January 29, 2025, 11:00am-12:30pm
CITI Seminar on Global Digital Governance: The WSIS+20 Review: What is Desirable? What is Possible? What is to be Done?
The UN's 2002-2005 World Summit on the Information Society process was a watershed in the evolution of global digital governance. Among its many impacts were the world-wide institutionalization of Internet governance and other information society issues across organizations and governments; the mobilization of civil society, business and Internet technical community stakeholders, and unprecedented coordination among them; the consolidation of multistakeholder participation in global digital cooperation; and the launching of multiple UN action lines and initiatives like the Internet Governance Forum and the negotiations over enhanced cooperation.
In 2025 the UN is organizing a 20-year review of the WSIS. Since 2006, the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development has done regular WSIS reviews for the General Assembly and is now preparing its WSIS+20 report, and since 2024 multiple other UN bodies have launched assessments and consultations among member governments and stakeholders. The results of all this work will feed into two key meetings: a July High-Level Event in Geneva, and an autumn UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting in New York City that will take decisions on further actions, including the possible renewal of the IGF's mandate. The procedural modalities have not been settled yet but the deadlines for stakeholders to submit written inputs are January 31 for the International Telecommunication Union's working group and March 14 for the High-Level event.
Despite the looming deadlines, stakeholder mobilization appears to be lagging a bit. Accordingly, the objective of this webinar is to help stimulate dialogue and consensus-building. Three main questions will structure the discussion: 1) What sort of +20 agreement would be desirable, e.g. just a reaffirmation of the WSIS outcomes and perhaps the UN's 2024 Global Digital Compact, or a new deal encompassing new issues since 2005? 2) What is actually possible to achieve given the current states of digital geopolitics among governments, cooperation among stakeholders, and current technological and market dynamics? 3) How should stakeholders engage and collaborate over the next months?
A panel of closely involved WSIS veterans will lead off the discussion, and then the rest of the session will be devoted to open conversation among all interested attendees.
Introduction of the topic
Eli Noam is Paul Garrett Professor of Public Policy and Business Responsibility, Emeritus, and Director of the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information at Columbia Business School.
Moderator
William J. Drake is Director of International Studies at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information and an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School.
Panelists
Anita Gurumurthy is a founding member and Executive Director of IT for Change. She serves on various bodies including as Co-Lead of the T20’s digital transformation working group, and has been part of the High-Level Committee of the NetMundial+10, the UN Secretary-General’s 10-Member Group on Technology Facilitation, and the Paris Peace Forum’s working group on algorithmic governance. Anita is also a Board member of the ETC Group and University centers such as the Tech & Policy Lab at the University of Western Australia and the International Development and Social Change program of Loughborough University. IT for Change acts as the secretariat of the of the Global Digital Justice Forum, a network of thirty-four civil society organizations. (India)
David Souter is an independent researcher and writer on the impact of the digital society on economy, society, environment and governance. He served as CEO of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation from 1995 to 2003, and has worked at the London School of Economics and Strathclyde University. In the last ten years he has worked mostly for United Nations agencies including UNESCO, UNCTAD, ITU, CSTD and DESA. He was lead author of UNESCO's Internet Universality Indicator framework and of the CSTD's WSIS+10 review, and is currently leading CSTD's work on the WSIS+20 review. (United Kingdom)
Paul Wilson has worked in Internet services, management and governance for 35 years, including nearly 25 years in Australia as the head of APNIC, the Regional Internet address Registry for Asia Pacific. Paul has been closely involved in the WSIS, IGF, ICANN and other Internet coordination processes; was a member of the IGF's Multistakholder Advisory Group for 2 terms; served as Chair of the Asia Pacific IGF for several years; and served on the High-Level Advisory Committee of the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, China. He was closely involved in the establishment and evolution of the IGF, the IANA Transition process, and the evolution of the RIR system for stewardship of the Internet’s IP addressing resources. (United States)