Internet governance

As the threat of online radicalisation of youth grows, the need for both pragmatic policy-based, legal and technical responses as well as a larger conversation on youth empowerment, resilience and capacity building in the digital space has become increasingly clear.

Gender and internet governance emerged as one important takeaway for consideration and reflection during the IGF main session “Development, Innovation and Economic Issues: Focus on the SDGs”.

As more Schools on Internet Governance pop up around the globe, it has become clear that there’s an appetite for greater collaboration, collective curriculum development and networking between organisers as well as a clearer picture of who is working on internet governance education and where. 

A critical policy and regulatory issue for community networks is that of access to and use of spectrum. This crucial issue was addressed by the roundtable “Spectrum for Community Networks: A 'Must' That Is Hard to Get”, co-organised by APC and the Internet Society, which took place on Day 1 of the IGF 2018.

Established in 2015, DC3 is a working group that analyses the potential of community networks to enable connectivity in rural, remote and underserved areas, as well as give communities the power to own, manage and govern their own networks. 

The 43 country reports and eight thematic reports in this year's GISWatch focus on community networks, defined as “communication networks built, owned, operated, and used by citizens in a participatory and open manner.”

In this session, participants analysed the evolution of the Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion(s) process and showcased successful initiatives, as well as barriers and challenges to the half of the world that is still offline.