IGF 2016 and ICANN
Next week, members of the ICANN community, Board and organization will participate in the 2016 Internet Governance Forum (IGF 2016). Board Chair Steve Crocker and President and CEO Göran Marby will be among the ICANN participants. The event will take place just outside Guadalajara, Mexico, from 6–9 December.
For the third time, and for the second consecutive year, the IGF is being held in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region. Hosting the IGF in Mexico gives the national and regional IGFs (e.g., LACIGF) the opportunity to show progress on their work and interact with stakeholders from this and other regions.
Why Is IGF 2016 Unique?
This is the first IGF since the U.N. General Assembly extended the mandate of the IGF for another 10 years. This extension came during the WSIS+10 Review in December 2015.
A major task at 2016 IGF will be to discuss and further codify the significant enhancements needed in information and communications technologies (e.g., new devices, systems, online information) for countries to meet the targets for the Sustainable Development Goals that the U.N. agreed to last year. These discussions will guide actions by national governments, regional and global agencies, and stakeholder groups. The IGF will also discuss pertinent Internet public policy issues such as cybersecurity and data privacy.
For ICANN, IGF 2016 is a venue for introducing participants to ICANN‘s role in the Internet landscape. We’ll be able to reach members of the global community who don’t attend our meetings. We’re particularly looking to attract new stakeholders from civil society, academia and business.
As part of the LAC Mitigation Plan, the ICANN organization is sponsoring the travel of LAC regional stakeholders so they have the opportunity to learn more about Internet governance and see how ICANN‘s activities fit into the global Internet governance landscape. Sponsored participants are from the Latin American Top-Level Domain Association (LACTLD), the Latin American and Caribbean Network Information Centre (LACNIC), the Latin American and Caribbean Islands Regional At-Large Organization (LACRALO) and the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO).
Working with the community, we’ve organized panels to explain how the post-transition ICANN will operate, with a focus on the crucial role of the new community-based accountability mechanisms. Another important topic will be the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) application process. Watch for our Open Forum and the Day 0 “Town Hall.