RIGF 2022: Internet Governance Forums Work To Ensure Everyone's Voice Is Heard

The second day of RIGF 2022 continued with a section on online education “Edtech: New Technologies In The New World. What Changes Have Occurred In The Educational Services Market And How People And Companies Have Adapted To Them”. Moderator Makar Goncharov (PulsarProduction) and participants discussed the situation and prospects of the Russian online education market, as well as what skills and educational programs will be in demand in the near future.

According to Alexey Polovinkin (Cyphrium) the Russian market needs new talent development programs and support for children and youth along the “school-university-profession” trajectory. Valentina Kurenkova (Netology) noted that it is also important to develop critical thinking, and Natalia Tsarevskaya, Skolkovo (Ed2 accelerator) added that it is necessary to learn how to work with information, make decisions and take responsibility.

“Startups react to everything that happens very rapidly. Internships, early career coaching, and collaboration with future employers are just a few of the current projects that combine education and employment. New ideas, concepts, and technology continue to emerge in both the work with huge orders that support our economy and in extra online education for kids,” Natalya Tsarevskaya said.

During the “Cyber ​​Security: Critical Infrastructure Protection” section, moderator Andrey Yarnykh (Kaspersky Lab) invited experts to discuss existing threats and vulnerabilities, as well as industry specifics of import substitution at critical infrastructure facilities. Participants discussed the practice that has developed since the adoption of the Federal Law "On the Security of Critical Information Infrastructure", and talked about the difficulties and existing restrictions that companies in various sectors of the economy face when implementing the requirements developed by the FSTEC, the Federal Security Service and the Ministry of Digital Development of Russia, and also considered trends in the field of regulation of this sector.

As Evgeny Khasin (Russian Ministry of Digital Development) noted, the industry has developed regulations, mechanisms and standards for ensuring information security, but often they are universal and do not take into account the nuances of industry specifics. “There is a huge layer of systems associated with technological equipment or automated process control systems, in relation to which they are poorly applicable or require significant adaptation,” he added.

The experts agreed that one of the most important problem is the lack of qualified personnel. “Now there is a serious shortage of information security specialists, and we plan to expand retraining programs for industry specialists and introduce information security into the curriculum of non-core universities,” said Evgeny Khasin.

The moderator of the section “Digital Born Generation: Risks Of The Digital Environment Today And Tomorrow” Anton Kukanov (Russian Quality System) began the section with the presentation of the Roskachestvo study “Protection of children on the Internet”. He discussed the different methods social media scammers employ to trick kids into playing games with loot boxes or other forms of gambling that need actual financial involvement. Based on the study's findings, Roskachestvo suggests implementing age-specific content for children and teenagers on the Internet and in video games, actively developing Russian rating systems and labeling, and offering training to teenagers to help them become more financially and digitally literate.

Andrey Ignatiev (Center for Global IT-Cooperation) presented the Center's products aimed at protecting children on the Internet and spoke about international practice in this area. Fanny Rotino (ITU) spoke about the work the International Telecommunication Union is doing to protect children from cyberthreats.

Elizaveta Belyakova, the chairman of the Alliance for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment, stated that the Alliance's "Digital Ethics of Childhood" Charter was developed with input from families. “Over the course of the Alliance's work year, we came to the conclusion that creating a dialogue with kids and their parents is crucial for us because digital ethics is largely discussed in families. We can only help with this by providing the Alliance with the services and solutions that we are currently developing," she said.

The RIGF 2022 work program was completed by the section “Youth Participation in Internet Governance”. Moderator Ilona Stadnik (Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ) and section participants presented the results of the IGF 2021 youth program, the results of YouthRIGF 2022, programs for youth in the world (ITU, EuroDIG, IGF), as well as information about the youth projects of the Coordination Center.

“In the Youth Council, we have gathered people who are somehow immersed in the context of Internet Governance and can share their expertise in completely different areas of IG. It is the synergy of views and opinions of young people and more experienced colleagues that should be the driver that will lead the development of the Internet in a positive direction,” said Andrei Aleinikov, Chairman of the Youth Council of the Coordination Center.

“Today, the youth audience is interested in promoting their ideas and participating in decision- making in the field of Internet development and ensuring its security. It is ready not only to listen and learn, but also to offer and teach its younger and older friends itself. You only need to ask it about this, offer to join this difficult, but very important process. In particular, to help in this direction, the Institute of the Youth Digital Ombudsman has been functioning for almost a year and a half! And for this, very soon we, together with the University named after O.E. Kutafin (Moscow State Law Academy) and the Alliance for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment, we will open the 1st All-Russian School of Internet Safety for Youth!”, - added Dmitry Gulyaev, Youth Digital Ombudsman.

Summing up the results of RIGF 2022, Andrey Vorobyev noted that all proposals received from speakers and participants will be included in the final document of the Forum. And Vadim Glushchenko (Center for Global IT-Cooperation) invited his colleague Andrey Ignatiev to talk on the forthcoming collection of articles “Internet Today and Tomorrow”.

The interest in the subject of Internet governance is still significant, as Vadim Glushchenko stated. "Our international colleagues pay close attention to what is going on in the Russian Internet governance sector and much value the insight provided by our knowledgeable community. According to the outcomes of the previous RIGF 2022, we sought to make the forum's agenda wide and rich. As a consequence, we can significantly contribute to the agenda of the future IGF,” he said.

Closing the forum, Andrey Vorobyev said: “Internet Governance Forums - both national, regional and global - work to ensure that everyone's voice is heard. And the Russian Internet Governance Forum has always adhered to this principle. Therefore, we are completing RIGF 2022 and starting preparations for RIGF 2023. Thanks to everyone who helped us hold this event, thanks to all speakers and participants - and see you in 2023!”

We thank the Organizing Committee and Program Committee of the forum, as well as all speakers and participants for their active work! Presentations and videos of all sections will soon be published on the rigf.ru