The Global Commission on Internet Governance, chaired by Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt, has held its first in-person meeting to discuss key issues of Internet governance.
Held this week in Stockholm, Sweden, the meeting consisted of a fruitful discussion on a variety of priorities areas, including cybersecurity, privacy and data protection, governance modalities, freedom of expression, innovation and economic development, and infrastructure stability.
The Global Commission on Internet Governance also decided that its next meeting will focus on the economic, social and political effects that could result from the fragmentation of the Internet. Additionally, the Global Commission on Internet Governance agreed to consider a number of scenarios on how the Internet might potentially fragment in the future.
“We are off to a good start. We have lots to do. We do not want to duplicate work being done elsewhere,” says Gordon Smith, deputy chair of the Global Commission on Internet Governance. “We have decided to focus in Seoul on the possibility of Internet fragmentation and its risks and costs.”
The Global Commission is a two-year initiative launched by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and Chatham House. It aims to produce a comprehensive stand on the future of multi-stakeholder Internet governance.
The next meeting of the Global Commission on Internet Governance will be held in Seoul, Korea, from 13 October to 15 October 2014. A series of other Global Commission on Internet Governance meetings will occur through the remainder of 2014 and into 2015.
During the process, the Global Commission on Internet Governance will also issue a series of research papers, which will be publicly posted on its open website.
