2017 Internet Governance Forum-USA

Breakout Panel Session

National Network Regulations
Versus the Global Cloud

Brief session description:

Monday, July 24, 2017 - This panel took place

during the afternoon session of IGF-USA 2017 at
the Center for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington, D.C. Read the print story and see
video highlights on this page. You can view the full,
archived video of this plenary panel session
here: https://www.igf-usa.org/igf-usa-2017-video/
The growth of global cloud services have enabled
individuals and businesses of all sizes to cheaply
and easily access data and powerful digital tools
anywhere there is an Internet connection, but only
if data can flow freely on the Internet. The problem is that more and more countries are individually coming
up with different ways to regulate the networks that enable the cloud and often these regulations conflict
with each other while also dramatically increasing costs and complexity. The panel was aimed at addressing
questions such as: Is there a right and a wrong way for national governments to address their citizens'
concerns about Internet security and about inappropriate online content? Is there a role for international
trade agreements and global norms in resolving conflicts between national network regulations?

Details of the session:

The session was moderated by Michael R. Nelson, a leader covering Internet-related global public policy
issues for Cloudflare, previously a principal technology policy strategist for Microsoft. Other panelists
included:
 Laura DeNardis, professor of Internet architecture and governance and faculty director of the Internet
Governance Lab at American University and author of "The Global War for Internet Governance"
 Fanny Hidvegi, Access Now’s European policy manager, previously International Privacy Fellow at the
Electronic Privacy Information Center
 Masaaki Sakamaki, executive vice president and member of the board of directors for Docomo CS Inc.,
NTT Docomo, based in Japan; previously an office holder in government roles including director for
international policy and director for information and communications policy
 Nigel Cory, trade policy analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation; previously a
researcher at the Sumitro Chair for Southeast Asia Studies at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies
Panelists focused on extensive issues such as data retention, Internet interconnection, data localization and
the importance of transparency.
Laura DeNardis helped set up the case studies by clarifying that, “the Internet is not actually a cloud.
Unfortunately, that conception and some of the policies that are assigned to that don’t actually match how
the infrastructure of the Internet works.”

Although ISP data retention isn’t heavily talked

about on this side of the world, panelists
focused extensively on the topic and discussed
when companies are going too far when
keeping track of what their users are doing.

“The main points why you can’t have a general

data retention obligation on ISPs include
different arguments, mostly about it cannot be
applied to everybody, to every individual,
unrelated to a specific crime,” said Fanny
Hidvegi, European policy manager for Access
Now. “It’s close to impossible to imagine
coming up with a legislation that will oblige
ISPs to retain data and at the same time meet
the requirements of the court.”

Michael R. Nelson of Cloudflare was struck that there isn’t common policy in each individual European
country.

“You’ve got the data privacy commissioner saying protect the data, and then you have law enforcement
saying grab as much data as you can get,” Nelson said. “No one points out that the two policies are colliding.”

Nigel Corey, trade policy analyst for the

Information Technology and Innovation
Foundation, said there is a misconception
about the nature of the Internet and how
it works.

“As we look at the issue of data

localization, we see it as a major issue,”
Corey said. “Given the way technology
continues to move into our lives, and more
things are connected and sending bits and
pieces across the world, these issues will
only get worse. In the last couple of years,
we’ve seen a spread of data localization
requirements.”

“Strong encryption is an actual solution to the problem that data localization often purports to solve,”
said Laura DeNardis, professor at American University. “The same countries that want to protect privacy
through data localization are often the ones that resist the strong encryption and I think that’s important to
note.”
Panelists concluded the session discussing Internet interconnection, with a common theme developing:
transparency. DeNardis suggested that if there were more transparency in the interconnection space, some
data problems might not exist.

“Transparency comes first as a priority and important aspect, and then consistency in translation and
enforcement of the legal system,” said Masaaki Sakamaki, executive vice president of Docomo CS Inc. “If you
have transparency, most of the problems will be solved. The problem is that there is not much transparency
in other countries.”

Nelson ended the session by asking the panelists to come up with a 140-character tweet to summarize the
session.

Hidvegi offered her theoretical tweet that put a cap on the discussion: “Both the private and public sector
must respect fundamental rights including privacy and data protection.”

- By Ginna Royalty

The multimedia reporting team for Imagining the Internet at IGF-USA 2017 included the following Elon
University School of Communications students, staff and faculty:

Janna Anderson, Bryan Baker, Camille Behnke, Liam Collins, Diego Pineda Davila, Colin Donohue, Maya Eaglin,
Christina Elias, Meagan Gitelman, Alex Hager, Tommy Kopetskie, Deirdre Kronschnabel, Jared Mayerson,
Emmanuel Morgan, Grace Morris, Jackie Pascale, Mariah Posey, Alexandra Roat, Ginna Royalty, Alexandra
Schonfeld, Jamie Snover, Erik Webb, Brooke Wivagg