past events

About

This session analysed how expert representatives can help consumers protect their interests in digital interactions.

Over the past years, several policy and legislative developments have aimed at improving citizen’s digital experience. In G20 economies, this political thrust is encapsulated in the G20 New Delhi Leaders Declaration and Brazil’s presidency agenda priorities for the 2024 G20 process. Europe has taken the lead in developing human-centered digital governance frameworks. The Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, Digital Governance Act and Artificial Intelligence Act spearhead efforts to ensure citizens have greater control over their online experience.

While recognizing the above as important steps to empower citizens, this session dived into two issues that have received less attention from policymakers and lawmakers.

First, the extensive use of automation and algorithmic tools hinders individuals from knowing who processes information about them. These requests are almost incalculable. Most digital users do not even know how much information about them is used, stored, shared, sold, or bought. Nor do they know the number of companies that hold data about them. Secondly, even if they could reply to every data processing request, data aggregators do not have legal or economic incentives to change their data processing practices. Consumers lack the necessary market power and technical skills to demand it.

Against this backdrop, the session analysed a dual industry model of dedicated data repositories and the role of experts as consumer agents. It explored how expert agents can negotiate the terms of use of personal data on behalf of citizens and help improve their digital experience. Speakers discussed the social and economic benefits of these agents. The session analysed which existing technologies can support the work of data expert agents.

Speakers

Nico Aspinall, Founder and CEO, Nico Aspinall Consulting

Javier Ruiz, Senior Advisor, Consumers International

Paul Twomey, Co-chairman, The Global Initiative for Digital Empowerment

Katryna Dow, Founder & CEO, Meeco

Desiree Miloshevic Evans, Cooperation Working Group co-chair, RIPE (moderator)

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This event was curated with UNESCO. It discussed practical approaches to governing artificial intelligence (AI) that could inform policymakers and lawmakers on how to boost AI governance’s efficiency to face future challenges from AI.

Since late 2022, public attention on AI has skyrocketed. AI’s mass adoption has rarely been seen before. Existing governance frameworks have struggled to keep pace with the development rush of AI-powered tools. Some actors have deployed this technology in ways that are considered unethical. Regulatory gaps can be exploited by companies and governments that prioritise their interests over public welfare or human needs. To face the challenges of AI, countries, and international organisations have developed different governance strategies.

However, each of these strategies has challenges. Market-based approaches may favour the creation of monopolies. Non-binding ethical guidelines lack enforcement mechanisms. Risk-based approaches might be too rigid and not tech-neutral. Other solutions may be at odds with Human Rights and other civil liberties.

The need for practical governance ecosystems becomes urgent as AI technologies become embedded in everyday systems, critical infrastructure, and decision-making processes. The lack of national, regional, and global coordination exacerbates risks associated with misusing AI-powered tools. Each strategy can learn from the experiences and insights of others, leading to more effective approaches to AI governance.

Speakers shared how the approaches they endorse ensure a human-centred and ethical development and integration of AI in society. Speakers also discussed how better coordination among multiple stakeholders can help face the challenges of an increasingly polarised geopolitical arena and with actors with huge financial resources.

Speakers

Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, UNESCO

Paul Twomey, Co-chairman, Global Initiative for Digital Empowerment

Julia Pomares, Fellow, Global Initiative for Digital Empowerment (Moderator)

Partners

About

This invitation only and closed-doors session analysed how technical standards can integrate core social values into the digital ecosystem.

Over the last 24 months, most countries and international organisations have developed policy guidelines, legal frameworks, and ethical strategies to deal with challenges of the digital economy. Most approaches aim at empowering digital citizens and improving their digital experience by giving them greater control over data about them.

However, to date, many challenges remain mostly unresolved. Not only is there a growing sense of disempowerment among citizens, minors are increasingly more vulnerable to online threats, and disinformation and misinformation campaigns have skyrocketed with the massive adoption of generative AI-powered tools. In short, these initiatives have struggled to keep pace with the challenges they aim to address.

Moreover, it is challenging to develop practical solutions for protecting children and their data online. These solutions must clearly show factual content and ensure built-in ethics in software and AI while preserving individual agency and privacy. These aims are often portrayed as conflicting, so providing a standards governance framework supported by practical tools will be tremendously impactful.

This session explored how internationally agreed technical standards could be used to address some of the most eroding aspects of modern digital life. It brought together several groups who are using standards and ethical development approaches to give organisations and Internet users confidence that core positive values are being embedded and defended in online content.

Speakers discussed strategies to use technical standards to embed human-centred values into the digital economy.

About

This session took place during the second day of the 2023 Global Solutions Summit in Berlin, Germany. It was supported by the proposals from the report Empowering Digital Citizens: Making Humane Markets Work in the Digital Age, which brought together stakeholders from diverse backgrounds to discuss practical steps for implementing a human-centred data governance framework. The discussion targeted the European digital ecosystem as a potential landing spot for implementing GIDE’s policy proposals.

Key topics included legal rules, economic principles, mechanisms for representation, oversight, and control, and how these discussions inform and shape potential technological architectures and governance systems.

The discussions during this session were crucial in informing and shaping the 2023 and 2024 European advocacy programs at GIDE.

Speakers

Nico Aspinall, Founder and CEO, Nico Aspinall Consulting

Professor Syed Munir Khasru, Chairman, The Institute for Policy, Advocacy, and Governance (IPAG)

Professor Fen Osler Hampson, Chancellor’s Professor and Professor of International Affairs at Carleton University, Canada.

Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås, Senior Associate, Council on Economic Policies and research professor at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs

Sal Malik, Senior Sales Engineer, Seal Storage Technology.

Paul Nemitz, Principal Adviser on Justice Policy, European Commission.

Roxana Radu, Departmental Lecturer in Technology and Public Policy, University of Oxford.

Michaela Regneri, Managing Director, House of Computing and Data, Hamburg University

Jamie Saunders, Director, Aston Sounders Limited.

Alpesh Shah, Senior Director of Global Business Strategy & Intelligence, IEEE.

Martin Wimmer, CDO, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

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About

On the 23rd and 24th of January, 2023, approximately 130 academics, business leaders, policymakers, and students convened in the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, UK, for a unique event. The summit’s aim was to discuss the role of values and value in formulating business practice and public policy in the 21st century.

The Summit was organised by the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, in conjunction with the Enacting Purpose Initiative at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, Fraunhofer IMW, Global Solutions Initiative, the New Institute and the Global Initiative for Digital Empowerment,  and the Oxford Internet Institute.

The Summit sought to reaffirm the fundamental importance of moral values in human life and explore their significance in shaping policy and business decisions. Over 20 GIDE members actively engaged in these discussions, leading to practical policy recommendations grounded in GIDE’s proposals.

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Despite the promises of digitalisation and interconnectivity, the Digital Age has also brought numerous policy challenges to make the online environment safe. For example, the proliferation of disinformation campaigns and the use of hybrid tactics to influence democratic processes, or the use of artificial intelligence to profile individuals online and modify their behaviour have made the EU react with a series of policy proposals to mitigate online risks, guarantee safety and cybersecurity, and protect digital rights.

To stimulate policy debate in these critical areas, this policy roundtable launched a series of presentations and discussions around the proposals of the report Empowering Digital Citizens: Making Humane Markets Work in the Digital Age with the Brussels Policy Community. Attendees included European Commission and European Data Protection Supervisor members, policy experts, economists, digital governance experts, researchers, civil society advocates, and journalists.

Participants discussed the creation of a human-centered regime for digital governance in Europe, its differences from existing models of governance, and the means of implementation, drawing from the report’s policy recommendations.

Schedule

10:00-10:15 Welcome remarks

10:15-10:40 Presentation of the report “Empowering Digital Citizens: Making Humane

Markets Work in the Digital Age”

Paul Twomey, Initiative Director, Digital Governance, The New Institute

Dennis Snower, President, Global Solutions Initiative

10:40-11:25 Panel discussion

11:25-11:30 Closing and conclusions

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About

The Internet’s long-standing benefits and the liberal ideals that govern it are currently threatened by actors aiming to exert greater control over the network and its future development. There is an urgent need to empower digital society to protect and perpetuate these values. This empowerment must adhere to the principles of the current regime and must be transparent and free from hidden agendas.

The increasing international presence and influence of authoritarian governments in the Internet Governance fora have raised significant concerns among various stakeholders. Since 2012, actors who don’t ascribe to liberal values have pushed forward rules and policies that threaten a decentralised, neutral, and open Internet.

To address these challenges, the Global Initiative for Digital Empowerment hosted a three-day workshop, during which 15 participants from five continents discussed a comprehensive package of tools designed to help build local communities’ Internet architectures that leverage the benefits of open, multi-stakeholder governance across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

Participants discussed a specific fear related to the power these totalitarian actors can wield in various areas of governance. Participants focused on the influence of these actors over less developed countries and international bodies such as the ITU and the WTO.

These pressing issues necessitate what participants define as a new social contract, urging a diverse range of interdisciplinary and trans-sectoral stakeholders from around the globe to rise to the challenge of protecting and promoting the liberal democratic values that underpin the Internet.

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