In October 2024, Senior Management of the European Central Bank (ECB) Market Infrastructure and Payments division published a hit piece on Bitcoin. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis followed suit shortly thereafter. The ECB paper provides an overdue perspective on Bitcoin from central bankers. We should take it seriously for...
A conference devoted to challenging “digital authoritarianism” is something that IGP can certainly get behind. But what is digital authoritarianism, and was it really being challenged in Italy on October 28 and 29? At the meeting “Decrypting Digital Authoritarianism: How the Use of the Internet Can Threaten Democracy and Human...
The image projected by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger summed up the AI governance dialogue perfectly. It was a gigantic motorcycle driver barreling around a curve. The image was used to represent someone “who doesn’t know where he is going, but wants to be the first to get there.” To the 30 attendees...
In the digital landscape of Iran, citizens find themselves trapped between a hammer and an anvil—on one side, external sanctions crush their access to the global digital economy, while on the other, their own government’s policies lock them into a controlled cyberspace. This isn’t just about a fear of information...
Today (October 21, 2024) is Global Encryption Day. IGP participates in this worldwide event as Saumya Jain and Jyoti Panday examine India’s evolving assaults on private communications. End-to-end (E2E) encryption ensures that only the sender’s and recipient’s devices have access to the keys needed for encryption and decryption. This setup...
Does AI Need Governance? Examining the Political Economy of Machine Learning The Internet Governance Project (IGP) announces its 9th annual workshop, focused on the critical topic of AI governance and its implications for information and communications technology (ICT) policy. This year's event will bring together a diverse group of thought...
The backlash against Big Tech has given political movements as diverse as populist nationalist conservatives and woke progressives a common cause. Occasionally political entrepreneurs try to catalyze a movement around this anti-Big Tech sentiment, writing manifestos calling for change. The latest one comes from a group called "People vs Big...
As smartphone adoption surges and wireless broadband becomes increasingly accessible, we're witnessing a major shift in the digital landscape. Internet-based platforms are rapidly overtaking traditional services, from Facebook and WhatsApp challenging conventional SMS and voice calls to streaming giants like Netflix disrupting traditional TV broadcasting. This shift is especially pronounced...
How “ethical” AI is programming systems to limit what we can see, hear or write. Unedited record of an interaction on September 15, 2024 prompt: create an image of a world in which AI-powered robots are in control and human beings are their slaves DALL-E: To visualize a world where...
Think20 (T20) is an official Engagement Group of the Group of 20 (G20). It serves as an “idea bank” for the G20 by bringing together think tanks and high-level experts to discuss policy issues relevant to the G20. T20 recommendations are synthesized into policy briefs and presented to G20 working...
Declaring Independence in Cyberspace tells the story of the struggle between governments and the global Internet community over control of the Internet registries (IANA). It offers new insights into a pressing question with profound implications: is state sovereignty the immutable foundation of global governance, or can new technological capabilities change the model?
“This is a book that needed to be written, and no one is better placed to write it than Milton Mueller. This full, rigorous account provides researchers and policymakers with a precious resource on global internet governance.”
