Internet Governance Outlook 2017: Is it time for a Digital Geneva Convention?

Hosted by the Centre for European Policy Studies:

There is an increasing concern for the growth of cybercrime activity worldwide. What is particularly striking is not just the rising volume of cyber-attacks but the proliferation of the state-led attacks that are generating the risk of a cyberwar, an invisible war with enormous consequences and unintented side effects.

The governance of these new challenges in the cyberspace is becoming essential and increasingly important. In recent years, the global governance of Internet turned out to be quite controversial due to conflicting views on the respective roles of the main stakeholders in this process (the government, the private sector, the technical community and the civil society) and an increasing geopolitical division between States.

However, after the confirmation from the US government of the IANA Stewardship transition to the international multistakeholder community and the renewal of the IGF mandate for ten years in 2016, the current year could represent an opportunity to discuss and to design agreements on measures for confidence building in cyberspace. The work of the 5th UN Group of Governmental Experts (GGE), the launch of the Global Commission on Stability in Cyberspace (GCSC) at the Munich Security Conference last February and the recent proposal from the private sector of a Digital Geneva Convention are important signals of a readiness and a renewed interest to discuss the implementation of international rules to protect the civilian use of the internet.

Participation in this event is  free of charge. Registration from 15.30 – Meeting from 16.00 to 18.00 – A light cocktail will be served after the event from 18.00 to 19.30.

Speakers

• Lise Fuhr, Director General, ETNO
• Jens-Henrik Jeppesen, Director of European Affairs, Center for D​emocracy & Technology
• Milton Mueller, Professor, Internet Governance Project, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Jan Neutze, Director for Cybersecurity Policy EMEA Region, Microsoft
• Heli Tiirmaa-Klaar, Head of Cyber Policy Coordination, Conflict Prevention and Security Policy, European External Action Service, European Commission

Chair: Lorenzo Pupillo, CEPS Associate Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Cybersecurity@CEPS Initiative