The 18th Internet Governance Forum IGF 2023 is being held in Kyoto, Japan, on October 8-12. On the first day, a meeting of the session, WSIS High-Level Dialogue: Multistakeholder Partnerships Driving Digital Transformation, was held.
The session event opened with a video message from Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union from 1999 to 2006, during the period of the WSIS and the creation of the IGF. He reminded the audience of the history of these events, assessed the path traveled over two decades and reflected on the modern development of information technology. In particular, Mr. Utsumi compared artificial intelligence technologies to a double-edged sword that can bring great benefit to humanity, but can also cause enormous harm.
Opening the working part of the meeting, the current Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union Doreen Bogdan-Martin noted that WSIS managed to achieve a lot of goals. For example, one of the goals proclaimed was to provide internet access to 50 percent of the world's population by 2015. Today, two thirds of all people on the Earth have access to the global network. However, the remaining third is still a huge number of people, and the issue of providing them with internet access is very acute. Ms. Bogdan-Martin also noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has helped all of humanity realize the paramount importance of modern cybertechnology, and this awareness is also extremely important.
Minister of Information and Communication Technologies of Tunisia Nizar Ben Néji noted in his speech three key areas in which to counter digital inequality: support for cybertechnology at the level of national legislation, assistance to needy countries to develop technological infrastructure and work to increase the level of computer literacy among the population of these countries.
For his part, Chief Digital Officer of the UN Development Program Robert Opp noted that technologically developed countries also face problems. For example, he pointed to numerous instances of network fragmentation even within government organizations of these countries. Mr. Opp called for a transition from the current approach of searching for specific solutions to this or that issue to the formation of a unified system.
Senior Advisor to the Association for Progressive Communications, Henriette Esterhuizen, emphasized the role of civil society in her speech. She noted that a multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance should not become a brand, but should remain an effective tool for transformation. And all stakeholders must be actively involved at all levels. For example, she believes civil society should more actively participate in the development of internet governance policies, and not just in their implementation.
Thomas Schneider, head of international affairs at the Swiss Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), raised the important topic of trust in cybertechnology. He said that he had recently come across a lot of publications on building trust, but he believes that this approach was not correct.
“Trust is not something that is taught, it is something that must be earned,” he said. And each of the groups involved in internet governance must earn it in its own way. Politicians and government representatives by focusing on people's problems, not on staying in power; businesses by providing quality goods and services and caring for the environment. Mr. Schneider also noted the importance of independent media, which have received ample opportunities from the rise of information technology. It is independent media that help people decide who deserves their trust and communicate their needs to politicians and businesses.
WSIS is the World Summit on the Information Society, held in two stages: in 2003 in Geneva and in 2005 in Tunis. Back then, sustainable development goals were outlined, principles for building an information society were formulated, and the Internet Governance Forum was launched.
