The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) will take place in Johannesburg on 17 and 18 July 2014 and is hosted by the Internet Society of SA – Gauteng Chapter (ISOC-Gauteng).The meeting has been strategically scheduled to take place after the African Internet Governance Forum which took place on 12 July in Nigeria, and before the Global IGF which will take place in Istanbul, Turkey from 2 to 5 September 2014. The outcomes of the African IGF meeting will be reviewed at the Gauteng IGF.
Industry players such as Google, the ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) and ZA Central Registry (ZACR) will collaborate on a contribution to the global Internet Governance Forum held in Istanbul during September.
Themed “building a multi-stakeholder collaboration”, the Jo’burg summit will feature speakers including the Association for Progressive Communications’ (APC) Anriette Esterhuysen, regulatory advisor Ahmed Kajee; Alice Munyua, head of the .ke country code top-level domain; Neil Dundas, COO of the ZACR; and Manqoba Katane of the Johannesburg Junior Council.
A range of topics will be covered, among them Local policies enabling Internet access, the Internet and human rights, Enhancing digital trust and the Internet for economic development. Delegates will also hear about how to manage critical Internet resources such as the new global top-level domains, Internet protocol versions 4 and 6 and, of course, spectrum.
The United Nations created the Internet Governance Forum to continue the work of the World Summit on the Information Society. It provides a platform on which government, civil society, the private sector and technical community can discuss matters of mutual interest, and raise concerns relating to the Internet.
“The IGF deals with critical issues like privacy, human rights and interconnection that affect millions of Internet users,” says Gabriel Ramokotjo, conference’s organiser. “The local IGF is an opportunity for our own vibrant Internet community to raise important issues that can be raised with the global Internet community in Istanbul later.
“In addition, the local IGF will encourage the participation of individuals from marginalised communities in Internet governance discussions, as we identify a set of common principles to drive Internet Governance in the South African context,” concluded Mr Ramokotjo.
The conference will take place at Wits Enterprise, Empire Road, Braamfontein, and bookings by interested parties can be made at gautengifg.org.za. There is no cost to attend. The Gauteng Internet Governance Forum will take place annually with the aim of holding discussions relevant to the ICT industry.