Digital Cooperation
EuroDIG’s platform to collate European views on the Report of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation
What is the High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation?
In July 2018, UN Secretary-General António Guterres established a High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation. Co-chaired by Melinda Gates and Jack Ma, the Panel consisted of 22 international experts from governments, the private sector, academia, the technical community and civil society. Its goal was to “advance global multi-stakeholder dialogue on how we can work better together to realize the potential of digital technologies for advancing human well-being while mitigating the risks”.
On 10 June, the Panel submitted its final report titled “The Age of Digital Interdependence” to the UN Secretary General. In the report, the Panel makes 5 sets of recommendations:
- Build an inclusive digital economy and society
- Develop human and institutional capacity
- Protect human rights and human agency
- Promote digital trust, security and stability
- Foster global digital cooperation
You find the report and further information on www.un.org/en/digital-cooperation-panel/.
How can I comment on the HLP report via EuroDIG?
The IGF, EuroDIG and other relevant platforms for inclusive multi-stakeholder dialogue have laid important ground for the work of the Panel and play a key role in discussing digital cooperation and governance. At its preparatory meeting in January 2019, the EuroDIG community decided to provide for a space to discuss and assess the HLP report and collate views from all stakeholders from all over Europe on the report and its recommendations.
EuroDIG is inviting all European stakeholders to express their views via two complementary ways: here on this platform you can comment on specific paragraphs of the report and/or you can send a more holistic assessment of the report and its findings by sending a PDF document to digitalcooperation@EuroDIG.org. The comments received by European stakeholders are published here in the chronological order in which they were received.
The deadline for comments is extended until 15. October 2019. EuroDIG, supported by Mark Carvell, former UK government representative, will then summarise the views received in a single document and make them available to the global public for further discussion at the UN Internet Governance Forum in Berlin in November 2019 or at any other occasion.
It is important to note that EuroDIG sees this process as one opportunity to trigger a debate and exchange on the findings of the Panel and does not intend to consider itself as the only platform to discuss views on and possible follow-up actions to the findings of the report. EuroDIG welcomes other initiatives that provide for a space to discuss and assess the Panel’s report and invites all European stakeholders to also participate in these.
Possible guiding questions for European stakeholders to consider:
The EuroDIG consultation project would be particularly interested in knowing European stakeholders’ views and comments on the following proposals and recommendations described in the UN High Level Panel’s report:
- a multi-stakeholder systems approach for cooperation and development of norms;
- the idea of enshrining underlying values and principles, key functions to be delivered by an improved cooperation architecture in a Global Commitment for Digital Cooperation in order to increase digital inclusiveness globally and thereby contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
- the need to deepen understanding of the political, social, cultural and economic impacts of digital technologies;
- the development of a Global Commitment on Digital Trust and Security for implementing agreed norms and principles, and for increasing information sharing in order to promote greater trust in the digital age;
- the creation of a multi-stakeholder alliance to create a platform for sharing and investing in digital public goods that would serve to expand access to digital infrastructure;
- the need to generate more data relevant to SDGs and ensure data collaboration in areas such as health, agriculture, climate change and the environment;
- agreement on a set of global metrics for digital inclusiveness;
- establishment of a global digital “helpdesk”-function to support stakeholders from small and developing countries
- the call for social media enterprises to work with governments and civil society on responses to human rights violations;
- the need for regional and global standards in taxation, consumer protection and competition in international e-commerce and digital cooperation.
European stakeholders’ comments and views are also sought on the merits of the panel’s analysis of the existing GAPs of the current global cooperation architecture (see chapter 4 of the report), the principles and key functions for an improved cooperation architecture (see Annex VI of the report), and three options set out in the HLP’s report for improving the existing architecture for global digital cooperation:
- an “Internet Governance Forum Plus” (IGF Plus) institutionally anchored in the UN system to develop policies and norms of direct interest to stakeholder communities, add capacity and support specific activities through a “Cooperation Accelerator”, an advisory group, a policy incubator, an observatory and a help desk;
- a “Distributed Co-Governance Architecture” (COGOV) of new cooperation networks of experts and support platforms that would address gaps in existing mechanisms through focussing on coordinating the design, development, adoption, implementation and enforcement of global norms for digital cooperation;
- a “Digital Commons Architecture” to increase knowledge-sharing and learning and for creating synergies through a repository of norms and governance practices, with multi-stakeholder project-based tracks which are focussed on promoting specific SDGs and risks of social harms.
Finally, Stakeholders’ comments are sought on the consideration in the HLP’s report on the role of the UN generally in adding value to the digital transformation, citing for example the UN Innovation Network for sharing best practice, and the UN Data Innovation Lab and the High Level Committee on Programmes which serves to share knowledge and expand initiatives across relevant UN agencies. Specifically, the HLP invites the Secretary-General to consider appointing a “Tech Envoy” to oversee the UN’s role in advancing digital cooperation and to track progress.
Recent Comments on this Site
3rd July 2023 at 2:58 pm
I agree with Michael’s comment.
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3rd July 2023 at 2:56 pm
This first message makes no sense. Please take into consideration the comment made by Torsen.
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3rd July 2023 at 2:37 pm
3 The Ukrainian Internet resilience is impossible without worldwide cooperation, help and support. There are very good examples of such cooperation, and not very good. These lessons also have to be documented and analysed.
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3rd July 2023 at 12:14 am
In responding to the points around the impact encryption, I would ask that the comments I made around the UK’s Online Safety Tech Challenge Fund and academic paper by Ian Levy and Crispin Robinson are added to the key messages.
I referenced a paper by Ian Levy and Crispin Robinson, two internationally respected cryptographers from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, which set out possible solutions to detecting child sexual abuse within End-to-End Encrypted Environments that companies could be exploring to balance both the rights to privacy and the rights of children to grow up in a safe and secure environment free from child sexual abuse.
The link to the paper is copied below:
[2207.09506] Thoughts on child safety on commodity platforms (arxiv.org)
And the UK Safety Tech Challenge Fund:
Lessons from Innovation in Safety Tech: The Data Protection Perspective – Safety Tech (safetytechnetwork.org.uk)
It is important that we balance the concerns about the breaking of encryption, with the possibilities that should be being explored to prevent child sexual abuse from entering or leaving these environments.
Andrew Campling also made points about the right to privacy not being an absolute right and the need to balance this right, with other rights- another point I think that is worth reflecting in this final paragraph.
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3rd July 2023 at 12:00 am
I agree with the amendment Torsten has proposed to the initial text.
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2nd July 2023 at 11:58 pm
I would be careful about saying these images have been created consensually. Just because an image is “self-generated” it does not mean it has been created through “sexting”. Children are being “groomed” and “coerced” into creating these images as well.
I agree- however, with the rewritten text above regarding what companies currently do and what they will be required to do if the EU proposal becomes law and is clearer than what was written in the initial text.
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2nd July 2023 at 3:21 pm
The Internet has changed how war is fought, and how it is covered by media. At
the same time, the war has put “One world, one Internet” to a stress test. The foundations of global and interoperable Internet should not be affected by the deepening geopolitical divide, even though it has fragmented the content layer.
No one has the right to disrupt the global network that exists as a result of voluntary cooperation by thousands of networks. The mission of Internet actors is to promote and uphold the network, and to help restore it if destroyed by armed aggression.
The war has been accompanied by heightened weaponization of the content layer of the Internet. New EU legislation is expected to curb at least the role of very large platforms in spreading disinformation and hate speech.
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2nd July 2023 at 2:36 pm
I kindly suggest the following changes:
Please add these two important points that were said by the speakers/audience:
– There is an initiative on the Nordic level to protect children from the harms of the Internet, and this initiative has already been promulgated into legislation in Denmark.
– As the role of parents is crucial in educating children to use the Internet in a savvy way, also parents need education. That’s why we need adult education also from beyond the formal education system, just like the adult education system in Finland already provides training in basic digital skills.
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2nd July 2023 at 2:35 pm
I kindly suggest the following changes:
– governs => governments
– Replace this: ”Therefore, the contemporary political landscape requires three-level trust: political power; knowledge organisations; and individual.”
– By this:
– ”Therefore, the contemporary political landscape requires three levels of trust: trust in basic societal functions and structures of the society, trust in knowledge organizations, and trust between one another as individuals.”
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2nd July 2023 at 2:32 pm
I kindly suggest the following changes:
Replace this: ”Thus, one of the key priorities is to enhance citizens digital literacy and education going beyond only digital competencies and including cultural aspects.”
with this: ”Thus, one of the key priorities is to enhance citizens’ digital literacy and education by going beyond just digital competencies and including also ethical, social and cultural dimensions.”
Add this important point that was said by the speaker: Responsibility for digital information literacy education lies not only with the formal education system, but also cultural institutions, NGOs, youth work play a key role.
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