[kictanet] The 6th Internet Governance Forum Concludes

Sat Oct 1 00:18:31 EAT 2011

The 6th Internet Governance Forum Concludes
By Mutwiri Mutuota

Nairobi, Kenya, September 30- The 6th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) concluded in Nairobi on Friday as multiple stakeholders in the IT sector laid out the foundations of future global engagement in the ever expanding industry.

Concerns on cyber security, the shift in Internet Protocols, the rapidly expanding mobile phone sector, IT and commerce, social impact of the growth, Internet content and the next generation innovations that will propel the next phase of the information age dominated the discussion forums.

Over 2000 delegates from more than 100 countries, representing Governments, the private sector, civil society, the Internet community, International organizations and the media have been meeting in Nairobi since Tuesday.

Their brief was to examine cross-border Internet governance challenges. This was the first IGF to be held in sub-Saharan Africa.

“The Nairobi IGF was significant since Kenya has made significant progress in implementing internet development. What we have understood in the past three days is that everyone has an equal opportunity in the internet,” Vint Cerf, the pioneer of the Internet and Google vice-president noted.

The IGF charted the policies needed by governments worldwide to position the globe as it prepares to usher in new frontiers in the ICT technology such as IPv6, O3B and Cloud Computing among others.

Presentations, reports and statements emphasised the need to ensure cyber security what with everyday lives becoming more and more dependent on ICT particularly in the mobile phone sector.

The IGF noted that women and children were at particular risk as governments and private sector agreed to forge partnerships to ensure the vulnerable groups continued to enjoy the benefits of the technological advancements.

World bodies such as the International Chamber of Commerce as well as local and international leading tech companies such as Google, AT&T, Safaricom and Kenya Data Network gave input on the economic and financial implications in ICT development.

Among the resolutions arrived at during the 6th IGF, is that stakeholders resolved to press policy makers to ensure there were no restrictions of the use and accessibility of the Internet with acceptable legal framework policies to protect users and innovators from cyber crime.

The proactive role women were playing in the IT explosion was acknowledged with one forum in the IGF dedicated to discussing women’s integration in the Internet growth and development.

“In Taiwan for example, more women are using social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to report cases of domestic violence and their voices are being heard,” an APC representative told the forum.

Being hosted in Africa, the 6th IGF challenged the continent to be at the forefront of capitalising on the open Internet to create applications and generate local content to suit their need.

“Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa have shown leadership in innovation.  In the developed world and we are seeing a shift of innovation from the South to the West and this levels the playing field if ultimately replicated worldwide with the world doing business,” Gabriel Solomon, the Head of Public Policy at GSMA, the worldwide umbrella body for all mobile phone operators said.

Education and more research on ICT were not far off the deliberations as the conundrum that is the Internet continues to demand more and more inventions with the world becoming a digital pot.

While most of the participants agreed that the Nairobi IGF was an overwhelming success, it remains the challenge for all stakeholders to ensure the implementation of the hundreds of policy ideas meant at ensuring compatibility to new information systems.

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