CSISAC Reports
September 18, 2019
CSISAC member the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has published the first compendium on AI policy. Authored by EPIC President and CSISAC Steering Committee member Marc Rotenberg, the EPIC AI Policy Sourcebook provides essential information to policy makers, researchers, journalists ,and the public. The EPIC Sourcebook includes global AI frameworks such as the OECD AI Principles and the Universal Guidelines for AI. The Sourcebook also includes AI materials from the European Union and the Council of Europe, national AI initiatives, as well as recommendations from professional societies, including the ACM and the IEEE. The Sourcebook also includes an extensive resources section on AI, including reports, articles, and books from around the world. You can learn more about the EPIC AI Policy Sourcebook in the EPIC website
October 17, 2018
CSISAC members, individuals and organisations are invited to sign on the Universal Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence (UGAI):
https://thepublicvoice.org/AI-universal-guidelines/
The focus of the guidelines is on the specific impact of AI decision-making about individuals. The Guidelines are intended to help ensure that AI systems be deployed so that humans and not machines determine our future. The main reference document for this undertaking is the Madrid Privacy Declaration (2009).
The CSISAC is planning to take the Universal Guidelines as the main reference for our work on the topic regarding those goals, and we will be proposing to add them to the set of references supporting the development of the OECD relevant policy. The public release of the guidelines has been scheduled for 23 October, 2018 in Brussels.
March 25, 2018
The OECD has released an interim report on tax challenges arising from digitalisation. This interim report of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS is a follow-up to the work delivered in 2015 under Action 1 of the BEPS Project on addressing the tax challenges of the digital economy.
January 16, 2017
At the joint OECD-G20 meeting held the 12th of January in Berlin, the CSISAC fostered privacy and data protection as the main vector to ensure digital trust, and asked for an improvement of the G20 multi-stakeholder model to facilitate the contribution of the non-governmental organizations, scholars and activists with expertise on the topic.
The main purpose of the meeting was to explore the crucial issues of digitalisation from an econometric perspective. With this goal, the OECD released the report Key Issues for Digital Transformation in the G20, and the G20 organized a set of panels on the topic. While the panels lacked a consistent civil society representation, several CSISAC members took part actively in the discussions, including EPIC and Consumers International, in addition to the CSISAC Secretariat. G20 stakeholders taking part included the Civil Society stakeholder (C20), participants of the G20 Women stakeholder (W20).
Privacy and Data Protection at the G20
At the discussion, the CSISAC recognised the importance and timely delivery of the OECD report, remarking the importance of developing a digital economy capable to address inequality in the society, and the lack of trust in citizens, users and consumers. On improving trust, the CSISAC fostered the need to understand digital trust not just as the result of security, but also fundamentally, privacy. With this regard, privacy was presented as a fundamental right, therefore leading to the need to improve data protection and the rights of the users. CSISAC proposed a trust approach based on privacy enabling technologies, privacy and criptography by default policies, and algorithmic transparency, as exemplified by CSISAC member EPIC. On digital contracts and terms of service, the CSISAC supported the perspectives raised by CSISAC member Consumers International.
Towards a Multi-Stakeholder Approach at the G20
During the discussion, the CSISAC reflected on the priorities of the C20 consultation, which raised concerns about the shrinking space represented by civil society in many regions of the world . In several opportunities during the meeting, the CSISAC raised the convenience for the G20 to implement a multi-stakeholder approach based on participation parity. With this purpose, the CSISAC has raised the existence of several multistakelder models, like those developed by the Internet technical bodies, and others like the UN Internet Governance Forum. The CSISAC suggested the utility of the OECD 'stakeholder councils' model as a reference for the G20 to improve the current implementation.
In addition, the secretariats of the CSISAC and the G20 Civil Society stakeholder (C20) took the opportunity to share perspectives about possible approaches for collaboration. Both secretariats agreed on the importance of consolidating the C20, and the interest of incorporating digitalisation as a cross-cutting issue in the G20 civil society work. A proposal to have the CSISAC supporting the C20 as the main channel for civil society participation at the G20, and having the CSISAC assuming the leadership of the C20 work on digitalisation, will be put forward to both Steering Committees for consideration.
Background
At the 73rd session of the CDEP, the CSISAC was invited to take part in the dialogue between the OECD and the G20 on digitalisation. This dialogue consists in a joint policy-making effort that takes as the main references the G20 Hangzhou agenda on digitalisation, and the OECD project in the same topic. The CSISAC is engaging in this dialogue as a way to consolidate and foster the Civil Society Principles by having them consistently incorporated in the agendas and in the policy recommendations of the OECD and the G20.
January 21, 2010
The CSISAC has submitted a series of recommendations to the OECD Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy (ICCP) and its working parties on a variety of Internet Policy issues.
ICT and the Environment: CSISAC stressed the importance of innovation and the adoption of ICT applications for the monitoring and management of environmental challenges, such as "smart" ICT applications. CSISAC urges the expansion of dialogue among all stakeholders regarding privacy implications of "smart" ICT. CSISAC also stressed the importance of data protection in every field of application of sensor networks, and any other tracking technology.
Internet Intermediaries: The document highlights civil society concerns on legal approaches to intermediary liability. As noted in the Seoul Declaration, OECD Member countries should "maintain a balanced framework for intellectual property protection that is least intrusive to personal privacy, least restrictive for the development of new technologies, and that promotes creativity, innovation, and learning."
Internet and the News: CSISAC believes that a strong and independent news industry can be an important contributor to robust democracy. CSISAC believes that any policy recommendations that are not based on common standards present in all OECD member countries' copyright and other related laws should be avoided. CSISAC believes that this will assist OECD member governments in thoughtful policy development which respects the important social role played by journalists and the news industry, while preserving opportunities for emerging new forms of citizen journalism and Internet innovation.
IPV6: CSISAC submitted comments on the co-existence of two incompatible Internet standards, IPv4 and IPv6. CSISAC encourages the OECD to consider undertaking more in-depth analysis on the economic and policy implications of an extended migration period in which IPv4 address scarcity is a continuing factor in the Internet supply industry. "There may or may not be cost burdens created by the transition, or negative impacts on competition, diversity and innovation on the Internet. But these problems have not been clearly documented and explained", the statement noted. CSISAC encourages a more direct consideration of policy alternatives to IPv6 in light of inadequate rates of IPv6 deployment and the realities the Internet community faces due to the lack of backwards compatibility between IPv6 and IPv4.
September 1, 2009
Election of new CSISAC Steering Committee members will take place in September 2009. The complete list of nominations with their respective statement are the following:
Organizations Nomination
Karen Banks, Association For Progressive Communications (pdf)
Ms. Jaiok Kim, Consumer Korea (pdf)
Ms. Meryem Marzouki, EDRI (pdf)
Ms. Gwen Hinze, Electronic Frontier Foundation (pdf)
Mr. Brenden Kuerbis, Internet Governance Project (pdf)
Anna Fielder, Privacy International / Consumer Focus (pdf)
Peter Munkacsi.pdf
Rashimi Rangnath, Public Knowledge (pdf)
Cristos Velasco, NACPEC (pdf)
Mr. Tony Vetter, International Institute for Sustainable Development (pdf)
The elections is carried out by CSISAC Liaison, The Electronic Privacy Information Center.
August 24, 2009
The Expert Group on Internet Intermediaries of the Civil Society Information Society Advisory Council (CSISAC) released a paper with recommendations to the OECD for its work in this area.
As CSISAC stated in the Civil Society Seoul Declaration, OECD Member countries should "maintain a balanced framework for intellectual property protection that is least intrusive to personal privacy, least restrictive for the development of new technologies, and that promotes creativity, innovation, and learning." The document highlight civil society concerns in what we see as the three main areas of focus of the ICCP report - (1) The Scope of the Report - Categorizing Internet Intermediaries; (2) Social and Economic Benefits provided by Internet Intermediaries; and (3) Co-operative Mechanisms including Legal Approaches to Intermediary Liability.
The Expert Group on Internet Intermediaries is led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation
CSISAC's Paper on Internet Intermediaries has been translated into Spanish by Phol Paucar.
June 14, 2009
"Using Sensor-based Networks to Address Global Issues: Policy Opportunities and Challenges" was the title of an experts conference that the OECD organized on June 8-9, 2009, which was hosted by Portugal and took place in Lisbon.
The goal of the Conference was to help policy makers:
- Understand Sensor-Based Networks and their potential contribution to economic and social welfare,
- Identify how to further stimulate innovation in this area and foster the development of these technologies where they are needed the most and are the most promising.
Andreas Krisch, President of European Digital Rights (EDRI), member of CSISAC attended the meeting, and wrote the following report about the meeting.
March 17, 2009
On March 16-17, 2009, the US Federal Trade Commission (US FTC), in conjunction with the OECD and APEC, hosted a conference on "Securing Personal Data in the Global Economy." The conference addressed how companies can manage personal data-security issues in a global information environment where data can be stored and accessed from multiple jurisdictions.
Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) spoke at panel 5 : "Data Flows and Cross-Border Conflicts".
Transcripts are available online.
February 2, 2009
This is a report on the OECD's consideration of the CSISAC proposal at the ICCP (Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy) meeting that took place in December 2008 in Paris.
By way of background, at the conclusion of the OECD Ministerial conference in Seoul this summer, the Secretary General recommended that the OECD "begin the process of formalizing the participation of civil society and the technical community in the work of the OECD on the Internet economy." This proposal followed many years of effort by civil society organizations at the OECD and the specific recommendation of the civil society groups that participated in the 1998 Ministerial in Ottawa as well as the groups that supported the 2008 Civil Society Declaration in Seoul.
June 30, 2008
Civil Society Participants in the Public Voice Coalition published a Civil Society Policy Paper, which was presented at the OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy held on 17-18 June 2008 in Seoul, Korea.
