Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoGENEVA / INTERNET GOVERNANCE
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: GENEVA / INTERNET GOVERNANCE
TRT: 03:55
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 18 DECEMBER 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / RECENT
RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior, Palais des Nations
18 DECEMBER 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, Assembly Hall at the UN Office in Geneva
3. Wide shot, typical Swiss instrument
4. Wide shot, Swiss musician
5. Med shot, Swiss musician playing
6. Med shot, cameraman and audience
7. SOUNDBITE (French) Doris Leuthard, President of Switzerland:
"The values and principles of cooperation and multi-stakeholder engagement require an investment by all parties involved in international organizations, the private sector, civil society, technical communities and universities, as well as UN agencies or governments.”
8. Med shot, audience
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Liu Zhenmin, UN Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs:
“In 2003, we were talking about the ‘information society’. Now we talk about ‘digital economy’, ‘frontier issues’, ‘digitalisation’, ‘the Internet of things’, and ‘artificial intelligence’, among others. The Internet and digital technologies have become more and more part of our lives and societies. The challenge we face is how to harness the technologies to maximize the benefits to society while minimising the negative impact.”
10. Wide shot, podium
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Moeller, Director General of the UN Office in Geneva:
“Today of over 3,5 billion people connected to the internet through more than 8 billion devices. A hypothetical visitor from the past would wonder about many things in our world today. But probably nothing would take the visitors breath away quite as much as browsing the internet. It has compressed time and space allowing you to speak, chat or even see your friends in Lagos while you sit in a café in Milan. It can deliver the entirety of human knowledge on a single hand- held device. The answer to the question ‘Who was the king of England in 1620’ or ‘How to make Guacamole’ allegedly seconds away.”
12. Wide shot, audience
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Moeller, Director General of the UN Office in Geneva: “Technology has given some private IT companies so much power that they can even influence election outcomes, they collect so much data about you and me, they may even know more about us than we do ourselves. Technology has increased the risk of conflict as a new arms race is gaining speed in weaponised robotics and artificial intelligence. Cyber space is a new battlefield, co-equal with combat on land, sea and air. Algorithms can be as powerful as tanks, bots as destructive as bombs.”
14. Med shot, audience
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Frank La Rue, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information at UNESCO:
“Violence has also grown, harassment of women on internet, or issues of extremism and violence online, or cyber bully or other problems have also grown. And many of the states have brought it to our attention. And we have to begin thinking of how to respond to that keeping in mind that this is an element that has to have a free flow of communication. These are the challenges that we have in front of us.”
16. Med shot, audience
17. SOUNDBITE (French) Rémy Pagany, Mayor of Geneva:
"The recent decision taken only a few days ago by the Trump administration in the United States breaking net neutrality are in this sense more than worrying. It is embodied in the TiSA negotiations (Trade in Service Agreement) oa willingness to cut and haggle the internet to make it even more and once again a space that dominates capital in search of profit instead of a space where the rules of the game are democracy and equality before the power of large corporations.”
18. Med shot, podium
19. Wide shot, Assembly Hall
Topics such as artificial intelligence, big data, virtual reality and fake news are discussed during the 12th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which started today at the United Nations in Geneva.
Speaking at the Opening ceremony today (18 Dec), the Swiss president Doris Leuthard emphasized the values and principles of cooperation and multi-stakeholder engagement.
He said “the values and principles of cooperation and multi-stakeholder engagement require an investment by all parties involved in international organizations, the private sector, civil society, technical communities and universities, as well as UN agencies or governments.”
Under the theme "Shape Your Digital Future!", the Forum will devote itself to the challenges of digitization which are penetrating and fundamentally transforming social, political and economic lives.
Referring to the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2003, Liu Zhenmin, UN Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs said “in 2003, we were talking about the ‘information society’. Now we talk about ‘digital economy’, ‘frontier issues’, ‘digitalisation’, ‘the Internet of things’, and ‘artificial intelligence’, among others.”
He added “the Internet and digital technologies have become more and more part of our lives and societies. The challenge we face is how to harness the technologies to maximize the benefits to society while minimising the negative impact”.
According to the UN, over 3.5 billion people are connected to the internet through more than 8 billion devices.
Michael Moeller, Director General of the UN Office in Geneva said “a hypothetical visitor from the past would wonder about many things in our world today. But probably nothing would take the visitors breath away quite as much as browsing the internet.”
He added “it has compressed time and space allowing you to speak, chat or even see your friends in Lagos while you sit in a café in Milan. It can deliver the entirety of human knowledge on a single hand- held device. The answer to the question ‘Who was the king of England in 1620’ or ‘How to make Guacamole’ allegedly seconds away.”
Moeller also said “technology has given some private IT companies so much power that they can even influence election outcomes.”
He added “they collect so much data about you and me, they may even know more about us than we do ourselves. Technology has increased the risk of conflict as a new arms race is gaining speed in weaponised robotics and artificial intelligence. Cyber space is a new battlefield, co-equal with combat on land, sea and air. Algorithms can be as powerful as tanks, bots as destructive as bombs.”
Frank La Rue, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information at UNESCO said that full access to information, a free open internet which is not a danger for everyone, but rather an instrument of development and peace.
He said “violence has also grown, harassment of women on internet, or issues of extremism and violence online, or cyber bully or other problems have also grown. And many of the states have brought it to our attention. And we have to begin thinking of how to respond to that keeping in mind that this is an element that has to have a free flow of communication. These are the challenges that we have in front of us.”
Geneva’s mayor Rémy Pagany mentioned in his opening speech that the ending of net neutrality under the US President Trump administration could have a huge effect on the way the internet works.
Pagany said that "it is embodied in the TiSA negotiations (Trade in Service Agreement) a willingness to cut and haggle the internet to make it even more and once again a space that dominates capital in search of profit instead of a space where the rules of the game are democracy and equality instead of giving the power to large corporations.”
Over 2,000 people, including high-level government officials, civil society leaders, private sector representatives, and academic and technical experts will gather until 21 December to discuss public policy issues pertaining to Internet governance.
