The Geneva Internet Platform is pleased to invite you to the webinar What is responsible behaviour in cyberspace? This event is being organised within the framework of the Geneva Dialogue on Responsible Behaviour in Cyberspace, led by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), in co-operation with the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP), the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), ETH Zurich, and the University of Lausanne. This webinar is the first in a series within the project, and will reflect on what responsible behaviour means to various stakeholder groups.
While cyberspace and information and communications technology (ICT) can deliver significant benefits to society, the growing use of ICT by state and non-state actors for malicious purposes – threatening not only peace and security but also the entire digital society and economy – is of significant concern to the international community. Promoting the responsible behaviour of all actors is key to ensuring a peaceful, secure, and stable cyberspace. To date, most efforts have focused predominantly on identifying the norms of responsible state behaviour, for instance, the work of the UN Group of Governmental Experts (UN GGE). These efforts have led to important results, even if greater awareness around the norms and their implementation is still required. There is also less clarity on the roles and responsibilities of other actors and how they, too, are contributing – or can contribute – to greater stability and security in cyberspace, as recommended in the UN GGE reports.
The Geneva Dialogue on Responsible Behaviour in Cyberspace aims to analyse the roles and responsibilities of states, industry actors, civil society, and academic and tech communities in contributing to greater security and stability in cyberspace.
This webinar is the first in series of webinars on responsible behaviour in cyberspace, and aims to discuss how responsible behaviour is understood from the perspective of states, the private sector, and civil society and communities. ‘Responsibility’ is suggestive of both obligation and expectation and involves norms of both a legal and a non-binding (or voluntary) character. ‘Responsible behaviour’ can be understood as behaviour by a given actor in a given set of circumstances that can be said to conform to the laws, customs and norms generally expected of that actor in those circumstances. In addition, ‘responsible behaviour’ in general can be said to be behaviour which conforms to public standards of transparency, integrity and accountability. Do various stakeholders demonstrate a shared, or broadly similar understanding of ‘responsible behaviour’? Obligation versus expectation: is ‘responsibility’ something to be regulated and enforced, or preferred and encouraged? Where there are differences in the understanding of ‘responsible behaviour’, are these differences of emphasis or of fundamental interpretation; are these differences compatible or incompatible?
When: Thursday, 25th October 2018, 13:00 CEST (11:00 UTC)
Programme:
Setting the scenes:
-
Geneva Dialogue: goals and the process
Qendresa Hoxha, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) -
Challenges related to responsible behaviour in cyberspace
Jacqueline Eggenschwiler, ETH Zurich
Discussion with participants:
Responsible behaviour from the perspective of states, the private sector and civil society
Moderation:
Vladimir Radunovic, DiploFoundation
[NEW] Webinar recording and report are now available here.
