UK Internet Governance Forum

This afternoon I attended a meeting of the UK Internet Governance Forum (UK IGF) at the BIS Conference Centre in London.

Nominet Chief Executive Lesley Crowley described the messages the UK team took from the recent Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, in November 2009. The overall theme had been "Internet Governance – Creating Opportunities for All" and the Rt Hon Alun Michael MP, Andrew Miller MP, Ian Taylor MP and Derek Wyatt MP described their impressions from the workshops and meetings at Sharm el Sheikh about involvement of young people, green issues, the internet as a forum for good and security & e-crime.

An open discussion was held with contributions from the audience on these topics and also about the future of the IGF. The fifth annual IGF Meeting will be held in Vilnius, Lithuania, from 14th to 17th September 2010. The UK is again looking to take examples of best practice to demonstrate how self-regulation can work.

Nominet also launched their Internet Awards 2010 which is accepting entries until 1st April 2010. This year's categories are Getting People Online, Making the Internet Safer, Opening the World of Knowledge, Empowering Young People & Citizens and Nurturing Powerful Local Partnerships. The judges are looking for innovative, different, high-quality entries—especially for projects that might surprise the judges.

The meeting closed with comments from the Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP (Financial Secretary to the Treasury and BIS Minister responsible for Digital Britain) and from Bob Gilbert (Nominet Chairman).