SEPTEMBER 09, 2014 The ninth annual meeting of the internet governance forum (IGF) was held in Istanbul, Turkey, from September 2- 5. The IGF is a multi-stakeholder, democratic and transparent forum which facilitates discussions on public policy issues related to key elements of internet governance as the internet's sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development.
The ninth meeting with the theme of "Connecting Continents for Enhanced Multi-Stakeholder Internet Governance" was held at the Lütfi Kirdar International Convention and Exhibition Center of Istanbul, Turkey.
It was opened with the address from Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey and Minister for Minister for Information Society and Telecommunications Vujica Lazovic. In his address, he said a nuclear family nowadays meant parents, two children and internet. He however cautioned of the cybercrime through the internet.
Ministers from different countries, including UN Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, Thomas Gass, addressed the opening session of the IGF.
As many as 3,000 people representing different governments, civil society organizations, internet rights advocacy groups and others gathered and discussed on the themes and sub themes of the meeting as polices enabling internet access, content creation, dissemination and use, internet as engine for growth and development, IGF and future of the internet ecosystem, enhancement of digital trust, internet and human right, critical internet resources and other emerging issues.
Some session topics were implication of post-Snowden revelation, human rights for the internet, press freedom dimension of internet governance, internet blocking, privacy, surveillance and the cloud, researching children's rights in global, digital age, new global visions for internet governance, digital safety of journalists, cybercrime cooperation for developing countries, global public interest of the internet, enhancing digital trust in the post-Snowden era and building alliance to enhance internet affordability.
On the occasion, various speakers expressed worry over not having atmosphere conducive on internet freedom, but growing mass surveillance, monitoring and filtering of internet contents in the developed countries, including the host nation.
Turkey was criticized for banning social media as twitter and YouTube reasoning cybercrime, but has lifted recently.
Indonesia had hosted the 8th IGF meeting, and now, Brazil is to hold the 10th IGF meeting next year.
The establishment of the IGF was formally announced by the United Nations Secretary-General in July 2006. It was first convened in October–November 2006 and has held an annual meeting since then.
Each year, the United Nations convenes the Forum bringing together various stakeholders to discuss current and emerging internet governance issues, and the related opportunities and challenges. (by Narayan Prasad Ghimire)
(Source: The National News Agency (RSS), 8 September 2014)