IGF-USA 2022

IGF-USA 2022 was a hybrid forum held in Washington, D.C. and online on July 21, 2022, bringing together leaders from government, industry, and non-profits to discuss the most important issues facing the Internet.

Key Topics and POVs

Topic	Anti-trust in digital markets
POVs	The issue is not so much economic anti-trust, but political anti-trust power on social media platforms; "middleware" is a solution. Middleware refers to third-party algorithms inserted into individuals' social media feeds and searches (filters) which could decentralize the flow of information. Barak Richman
Topic	Content Moderation
POVs	You can't disambiguate content and algorithms Shannon McGregor
Topic	Legislation
POVs	In the U.S., there are pushes for too much content moderation (blue states) and too little moderation (red states), Steve DelBianco, NetChoice	Amplification should be regulated (or companies need to be able to identify what is dangerous so they can remove it) Steve DelBianco	There should be legislation to compel transparency on platforms’ decision-making processes (about content moderation) so that researchers can analyze it and shape public pressure Shannon McGregor
Topic	end-to-end encryption
POVs	The overturning of roe vs. wade has put consumer data privacy and its significance in the spotlight Eric geller, John Morris	Eric Geller Can we have physical and cyber security? Why should the FBI be trusted to develop E2E encryption when the private sector hasn’t achieved it	E2E Encryption would hide bad actors involved in CSAM and trafficking by making reporting impossible Yiota souras	There is the perennial problem of bad actors gaming the system; legislation asking makers to make encryption breakable makes it tough to sell it abroad John Morris	We need a better definition of end-to-end encryption that involves formal features, like perfect forward security; a list of thresholds, and user expectations so that apps don't turn into honey pots, because they’re actually leaky although they say they're encrypted; private conversation shouldn’t be impossible Mallory Knodel	This issue raises concerns over the fourth amendment and lawful access Darrin Jones	It’s lucrative in authoritative regimes to disrupt encryption Mallory Knodel
Topic	IOT
POVs	peer-to-peer makes it difficult to stop the damage of botnet but C2 servers enable holding individuals accountable Wayne Jacobs	IoT is an attack vector Chris Boyer	Standards are becoming geopolitical fodder; harmonization is a problem especially in Europe, which appears to be interested in fragmentation. Allies at least should be working together Chris Boyer baseline standards for IoT devices must become global because networks are global; however, they remain protectionist because govt responses are fragmented Elaine Newton
Topic	Digitial Identity attributes
POVs	citizens, consumers, patients, users, right to be concerned about identity theft, data is sold all the time, digital wallets as a solution, there is no privacy in identity data, there’s only an opportunity for agency, for control, industry is going to lead the way, govt will play second fiddle, especially because its tech can’t catch up, platforms will continue to do surveillance and we’ll be their product Don Thibeau	pandemic pushed the virtual world forward, as well as user expectations (equity, accessibility concerns), tech is way ahead of most users (making them vulnerable), phones are widespread but broadband is not; how do we make web 2 and 3 inclusive; so much legislation is still stuck the paper era, it all needs to be updated, and the onus needs to be put on entities and govts and not end users Kay Chopard
Topic	Third-Party Cookies following GDPR
POVs	Ads and campaigns are going to run; cookies help people not see too many of the same. It is not clear whether the post-GDPR notices help, as consumers never read them. Opting out means un-targeted ads, not no ads. Ad-tech is a big part of the global economy, and start-ups need third-party cookies more than big tech. The data privacy compliance burden is growing and is out of step with small businesses. A federal standard would be better than a quilt of different legislations Lartease Tiffith
Topic	Internet Fragmentation
POVs	Internet Fragmentation is happening, at the policy level, govts call it “digital sovereignty” esp around privacy The US govt said it was bad and would work with the world but it hasn’t happened Gdpr made the US reactive, 2016 paper William Blake/Wolf (technical, govt, commercial) still relevant Melinda Chem	If govts pick an app to block, it leads the internet down a path of increased fragmentation, as less information is exchanged and other countries or regions may decide to block other apps in response or for the same reasons and legislation that seeks to hurt big tech can hurt startups, entrenching the big tech John Morris	at minimum there need to be firewalls and sanctions Nazak Nikakhtar
Topic	Future of online markets
POVs	AICOA will increase inflation, make it harder to get stuff delivered, and doesn’t have the votes. Markets change, and legislation must focus on actions/behaviors, not entities. Don’t say "big tech" because the group changes Carl Szabo. integration is the way of the future	AICOA is focused on characteristics of monopoly, not entities, platforms are gatekeepers and shouldn’t be. It doesn’t list companies but criteria. It puts the companies on notice so they can make changes before being brought to court. The bill shouldn’t be more specific because it would become outdated too quickly. Congress sets values, and interpretation happens in courts and agencies. AICOA will include guidelines Charlotte Slaiman. how to focus on antitrust rather than content moderation, which is tough to define because it's so political.	antitrust bills will affect acquisitions and the availability of capital Will Duffield
Topic	Visions for the Digital Future – Enabling Emerging Technologies
POVs	Irving Wladawsky-Berger: polarization has been there all along, research shows people just ignore the extremes but the media focus on it, maybe it’s not as bad as we think; will the metaverse take off? Second life didn’t go anywhere (couldn’t find serious applications)	Nanjira Sambuli: focus on infrastructure, don’t forget those who will be left behind, there are physical demands on energy due to the metaverse; the internet is helping to address colonialism as a new type of archiving may be possible and enable different POVs to circulate; if we mitigate the current problems, society could get to a good place	Sandy Pentland: internet went from a communication medium to now a transaction medium (legally enforceable, web 3, metaverse, “cryptobro” hype, digital twins so that cooperation can happen without sharing data, NFTs are all over the place already (shutterbug, Spotify, digital photos and music sharing), augmented reality, leapfrogging	Amy Zalman: internetification of bodies, biometrics, security issues, aggregated data, ai, court systems, justice by using emerging tech, we’re already living in augmented reality, devices are making us produce information that we didn’t see as information before, museums are doing great stuff to augment reality