Legislators and organizations around the world are actively considering and passing regulations to keep pace with technological development so that both societies and individuals can enjoy the benefits of the digital environment.
These processes are continuous because it is difficult to keep pace with the development of technology, and the benefits and threats it brings. On the other hand, users have embraced the technology, yet emphasize the threats it brings, from cybercrime to the possible suppression of humanity through the use of artificial intelligence. The third Serbian Internet Governance Forum (IGF Serbia 2024) held on September 11 in Dorćol Platz in Belgrade took place precisely in the atmosphere of discussion and consideration of advantages and threats. The forum was hosted by the “Register of the National Internet Domain of Serbia” Foundation (RNIDS), and the co-organizers were the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications, the Diplo Foundation, the Internet Society of Serbia, Belgrade branch, and the Gransy company, with the support of the Office of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality and the Network for Cyber Security Foundation.
“RNIDS has been involved in conversations and processes regarding Internet management for years, contributing to them, but also following the messages of good practices that it implements in its business. “Being the host of the Serbian IGF is a natural and logical move for us, because as an organization that deals with the technical side of the Internet, managing national domains, we understand how important it is to talk about the non-technical aspects of the Internet,” he said in his welcome speech. Dejan Djukicdirector RNIDS-a.
In his introductory speech, the permanent representative of the UN Development Program (UNDP) in Serbia, Mr Yakup Berisemphasized the importance of two connected global processes – digital and green transition. Although the two areas are still often viewed separately, UNDP views them as connected paths to faster sustainable and humane development, and strives to integrate them in its work to the greatest extent possible, focusing on technologies and data, the skills needed for their application, as and financing of such projects.
Chengetai Masango, who heads the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Secretariat, gave a presentation explaining the important processes underway that are expected to shape the digital future. He spoke about the Global Digital Comapct, the revision of WSIS20+ and IGF20+ from the perspective of the United Nations, while the mentioned processes were further explained in the panel moderated by Slobodan Marković, UNDP. Olga Kyryliuk from the Internews organization, Desiree Željka Milošević from the Internet Society of Serbia and Danko Jevtović, vice president of the Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), spoke about the mentioned processes and debates on the topic of Internet management. During the panel, a review was made of the beginning of global debates on Internet governance in the early 2000s under the auspices of the UN and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which resulted in the formation of the IGF, as an annual global forum. Bearing in mind that the process of re-examining the purpose and role of the IGF is underway, there was talk about what this process looks like, how broader global technological and geopolitical processes affect it, and what awaits us in 2025 at the conference that will decide on the governance of the Internet on a global scale. level.
In the conversation moderated by Dušan Stojičević (Gransy/RNIDS), a review was made of the first NIS directive of the EU, its impact on the processes in Serbia – the law on information security, the establishment of CERTs and the obligations of the economy in the field of information security. Mina Tomić, company A1, Milan Vojvodić, Ministry of Information and Telecommunications and Dejan Đukić, RNIDS, spoke about expectations from the new version of the directive – NIS2. Đukić explained what problems European domain registries and DNS service providers encountered when drafting this directive, how our registry was involved in the process, even though Serbia is not a member of the EU, and referred to the work in the working group for the drafting of a new version of the domestic law on information security. The most interesting angle on what the new domestic law brings, which is expected to be soon in the parliamentary procedure, was given by Milan Vojvodić, pointing out that the law will have all the important elements of the NIS2 directive, will expand the group of companies it applies to, and will alignment with the same domestic companies to facilitate business on the EU market. Mina Tomić spoke from the perspective of the operator about the implementation of NIS2, bearing in mind that A1 operates in several European countries, but also its implementation in business processes in Serbia.
At the panel entitled “Artificial intelligence in Serbia – strategy and outlook to the future”, the draft Development Strategy VI in the Republic of Serbia and the perspectives it creates for the academic community, the economy and society as a whole were discussed. Various projects and academic works that have the perspective of contributing to the improvement of the application of ethical principles and the protection of human rights were also mentioned. In the conclusion of the panel moderated by Bogdan Banjac from the Office of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, whose interlocutors were Ana Toskić Cvetinović, Partneri organization, Uroš Poluga, ETI Office and Ljubiša Bojić, Research and Development Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Serbia, it was agreed that multisectoral cooperation is the only way to establish an adequate legal and strategic framework that will protect human rights without hindering economic development.
The qualification of revenge pornography as a criminal offense should be a priority task before the legislator, is the unequivocal conclusion of the panel that was dedicated to digital violence and the dignity of the individual in the digital environment. Panelists Brankica Janković, commissioner for the protection of equality, Anđela Milivojević, investigative journalist and Branislava Antović Aleksić, BDW Magazine, in a conversation led by lawyer Kruna Savović, pointed to numerous gross violations of individual dignity on the Internet. The panel pointed out the need for the media to be the flywheel of ethical communication, primarily by removing sensationalism from reporting on gender-based violence, while it was pointed out through numerous examples that women are continuously the subject of hate speech and many other violations in the digital environment.
Slobodan Marković and Ana Mitić-Radulović from UNDP led the section of the program in which the fusion of green and digital was shown as a double transition, from the perspective of UNDP. Five teams, ie. startup presented solutions to the audience, i.e. green and digital innovations of their companies.
The program ended with a lecture by Vasilij Milnović from the Svetozar Marković University Library, who spoke about digital humanities and e-science, presented numerous international projects in this field in which the said institution participated, and gave a broader perspective of the development of humanities in a digital environment.
The Serbian Internet Governance Forum (IGF Serbia) is held for the third time under this name and is part of the network of national and regional initiatives of the global IGF of the United Nations. It was launched in the multi-stakeholder spirit of the IGF, as a joint initiative of several organizations and institutions. Messages from this year’s forum will be published in the following days at the address igf.rs.
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