RightsCon Toronto 2018

The split of the world community occurred in December 2012 at the ITU conference in Dubai. The members of the International Telecommunication Union did not share a common position on digital sovereignty. Russia, the CIS countries, China, the Middle East and Latin America countries, voted to define the digital boundaries of each country in the network, which led to the emergence to pass of a number of national  restricting laws for Internet regulation.
Introduction

The world map after ITU. Countries that support digital sovereignty. The similiar problems that face Internet users on post-soviet region: - requiring the localization of IT-business (opening a representative office, transferring the servers);- taxing foreign companies providing services to citizens (VAT, income tax);posing non-tariff barriers to trade- restricting access to certain foreign websites and entire platforms;- setting up a clear system of cross-border traffic transfer;- supporting national firewalls;- requiring all major international companies to cooperate with national law enforcement agencies directly;- having own ideological and content policy for citizens- creating own (or duplicating) critical infrastructure and developing intranets;- declaring course on equipment and content import substitution

Discussion of:
 1. The arguments for digital sovereignty as follows:- extreme measures in the context of information warfare- confrontation with the United States, which has monopolized the Internet, and has become threat to national sovereignty- protection of the national output and the economy of the country
2. The consequences of digital sovereignty:- “Balkanization” of the network- loss of network connectivity- cultural and economic isolation- Internet censorship and violation of the rights to freedom of expression- mass surveillance and violation of the rights to privacy and secrecy of correspondence

Following questions are to be answered during the discussion:
Can the attempt of the state authorities of different countries create jurisdictional borders in the network and determine the digital sovereignty be explained or is the necessity of these borders just an excuse for repressive regimes?
What are the side effects of digital sovereignty? How does digital sovereignty affect human rights?
Can the course chosen by the post-Soviet states isolate them from the Global Internet?
Why is the Internet regulated by the principles formed during the age of telegraph, telephone and radio? Isn’t it the time to start making changes?
During the session we need to achieve consensus if we need to set up a new international digital convention in Eurasia region and globaly in a form of codified international standards for Internet that will respect digital rights of the citizens. And if we understand that we are going for it we should define the methods by which we can achieve our goal on national level to rise the discussion about it and creating draft document.