Internet Governance

You do not have to be a fan of conspiracy theories to worry about the precedent that Apple, YouTube and Facebook set by banning Alex Jones and Infowars.com. Jones complained that it was like ‘something out of “1984”’, as he does not know how to rebut Facebook’s decision. The company does not divulge how it makes these decisions, for fear that users would deliberately push boundaries.

Developments in AI, IoT and smart devices, and other data‑heavy applications have led to a major increase in data traffic.

Reflections on the future of humanity, the urgency to fulfill sustainable development goals by 2020, and data governance issues were among main digital policy developments in July and August 2018.

Last Friday, the German newspaper Die Zeit organised its third Artificial Intelligence (AI) conference. I was born in Germany and have just moved back after a nine-year stint in Great Britain, so I went to get my first direct impression of the country’s relationship to AI and to hear debates about digital politics in general.

On Monday, June 17th, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a final draft of the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), and in it ‘gaming disorder’ is listed as a ‘disorder due to addictive behaviours’. The draft explicitly describes the disorder as a persistent behaviour pattern that can lead to significant widespread impairment across all ‘important areas of functioning’.

Technology has great potential to help deliver the SDGs, but it can also be at the root of exclusion and inequality. We need to harness the benefits of advanced technologies for all.

- UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, at the closing of the 2018 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

Six months into 2018, technology continues to meet humanity around data protection, ethics and artificial intelligence (AI), online gaming addiction as a health condition, the security of Internet users, and many other digital issues. Governments, business and users worldwide are in search of the right balance between technological innovation and the progress of humanity.

Issues related to the digital economy have gained prominance in the last few years. The volume of e-commerce is soaring, and the impact of cross-border data flows on gross domestic product (GDP) growth is now larger than the impact of the traditional flow of goods. Policy discussions at the national level, in regional trade agreements, and at the World Trade Organization (WTO), reveal a growing interplay between trade and digital policy agendas.

Last year’s rise in the price of cryptocurrency, and the emergence of a new way for collecting money from the public - Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) - introduced a massive rise of the cryptocurrency market valuation. At one point it peeked at USD$500 billion, and current stats are putting it at a USD$350 billion mark.   

In May 2017, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Denmark appointed the World's first 'tech ambassador' to Silicon Valley.