IGF 2016: Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth

The Internet of Things (IoT) covers a broad spectrum of technological innovations, concepts and applications, but essentially refers to the next phase in the process of networking the devices that we rely on. The IoT builds on the success of earlier development (the Internet as we know it), but brings with it new challenges and potential changes. 

This discussion will bring together participants from both the established IG technical and standardisation spaces (the IETF, the RIRs) and those in working in the evolving IoT space to consider the following questions: 

- What are the needs of IoT vendors and operators in Internet governance and administration? 
- Can the existing structures of Internet governance, both technical and administrative, adapt to meet the needs of the IoT?
- To what extent are openness and transparency important as Internet governance evolves to accommodate IoT?
- Recognising that not all IoT applications rely on common open Internet standards, what are the benefits of an open model over the choice for proprietary technology, also in terms of security, interoperability and continuity of service?
- What are the implications of widespread deployment of IoT for “the Internet as we know it”?

Speakers provisionally confirmed:

Cath, Corinne
Hogewoning, Marco
Lazanski, Dominique
Ogorkiewics, Anya
Wilson, Paul

In recent years, the number of demands to governments pressing to start regulating OTTs have increased significantly. These demands aim to extend the traditional regulation applied to telecommunications and broadcasting services to these new Internet-based OTTs. But the concept of OTT is an open typology, with no clear nor precise definition, that can justify the regulation of any activity performed on the Internet, and even the Internet itself.

In this sense, this workshop aims to bring to the table the discussion about the existing regulation on Internet service providers, leaving behind the old fashioned debate on “competitive services vs. complementary”. The discussion will be lead with a clear objective: moving towards a precise definition of what are the service providers on the Internet, if the term OTT is indicated to refer to these and also it will seek to clearly demarcate the consequences of moving forward on specific regulations for this sector. Thus, this global and not just regional issue, will be on the IGF agenda, allowing us to deliver a clear message about how specific regulation can harm the sector and its inside competition, a key element to attract innovation.

Speakers:

• Raúl Echeberría- ISOC
• Joshua Levy  - Access Now
• Natasha Jackson - GSMA
• Vinton Cerf - Google
• Bertrand De la Chapelle -  ‎Internet & Jurisdiction
• Eric Loeb - AT&T
• Shita Laskami - Hivos
• Alexander Riobó - Telefónica
• Robert Pepper - Facebook

Moderator: Gonzalo Navarro - ALAI

Remote moderator: Javier Pallero - Access Now

This Workshop will provide an overview (primarily for a non-ICANN audience) of the significant process that ICANN has recently facilitated concerning the IANA Stewardship transition and the agreement to new Accountability measures. 

It will look at the unique and important multi-stakeholder process used in the Working Groups that formed the IANA transition proposal and the Accountability proposals and will report on the second stream of work on Accountability that is being taken forward by the Cross Community Working Group (CCWG). 

The session will stimulate debate and discussion on the importance of this work in the overall context of Internet Governance and the lessons the process may have for other complex policy issues. 

While the IANA Transition and associated Accountability measures do not directly link to inclusive or sustainable growth; the stability and openness of the Internet - which the transition helps ensure - does, and thus is significant.

Speakers provisionally confirmed:

Badii, Farzaneh
CAVALLI, OLGA
Cavalli, Olga
Nguyen, M-H Carolyn 
Okutani, Izumi
Olufuye, Jimson
Sanchez, Leon 
Shears, Matthew
Tropina, Tatiana

Bandwidth management has been an evolving concern for the Internet community around the globe. The rapid introduction of new Internet applications and services, the fast growth of Internet-connected devices and more recently the changes in the nature of the demand for multimedia content in terms of the peak-to average data rate - which has, according to some studies, increased from a factor of 2.9 to 6.5 -, created new challenges for the rational management of the networks. 
Video streaming has been one of the main drivers of the fast increasing bandwidth demand. Nowadays, several policy initiatives aim at stimulating and supporting inter-locations transport services done by IXPs' participants, allowing the traffic to stay in the location. One of those initiatives has became widely accepted among the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) community. The main idea of this initiative is to enhance the Content Delivery Network (CDN) chain, implementing CDN servers within the large and medium ISPs' infrastructure which are closer to the end users. This could leverage Internet providers operation multiplying their capacity to provide Internet access with high quality standards.
The workshop objective is to explore advantages and disadvantages of implementing autonomous systems connected to existing Internet Exchange Points to provide an alternative content source for medium and small ISPs, in regions with lower economic capacity, which are less attractive to large ISPs.

Speakers provisionally confirmed:

Coffin, Jane
Faulhaber, Henrique
Goslings, Bastiaan
Kashiwakura, Milton
Parajo, Eduardo

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) comprise just under 60 countries and territories which are some of the most vulnerable places on the planet. The 2004 Indian Ocean "Boxing Day Tsunami" affected many Small Islands within the larger countries of Thailand, Indonesia and India as well as Sri Lanka and the Maldives - resulting in hundreds of thousands of casualties and missing and billions of dollars in property and infrastructural damage. In the Caribbean country of Haiti on 12 January 2010, within a few minutes, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake resulted in a deathtoll of well over 150,000, many thousands more injured and causing widespread and catastrophic devastation to property and infrastructure throughout the country - in particular, the most inhabited and populous capital of Port-au-Prince. SIDS have had a long and devastating history with hurricanes/cyclones with many thousands of lives lost, billions of dollars in property and infrastructural damage in dozens of countries & territories such as Vanuatu (2015), Grenada (2004) and Jamaica (1988).

What is increasingly clear is that Information & Communications Technologies (ICTs), Broadband & the Internet (in particular) are BOTH affected by & IMPORTANT IN natural disasters, search & rescue efforts and both the immediate and medium-term recovery efforts in the the aftermath.

How can we change or improve the current approach to Broadband, Wireless technologies and the Internet - in general within SIDS - to both mitigate against infrastructure failure and assist with reducing the enormous human and financial cost of disasters?

This year’s Roundtable will bring together activists and experts from the SIDS regions to discuss, explore and find solutions to these questions.

The UN Group of Governmental Experts on Information Security has become a key forum for discussing global cybersecurity. The GGE process will launch its latest round of talks in Fall 2016. These discussions will include further development of voluntary, non-binding norms for States to improve the security and stability of ICTs. To date, the GGE process has almost exclusively involved States. Meanwhile, the Internet community has been mostly absent from these discussions. To the extent that the Internet community looks to the UN, the focus has been on WSIS and ICT for Development discussions in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial). The GGE, in contrast, is a First Committee process.

Among the central achievements of the GGE to date is the elaborating of cybernorms. Among the commitments in the GGE’s 2015 Report was its endorsement of norms that States would (i) not conduct or knowingly support ICT activity that intentionally damages the use and operation of critical infrastructure, (ii) not knowingly target another State’s CSIRT, nor (iii) use their own CSIRTs for malicious activity. 

The purpose of this round table is to build a bridge between the Cybernorms discourse and Internet governance debates. At present, the two conversations have rarely intersected, but just as decisions on Internet Governance impact the security and stability of cyberspace, so too can the GGE’s adoption of cybernorms or other recommendations impact Internet Governance in significant ways. This Roundtable will include experts on both communities to create an open exchange of information, present the evolution of both debates, and ask deep questions about collaboration.

Speakers confirmed:

Hollis, Duncan
Kovacs, Anja
Hinojosa, Pablo
Maciel, Marilia
Okutani, Izumi
Pisanty, Alejandro
Poetranto, Irene
Rõigas, Henry

This workshop identifies new practices in speeding up implementation of standards, through expanding existing practices, exploring new solutions and ways of cooperation to encourage users and providers to use modern standards, as a collaborative exercise by businesses, technical community, civil society, academia and governments. 

Digital technologies have spread rapidly across the world, acknowledges the WorldBank Development Report “Digital Dividends”. In many instances digital technologies have boosted economic growth, expanded job opportunities and improved service delivery. Yet their aggregate impact has fallen short and benefits are unevenly distributed in the world.

Inclusive and sustainable growth can only be accomplished within a trusted and robust internet ecosystem. The Internet infrastructure is its corner stone, operating based upon a set of core standards and protocols, including TCP/IP Protocol Suite, Domain Name System (DNS) and routing protocols. These layers could be regarded global public goods.

As such, the Internet only works properly if its underlying values – openness, universality, interoperability and accessibility – are guaranteed and if it facilitates the main objectives of data security: confidentiality, integrity and availability. For this purpose many standards were developed by the technical community: IPv6, DNSSEC, TLS, DKIM, SPF and DMARC

It is vital that users can rely on the fundamental Internet protocols and standards functioning properly. The problem nowadays is not the lack of those standards, but the effective implementation falling short. Based on good practices in various parts of the world, our ultimate aim is to constitute a community of expertise on implementing these internet standards.

Speakers provisionally confirmed:

Coffin, Jane
Goslings, Bastiaan
Kolkman, Olaf