Human Centric Internet

Hi All,

The IGF is on at the moment, and in one of the sessions this information
was presented.

LEADERSHIP PANEL: The Internet We Want LP (17:15 - 18:15)
the link to the document is:
https://www.intgovforum.org/en/filedepot_download/263/26312

The session itself, which was held at 17:15 local time (last session)  may
be available via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1fzSSfFthc

below is a copy/paste of the text from the document noted (also attached
for future reference, just in case)


*The Internet We Want *
In today’s digital societies, Internet governance is critical for economic,
social, and environmental development. Internet governance is a crucial
enabler of sustainable development, ensuring that the Internet is used in a
responsible and inclusive manner, and can contribute to promoting access to
information, communication, and innovation. The importance of this agenda
cannot be understated in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and the
ongoing economic recovery, supply chain shocks, and unfolding geopolitical
tensions, especially as economies worldwide are working towards a
sustainable economic rebuild.

Internet and other digital technologies are vital components of a
sustainable future. Leaders across all stakeholder groups globally must
come together and collaborate in a cohesive and inclusive manner to ensure
that their actions align with existing commitments to:

▪ promote a human-centric Internet that ensures respect for human rights,
democracy, and the rule of law and protects against harmful behaviours;
▪ expand connectivity and guarantee meaningful and affordable access for
everyone, everywhere;
▪ preserve an open, free, globally connected, interoperable, unfragmented,
and stable Internet.
▪ unlock the value of data for development and enable data free flow with
trust, while ensuring data protection and privacy, to support a truly
global digital economy;
▪ Foster a safe and secure online environment, in particular by increasing
efforts to strengthen cybersecurity;
▪ facilitate collaboration for the development of new and emerging
technologies in a trusted way while continuing to enable innovation;
▪ adopt environment friendly practises consistent with reducing greenhouse
gas emission when utilising the Internet and digital resources;
▪ acknowledge, support and encourage the contribution of youth playing a
key role in the achievement of sustainability; and
▪ uphold the multistakeholder approach in the governance of the Internet.

In line with these commitments, the IGF Leadership Panel encourages all
governments, private sector, civil society and technical and academic
communities to come together to share this vision, define goals and targets
to achieve the Internet we - as a global society - would want, and promote
the necessary coordinated and effective actions at local, regional and
international levels to realise this common vision.

We firmly believe in the multistakeholder model and the unique convening
power of the Internet Governance Forum to achieve this vision and offer the
following characteristics as a starting point for discussions.

The IGF Leadership Panel believes that the Internet We Want is:

1. Whole and open;
2. Universal and inclusive;
3. Free-flowing and trustworthy;
4. Safe and secure; and
5. Rights-respecting.

*1. Whole and open *
A whole, open, free, globally connected, interoperable and stable Internet
is vital for sustainable development, the functioning of digital societies
and economies, for supporting business operations worldwide, and a
prerequisite to the effective functioning of public services such as
education, health care or various governmental services. When properly
harnessed, information and communication technologies (ICT) and digital
technologies are formidable engines of innovation, competitiveness
development, sustainable economic growth, and instruments of social,
cultural, and economic empowerment for all.

This unique potential can only be fully exploited if the fundamental nature
of the Internet as an open, whole, interconnected, and interoperable
network of networks is preserved. However, at present, there is a
heightened risk that some potential policy or business decisions might
fragment the Internet into siloed parts.

The potential fragmentation at either the technical, content or governance
layers, threatens the open, whole, interconnected, and interoperable nature
of the Internet, and its associated benefits to social and economic
development, while also harming human rights.

*We call on the stakeholders of the Internet to set goals to ensure that
the internet stays whole, open, free, globally connected, interoperable,
stable and unfragmented. *

*2. Universal and inclusive *
Since its inception, the Internet has evolved from an information exchange
network to the platform for sustainable social and economic development we
recognise it to be today. An open, stable, and trusted Internet is vital
for the effective functioning of a diverse array of services, as varied as
agriculture, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, or education, continuously
reimagining the way people interact with their peers, businesses, and
governments. However, despite the enormous progress in expanding
connectivity in recent years, 2.7 billion people remain unconnected.

Connecting the unconnected and reconnecting the disconnected is not just
about infrastructure and access to the Internet. Meaningful connectivity
also requires focus on bridging the barriers to adoption, including
creating and maintaining an enabling environment in which locally relevant,
local language content is created, as well as adopting policies and tools
designed to identify and address skills gaps. The enduring digital divides
in access, application, and skills among and within countries emphasise the
need for universal, affordable, and meaningful connectivity in order to
reach the development potential of the Internet, ICTs, and digital
technologies. Meaningful connectivity should also be secure, resilient and
cost-effective.

In pursuit of these goals and of a human-centric, sustainable
digitalization, all stakeholders must improve their understanding of how
ICTs work in practice, including knowledge of the ICT ecosystem, the roles
of the various stakeholders and relevant policy issues.

Frameworks that enable Internet connectivity should be based on light-touch
ICT policy and regulations, encourage universal access through competition
and the entry of new players into the ICT ecosystem to foster the emergence
of innovative products, services, and business models. Policy and
regulatory mechanisms should consider the value of the entire
communications and digital services ecosystem. They should be
nondiscriminatory, technology-neutral, and supportive of innovative
business models and the development of a wide range of technologies,
standards, and system architectures. Successful efforts to deliver
universal meaningful connectivity need to balance the needs of all
stakeholders, should be grounded in evidence and data, should seek global
harmonisation in terms of interoperability and standards, should enable the
effective management of spectrum between all stakeholders, and must
facilitate investment across the entire digital value chain.

*We call on the stakeholders of the Internet to set goals to move towards
universal meaningful connectivity for everyone, everywhere, to encourage
the uptake of new technologies at need, and to address skills gaps. *

*3. Free-flowing and trustworthy *

Cross-border data flows underpin many aspects of business today — cloud
services, remote work, workplace collaboration, management of human
resources, customer relationships and supply chains. They also underpin
distance learning, telemedicine, the fight against cybercrime and child
abuse online, fraud monitoring and prevention, investigation of counterfeit
products, and a broad range of other activities. The processing and
transfer of both personal and non-personal data are integral to many of
these exchanges, making trust a vital element for resilient and sustainable
economic growth and recovery.

However, there is an increasing lack of trust, or confidence, due to
concerns that policy objectives—such as privacy, national security,
consumer and human rights protection, access to data or even industrial
competitiveness—would be compromised when data moves abroad. This lack of
trust serves as the rationale for the adoption of an increasing number of
data localisation and sovereignty measures, leading to fragmented national
approaches to data governance and a growing number of restrictions that
prohibit or considerably encumber cross-border data flows. Failure to
address this lack of trust and to find an appropriate trust model risks
impeding cross-border data flows, thereby limiting economies of scale and
scope, driving inefficient, unsustainable investment, and restricting
innovation.

Promoting policies that facilitate the adoption of applicable technologies
and the global movement of data, including through governance models that
allow for data-sharing for public good, is fundamental to harnessing their
significant economic and social benefits. In particular, policymakers
should support open cross-border data flows, while also assuring the
protection of privacy, security, as well as intellectual property, and that
those protections are implemented through a risk-based approach and in a
manner that is transparent, nondiscriminatory and in line with the
principles of necessity and proportionality.

Trust is strengthened when governments adopt robust and comprehensive
commitments to protect the rights and freedoms of individuals, including
the fundamental right to privacy. In addition, cooperation between
governments and stakeholders including business and multilateral
organisations is needed to advocate for interoperable policy frameworks
that would facilitate cross-border data flows, enabling data to be
exchanged, shared, and used in a trusted manner, thereby aiming for high
privacy standards.

*We call on the stakeholders of the Internet to set goals to unlock the
value of data flows for sustainable development of all and enshrine trust
as the prerequisite for data sharing regimes, founded on the protection of
data. *

*4. Safe and secure *

Cyberspace is now an intrinsic part of every country’s development,
creating enormous opportunities and enabling economic and societal growth.
At the same time, the indispensable nature of cyberspace in day-today human
activities also generates growing vulnerabilities. Rapid digitalisation is
testing the resilience of cyber infrastructures. The escalating
vulnerabilities resulting from disparate states of cyber hygiene hinder the
effectiveness of countermeasures against cyber attacks, threatening to
thwart the potential economic impact of ICT and digital technologies.

The borderless nature of the Internet and the associated digital economy,
the increased cyber-physical interdependency of IoT, and cybercrime paint a
complex legal and operational picture for cybersecurity. A collective,
collaborative multistakeholder approach is required to find meaningful ways
and effective solutions to mitigate local, cross-border and global
cybersecurity concerns.

To empower and protect societies from increased cybersecurity risks, the
international multistakeholder community should explore practical ways to
mainstream cybersecurity capacity building (CCB) into broader digital
development efforts. This is also essential for building resilient
societies and promoting a whole-of society approach to dealing with threats
emanating from cyberspace.

*We call on the stakeholders of the Internet to set goals to establish and
implement robust frameworks for high levels of cybersecurity, and strong
recommendations for legal structures, practices, and cross-border
cooperation to combat cybercrime. *

*5. Rights-respecting *

Human rights must be respected online and offline. Governments are
responsible to ensure that human rights are respected, protected, and
promoted, while businesses and digital service providers are obliged to
comply with all applicable laws and to respect human rights. Governments
must refrain from internet shutdowns. Any restriction of access to the
Internet must be lawful, legitimate, necessary, proportional, and
nondiscriminatory.

All stakeholder groups have the responsibility to promote transparency,
accountability, and human rights due diligence throughout the lifecycle of
existing, new and emerging technologies. We have learned that certain
behaviours on the Internet can be very harmful to our societies. The
Internet we want will protect us from them.

A human rights-based approach to Internet governance is required in order
to realize the full benefits of the Internet for all, including the rights
to education, to participation in public and cultural life or to access to
information, as well as empowering businesses of all sizes. To that end,
standards development organisations should introduce processes to ensure
due consideration of human rights in their work, including by inviting
participation of experts from all stakeholder communities.

*We call on the stakeholders of the Internet to set goals to ensure a human
rights-based approach to Internet governance, and to promote human rights
in the digital space. *

If we are to achieve the Internet we want, we have significant
multistakeholder work ahead of us, including collaboration with existing
and ongoing initiatives.

***