The Identity Project

Internet Governance Forum outcome on Privacy Protection

Dynamic Coalition on Privacy launched at UN Internet Meeting in Athens
IGF participants kick off process for privacy in digital identity management, development, and freedom of expression

Athens, 2 November 2006

At the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), a UN conference on future internet public policy taking place in Athens this week (30 October - 2 November 2006), a diverse group of stakeholders has agreed to launch a Dynamic Coalition on Privacy, which will address emerging issues of internet privacy protection such as digital identities, the link between privacy and development, and the importance of privacy and anonymity for freedom of expression. It will initiate an open process to further develop and clarify the public policy aspects of privacy in internet governance in the perspective of the next IGF meeting in Brazil in 2007. The group will use online collaboration tools as well as facilitate meetings at related events all over the world throughout the year. Participants in Athens in particular agreed that there is a need for greater public participation in technical and legal standardizations that have a global public policy impact on privacy. They also emphasised that it is important to better include perspectives from developing countries in these processes.

One of the main outcomes of the IGF is the creation of "dynamic coalitions" or multi-stakeholder groups working together on a common issue over a multi-year process. The Dynamic Coalition on Privacy is a direct outcome of two privacy workshops at the IGF on 31 October, co-organized by the Information Systems Group at the LSE and the University of Bremen. It also reflects discussions held during the IGF main session on cyber-security as well as the IGF workshops on "Human Rights and the Internet" organized by the Council of Europe and on an "Internet Bill of Rights" organized by the Government of Italy together with IP Justice and the Internet Society of Italy. It builds upon several months of multi-stakeholder collaboration in the run-up to the UN meeting in Athens.

Start-up actors are listed below.

About the workshops

The LSE Policy Engagement Research Group in the Informations Systems Group organised two workshops to follow up from our earlier meeting in June 2006.

The first workshop explored the issues surrounding privacy and identity. Speakers were:

• Jerry Fishenden, Microsoft (slides)
• Jan Schallabock, ICCP (slides)
• Mary Rundle, Harvard University (slides)
• Christian Moller, OSCE (slides)
• Yves Poullet, University of Namur (slides)
• Stephanie Perrin, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

The second workshop looked at the landscape of privacy, globalisation, and development. Speakers were:

• Cristos Velasco, North American Consumer Project on Electronic Commerce, Mexico City (slides)
• Michael Silber. Internet Service Providers' Assiciation of South Africa, Johannesburg
• David W. Maher, Public Interest Registry, Chicago (slides)
• Zoi Talidou, Hellenic Data Protection Authority, Athens
• Anriette Esterhuysen, The Association for Progressive Communication, Johannesburg

Bringing together communities and groups

Early members of the new coalition include:

• LSE Information Systems Group
• University of Bremen
• "Privacy and Identity Management in Europe" (PRIME) Project
• Association for Progressive Communication (APC)
• Microsoft
• Amnesty International
• French Government
• Council of Europe (to be confirmed)
• Privacy Commissioner of Canada
• WSIS Civil Society Working Group on Privacy and Security
• North American Consumer Project on Electronic Commerce (NACPEC)
• Net Dialogue of Harvard's Berkman Center and Stanford's Center for Internet and Society
• OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
• Privacy International
• Internet Service Providers' Association of South Africa
• Hellenic Data Protection Authority
• IP Justice
• European Digital Rights (EDRi)
• Danish Human Rights Institute
• Electronic Frontier Finland
• Independent Centre for Privacy Protection in Kiel, Germany
• WISeKey
• Digital Rights Ireland
• Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR)
• Privaterra
• Deutsche Vereinigung für Datenschutz (DVD)
• Metamorphosis Foundation
• Kuwait Information Technology Society
• Japan Computer Access for Empowerment (JCAFE)
• Netzwerk Neue Medien (NNM)
• Identity Commons Working Group on Identity Rights Agreements
• Cyberlaw Asia

The coalition is open to interested parties and will start a global process to engage more stakeholders over the next year. Therefore, the start-up actors call for people interested in or willing to join the work of this coalition and for recommending other stakeholders that should be contacted.

The French government has offered to host a follow-up meeting in Paris in early 2007.

Contacts:

Gus Hosein Information Systems Group at the London School of Economics and Political Science (+44) 20 7955 6403

Ralf Bendrath Collaborative Research Center "Transformations of the State", University of Bremen (+49) 179 215 4614

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Page last updated 4 November, 2006