Q3/2018 - Quarterly Report Executive Summary

At the inter-governmental level, the following major activities in Q3/2018 are particularly worth to be mentioned:

• On the eve of the 73rd UN General Assembly, the 22-member High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation (HLP.DC) appointed by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, met for its constituent meeting on 23 and 24 September 2018. The work plan was discussed. The final report should be available by May 2019.
   
• On 29 and 30 July 2018, the 10th Summit of the BRICS States took place in Johannesburg. The presidents of China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa emphasized that the UN is the best place to negotiate Internet issues. However, the five heads of state could not agree on a joint proposal for a binding instrument under international law  ̶  as was desired by Russia. 
   
• At their meeting in Salta/Argentina on 23 and 24 August 2018, the Digital Ministers of the G20 states confirmed the “G20 Roadmap for Digitalisation”, which had been drawn up and refined at the previous G20 meetings in China (2016) and Germany (2017). In 2018, particular emphasis was placed on linking the G20 roadmap to the UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs) to be reached by 2030 and on strengthening a "Digital Agenda for Development".
   
• At their meeting in Salta/Argentina on 23 and 24 August 2018, the Digital Ministers of the G20 states confirmed the “G20 Roadmap for Digitalisation”, which had been drawn up and refined at the previous G20 meetings in China (2016) and Germany (2017). In 2018, particular emphasis was placed on linking the G20 roadmap to the UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs) to be reached by 2030 and on strengthening a "Digital Agenda for Development".
   
• One of the topics at the meeting of the Energy Ministers of the G7 countries in Halifax on 21 September 2018 was the risks of cyber attacks on energy suppliers. A document entitled “G7 Cybersecurity for Digitalized Energy Infrastructure Systems” was adopted. The already announced G7 multistakeholder conference on artificial intelligence is scheduled for 6 December 2018 in Montreal.
   
• At the NATO Summit in Brussels on 11 and 12 July 2018, it was reaffirmed that given the growing number and scope of cyber attacks by state and non-state actors the cyber field is one of the core areas of collective defence in the NATO Alliance. It was agreed to set up a new Cyber Operations Center. Moreover, the Cyber Defence Pledge is to be further strengthened to enhance the Alliance's own defence capability and increase the costs incurred by cyber attackers.
   
• The UN Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS) agreed on ten Possible Guiding Principles at its 3rd meeting held from 27 to 31 August 2018 in Geneva. The principles are to be used as a basis for future negotiations and a possible international LAWS instrument (moratorium or convention).
   
• By the end of September 2018, about 100 draft resolutions had been submitted to the Geneva ITU Secretariat in preparation for the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference starting at the end of October 2018. Some of them deal with topics relevant to the Internet. The four-yearly ITU Plenipotentiary Conference will take place from 28 October to 16 November 2018 in Dubai. The main issues to be expected to come up are the possible extension of the ITU's constitutional mandate to include cyber security, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, resolutions giving the ITU powers to manage domain names and IP addresses, and the option of holding another WCIT in 2020 to harmonise the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs), for which there have been two variants since the Dubai Conference in 2012.
   
• At the 39th session of theUN Human Rights Council (Geneva, 10 - 28 September 2018), a report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet Jeria, on “Right to Privacy in the Digital Age” was one of the discussion items on the agenda. The High Commissioner's report does not take up the recommendation of the UN Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur, Joseph Cannataci, to develop a new instrument of international law to protect privacy against mass surveillance, but instead recommends that states comply more strictly with their obligations under existing international treaties and enshrine them in national laws that take account of the technological changes since 1966.
   
• UNCTAD presented its annual Trade and Development Report on 28 September 2018 in Geneva. The report warns of a new global economic crisis, also triggered by growing imbalances, new trade wars and a further deepening of the digital divide through the formation of global Internet monopolies. The countermeasures it recommends include breaking up Internet monopolies and aligning antitrust law more closely with the new realities of the digital economy.
   
• The Global Commission on the Future of Work of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has published several expert reports, including a report on the relationship between algorithms, automation and working conditions (Negotiating the algorithm: Automation, artificial intelligence and labour protection). The Commission's final report will be discussed at the next meeting on 15 November 2018. It will be published in early 2019 and will be a focal topic at the ILO's 100th anniversary celebrations in summer 2019.
   
• On 21 September 2018, the Trump administration published a new US National Cyber Strategy. The document outlines the cornerstones of a holistic strategy to combine security, economic and human rights aspects ("whole-of-government") and strengthen the role of the USA as a global leading cyber power ("the world lone superpower"). Enhancing the multistakeholder principle for Internet governance is one of the priorities stated in the document. It proposes to form a coalition of like-minded countries against hostile state (Russia, North Korea, Iran, China) and non-state actors. A Cyber Deterrence Initiative (CDI) is to be established to show attackers from cyberspace that they will have to pay a price for their action. As to the reaction to a cyber attack, the US keeps all options open, including political, military, economic as well as diplomatic countermeasures.
   
• On 28 September 2018, the Chinese government presented the program for the 5th Internet World Conference in Wuzhen. The slogan of the conference, which will take place from 7 to 9 November 2018, reads "Creating a Digital World for Mutual Trust and Collective Governance – Toward a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace". More than 1500 participants are expected.
   
• On 6 July 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin opened a high-level conference on cyber security in Moscow. Once again, he proposed to conclude a UN convention – in the form of a state code of conduct in cyberspace - and announced corresponding draft resolutions for the upcoming 73^rd session of the UN General Assembly in September 2018 in New York. Putin's proposal to supplement such multilateral agreements with bilateral consultations, however, was rejected by the Americans at the summit between Putin and Trump in Helsinki on 14 July 2018.
   
• On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, the French President Emmanuel Macron invited to a high-ranking peace forum in Paris on 11 November 2018. The final document planned to be adopted shall include a “Paris Roadmap for Trust and Security in Cyberspace”. The Paris Peace Forum will take place at the same time as the 13th Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
   
• The focus of a joint meeting of Interpol and Europol in Singapore from 18 to 20 September 2018 was on action against cyber criminals in the Darknet and an expanded strategy for fighting Ransomware.
   
• A high-level OSCE conference in Rome on 27 and 28 September 2018 discussed the implementation and further development of the 16 Confidence-Building Measures in Cyberspace (CBMCs) adopted by the OSCE in 2016 were discussed.
   
• At the 3rd ASEAN Ministerial Conference on Cyber Security held in Singapore on 19 September 2018, it was decided to establish a new “ASEAN-Singapore Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (ASCCE)”.