Global Risks 2015, 10th Edition.

The 2015 edition of the Global Risks report completes a decade of highlighting the most significant long-term risks worldwide, drawing on the perspectives of experts and global decision-makers. Over that time, analysis has moved from risk identification to thinking through risk interconnections and the potentially cascading effects that result. Taking this effort one step further, this year's report underscores potential causes as well as solutions to global risks. Not only do we set out a view on 28 global risks in the report's traditional categories (economic, environmental, societal, geopolitical and technological) but also we consider the drivers of those risks in the form of 13 trends. In addition, we have selected initiatives for addressing significant challenges, which we hope will inspire collaboration among business, government and civil society communitie

Who Runs the Internet?

There is no single answer to the question of who runs the Internet. Is it the United States, often seen as the hegemon of the Internet, home to so many of the world’s leading Internet enterprises? Is it China, which erects a “Great Firewall” to assert control over the portion of the Internet available in China? Is it the European Union, which extends its power globally through its data protection regime, designating countries as “adequate” or (implicitly) “inadequate” to receive its data? Is it ICANN, the California not-for-profit organization that controls how Internet addresses are allocated? Is it the World Wide Web Consortium, which develops standards for the web’s communication’s protocols? Is it the United Nations, which periodically asserts pressure through organs like the International Telecommunications Union or through international meetings? Is it the World Trade Organization, which regulates the barriers that governments erect against international trade? Is it telecommunications providers such as AT&T and Comcast on whose wires and beams information flows? Is it Facebook, which recently connected a billion people in one day? Is it Google, where the world often begins its search for information? In reality, all of the above, and many more, can claim a share of Internet governance. This chapter will set out an overview of how the Internet is currently governed, as well as some of the key controversies in both the procedure and substance of Internet governance

The Operation of Multistakeholderism in Brazilian Internet Governance: Governance Innovation through multistakeholderism generativity

The thesis examines the operation of multistakeholderism in the Brazilian Internet governance system. It investigates how multistakeholderism operates in Internet policy-making processes and what are the effects of this operation in governance and regulatory instruments. The thesis focuses on and unpacks the elements and interactions that constitute and support the operation of multistakeholderism in Internet policy-making in Brazil. It looks at key governance structures, practices and processes analysing policy-making processes operated under a multistakeholder perspective to identify and explain the underlying elements, rationale and effects of this innovative policy-making approach. To investigate in depth what elements and configurations underpin the operation of multistakeholderism in Internet policymaking, the thesis explores, under a case study perspective, three governance practices where the operation of multistakeholderism was developed in the Brazilian Internet governance context. It observes multistakeholderism policy-making operational rationale in an international scenario influenced by the need to develop a soft-law regulatory instrument and the behaviour of stakeholders with different cultural, economic and legal values. Borrowing ideas and findings from socio-legal studies on governance and on Internet governance and applying a multi-dimensional policy-making approach, the thesis analyses these three governance practices and identifies that the operational rationale supporting multistakeholderism policymaking is based on mechanisms combining and balancing three interconnected elements: inclusion, expertise and consensus. The thesis also suggests that this policymaking mechanism is heavily influenced by a consensual orientation rationale able to mediate the contrasting tensions between inclusion and expertise at the same time that it stimulates policy cross-fertilisation and governance innovation. Unpacking these observations and findings, the thesis proposes the term 'multistakeholderism generativity' in order to illustrate its suggestion that multistakeholderism, when operated under optimal conditions, instrumentalise policy-making practices to support more innovative and legitimate governance and regulatory processes

The Promise and Shortcomings of Privacy Multistakeholder Policymaking: A Case Study

With formal privacy policymaking processes mired in discord, governments and regulators in the United States and Europe have turned to the private sector seeking assistance and solutions. Multistakeholder-driven self-regulation and co-regulation have been pursued in a variety of contexts ranging from online privacy and transparency for mobile applications to protection of transborder data flows. This article focuses on one such process, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) discussion of a Do Not Track (DNT) standard, as a case study. It critically analyzes the procedural pitfalls, which hampered the quest to reach a compromise solution acceptable by groups with diametrically opposed interests, including industry players, government regulators, and privacy advocates. It is based on a series of interviews that the Authors conducted with participants in the process, including leading industry, civil society, and the government players. Proponents of multistakeholder processes, including the U.S. government, suggests that this mode of policymaking benefits from important advantages, including an opportunity to coopt industry experts, move swiftly to conclusion, and garner industry support. The reality, however, is that the W3C process featured few of these benefits. It was protracted, rife with hardball rhetoric and combat tactics, based on inconsistent factual claims, and under constant threat of becoming practically irrelevant due to lack of industry buy-in. Perhaps this should not be surprising. The way DNT has been framed—as a veritable “on/off” switch for an entire industry—inevitably raised the stakes for a common accord. Indeed, DNT crystalizes a deep ideological divide about right and wrong in online behavior, with one side arguing that merely collecting users’ information is wrong, and the other side claiming a right—in fact a business imperative—to use such information for multiple goals. Add to that a healthy portion of competitive maneuvering within the industry, and you get a combustive mix

La regulación de la privacidad en Internet en un contexto descentralizado y no consolidado: la gobernanza de Internet y las iniciativas de múltiples partes interesadas como mecanismos reguladores

The present paper analyzes the right to privacy in the context of the Internet. The multi-stake- holder initiatives are an alternative that has already provided a regulatory structure on various aspects of the Internet, be it security, free flow of information or online privacy. Although there are elements that make it not a total solution, this paper analyzes some reasons why online privacy should be regulated by mechanisms of Internet Governance and by entities that do not respond only to governments or only to private firms. In this work, a general look at this alternative is given, without neglecting other approaches that should be applied to the topic of online privacy.El presente artículo analiza el derecho a la privacidad en el contexto del Internet. Las iniciativas de múltiples partes interesadas son una alternativa que ya ha proporcionado una estructura regulatoria en varios aspectos de Internet, ya sea la seguridad, el flujo libre de información o la privacidad en línea. Aunque hay elementos que hacen que no sea una solución total, este artículo analiza algunas razones por las cuales la privacidad en línea debe ser regulada por mecanismos de Gobernanza de Internet y por entidades que no responden solo a los gobiernos o solo a empresas privadas. En este trabajo, se da una mirada general a esta alternativa, sin descuidar los otros enfoques que se deben dar al tema de la privacidad en línea

“(Global) Internet Governance and its Civil Discontents”

Cybersecurity and Human Rights in the Age of Cyberveillance is a collection of articles by distinguished authors from the US and Europe and presents a contemporary perspectives on the limits online of human rights. By considering the latest political events and case law, including the NSA PRISM surveillance program controversy, the planned EU data protection amendments, and the latest European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence, it provides an analysis of the ongoing legal discourse on global cyberveillance. Using examples from contemporary state practice, including content filtering and Internet shutdowns during the Arab Spring as well as the PRISM controversy, the authors identify limits of state and third party interference with individual human rights of Internet users. Analysis is based on existing human rights standards, as enshrined within international law including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, European Convention on Human Rights and recommendations from the Human Rights Council. The definition of human rights, perceived as freedoms and liberties guaranteed to every human being by international legal consensus will be presented based on the rich body on international law

Institutionalising smart city research and innovation: from fuzzy definitions to real-life experiments

By exploring and defining characteristics of a smart city research and innovation centre, we contribute to the discussion on smart city development capacity. To do so, using a qualitative method, we review definitions of the concept and map international groups and institutes affiliated with this domain. Our main result is an overview of global research centres dealing with smart cities. One of the key implications of this paper is that instead of a strict definition, the important aspect appears in the framing provided by the complex real-life challenges that require and enable cross-disciplinary research, even though the concept keeps evolving

A German Digital Grand Strategy: Integrating Digital Technology, Economic Competitiveness, and National Security in Times of Geopolitical Change

This report systematically outlines the state of play in digital policy and Berlin's current policy approach. It provides 48 recommendations for strengthening Germany's efforts to build a confident, high-performing European digital economy embedded in an open, democratic, and rules-based digital order