[Air-L] RECORDING – Understanding Internet Governance: Implications for Digital, Data, and AI Governance

[Joly MacFie]

[WGIG vets examine current IG state of affairs -- Silences removed. audio
enhanced & sync'd, text transcribed, summarized in EN + FR + ES - all
archived:]


[image: ISOC LIVE] <https://isoc.live/19401>

*YOUTUBE <https://youtu.be/aS8oZqfYaTQ> | AUDIO
<https://archive.org/download/citi-understanding/citi-understanding.mp3> |
TRANSCRIPT EN
<https://archive.org/download/citi-understanding/citi-understanding.EN.TRANSCRIPT.pdf>/ES
<https://archive.org/download/citi-understanding/citi-understanding.ES.TRANSCRIPT.pdf>/FR
<https://archive.org/download/citi-understanding/citi-understanding.FR.TRANSCRIPT.pdf>
|
SUMMARY EN
<https://archive.org/download/citi-understanding/citi-understanding.EN.SUMMARY.pdf>
/ ES
<https://archive.org/download/citi-understanding/citi-understanding.ES.SUMMARY.pdf>
/ *
*FR*
<https://archive.org/download/citi-understanding/citi-understanding.FR.SUMMARY.pdf>

On *Wednesday May 28, 2025*, at *11:00-12:30 EDT* (15:00-16:30 UTC),
the *Columbia
Institute for Tele-Information <https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/citi/>*, as
part of its *Global Digital Governance series
<https://business.columbia.edu/citi/events/citi-seminars-global-digital-governance>*,
presented a webinar ‘*Understanding Internet Governance: Implications for
Digital, Data, and AI Governance*‘.

June 2025 is the 20th anniversary of the report by the UN Working Group on
Internet Governance
<https://fu8bm8rab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001eViFJfKEoxKq7TGNOhJU9l_PIABYqwVEDu7GXN0zZLw1BQ3HFSqxAFwnEoa8eo8OHRYSOVBNw5yO-XynmDXdZX1V48OB8iED0flnl5fnttGvnbsgRLC3wxQhHgm1nZk-nNL_K-spm3-sZJuWPLXTggRxExNWBouwaVnTl0NotO0E3pTKiwooTg==&c=pQaNfoj7R5GiVyjYeghE_0yM8yvRFB8qHOVGQiQyTzZPUC_P4iZPUQ==&ch=A6DO3WGe0zj1UVDD0I8Q7W3LaZQ2He0ZJ7MRJgmjvRUrZwmxWcVfNw==>
(WGIG).
Convened by the UN Secretary General to help resolve key questions that
were blocking the World Summit on the Information Society negotiations, the
WGIG produced a report that inter alia advanced a broad and holistic
“working definition” of Internet governance and proposed the establishment
of the Internet Governance Forum with the same character.  The definition
highlighted that Internet governance involves shared frameworks developed
by both states and stakeholders for both the underlying infrastructure and
its diverse uses.  The WGIG’s recommendations helped to deescalate a
divisive battle over intergovernmental vs. multistakeholder governance and
were incorporated into the negotiated outcome, and the definition has been
invoked as foundational in UN processes and beyond ever since.
But while governments and stakeholders signed onto the WGIG’s understanding
of Internet governance in 2005, the international debates and politics over
the twenty years since suggest that commitment to it has not been uniform
or deep.  The balance between intergovernmental and multistakeholder
approaches has remained contested, and attention to improving the design of
institutions has been limited.  This has special salience today not only
because the UN is reviewing the World Summit’s twenty-year implementation
in order to determine the next steps, but also because we are once again in
a period where there are pressures to establish new international
governance mechanisms.  In and outside the UN, there are multiple processes
underway concerning the governance of the digital economy, data, and
artificial intelligence that are raising challenges akin to those
confronted in the Internet governance battles of the past.
Among the questions worth exploring in this context are: 1) Has the WGIG’s
understanding of Internet governance stood the test of time?  What are its
strengths and weaknesses, and with the benefit of hindsight would a similar
exercise produce the same results today?  2) To what extent is the approach
taken in 2005 useful in addressing the contemporary push for governance of
the digital economy, data, and artificial intelligence? Are there lessons
to be learned that would assist in managing the analytical and political
challenges?  3) What are the implications of the new governance debates for
the Internet Governance Forum and related institutions?
This webinar explored these questions.  A panel of WGIG veterans will lead
off the conversation, and then the rest of the session will be devoted to
open discussion among all interested attendees.  At the June 2026 Internet
Governance Forum meeting in Norway, a larger* WGIG+20 session
<https://fu8bm8rab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001eViFJfKEoxKq7TGNOhJU9l_PIABYqwVEDu7GXN0zZLw1BQ3HFSqxAFwnEoa8eo8O5tACbhZY43rT3zoVlRbD8iFTHd9T1PKeE9m35L1RV-paUFyjFAT5lLxjzsxyrm481uSNPfd_H40ihshiE0fowhtT8fi487xNN3OR3ZgKlW7Ll2KMuByWeWoj7XYihNB6EiYH6yTJHGpIFgxxK0peFztUkam6Z1cokpVOPmUeq-fAUIyynqdj0-FFaQbP8SrV0aK5EoTOxyk=&c=pQaNfoj7R5GiVyjYeghE_0yM8yvRFB8qHOVGQiQyTzZPUC_P4iZPUQ==&ch=A6DO3WGe0zj1UVDD0I8Q7W3LaZQ2He0ZJ7MRJgmjvRUrZwmxWcVfNw==>*
will
build upon this discussion.

*PANEL*
*Avri Doria* – independent researcher and consultant.
*Wolfgang Kleinwächter* – Professor Emeritus of International Communication
Policy and Regulation, University of Aarhus
*Markus Kummer* – Internet governance and policy expert
*Vittorio Bertola* – Head of Policy & Innovation, Open-Xchange

*HOST / MODERATOR*
*William J. Drake*, Director of International Studies, Columbia Institute
for Tele-Information

*ORIGINAL LIVESTREAM <https://youtu.be/g6Aip9MUZNo> | ARCHIVE
<https://archive.org/details/citi-understanding> | PERMALINK
<https://isoc.live/19401>*
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Joly MacFie  +12185659365
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