User blogs

Foreign policies have for many years served as countries’ compass in their relations with each other. With the fast digitalisation of most sectors of society, updating foreign policies to incorporate digital aspects – recognised both as a tool to facilitate diplomatic practice, and a theme on diplomatic agendas – is a natural progression.

An analytical summary of the Final Report of the UN High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation

The report of the High-level Panel in Digital Cooperation, The age of digital interdependence, has historical relevance.

The combined quarterly revenue of a handful of Internet companies is staggering. As the recent financial results have shown, the $142 billion figure is a 12-fold increase over the companies’ revenue 10 years ago.
 

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation will take effect one year from now - on 25 May 2018. In this post, two central questions are tackled: Who will be affected by the new rules, and what does the regulation apply to?

As for many of Diplo's friends, the monthly Internet governance (IG) webinars have been a constant on our schedule. Last year alone, over 300 participants joined us online to discuss IG issues.

Arduous negotiations, lobbying, and watered-down amendments characterised the three-week ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, which took place earlier last month in Busan, Korea. The aim of the conference was to decide the ITU’s work plan for the next four years, review its Internet-related resolutions, and elect its new leadership.

Last Friday, during a Google Advisory Council meeting in London, freedom of expression activist Article 19 once again expressed its concern over the recent decision on the right to be forgotten, and the implications of this decision.

Dougald Hine has definitely got some facts right: our mobile devices are bringing us more words than any of us could ever read, more music than we could ever listen to, more video than we could ever watch...

We are bombarded by information every time we switch on our laptops. For some of us, it starts from the moment we wake up (does your hand automatically reach out to your phone the moment you open your eyes?) and ends right before we doze off.

Internet governance (IG) developments in 2013 confirmed vividly the old saying that it is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future. Who could have predicted the Snowden revelations that have substantially affected global digital politics? It is a good reminder about the need for humility when referring to the future. This is how Dr Jovan Kurbalija set the stage in last week’s webinar.

The 8th IGF in Bali, Indonesia, took place at a delicate time when surveillance and privacy issues were dominating most IG meeting agendas.

The Snowden leaks  led to a strengthening focus: the heavy air of distrust pervading online users has driven major Internet companies to focus on more transparent methods of operation; meanwhile, however, more leaks continue to emerge.