GCSC Thought Piece on Internet Policy Making

The University of Aarhaus’ Professor Emeritus Wolfgang Kleinwächter composed a thought piece for the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace (GCSC) titled “Towards a Holistic Approach for Internet Related Public Policy Making”.

He reviews various layers and mechanisms of the global internet governance ecosystem and additionally suggests several options to build a more cohesive policy platform.

Professor Kleinwächter provides a general categorization of internet-related public policy issues that were identified in a 2015 UN Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation. 600 issues were identified. These issues are categorized into four baskets. He further lists more specialized topics for each basket along with their available stakeholder negotiation platforms.

The four baskets are Cybersecurity, Digital Economy, Human Rights, and Technology. From his thought piece:

Cybersecurity

1. Norms of behavior of state and non-state actors in cyberspace: UNGGE, OSCE, G7, BRICS, GCSC, GCCS, WEF;
2. Confidence building measures in cyberspace (CBMs): UNGGE, OSCE, ASEAN, G7, BRICS, GCSC, GCCS;
3. Protection of the public core of the Internet and critical infrastructure as electricity, financial transactions, transportation services and electoral systems: UN, G7, ICANN/PIT, GCSC, GCCS, MSC, NATO;
4. Moratorium for the development of lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) and other Internet based offensive cyber weapons: GGECCW, GCCS;
5. Dual-use technologies: Wassenaar Arrangement, GCSC, GCCS;
6. Fight against cybercrime: Council of Europe, Interpol/Europol, GFCE, GCSC, GCCS, WEF, EU, AU;
7. Fight against the terrorist use of ICTs: UN Security Council Counter Terrorism Committee, Interpol/Europol, GCCS, GCSC, WEF.

Digital Economy

1. Digital Trade: G7, G20, WTO, UNCTAD, OECD, WEF, IGF;
2. eCommerce: WTO, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNCITRAL, OECD, WEF;
3. Infrastructure development: UN Regional Commissions, ITU, UNCTAD, IGF, WSIS;
4. Industry 4.0: G20, G7, WEF, IGF, OECD;
5. Internet of Things : G20, G7, ITU-T, IGF, WEF, OECD;
6. Artificial Intelligence :G7, IGF, WEF, OECD;
7. Protection of Intellectual Property: WIPO, WSIS, IGF, INTA, OECD, ICANN/Trademark Clearinghouse.

Human Rights

1. Access to the Internet: UNESCO, ITU, WSIS, IGF, APC;
2. Freedom of expression: HRC, UNESCO, Council of Europe, OSCE, WSIS, IGF, FOC, RWB, HRW;
3. Privacy in the digital age: HRC, UNESCO, Council of Europe, WSIS, IGF, FOC, ICANN/Whois;
4. Right to education: HRC, UNESCO;
5. Right to culture: HRC, UNESCO;
6. Online Media: HRC, UNESCO, Council of Europe, OSCE;
7. Future of work: HRC, ILO, Global Commission on the Future of Work.

Technical

1. IP addresses: RIRs, IGF, WSIS, ITU;
2. Domain Name System: ICANN, IGF, WSIS, ITU;
3. Root server system: ICANN/PIT, IGF;
4. Internet protocols: IETF, W3C, IEEE, 3GPP, ITU, ETSI, IGF;
5. IOT: ITU-T, IGF, WSIS;
6. OTT: ITU-T, IGF.

He writes that many times these issues are discussed in disconnected silos and that only a limited number of platforms, such as the IGF, enable multistakerholder discussions and a more holistic approach to public policy making.

More details on the stakeholder negotiation platforms:

(Work In Progress)

3GPP: 3rd Generation Partnership Project

APC: Association for Progressive Communications

ASEAN: Association of Southeast Asian Nations

AU: African Union

BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa

Council of Europe 

ETSI: European Telecommunications Standards Institute

EU: European Union

FOC: Freedom Online Coalition

G20: G20

G7: Group of Seven 

GCCS: Global Conference on CyberSpace

GCSC: Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace

GFCE: Global Forum on Cyber Expertise

GGECCW: Group of Governmental Experts, Certain Conventional Weapons

Global Commission on the Future of Work

HRC: Human Rights Council

HRW: Human Rights Watch

ICANN: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers 

ICANN/PIT

ICANN/Trademark Clearinghouse

ICANN/Whois

IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

IETF: Internet Engineering Task Force

IGF: Internet Governance Forum

ILO: International Labour Organization

INTA: International Trademark Association

Interpol/Europol

ITU: International Telecommunication Union

ITU-T: ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector

MSC

NATO

OECD

OSCE

RIRs

RWB

UN

UN Regional Commissions

UN Security Council Counter Terrorism Committee

UNCITRAL

UNCTAD

UNDP

UNESCO

UNGG

UNGGE: United Nations Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security

W3C

Wassenaar Arrangement

WEF

WIPO

WSIS

WTO