IGF 2007

Event
Process	IGF
Date	Nov. 12, 2007 – Nov. 15, 2007
Region	LAC
Country	Brazil
City	Rio de Janeiro
Venue	Windsor Barra Hotel
Organizer	CGI.br
Website	intgovforum.org/en/filedepot_download/3367/5
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IGF 2007, the second meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Context

The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) hosted the second IGF meeting. According to the CGI.br website, in an article previous to the event, more than a thousand representatives from government, the private sector, civil society, as well as academic and technological communities were expected for the event.. The focus was to produce interactive discussions on a wide range of issues related to Internet governance. Among the topics to be addressed were freedom of expression, cybercrime, security, privacy, transparency in rules, access costs, multilingualism and diversity, measures to combat child pornography, and protection against the exploitation of children.

Theme

The overall theme for the meeting was: "Internet Governance for Development", and the agenda was structured along the following broad themes:

• Critical Internet resources: infrastructure and management of key resources such as the domain name system and protocol for Internet addresses;
• Access: Internet connectivity: Policies and Costs;
• Diversity: promotion of linguistic diversity and local content;
• Openness: freedom of expression, free flow of information, authorization and access to knowledge;
• Security: building trust and assurance through collaboration.

Discussion

According to the first "IGF Book", the Internet Governance Forum in 2006 and 2007 brought discussions about equity and freedom, with concerns raised about access for users in developing countries, remote areas, and marginalized groups. Key topics included diversity, local content, IDNs, and the high cost of Internet access. The rapid growth of Internet use highlighted both progress and the ongoing exclusion of the five billion people still offline.

Outcomes

According to the "Message from the Hosts of the 2007 IGF Meeting" present in the first "IGF Book" and written by Hadil da Rocha Vianna, Director for Scientific and Technological Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time, the Rio event advanced along the path that began in Athens, in terms of substance, by dedicating a main session to an evaluation of the existing mechanisms for the administration of critical Internet resources (addressing, protocols, infrastructure) vis-à-vis the principles and guidelines established by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). This new main session – the best attended in Rio – emphasized the public policy aspects and cross-cutting nature of critical resources management and its impact on issues such as access, diversity, openness and security.

Internet Governance Forum

Latin America/Caribbean, according to the ICANN Geographic Regions (ICANN Geographic Regions).

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