How I am affected by Internet Governance – 2017
6 June 2017 | 10:00 - 11:00 | Grand Ballroom, Swissotel, Tallinn, Estonia |
Programme overview 2017
Moderated open mic session: How I am affected by Internet Governance – Transcript
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>> GERT AUVAART: And we will continue on with our programme into the open mic session.
Now, when we started these preparations, this -- and when people were asking me to moderate this, this I was afraid of the most because I have absolutely no idea how to do it. So I asked Olivier Creplin-Leblond how to do it. He said there are two microphones. One is there and the other one is there. If you want to speak, queue up behind the microphones. And we take remote moderated questions. And I ask you to kindly keep your remarks short and concise. I ask you to be provocative but at the same time keep your ideas productive.
With this, we start the open mic session. We have one hour before the coffee break and one more remark before I take the question.
The badges that you have around your neck, they include the full programme and they are useful in that sense. And secondly this is the entrance ticket in the evening to the gala. So if you show up tonight without this, you might not get to the handicraft Estonian beer and wine, so I suggest that you keep this with you.
So I open the open mic session. The microphones are here. If you are interested I ask you to queue up and we will spend one hour on the thoughts that you have prior to the EuroDIG discussions to share with the group.
Olivier?
>> OLIVIER CREPIN-LEBLOND: Good morning, everyone. And yes, I did give him a few ideas on how to run this.
I wear several hats, but one of them is being on the board of EuroDIG association. And I wanted to mention one thing, which is that yesterday and the day before yesterday, youth participants have met in what they called YOUthDIG. And there was also another part that dealt with, was it Copyfighters. And I wanted them to all stand up so you can see them. Because they did two days of amazing work. So if you could just stand up. All the youth participants.
(Applause)
So it's not just to tell them how great they have done, and I was really impressed by the work that they did, but it's also for you to recognize them. So if they come and ask you a question, be nice to them, because they are really eager and intelligent and they will help us out and continue with the multistakeholder model in the future. But most of all, also, they will be paying our retirement later on. So you've got to be nice to them.
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you, Olivier.
Go ahead, sir.
>> AUDIENCE: My name is Michael Ohea. I'm one of the YOUthDIG participants. And I'm under the impression that this open mic is specifically about the future. I'm sorry about the people behind me if you can't see me.
When it comes to the future or what the future will or won't be like, I have two suggestions. The first corresponds to the fact that we cannot legitimately talk about access to the Internet without addressing sustainability. Energy sustainability, product sustainability, human sustainability. Access and sustainability are intrinsically connected. It would be like trying to address world hunger without addressing food waste.
I want to catalyze a paradigm shift in our community and discourse, one that places sustainability at the core of our work. Simply put, if we don't do this, don't make sustainability a component of the Internet, we will fail. I invite you to join me tomorrow at 2 p.m., for a workshop on sustainable access to make this a reality.
The second and slightly related, involves transcending platitudes when it comes to youth. Those whose future will be affected the most. If we are serious about positive change, we must make the impact on the future of young people a key pillar of our public policymaking.
The question how will this affect future generations should be a required consideration for all decision makers. I don't want to live in a world that was worst than when I was brought into it in 1988. But more importantly, as I approach parenthood I already lose sleep over what I'll say to them if they ever ask me: Who destroyed the world? Now is the time to ensure that I and everyone else never has to answer this question.
Thank you.
(Applause)
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much. If we take the next question from this side and I'll move to you later. Please.
>> AUDIENCE: Michael, thank you for your nice words. And I'm impressed by the story from Siim Sikkut. Clear that Estonia is a leading country and using digitization to support its people. That's so crucial to know that it's important. We also take it beyond borders. In Europe we do that. We have a joint e-Government Action Plan and last week Estonia actually hosted an e-Government conference to make that happen; to get the inspiration to go beyond borders. So that is one thing.
The other thing, and I'm also an ICANN Board Member, what we see is that the Internet is facilitating better collaboration across borders, across the world. And I think it's important that we leave the core of the Internet secure and stable as much as we can.
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much.
We move to this corner and introduce yourself, if you could please introduce yourself in the beginning.
>> AUDIENCE: Louise Bennett, The Chartered Institute for IT.
I wanted to follow on from what was said by the earlier speakers, both about digital ID and sustainable development. I was extremely disappointed that the UN IGF and EuroDIG did not take part in producing this absolutely excellent document, "Principles on identification for sustainability development towards digital age," which was moderated by the World Bank Group and published in February of this year. It has 10 absolutely fundamental principles that are entirely in line with the GDPR and other EU things, on inclusion, design, and governance.
And the three on governance I think are worth just mentioning: Safeguarding privacy security and user rights through a comprehensive legal and regulatory frame work; establishing clear institutional mandates and accountability; and enforcing legal and trust frameworks through independent oversight and adjudication of grievances.
I'd like to see this EuroDIG signing up to this as well as well as the other UN agencies that signed up to this. I think it's really important. And I think one of the very important things about it is it's mainly been drawn up by people in Developing Countries. And so often when you go to the UN IGF, you hear people in Developing Countries saying about things like GDPR: That's simply Europe being protectionist, stopping us from being able to do business in their country. I think if we sign up to these principles, then we're much more likely to have good governance globally. And good governance globally is what is really important. Because you can't be isolated in one country or one part of the world from the rest of the world.
So I would like to get everyone to look at this and EuroDIG to sign up to it.
Thank you.
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much for the kind, remarks.
(Applause)
I move to the gentleman on my right, you have the floor.
>> AUDIENCE: Yes, thank you. You asked us to be a bit provocative, so I try to do so.
While we listened that Internet governance is related with the future. But I think that for youth policies in general and from my experience as a young person, as an activist, as a citizen, it's not part of the future but of the present. It's something that we have to take up at the moment now, as far as possible, as soon as possible.
And, therefore, I'm an online activist and campaigner for the no hate speech movement, because human rights and Democracy needs to be sacred for me and everybody else that we meet online. Because the Internet, it's a public space that needs to be secured. And like the human rights needs to be safe for every one of us.
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much.
I move to the gentleman on my left.
>> AUDIENCE: Yes, thank you very much. Nigel with Hixson. I work for ICANN. But I'd like to say a few words as myself, so to speak.
I'm from the UK. I'm a Londoner, and I'm proud to be a Londoner. I'm also proud to be an advocate for the Internet. And I was inspired by the Estonian President this morning. It's fantastic to have a leader that is passionate, that is intelligent, that is articulate, that stands for freedom, that stands for openness. And sometimes I wish that we could all have leaders like that.
(Applause)
But the point I want to make is for EuroDIG and looking forward to the next couple of days. This is a marvelous institution. The IGF is a marvelous institution. And it's even more marvelous because of the youth. The youth inspires us. In the last two IGFs, the number of young people that have come to the platform, that have come to the microphone, that have made speeches that are our future, it is absolutely fantastic. And I think this EuroDIG has a real sense of anticipation, and it has a real sense of urgency. And I hope that this EuroDIG does one thing, and that's to extol the Internet, to extol the freedom and the ambition and the creativity and the innovation that the Internet brings. To make sure that we do have a global Internet in the future, to make sure that our national strategies don't break down the Internet. That this thing that we have created over the last few years maintains for the benefit of everyone.
Thank you.
(Applause)
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much for the kind words.
I move back to my right. Lady, you have the floor.
>> AUDIENCE: Good morning. My name is (?) And I'm (?) Campaign coordinator of the no hate speech movement in Hungary.
And my address is that Internet governance has always been in the focus of the no hate speech movement. The activists, the supporters of the movement fight against hate speech online through contranarratives, arguments, and even names. We do believe that we can shape the evolution and the use of the Internet by spreading tolerance, respect, and love.
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much.
(Applause)
I wanted to add perhaps also that this chance that you have here is not just to address us, the people in the audience, the 400 of you who are here. But also you are addressing through WebEx the people listening back at home. And it's also streamed live to YouTube. So all relevant messages are most welcome.
I move to the lady on my left.
>> AUDIENCE: (off microphone) I'm from the Youth IGF movement, and so we are representing young people. So I would like to react to Nigel's talk. And I would just like to present our movement and saying that we are collecting voices and gathering young people to talk about different topics about the Internet.
And now I'd just like to ask a question to all of the senior representatives and leaders of the Internet Governance Forum and EuroDIG, and know how we can gather up all suggestions, ideas, and how we can quickly commence our ideas.
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much for the question. I believe the people who it was addressed to are in the room and can deliberate on this in the next two days.
Gentleman, you have the floor.
>> AUDIENCE: Hello. My name is Luigi Gambadela. I'm here in my capacity of the President of China EU. I participate not only in EuroDIG but also in the global events, and have talked many times in the past.
And if you want to speak about the future, I think it's important our community engage much more with China. The Internet in China, China is the most important -- the most number of users in the world are in China. And I would like to see more involvement of European with the Chinese. And I believe this is important. We have to keep an open mind, understand the changes, and commit to discuss, even if they may be some differences, different ideas.
And tomorrow I hope we will have a chance with the flash initiative how we can further deepen the cooperation between Europe and China on Internet governance. I think this will be very important.
Thank you.
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much. Ambassador Schneider, you have the floor.
>> AMBASSADOR SCHNEIDER: Hello, everybody. I'm also wearing several hats, but I forgot all of them at home.
In addition to my role with the Swiss Government, I'm also working with the head this, Sandra and others behind the scenes for EuroDIG.
And another nice task that I inherited this year is that I'm responsible for the global IGF -- for the hosting of the global IGF in December in Geneva. And, of course, this is a heartfelt invitation for all of you to come to Geneva. We have like 30 degrees C today and we will have 2 degrees plus and rain and fog on the 18th to 21st of December. But the mountains are very close, and you have sun, and minus 3 degrees and very nice snow. But not during IGF, only the weekend before and the weekend after of course.
So that was the teaser for all of you to come to the IGF, particularly the young people from Estonia and all over the world. Because also that is probably -- it has proven to be a very useful and inspiring, and inspirational contribution. And talking about Nigel, I'd fully like to support his personal statement also in my personal capacity. And given the things that we all witness in our countries and other countries about people mobilizing for trying to turn back the clock and wishing the world back as it used to be in the 1950s, or '60s, or whenever they thought it was better, I don't really think that this will work out. So, with all the risks and dangers and opportunities that we face with the digital transformation, I think the only way to get to a world that we would still like to live is to actually stand up, speak up, and fight for the good values, fight for equal rights for everybody, fight for opportunities, innovation, do it together. And don't complain back at home in front of your computer. Get new ideas, get constructive and engaged.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much, Thomas. We might get a small chance to listen to Thomas later today as well. But that's all I say about the subject at this point.
Chris, you have the floor.
>> AUDIENCE: Chris Buckridge from the RIPE NCC and also with several hats because I'm very involved with EuroDIG here.
I wanted to echo something that Sandra said earlier, and just sort to keep in mind going forward in the next two days, and that is the EuroDIG and IGF events, generally, are a place where these discussions start. They are not necessarily a place where they finish. And I'm saying this partly because -- I work for RIPE NCC, which works with the RIPE community or facilitates the RIPE community. You heard from people today from ICANN. You've heard today from other people with other international organisations. The decisions that are going to be made about Internet governance are not necessarily going to happen here, but this is where we can actually start to talk to each other, learn a bit about how those processes work, and hopefully get a little bit more involved. So if you want to get more involved with the RIPE community, please come and talk to me during the week. I'm sure there's more opportunities to get more involved in ICANN and there are plenty of ICANN people here to talk to about that.
Don't lose this opportunity to continue to be part of the discussion as we move forward in various venues towards that policymaking end goal.
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much, Chris.
(Applause)
I fully forgot in the beginning of this meeting, with all of the presidents here and everyone else, to introduce myself. I'll introduce myself now. My name is Gert Auvaart. I'm the cyber coordinator at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign affairs. So my daily life is cybersecurity, but when I got this task -- basically, it happened a year ago, when I was still stationed in New York working at the UN. My minister called me, Maria (?) at the time, and asked me to come and work as the cybercoordinator here. And I said yes, absolutely. I had no idea what cyber is, but I'll do it. I will learn it. And there is just one extra thing you have to do, it's something called EuroDIG. Don't worry. It's nothing. It's easy. Just handle it. This are a few people. So here we are today. That's why I'm here.
So, Wolfgang, you have the floor. Sorry.
>> WOLFGANG KLEINWACHTER: Thank you very much. My name is Wolfgang Kleinwachter. I'm a retired professor and academic person, but I belonged to the ten people in the Paris cafe ten years ago, when we said in Europe we need something like the UN IGF. And I'm happy to see that now we can celebrate the tenth anniversary in such a wonderful setting.
What I want to say here is to echo what Thomas Schneider has just said, that within the ten years we have seen a lot of progress, but also developments which go in the wrong direction or, what Thomas said, that there are people here in Europe who want to turn the clock back to the '50s, and '60s, saying that they are better -- they were better before.
Last week in this room there was a big conference called "cyberconflicts," organised also like the NATO centre here, based in Tallinn. And we discussed delegate issues on cybersecurity and conflicts in cyberspace. And one of the speakers said we have moved now from a Cold War to a code war. So a war of codes. So that means that this becomes a space of deep conflict.
And, you know, my reaction was to this statement, yes, the 1960s were a time of Cold War. We had the Belkan War, the Cuba crisis, we had the Vietnam War, the Middle East war, Soviet tanks were in Prague. So this was a difficult time. But at the end of the day we were able to turn this Cold War and this risk into what we call a detente. So the '70s, we saw the Helsinki process. There was a lot of cooperation. And I think this is my conclusion from the debate last week, and I hope EuroDIG can make a contribution. We have to avoid a code war. We have to avoid that we turn back the clock. And we have to move towards a digital detente, so that we can have more cooperation, more exchange and more trust in the Internet, and this means the engagement of everything everybody.
(Applause)
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much. And for those of you who do not know, Wolfgang is also a member of the Global Commission of the Stability of Cyberspace when was launched in Munich this year and is dealing directly with these issues. So if you have questions for him later, you can address him directly.
I move directly to you, madam. You have the floor.
>> AUDIENCE: Thank you. My name is Lousewies van der Lann. I'm a member of the ICANN board. And I just wanted to start by asking my colleagues from ICANN to please stand up, so that you know who we are and so that you can approach us. I liked Chris' invitation to engage with RIPE. I saw Mark Hattan. Nigel is here -- when I saw get up, can you do that? Thanks. You see, we have no authority as the board. Rinali also from the Board. Andrea is back there. Who do I see back there? John, hi. Sorry. You are in the darkness. You've got a hat. Sorry, you're in the darkness, too, Gabriela. So if you want to know about ICANN, come talk to us.
What I want to say here today is that we all think the multistakeholder model is the only way forward for the Internet. And we have to realise that not everybody agrees with that. And unless we make it work, there are going to be more and more calls to move the governance of the Internet towards Governments or to things which are not, in our view, as open, transparent and democratic as the multistakeholder model. So I want to make sure that when we're here, it seems it's very friendly, which is good. I want to make sure that we realise that the problems that we are dealing with are urgent and extremely serious. And if we can't actually start moving forward and seriously solving these problems on the Internet, there is going to be a push from Governments to start taking over, to start influencing.
And so my call to all of you is stay engaged, get other people engaged, whether you are doing it here at EuroDIG, at the IGF, whether you are doing it at ICANN or with RIPE, it doesn't matter because we need all parts of the multistakeholder community to work together. But unless we make it work and unless we make sure that the Internet delivers for everyone and that we solve the problems on the Internet, the governance of the Internet, so on and of are very different things when it comes to governance, is seriously under threat.
So please keep putting all of this wonderful energy and idealism that I see here to good use.
And it's really wonderful to be here. Thank you very much.
(Applause).
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you.
Sir, you have the floor.
>> AUDIENCE: Thank you very much. My name is John Bullard. I come from London and I come from the commercial world of finance, of banking, of business, and particularly of operational risk management.
I'd like to Echo the words of the previous speaker, but there is a big elephant in the room that is called liability. Things will go wrong. And when they do go wrong it's essential that there is a clear process for putting them right. Dispute resolution, the rule of law, these words were all used today. And I think it's very, very important in our country as well, in the UK, a crowded island of 60 million people with our own set of problems. But equally, the Internet is global in its reach and we must have a governance structure, particularly a liability model. And the input from commercial vehicles who are good at managing such risk. I include banks in that. And I very much hope this topic can be raised at IGF and fhoou future meetings like this. It's a pleasure to be here in Estonia. Thank you.
(Applause)
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much.
I add one more story before you gather your courage and queue up. With the preparations of this wonderful dialogue here, we started the process more or less in September. And we had to go basically to all of the multistakeholders to introduce it, and then to tell that this will happen, and that we are doing this and please participate. And we tried to promote and invite all people. About 99 percent of the cases, the first thing I got was: Let's do the EU presidency first and then do this. I said that's wonderful, but this kind of is one month before we start the presidency. So it was very difficult to plan simultaneously because for a large country like Estonia, we are taking a huge undertaking this year with having six months of being in the lead role of the council.
And as you heard from both my President and from Siim Sikkut, we try to put as much emphasis and stress also on the digital and cyberagenda. There are a lot of things that we are working on in the EU that we try to bring our example on the board and to move things forward in this.
But, once again, I encourage you, is there anyone else who wants to address the audience?
There you go, sir.
>> AUDIENCE: Thank you. My name is Elk Fals, and I'm from the Netherlands, and I'm also part of the youth programme.
I've been attending IGF meetings now for a couple of years, two years, actually. And I really like being here and being part of the discussion. But sometimes I really miss the discussion. EuroDIG means European Dialogue on Internet governance, and sometimes I get the feeling that we're listening to the panelists, and not really part of the discussion. So I really encourage you all to be part of the discussion and try to make your voice heard. And don't hide behind a computer. But just participate and try to make the Internet better.
Thank you.
(Applause)
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you.
Sir, you have the floor.
>> AUDIENCE: First of all, as a British national, I want to apologize for the fact that you have the presidency six months earlier than you wanted it. So I didn't vote for that.
I work for the International Federation of Libraries Association. I think everyone in this room is convinced by the Internet, gets it, gets the importance of digital skills. I think the presentation given at the beginning about what is going on in Estonia and the fact that every one is getting access, and that you are constantly going out and bridging that digital divide is important. From our point of view, frin the library point of view, we do have librarians here. I wouldn't make them stand up. I'll make you wonder if your neighbor might be a librarian. It's more exciting.
I beg to think that as we reflect on how to govern the Internet and how to make it work, we think in terms of how we can get everyone online and everyone empowered to actually really gain from what's there. Because in the ends that's the only real objective worth going for it, and that is the objective to improve everyone's lives.
Thank you.
(Applause)
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much.
Lady, you have the floor.
>> AUDIENCE: Good morning. We are here at the venue of the European Dialog on Internet Governance, bringing the whole European idea of the community.
But I want to bring to your attention a smaller idea and initiative. And this is the Southeastern European Dialog on Internet Governance. We call this SEDIG. It was launched three years ago. We had our meeting two weeks ago. And with this occasion, we want to thank EuroDIG for helping us, actually creating this initiative.
And for those of you who are from our region or from outside of our region but would like to know what we are doing, we have a Flash session today at 4:30. So you are encouraged to visit us and learn about the Southeastern European Dialog of Internet Governance.
Thank you.
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much.
The gentleman on my left, please.
>> AUDIENCE: I'm Wilid Al-Saqaf. I'm a board member of the Internet Society.
The vision of the Internet Society is the Internet for every one, everywhere. So I want to remind everyone while we are here at EuroDIG, the Internet affects everyone. Whatever happens in Europe has an impact on various parts, where I come from, in the Middle East, it has an impact on how people live their lives across the world.
So a very simple example is policy. When you think of policy, policy cannot be confined to a region. It has to be global. That's what the Internet is about.
So first of all let me call upon you to visit our booth here at EuroDIG. And I'd like to also call upon our team here, the Internet Society team, to rise, so that they are recognized. Because they have been working quite hard at this event. There. Sally. Nicco. Anyone? Internet Society chapters? Yes. There they are. At least one. Rise. Rise. Thank you very much.
It's important for us to recognize that the efforts being done right now are part and parcel of what we do. And another important thing is the development aspect. Whatever happens in Africa, where we came from recently at the African Internet summit, we realise there are challenges facing parts of world that may not have a voice. So feel free to speak to those who might not be from Europe but have a connection.
And I welcome you to come to one of the sessions that we have, which is the block chain session, taking place today at 5 p.m. and as mentioned earlier, the interaction aspect is crucial. So that session, all those it's educational. It will be totally interactive. I promise you that. No panels at all. You are welcome to come.
So thank you very much.
(Applause)
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much.
Sir, you have the floor.
>> AUDIENCE: Thank you very much. I'd just like to introduce myself. My name is Chengetai Massango. I'm from the United Nations Secretariat of the Internet Governance Forum. I'm happy to be here. This is the oldest national and regional initiative that we have, and it's been an example for others to follow. And at the global IGF, we have also copied a lot of things that have happened here.
I'd just also like to say that, yes, and also here in Estonia, which is, you know, one of the shining examples of how you can use the digital economy and the Internet governance, I'd also just like to say that if anybody wants to come talk to me, approach me, and talk about the global IGF and the youth as well, we have some programmes for the youth. We have a fellowship programme. And if anybody else wants to talk about how to engage in the global IGF for the intercessional activities, just come and say hi.
Thank you.
(Applause)
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much.
Sir, you have the floor.
>> AUDIENCE: Good morning.
Thanks. Thanks for the height change. I'm Patrick Erie from UNICEF.
It's great to see there are so many people here to talk about human rights and the Internet. One of the things I wanted to raise is that while it's great that there are so many youth representatives here, people that we don't have in the room include children, at least as we think about children in terms of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which talks about people under the age of 18.
Children are, of course, our future. But they are also deeply impacted by the decisions that we make now. And children have rights and these rights are exercised online. And that includes rights to privacy, Freedom of Expression, education, health. So I encourage you to think about those rights as we have our discussions over the next two days.
Thank you.
(Applause)
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much.
Madam, you have the floor.
>> AUDIENCE: My name is Corina Carubaru (?) and I'm the permanent representative of Republic of Moldova to the Council of Europe.
I wanted to be as well a commenter as well on the Council of Europe about the information policy of the Council of Europe. I would like to thank the Estonia Government for being a very generous owner and host of this big event.
Secondly, I would like to say that the Council of Europe, however, has an Internet governance strategy. But this strategy in fact demonstrated to us that we need to promote multistakeholder much more. But at the same time, to understand the responsibility of all stakeholders, including Governments and business.
And recently we are negotiating to establish a platform between the Council of Europe and business enterprises, and I think it's really very important to emphasize that we need to talk about freedoms, about responsibilities, but most -- and most importantly, to understand each other. Because we are promoting adopting recommendations, all of them should be implemented by the Governments, but at the end of the day it's not just the Governments but all the national stakeholders. So I'll invite you to think about -- more about our responsibility at the national level and regional and International level.
Thank you.
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much, Ambassador.
(Applause)
I don't see anyone queuing. And as an Estonian diplomat, what is sort of encoded in me, if there is silence and I need to talk, then I'll talk about the UN Security Council campaign. So to avoid that, I suggest that you queue up, otherwise I'll go into the same speech mode with the Security Council.
We are running in 2019 the elections for 2020, '21. We would bring the digital agenda to the highest security vote of the world.
I can continue unless I one approaches the microphones.
If I take -- yes. Absolutely. We have never been to a small country. We want to have our views expressed at the UN. So this is something that we are striving for.
But yes, there are several conferences that have been held both in this very hall and different others this week and the week before. As was mentioned by Wolfgang, we had four days of Cycon, which was the annual cyber conference which was held by the NATO center. Lots of sort of most important thinkers in the field of cyber from both the private and public Sector and academia were present. And then once again juggling the different ideas.
One of the items of course this year that they were discussing and which got a lot of attention is something that was actually prepared here over the course of the few past years, and it's called the Tallinn Manual. The Tallinn Manual, if you have not heard about it, it's a guidebook on how International law applies to cyberspace. And the second edition, which was launched now, this year, focuses specifically to cyber operations during peace time. So those of you interested in also the cyber aspect of the future of the Internet, I suggest that you dig into it and sort of buy the book. We are not selling it. It's the Cambridge Press in the UK, so I'm promoting them,but it's an excellent book compiling views of 20 different professors. And what makes it different from other sort of guidelines of that nature is that -- it has something like 600 pages. I don't remember the exact number of paragraphs it has in there. But under every sort of normal rule or guideline they present, there are also the dissenting opinions of the other Professors. So ,basically, you can take this, you see this is the situation, this is the solution that the Professors have come up with, and these are the two alternative solutions that some other Professors have said that can also be used.
So this is something that has been compiled here in Tallinn by the NATO centre. It's ready and available. And, basically, what needs to be done with this now is it needs to be taken up by the Governments and then looked into and seen where we can move forward with this. Because International law, you know, it's still law created by Nation States, either at the UN in New York or Geneva, and that's how it comes to play. But I'm glad that work on such important tasks is being prepared.
So anyone else on any questions regarding the future of the Internet,. whatever comes to your mind, the floor is open.
If not, we can go early to the -- there is a question. Thank you very much.
>> AUDIENCE: Good morning. I'm Shaft Widlinger (sp) from Switzerland. At the same time I represent rep business as an observer at the Council of Europe on the data protection and digital economy.
I wanted to briefly follow-up on what was said before about the multistakeholder dialogue. And I can only emphasize that business is also very much interested in follow-up on the different responsibility aspects of Internet governance.
And we think that the EuroDIG is one of the best places to do so.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much.
The gentleman on my left, you have the floor.
>> AUDIENCE: This is my first time at EuroDIG ,so I didn't know what to expect. and I'm happy to see that there is a forum where we can raise the things that each and every one of us have closest to their heart. So I myself come from working in cybersecurity. I've been working for the Government for some time, but I moved now away from that.
And I have two things that I'd like to talk to you about today. Some of the speakers before me mentioned that we shouldn't be rolling back the time and rolling back to the' 60s, '80s,' 90s, regarding how the Internet has been evolving. One thing that worries me, though, is how young people -- I myself I didn't participate in YOUthDIG, because I'm kind of on the edge, in my 30s. So not yet an adult, but not yet a young person, right?
So how young people look at privacy on the Internet these days, it worries me and I'm a bit worried about our future and how that is going to turn out. So people posting everything on Facebook, and I think that comes from people not really being aware of the infrastructure behind everything. Seeing how these large Corporations, we should help them, should help the young people to understand what they are doing and maybe regulate some parts of that.
But the other part I want to talk about is the Internet freedom. So, currently, there are many things happening in the world that -- well, that will make our Governments, I believe some of them in good faith, to change how our the Internet works, try to change how the Internet works. Governments in Europe, even in Europe, not only in countries faraway, but even in Europe are ganging up on Internet freedoms: Access, net neutrality, encryption.
For example, the Latvian Government has been blocking access to domain names regarding gambling for some time now. The Government is now looking to blocking access to domain names for taxation purposes. There is a strong lobby to block access on audio visual copyright grounds. Some of these are valid concerns. But I do believe that we should, as the International community, look to provide the right tools for our Governments to be able to achieve these good deeds without infringing on the rights of innocent Internet citizens.
If you look just ten, fifteen years back, on how we dealt with child abuse online, Internet child pornography online, so we as a community found solutions. So solutions through blocked access or something like that looked outrageous to most of us. That's how this proposal looks to me regarding these new challenges that our governments are facing and trying to block access. So we have to find a solution that is really effective.
So if you have any thoughts on that, please find me and come talk to me. I'd like to hear your solutions.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you.
You have the floor, Madam.
>> AUDIENCE: Thank you. (?) from European Schoolnet.
It's absolutely encouraging to hear so early at EuroDIG youth being as a key word and children's rights being brought up and put on the spotlight as they absolutely deserve. Especially thinking about how last year's EuroDIG was talking about youth, and I think this year is absolutely positive to hear it so early.
And just because we have to bear in mind the fact that we now are today's digital citizens, but the youth represent the digital citizenships of tomorrow. And what we now have, digital natives will be the next generations of end-users that we need to work for and protect.
Therefore, we would like to welcome you, my colleague Sabina and I, to the workshop on digital citizenship tomorrow to hear about this discussion and to hear also the voice of youth being catered to, and also to a flash session on the rights of youth on the Internet.
Thank you.
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you.
Sir, you have the floor.
>> AUDIENCE: Hi. My name is (?) I'm the coordinator of the Luxemburg Skill and Job Coalition.
So for me as well, the discussion is very important. But furthermore, the exchange of knowledge as best practices and ideas we can use in the future to change what we have already, and what we can and need to do for the future, to close the skill gap.
One of our main targets is closing the skills gap so we know by 2020, we will have more than 800,000 people we need in Europe with IT skills. So we invite everybody who is willing to do something, to come to me, to discuss with me, to exchange ideas with me, and even to see if we can go do something in Luxemburg as is already done here in Estonia.
Thank you.
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much.
(Applause)
The lady on my right, you have the floor.
>> AUDIENCE: Thank you. My name is Jung ho. I'm from UNESCO. And I'm also a friend of EuroDIG for many years. It's my fifth or Sixth EuroDIG. And I must say I greatly appreciate this session, because this morning we saw such a wonderful gender balance in the morning, and we have excellent women speakers this morning, so I'm so proud of it. And that's also one EuroDIG contribution to the global discussion on the Internet, it's often not easy to have such wonderful women presence in the programme.
If you think about the future, I'm thinking that yes, the Internet is developing so fast, it seems out of our imagination. But I'm confident that even if we stick to those fundamental principles we believe now, we will go somewhere quite beautiful and incredible.
Yesterday UNESCO had a very interesting session to debate on the Internet indicators, how we identify, how we assess the national development of the Internet. We believe that if we stick to some fundamental principles, as we have just endorsed with our Member States, the Internet governance should be Human Rights based, which preserves the openness of the Internet as the spirit of the Internet some 30 years ago, and we wish to promote universal accessibility by everybody. And of course certainly we promote a multistakeholder approach in this discussion in the policymaking towards the future Internet.
So that is, in this way, we still believe that the Internet will definitely bring and advance our civilization globally and nationally. And again, to all of my online friends and colleagues, I'm happy to discuss this more in the future.
Thank you.
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much. We will try to keep up with the gender balance later today when we will have the keynote speaker, Prime Minister of Norway, Erna Solberg. We really worked on that.
Lady, you have the floor.
>> AUDIENCE: Hello. I'm Yannam (?). I come from the Data Protection Agency from Macedonia.
I was a little provoked when GDPR was mentioned. Also, although we are not a member of the European Union, but we are following the GDPR developments. And I see that -- I think I just want to echo what was previously mentioned: The reliability and the accountability are the two main steps in what we see the future of Europe.
Actually, the future of Europe is sitting with us. Why? Because the youth here is the future of Europe. And I do believe that skills and trainings and prevention mechanisms and protection rules could only engage all of us, and tell us everybody that we can be safe on the Internet.
I'm also a (?) activist and I want to say hi to my friends over there. And as you can see, I'm trying to get a balance between the regulation and doing the human rights. So basically, the balance is what we see or hear and the balance is what we all do in our work today.
That was my message. Thank you.
(Applause)
>> GERT AUVAART: Thank you very much.
On this note, and since I see no queuers at the moment, I'll tell a few logistical details of the day.
We will have two panels here in this Grand Ballroom. The first is after the coffee break at 11:30, and that willfocus on cybersecurity. And we will have estemed panelists from different backgrounds and it's bound to be an interesting discussion.
After the first panel, panel 1, we will have lunch, starting at 1:00. And then at 2:30 we continue with workshops. The Grand Ballroom will be divided into three. As I mentioned before, on your badge you have the programmes and also posted behind the entrances to the rooms. So you can find out which one of the discussions you want to follow. Unless you can clone yourself, you can't be in all three rooms -- or actually five rooms simultaneously. Because we also use the smaller rooms at the outer edge of the conference area.
And then, as I said, the second panel will be here also in the Grand Ballroom, and in a similar setting as we now. And that will be -- before that, we have the keynote at 4:30 by the Norwegian Prime Minister. And after the keynote we will have the second panel, and that's called "Internet in the post-truth era," which is one of the most political discussions that we will hold at this year's EuroDIG. And in that second panel, also, are my boss, the Foreign Minister of Estonia, will be one of the panelists addressing you.
After the panel, there is a short break for all of you to relax or to walk in Tallinn. And then the two options, either to take buses from in front of here to the venue where we will host the 10th annual gala or anniversary event today with the Estonia Internet Foundation, where you are all welcome. Once again, you can't enter unless you have the badge. We have to try and limit the spaces there.
So there are two options for you to get there. Either you use this wonderful weather that we have like three days a year outside. Or you take the bus and the bus is also in the end of the evening will take you back. They take you back here. Not all of you are staying in this hotel. But it might still be closer to walk from here. Or you can just walk directly.
Whatever you do, you still have to be here in the morning, because we continue tomorrow morning. So don't stay up too late.
So, basically, that's all I have to say. Thank you very much. We will have a coffee break in ten minutes. But I guess they are more or less ready right now.
Thank you.
(Applause)
This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.