From its birth as Arpanet to the Internet as we know it today, the network of networks has evolved enormously, with concepts such as web browsers, search engines and social networks going from non-existent to being an absolutely everyday part of our lives in just a few decades.
Internet governance: what it is
In parallel with this evolution of the Internet, numerous related terms have emerged, one of them being that of Internet governance.
UNESCO defines the governance of the Internet as ‘the complementary development and application by governments, the private sector, civil society and the technical community, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures and activities that shape the evolution and use of the Internet’.
This same institution insists that it is a ‘fundamental’ issue ‘because of the Internet’s potential to foster sustainable human development and the construction of inclusive knowledge societies, in order to improve the free flow of information and ideas throughout the world’.
As we will see below, this UNESCO definition is very similar to the one proposed by the WGIG (Working Group on Internet Governance) in 2005 as a starting point for launching a global debate in which governments, the scientific and technical communities and even civil society would delve deeper into the management and control of the Internet.
The WGIG defined Internet governance as ‘the development and application by governments, the private sector and civil society, within their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet’.
What was the WGIG?
This Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG, as we have recently discussed) was responsible for researching and formulating proposals for, as its name suggests, the governance of the Internet.
Created in 2004 and after four meetings between that year and the following, the WGIG was born as part of the World Summit on the Information Society, held in two phases: the first in December 2003 in the Swiss city of Geneva and the second almost two years later – November 2005, to be precise – in Tunis.
Internet Governance Forum
Following the conclusions of both the World Summit on the Information Society and the Working Group on Internet Governance in 2005, the United Nations Forum on Internet Governance (IGF) was established in 2006.
The IGF is an annual forum for dialogue in which numerous stakeholders discuss issues related to the development and use of the Internet.
Convened each year by the UN Secretary-General – the visible head of the Secretariat, one of the main bodies of the United Nations – the IGF brings together people from different groups to discuss digital public policy.
Although it does not produce negotiated results, it does inspire and inform those with the responsibility and power to formulate policies in the private and public sectors.
In 2025 the forum will celebrate its twentieth edition, an event that will take place between 23 and 27 June in the Norwegian town of Lillestrom.
