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The Internet Society in the Pacific

Pacific IGF 2021

Pacific IGF 2021

Sub-regional IGF
At the center of Internet Governance, stands the principle of safe, secure and open Internet and web. The internet has revolutionized the world like nothing before. The invention of the Internet and Web sets a stage to affirm reality of opportunities and challenges particularly for the Pacific and small island developing states. In these turbulent months of uncertainty with the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, we are all at the forefront of an experiencing challenges that requires a multistakeholder approach.

The Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society(PICISOC) is a chapter that represents the interests of users in the Oceania- Pacific region. It focuses on local issues and developments in the Pacific region, and seeks to provide impartial advice to governments and the public on Internet related matters that are relevant to Pacific Island people. PICISOC and the Asia-Pacific Top-Level Domain (APTLD)formally launched a partnership by signing a MOU in 2020 to build a strategic partnership to explore possible areas of cooperation in the field of outreach and engagement of, and building capacity for ccTLD managers across the Pacific Countries and Territories.

The Process
The USP, PICISOC, APNIC, ISOC, APTLD, InternetNZ, ICANN, IGF and key partners in the region will working together to host the Pacific Internet Governance Forum from 6 – 8 September, 2021 – a member’s forum to facilitate dissemination, impact, promote the collaboration, and ultimately sharing of knowledge and good practices and innovative organizational-specific solutions. The Pacific Internet Governance Forum will ensure a multistakeholder process, bringing together stakeholders from the Asia-Pacific region to join the Internet Governance debate and policy discussions to ensure that the internet remains safe, secure and open. 

The Pacific Internet Governance forum will ensure a human-centric design thinking process to create new and innovative ideas to deal with the challenges faced by our members in the Pacific. The forum will not be limited to a specific area of expertise – it’s going to focus on people, processes, technology and the ecosystems to solve multifaceted problems in the area of Internet Governance. With support from key partners, we hope to create a multistakeholder approach and create opportunities for our key members to highlight their challenges and also to look at opportunities to promote knowledge sharing and identify ways to work together to solve a problem. We want a faster, better-informed process with the right solutions that will fit the Pacific context. 

Previous Involvement
There have been 3 IGF meetings conducted in the Pacific with the aim at establishing a multistakeholder platform for discussing the Internet governance related matters. Reports to these meetings can be found on these links:

Vanuatu IGF: https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/regional-igf-initiatives
Asia: https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/asia-pacific-regional-group

The Pacific IGF is recognised by the United Nations Secretariat for the Internet Governance Forum as a sub-regional IGF that adheres to the core IGF principles and procedures, as outlined in the NRIs Toolkit. It regularly participates in the monthly meetings of all 137 NRIs, coordinated by the IGF Secretariat, contributes to the NRIs network development and integration of NRIs in the IGF’s global processes.

Importance of all Stakeholders Empowerment

As an indication of commitment to the partnership, PICISOC in collaboration with APTLD will team up with other key partners such as InternetNZ, an APTLD’s founding member and the University of the South Pacific (USP) to facilitate the APTLD meeting and the Pacific Internet Governance Forum in Fiji from 6 – 11 September 2021.

Ensuring the event encourages all stakeholders empowerment, of all disciplines, inclusive of gender and youth involvement is a core goal for the organising committee.

The operational secretariat’s role is entrusted to the Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society (PICISOC).

Read more on the plans for hosting of the IGF 2021 meeting.

Sub-regional IGF
At the center of Internet Governance, stands the principle of safe, secure and open Internet and web. The internet has revolutionized the world like nothing before. The invention of the Internet and Web sets a stage to affirm reality of opportunities and challenges particularly for the Pacific and small island developing states. In these turbulent months of uncertainty with the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, we are all at the forefront of an experiencing challenges that requires a multistakeholder approach.

The Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society(PICISOC) is a chapter that represents the interests of users in the Oceania- Pacific region. It focuses on local issues and developments in the Pacific region, and seeks to provide impartial advice to governments and the public on Internet related matters that are relevant to Pacific Island people. PICISOC and the Asia-Pacific Top-Level Domain (APTLD)formally launched a partnership by signing a MOU in 2020 to build a strategic partnership to explore possible areas of cooperation in the field of outreach and engagement of, and building capacity for ccTLD managers across the Pacific Countries and Territories.

The Process
The USP, PICISOC, APNIC, ISOC, APTLD, InternetNZ, ICANN, IGF and key partners in the region will working together to host the Pacific Internet Governance Forum from 6 – 8 September, 2021 – a member’s forum to facilitate dissemination, impact, promote the collaboration, and ultimately sharing of knowledge and good practices and innovative organizational-specific solutions. The Pacific Internet Governance Forum will ensure a multistakeholder process, bringing together stakeholders from the Asia-Pacific region to join the Internet Governance debate and policy discussions to ensure that the internet remains safe, secure and open. 

The Pacific Internet Governance forum will ensure a human-centric design thinking process to create new and innovative ideas to deal with the challenges faced by our members in the Pacific. The forum will not be limited to a specific area of expertise – it’s going to focus on people, processes, technology and the ecosystems to solve multifaceted problems in the area of Internet Governance. With support from key partners, we hope to create a multistakeholder approach and create opportunities for our key members to highlight their challenges and also to look at opportunities to promote knowledge sharing and identify ways to work together to solve a problem. We want a faster, better-informed process with the right solutions that will fit the Pacific context. 

Previous Involvement
There have been 3 IGF meetings conducted in the Pacific with the aim at establishing a multistakeholder platform for discussing the Internet governance related matters. Reports to these meetings can be found on these links:

Vanuatu IGF: https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/regional-igf-initiatives
Asia: https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/asia-pacific-regional-group

The Pacific IGF is recognised by the United Nations Secretariat for the Internet Governance Forum as a sub-regional IGF that adheres to the core IGF principles and procedures, as outlined in the NRIs Toolkit. It regularly participates in the monthly meetings of all 137 NRIs, coordinated by the IGF Secretariat, contributes to the NRIs network development and integration of NRIs in the IGF’s global processes.

Importance of all Stakeholders Empowerment

As an indication of commitment to the partnership, PICISOC in collaboration with APTLD will team up with other key partners such as InternetNZ, an APTLD’s founding member and the University of the South Pacific (USP) to facilitate the APTLD meeting and the Pacific Internet Governance Forum in Fiji from 6 – 11 September 2021.

Ensuring the event encourages all stakeholders empowerment, of all disciplines, inclusive of gender and youth involvement is a core goal for the organising committee.

The operational secretariat’s role is entrusted to the Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society (PICISOC).

Read more on the plans for hosting of the IGF 2021 meeting.

17 Mar 2021

By Ian Barber, Lea Kaspar, Ruby Khela, Daniela Schnidrig, Richard Wingfield and Matthew Griffin

The rise and evolution of the internet and digital technologies has brought about new opportunities and challenges for communities around the world to exercise and enjoy their human rights – including freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and the right to privacy. However, while it is now widely accepted that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, building a rights-respecting digital environment is not a given.

As the socio-economic environment continues to evolve, communities around the world are struggling to address challenges brought about by the increased reliance on digital technologies and the internet. The 2020 COVID-19 crisis has only accelerated digital transformation, and further exacerbated these challenges.

This report, commissioned by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, examines the state of human rights in the context of the digital age in nine Commonwealth Pacific Island countries, and seeks to provide recommendations for future capacity building efforts in the region.

Find report here.

Article first featured on the Global Partners Digital website.
Link: https://www.gp-digital.org

By Andrew Macfarlane, 1 NEWS Reporter

Another Government organisation is grappling with a cyber-attack, after discovering a threat last month.

The Health Research Council, which is responsible for managing around $120 million in funding annually, says it’s addressing “an incident affecting the organisation’s IT environment.”

While a spokesperson wouldn’t go into detail about the exact nature of the attack, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner was alerted on December 17.

1 NEWS also understands the GCSB has been called in to help.

It follows on from an digital attack on the Reserve Bank, which was also impacted last month.

There are no clear signs the two are related, but the government’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) says incidents like these are expected to become more common.

Nadia Yousef, CERT’S Incident Response Manager, says attackers don’t discriminate when hunting for targets.

“They’re opportunistic, they get in whatever way they can,” she says.

Technology commentator Paul Brislen says two attacks on public sector organisations in one month isn’t a good look.

“I think the Government is suddenly becoming aware of how exposed we are,” he says.

Article first featured on the One News website. More information can
be found on Link: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/

By Marian Faa on Pacific Beat with Various Presenters

Internet users in Papua New Guinea say data is still ‘very expensive’ one year after the installation of a 4,700 kilometre fibre optic cable between Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

PNG’s independent regulator, the National Information and Communications Technology Authority, has been reviewing the price of wholesale internet since the Coral Sea Cable was completed in December 2019.

Dr Amanda Watson, a digital communications expert from the Australian National University, said there had been no significant change in the price and speed of internet since the cable was installed.

“There has also been quite a lot of excitement and many statements made … about potential for increased speeds, decreased prices, and also improved reliability,” she said.

“And so the question is whether the cable is actually able to deliver on those various promises.”

University of Papua New Guinea student Nancy Paglau said her data costs had actually increased in the past year.

But DataCo, the government-owned company responsible for managing and distributing wholesale internet in PNG, said the prices had reduced.

Director Paul Komboi said it was up to retailers like Digicel, Bmobile and Telikom to pass on the savings to their customers.

“If you’re not getting a reduction in pricing at the retail level, customer level, then obviously, it is the middleman that is pushing the issue there,” Mr Komboi said.

The ABC approached major mobile internet retailers in Papua New Guinea for comment.

Bmobile, the only company to respond, said it reduced its data pricing drastically in July 2019, before the Coral Sea Cable was installed.

This article first featured under the Pacific Beat newsfeed on the ABC Radio Australia website.
Link: https://www.abc.net.au/radio-australia/programs/pacificbeat/

GOVERNMENT DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION DRAFT BILL RELEASED FOR PUBLIC CONSULTATION

Minister for Information and Communications Technology, Hon. Timothy Masiu, today announced the release of the Digital Transformation Bill for public consultation. When passed by the PNG Parliament, the Bill will usher a much more coordinated and systematic approach in the procurement, deployment and the use of digital technologies within the public sector.

Minister Masiu, MP is humbled by Prime Minister Hon. James Marape’s vote of trust and faith in the people of South Bougainville under his leadership to have him maintain his ministerial portfolio as indicated in the most recent Cabinet reshuffle. Minister Masiu said that it is time to get on with business and he has directed the Department of Information and Communication Technology to prepare and release the first draft of the Government Digital Transformation Bill 2021 on its website for public consultation. Minister Masiu has targeted the first quarter of the Parliament sitting in 2021 to take the Bill to Parliament.

“It is imperative that stakeholders within the Government machinery and persons interested in the Government’s digital transformation and digital economy agenda have given access to the draft Bill to provide feedback”. “While it may be conventional that consultative workshops are conducted to gauge views of stakeholders, the first draft of the Government Digital Transformation Bill 2021 has been uploaded on the Department’s website, accessible at www.ict.gov.pg to allow for review and comments from as many stakeholders as much as possible. Subsequent drafts will take into consideration comments from stakeholders, which should reach the Department no later than end of February 2021”.

“Essentially the Bill will anchor the functions and powers of my Department of Information and Communication Technology as the Government’s ICT central coordinating agency. It will also provide for standards, specifications and guidelines on government digital infrastructure, digital services, data governance and all aspect of digital government across Whole of government”.“

As I have expressed in my earlier Press Release, I am delighted that after the Bill’s passage, all government official business will by law be now required to be communicated through official government email domains and not through public email domains. All Government Departments will also be required by the Bill to have official websites using the government domain .gov.pg make public information accessible to citizens whilst maintaining classification of government data from Restricted Top Secret, Confidential and Open Public Data.”

“To address uncoordinated ICT projects that has created government information systems silos amongst public bodies and impeded efficient service delivery over the years, this law will empower my Department to issue a ‘Certificate of Compliance’ as a prerequisite for government ICT project funding consideration.”

“As we brace ourselves in the 2021 fiscal year and try to overcome the aftermath of social and economic challenges of the first wave of covid-l9 pandemic, we are also reminded to remain vigilant for any oncoming waves that we have heard are affecting other Western countries. Hence, the essence of embracing the benefits of ICT in service delivery in our path to digitally transform PNG into a digital economy can never be more significant”.

“I encourage all ICT stakeholders and citizens to find time to maximize the benefits of technology to access the draft Bill online and provide feedback”.

This article first featured on the PNG Department of Information & Communications Technology facebook page.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/pngdict/posts/479709740100286

9 December 2020

In an effort to promote good ccTLD management practices in the South Pacific, APTLD is going to contribute to the  Pacific IGF to be held in the onsite format in Nadi, Fiji, in September 2021 back to back with APTLD80.

As an observer to the Pacific IGF Multistakeholder Steering Group formed to deal with preparations for the IGF, APTLD contributed to its inaugural online meeting and discussed the layout and logistics of the upcoming event.

It is also envisaged that the PACIGF should also receive support from some APTLD Members and ICANN.

The draft agenda of the joint event is expected to be unveiled in late-February 2021, the pandemic situation permitting.

Source: APTLD

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