Media briefing on Internet governance in the context of the ongoing preparations for the IGF conference in Baku

Some thirty journalist and Internet experts took part in the press briefing on Internet governance organized by the UNIC Moscow in the context of the ongoing preparations for the IGF conference in Baku. Mr. Nariman Hajiyev, Project manager of IGF Secretariat, Mr. Elnur Khalilov, Development Adviser, UNDP Office in Azerbaijan, Mr. Vyacheslav Cherkasov, Senior Governance and Public Administration Officer of DESA and Yuri Shishaev, National Information Officer of the UNIC Moscow.

Taking part in the briefing were close to 30 journalists representing various online and printed media, radio and TV, as well as experts in electronic communications. Following brief welcoming remarks by the UNIC Officer-in-Charge, Vyacheslav Cherkasov, Senior Governance and Public Administration Officer at DESA, briefed the participants on the origin of GIF the UN role in sustaining the multi-stakeholder dialogue on the issue. Drawing on his knowledge of the local environment, he singled out several aspects of internet governance that could be or special relevance in the Russian context.
 
The floor then passed to Andrei Kolesnikov, Director of Russian coordination centre for national Internet domains. A recognized authority in communications with rich experience of participation in previous GIF meetings, Mr. Kolesnikov presented  a very concise and professional overview of the GIF agenda, briefly commenting on various groups of items, both traditional and emerging.  Then Mr. Robert Schlegel, member of the Duma (the lower house of the Russian Parliament) offered a somewhat different view of the issue by outlining several legislative issues of Internet governance that,  in his view, needed to be addressed at the upcoming GIF conference in Baku. He also commented briefly on the newly adopted Russian law on protecting children from harmful content on Internet – the development that had provoked a lively debate at home and had repercussions internationally.
 
Expanding on the latter issue, Mr. Urvan Parfentiev, senior analyst with the Russian National Centre for Internet Technologies focused on several specific issues of safety and security of Internet content. Then Mr. Nariman Hajiyev offered insightful comments concerning the preparatory process for the seventh GIF Conference in Baku, while emphasizing, and expanding on, its overall theme – "Internet Governance for Sustainable Human, Economic and Social Development." His practical comments regarding the logistics of the future conference were much appreciated by the audience (many of whom plan to attend the Baku meeting).
 
The Q-and-A time that followed was no less rich in substance than the first part of the briefing. On the one hand, journalists’ questions demonstrated a sustained interest in the issue of internet governance and acute awareness of the issues on the agenda (to be sure, most of the correspondents at the briefing represented "specialized" Internet-savvy printed or online media). On the other hand, the intricate relationship and delicate balance among various groups of Internet governance issues sometimes failed to get due attention of the audience, as some participants could be building a strong case in favor of intellectual property rights and suppression of harmful content on Internet, while ignoring the need to preserve its open and democratic nature and privacy.
 
At one point the journalists disagreed about what one of them referred to as presenting a consolidated position by various Russian stakeholders at the conference in Baku, citing the experience of other countries. Other participants argued that Internet was a trans-boundary phenomenon, emphasizing that IGF was about dialogue, and not about splitting the cyberspace along national borders.  Everyone agreed, however that the Russian stakeholder should adopt an active position at the conference in Baku – an essential condition for this country’s concerns regarding Internet governance to be heard.

---