Internet Governance

The coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has impacted all areas of digital policy this month. These developments were covered during March’s just-in-time briefing on Internet governance – our monthly appointment on the last Tuesday of every month – which took place on 31 March 2020. They will also be summarised in the Issue 48 of the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP) Digital Watch newsletter. The briefing was led by DiploFoundation’s Director of Cybersecurity and E-diplomacy Programmes Vladimir Radunović.

The European Commission’s plans for shaping Europe’s digital future, the interplay between health and digital technologies, and cybersecurity in international discussions were among the main digital policy trends in February 2020.

Optimising the interplay between natural and digital ecosystems; cybercrime resolution negotiations; and the increasing interest of regulators and banks in digital currencies were among the main digital policy trends in January 2020.

Two Caribbean nations, Guyana and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, currently hold important positions within the United Nations. At its plenary meeting on 22 November 2019, the Group of 77 (G77) at the United Nations – a coalition of 135 developing countries – and China elected Guyana, by acclamation without preconditions, to serve as its Chair for 2020. Jamaica held the same post in 1977 and 2005, Guyana in 1999, and Antigua and Barbuda in 2008.

Welcome to 2020, and to our annual collection of digital policy predictions – with a difference. This year, the predictions are organised around 20 keywords into what we have called a dictionary. They also address a longer timeframe than that of previous editions: not just the year ahead, but the coming decade. Special thanks go to Sorina Teleanu, Dr. Abe Davies, Andrijana Gavrilovic, Marilia Maciel, Arvin Kamberi, and others who have contributed their comments and reflections.

As the new year begins, let’s take a look back at the major developments that shaped digital policy in 2019. 

Some issues were in focus throughout the year, such as those related to tackling the spread of online misinformation and violent extremism.

When Greta Thunberg travelled by boat and train to attend the recent UN Climate Change Summit in 2019, she sent a wake-up call to diplomats and policymakers to search for innovative digital diplomacy tools, such as online conferencing, to reduce flying and thus, their carbon footprints.

Fortunately, the technology is available. There is a wide range of tools and platforms that can facilitate engaging meetings at an affordable cost.

As the new decade dawns the promise of technology seems endless. The horizon is unlimited. Beyond it the sky looks blue. Now more than ever tech looks like a kind of magic, carrying us above old limitations and beyond the predicaments of the here and now. The analogy is nothing new: as Arthur C. Clarke said, ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ 

For our November 2019 Internet governance (IG) briefing, we looked at digital policy updates from the month, including the 2019 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which was underway during the briefing.

DiploFoundation, with the support of Microsoft, organised the Cyber-diplomacy web discussion: Norms and confidence building measures (CBMs): Are we there yet? This webinar was the fourth in a series of cyber-diplomacy web discussions, following the web discussions: Cyber-armament: A heavy impact on peace, economic development, and human rights; Applicability of international law to cyberspace: Do we know the rules of the road?; and, Traceability and attribution of cyber-attacks: How confidently can we point a finge