This year’s edition of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), like many other events planned for 2020, will take place online. Access Now will be in attendance, with experts speaking at a number of sessions (see details below), and throughout the conference in the IGF Village.
The Internet Governance Forum 2020, which takes place in two phases from 2 -17 November, opens as a number of countries are facing a second lockdown and adopting further restrictions to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Its over-arching theme: “Internet for human resilience and solidarity.”
For several months now, many have turned to online and digital solutions to carry out daily activities such as work, shopping, attending medical appointments, and more. Data and technology are also at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19, with some governments turning to contact tracing and tracking applications in efforts to contain the spread of the disease. This highlights the importance of the values and human rights principles Access Now has long been fighting for, from privacy and data protection to openness, access, and connectivity. This online IGF is the opportunity to address existing and new challenges when it comes to ensuring people’s rights are protected and respected online, and how internet governance can guide states, companies, civil society, and all other actors involved in asserting fundamental rights on the internet.
Below are some of the topics we will be discussing, and we invite participants to visit our virtual booth in the IGF Village, where our team is available to present Access Now’s work in the past months ensuring that responses to COVID-19 strengthen rather than undermine our rights.
Monday, 9 November
People vs machines: collaborative content moderation
17:20 to 18:50 UTC
Thursday, 12 November
One size fits all? Global norms as a threat to inclusion
09:00 to 10:30 UTC
Best Practice Forum on Data and New Technologies in an Internet Context
09:00 to 10:30 UTC
13:30 to 14:20 UTC
Friday, 13 November
13:00 to 13:50 UTC
Networking Break: Open Consultation on non-State Digital Cooperation stakeholders
14:00 to 15:00 UTC
Will the real public Interest internet please stand up?
15:10 to 16:40 UTC
Multistakeholder Voices and the UN Cyber Dialogues
Monday, 16 November
The promises and perils of satellite internet
17:20 to 18:20 UTC