The following are the main session questions proposed by the MAG:
Emerging Issues Questions
Question 1: What are the implications of the use of new technical and political instruments on the free flow of information, access to information, and with respect for human rights?
Dialogue around this question is expected to embrace a wide range of issues including, inter alia, discussion of:Access to content, new models, common challenges for old and new media Low cost mobile access to the Internet Technical measures and use of intermediaries as instruments of law enforcement and intermediary safe harbors
Question 2: What are acceptable and proportionate measures that offer Intellectual Property protection, yet allow for and respect individual users’ freedom to express themselves, to access and share content/culture, and to innovate and create?
Dialogue around this question is expected to embrace a wide range of issues including, inter alia, discussion of: Measures to protect intellectual property in balance with incentives for creativity and innovation Access to content, new models, common challenges and hybrid television Legislative issues Creativity and human rights Innovation on the Internet The networked individual and expanded power of freedom
Question 3: In what ways are new opportunities and challenges being created as the new Internet services and traditional media (such a broadcast TV and radio) are accessed through the ‘same screen’?
Dialogue around this question is expected to embrace a wide range of issues including, inter alia, discussion of: Access to content, new models, common challenges and hybrid television User generated content: reliability and responsibility Low cost mobile access to the internet
Question 4: To what extent do Internet based services offer new and radically different opportunities to help families, social groups, communities and broader structures in society organize and re-organize themselves when challenged by natural disaster or strife?
Dialogue around this question is expected to embrace a wide range of issues including, inter alia, discussion of; Internet and traditional media for disaster recovery and management Internet Governance for Disaster Reduction and Response – Best practice and possible collaboration framework
Managing Critical Internet Resources Questions
Question 1: What is the role and importance of IXPs in localizing content, including to ensure easier connectivity in cases of disasters?
Question 2: How can IG policy choices ensure sustainability during natural disasters and recovery/relief efforts?
Question 3: What IG choices, best practices and technical and policy challenges impact the migration of resources starting to run over IP, migration of resources?
Question 4: What policy dialogues in international forums could impact these migrations? For example, what, if any, implications are there from the ITU World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) and its review of the International Telecommunications Regulations? What changes in this binding set of Treaty-level regulations could impact the future development of the Internet?
Question 5: What new developments pose specific new policy and technical challenges?
• Introduction of new gTLDs,
• IPv4 and IPv6: Emerging IPv4 markets, and related governance issues relevant to market ideas/realties,
• Emergence of smart grids – what are best practices to enable an interconnected world?
Question 6: With respect to multistakeholder accountability mechanisms, such as the AOC at ICANN, what are the results of such efforts, and what are the consequences for other CIR organizations?
Questions for Feeder Workshops:
Question 1: What are the effects of jurisdiction and territoriality on the ongoing discussions about critical internet resource coordination?
Question 2: What is the relationship of the multi-stakeholder accountability mechanisms and the overall goal of enhanced cooperation?
Security, Openness and Privacy Questions
Question 1: What impact can security and governance issues have on the Internet and human rights?
Question 2: Freedom of expression and free flow of information: how do legal framework, regulations, and principles impact this? What risks can Internet fragmentation pose to security, privacy and openness? What impact does cloud computing have on concerns over cybersecurity and cybercrime?
Question 3: What risks do law enforcement, information suppression and surveillance have on security, privacy and openness and how can public and private sector cooperate to conform and observe human rights?
Question 4: What measures can be taken to ensure freedom of expression, access to knowledge and privacy, including for children? What are challenges to protect freedom of expression online and what measures can be taken to better empower citizen’s access to information and participation in digital age? “Net Etiquette” and the roles and responsibilities of users as they relate to openness, privacy security?
Question 5: What policies and practices that can assist in making the Internet an effective multistakeholder model to discuss national & regional issues and what best practices developing countries can benefit from.
Access and Diversity Questions
Question 1: What are the policy challenges around free flow of information, freedom of expression and human rights and the Internet as they relate to access?
Question 2: What are the legal policy and regulatory choices including enabling environments that foster infrastructure investment, particularly for developing countries?
Question 3: How is the increased demand for more bandwidth, lower costs of Internet access and revenue shifts affecting investment in broadband infrastructure and access networks?
Question 4: What challenges do filtering, blocking and the diversity of national legal frameworks more generally pose to ensuring access and diversity?
Question 5: Innovation and opportunities in spectrum technology and allocation---implications for access including mobile?
Question 6: How can women be empowered in all dimensions of their life through access to the Internet and information?
Question 7: How do language barriers impact access to the Internet?
Question 8: What opportunities and challenges are presented by multilingualism?
Question 9: Mobile access: what it takes to create opportunities for entrepreneurs, youth and developing country stakeholders?
Internet Governance for Development Questions
IG4D Thematic Cluster 1 "Pending Expansion of the Top Level Domain Space"
Question 1:How do various actors in the developing world--governments, industry groupings, the technical community, civil society-perceive the relative costs and benefits of expanding the domain name space; Are there any issues on which greater clarification and mutual understanding would be helpful?
Question 2: What kinds of support may be required to help communities, NGOs and businesses from the developing world to participate in the gTLD process? How do we we see the structure of the global market for registry and registrar services evolving in the years ahead?"
IG4D Thematic Cluster 2 "Enabling Environment"
Question 1: What does it take to attract investment in infrastructure and encourage innovation and growth of ICT services, including mobile technology and how can these technologies best be employed to address development challenges?
Question 2: What does it take in terms of IG policy, legal and regulatory approaches? What are the challenges to and opportunities for participation of stakeholders from developing countries with a special focus on increasing participation by youth and women participation in IG from Least Developed Countries?
IG4D Thematic Cluster 3 - "Infrastructure"
Question 1: What are the key concerns regarding Internet infrastructure from developing countries' experiences and how can new technologies and the Global Internet Governance mechanisms address limitations, offer opportunities and enable development?
Taking Stock and the Way Forward
In the past year there has been a spate of declarations by various governments and intergovernmental groups that proposed guiding governance principles for various aspects of the Internet's development and use. Examples include, inter alia, the revised ITRs (ITU); the United Nations Committee for Internet-Related Policies (India); the International Code of Conduct for Information Security (China, Russia, Tajikistan Uzbekistan); 15 principles on policy making to be transferred into "guidelines" (OECD); the Internet Governance Declaration's 10 principles (CoE); the Deauville Declaration's 6 principles(Group of 8); the Tbilisi Declaration (OSCE), the Cybersecurity Principles (NATO); the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee 10 Principles, and the Draft Code of Ethics for the Information Society (UNESCO).
Main Question:
To what extent these various initiatives, which collectively involve most of the world's governments, display increasing convergence on guiding principles?
Question 1: How are the rules for the Internet set?
Question 2: How would be possible to coordinate and to harmonize the current plurality of developing principles for Internet Regulation?
Question 3: What is the progression of the perspective raised through discussions successive IGFs.
Question 4: To what extent do these principles raise distinctive implications and relevance to the world's population?
Question 5: What are the prospects for the various countries embracing and implementing such principles or such harmonization of principles?