to -- we will try to identify which one are the best practice related to this topic.

 Now I give the word to Wim, and he is the supporting consultant with BPF and will tell you how you can join BPF and how you can be involved in the discussion.

 Thank you.

 >>WIM DEGEZELLE:   Thank you, Emanuela.  Indeed, the participation of stakeholders is very important for the work of a Best Practice Forum.  I'd like to remind and repeat that participate in the work of BPF activities is free and open to anyone interested in the topic, whether you belong to a specific stakeholder group or live in a different part of the world.

 You can participate to the work of the BPF by joining the BPF's virtual meetings.  I refer to the website where you can find the dates and the links and other practical information on how to join these meetings.

 The BPF Data and New Technologies is having virtual meetings roughly every three months.  The next one is planned for the end of the month of June.

 In addition, I really recommend that you can join the BPF mailing list.  The link that's provided on the slide is where you can subscribe to the mailing list.  If you're on the mailing list, you will be able to follow the discussions on the -- in between the different virtual meetings, but also you will be kept up-to-date on the latest developments and activities of the BPF, including invitations for the virtual meetings.

 It is important for the BPF that stakeholders participate, it is important that you participate because you can share your experience, you can share your knowledge on the topic of data and new technologies.

 In addition to that, you can help us to identify and reach out to all the relevant specialists and organizations and stakeholders that are working in this field so they can help to make and build this BPF.

 As mentioned, the BPF will later on actively start to look for case studies and written contributions.  Also, and then we are probably around September, the BPF -- the BPF will summarize its findings in a draft output document, and publish that again for input -- for feedback and input from different stakeholders, from all stakeholders. 

 All this work will then culminate and feed into a BPF workshop that will be organized during the IGF meeting 2020 in November.

 On the next slide, I list again the different links that are the most important for this Best Practice Forum.  The second one is the link to -- the direct link to the BPF web page where you can find the latest developments, recent updates, and also links and dates for meetings, meeting summaries, et cetera.

 The link below is where we can subscribe to BPF mailing list.

 With this, we come to the end of this short update on the Best Practice Forum Data and New Technologies in an Internet context.  On behalf of the coordinating team, Titi, Emanuela and myself, I would like to thank you for your attention, and also ask you not to hesitate to contact us if you have ideas for this BPF or if you have specific questions you want to ask us.  You can do this via the mail list, which of course we recommend, or you can contact us directly via the email address that you can find on this slide.

 Thank you again for participating and following this short presentation, and I hope to see you soon at one of the BPF sessions.