Global Digital Compact

Last week, states in New York reviewed the latest draft of the UN Global Digital Compact. The GDC is an initiative of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to establish shared principles and state responsibilities for the internet and AI. It's expected to be adopted at the UN Summit of the Future in September.

I joined a letter with other internet and web architects to remind everyone how the internet is already being governed not as a power play but because multistakeholderism works.

CDT CTO Mallory Knodel Joins Letter Urging UN’s Secretary-General and Envoy on Technology to Uphold Inclusive Model of Internet Governance

Today, a group of technical experts involved in the development and maintenance of the Internet and the Web – including CDT CTO Mallory Knodel – published an open letter calling on the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General and the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology to “uphold the bottom-up, collaborative and inclusive model of Internet governance that has served the […]

Center for Democracy and TechnologyMallory Knodel

Unrelatedly I'm headed to the UN next week for a convening on Open Source Programme Offices (OSPOs), followed by HOPE!

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Links!

• A new RFC specifies the FROST signing protocol. https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc9591/
• Call for essays: The Internet Governance Forum Coalition on Data and Artificial Intelligence Governance put out a call until 25 August for essays on "AI from the Global Majority." https://intgovforum.org/en/filedepot_download/279/27750
• More detailed reporting on the OpenDNS service suspension in Europe: https://torrentfreak.com/opendns-suspends-service-in-france-due-to-canal-piracy-blocking-order-240629/
• A new NSF RFI is out to study "digital twins," a data-driven technique to model and simulate real-world conditions such that prediction or informed decision making might advance biomedical sciences, climate change, smart cities, and scientific discovery. https://www.nitrd.gov/networking-and-information-technology-research-and-development-request-for-information-on-digital
• A new NIST RFI will fund a public-private partnership to support US engagement in international standardization for critical and emerging technologies. Civil society engagement could be part of any programme submission. https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USNIST/bulletins/3a5fd02?trk=feed_main-feed-card_feed-article-content
• Fertility apps lead to increased datafication of health, changing the relationship between actors and experts. This paper traces the shifts in reproductive health knowledge with an approach that foregrounds the wider politics of technological adoption and change. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9566.13793

The importance of technological standards development processes

My first global standards meeting was in 2014 while working as a technical specialist at the Association for Progressive Communications. Marking nearly ten years, next week I'll moderate a learning call with the APC network to discuss with dear colleagues the importance of standards for global human rights organisations. Avri Doria, Leandro Navarro, Juliana Guerra, and Carlos Rey-Moreno will be helping to identify action-oriented engagement in standards that furthers gender, climate and social justice.

The session is closed, but here's a solid reading list:

• APC. 2023. Submission to the thematic report on the relationship between technical standard-setting processes and human rights. https://www.apc.org/sites/default/files/apc_submission_tech_hr_ohchr_march_2023.pdf
• Policy Community Networks Wiki. The Role of International Organisations. https://policy.communitynetworks.group/international-organisations/start
• ARTICLE 19. 2018. Navigating the ITU. Four routes for civil society engagement. https://www.article19.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/2018.01.04-Ways-to-Engage-Mini-Brief-FINAL-VERSION.pdf
• CTD and ARTICLE 19. 2023. A Guide to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for Public Interest Advocates. https://cdt.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Art19-Guide-to-the-IETF-2023-03-21.pdf
• Guerra, J., & Knodel, M. 2020. Feminism and protocols. https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-guerra-feminism/
• Derechos Digitales. 2023. The relationship between human rights and technical standard-setting processes for new and emerging digital technologies. Response to the request for inputs ahead of the Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/digitalage/cfis/tech-standards/subm-standard-setting-digital-space-new-technologies-csos-derechos-digitales-3-input.pdf

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