Digital sovereignty – is Europe going in the right direction to keep Internet infrastructure secure and open? – FA 01 Sub 03 2022

21 June 2022 | 12:30 - 13:15 CEST | SISSA Main Auditorium | |
Consolidated programme 2022 overview / Day 1

Proposals: #58

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Session teaser

Countries around the world are increasingly using the term “digital sovereignty” to justify strikingly different policies to control how the Internet works – but which of these understandings pose the greatest threat to the Internet as we know it?

Session description

“Digital Sovereignty” is a term that has been used to justify an array of policy objectives, ranging from anti-monopoly legislation and data privacy laws all the way to legislation to disconnect a country from the global Internet. This session will explore the diverging understandings of the term “digital sovereignty” around the world, placing the use of the term in Europe within a global context. The discussion will seek to identify the greatest opportunities and threats to the Internet associated with this new term. Participants will address the following questions:

• How do countries around the world use the term “digital sovereignty” differently?
• How do key European players use the term?
• How is sovereignty framed – sovereignty from who or what?
• When does “digital sovereignty” policy harm Internet infrastructure and how?
• What would the imposition of geographic borders mean for the global Internet?
• When is the ambiguous nature of the term harmful or helpful?
• How any fragmentation that happens "outside of" the Internet reflects on the Internet?

Format

Panelists will share their views on the use of the term digital sovereignty in key countries and regions as well as the risks and opportunities this poses to the open, globally connected, secure and trustworthy Internet. This will be followed by an interactive discussion with attendees.

Further reading

• “Russia’s Quest for Digital Sovereignty”
• “The European Union and the Search for Digital Sovereignty”
• 2020 State of the Union Address by President von der Leyen
• “Safeguarding European values with digital sovereignty”
• “Sovereignty 2.0” by Anupam Chander

People

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Focal Point

• David Frautschy

Focal Points take over the responsibility and lead of the session organisation. They work in close cooperation with the respective Subject Matter Expert (SME) and the EuroDIG Secretariat and are kindly requested to follow EuroDIG’s session principles

Organising Team (Org Team) List Org Team members here as they sign up.

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• Vittorio Bertola
• David Frautschy
• Alève Mine
• Charles Martinet

Key Participants

• Johannes Thumfart
• Andrea García Rodríguez
• Florence G'Sell
• Jaromír Novák, Advisor to the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, for digitalization, modern technologies and telecommunication

Key Participants are experts willing to provide their knowledge during a session – not necessarily on stage. Key Participants should contribute to the session planning process and keep statements short and punchy during the session. They will be selected and assigned by the Org Team, ensuring a stakeholder balanced dialogue also considering gender and geographical balance. Please provide short CV’s of the Key Participants involved in your session at the Wiki or link to another source.

Moderator

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Remote Moderator

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Reporter

Reporters will be assigned by the EuroDIG secretariat in cooperation with the Geneva Internet Platform. The Reporter takes notes during the session and formulates 3 (max. 5) bullet points at the end of each session that:

• are summarised on a slide and presented to the audience at the end of each session
• relate to the particular session and to European Internet governance policy
• are forward looking and propose goals and activities that can be initiated after EuroDIG (recommendations)
• are in (rough) consensus with the audience

Current discussion, conference calls, schedules and minutes

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• dates for virtual meetings or coordination calls
• short summary of calls or email exchange

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Messages

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Video record

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Transcript

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