The 2nd European Dialogue on Internet Governance, which takes place on 14 and 15 September at the Geneva headquarters of the European Broadcasting Union, will bring together 200 representatives from the private sector, governments, parliaments, civil society including youth, media and international organisations to debate current European concerns and challenges.
Key issues to be discussed include access to the Internet, online privacy, cybercrime, critical Internet resources, social networks and net neutrality. Other topics will be the quality, reliability and responsibility of user-generated content and new media, the role of public service media, copyright issues as well as media literacy. Delegates will also speculate about what the Internet will be like in 2020
Eurodig 2009 takes place at a crucial time, since one of the main agreements that links the only body that currently ‘governs’ the Internet- ICANN*- to the US government, expires in September 2009. This raises crucial questions such as – who should govern cyberspace after that and should a new model be adopted for overseeing the Internet?
The multi-stakeholder debates will serve to prepare the European contributions to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), taking place from 15 to18 November 2009 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Opening statements at Eurodig will be given by Jean-Paul Philippot, President of the European Broadcasting Union, Veronique Gigon, Deputy Director of the Swiss Federal Office of Communications, Philippe Boillat, Director General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs of the Council of Europe, and Asa Torstensson, Swedish Minister for Communications, together with other speakers.
The 2009 Eurodig programme can be found at www.eurodig.org.
