The IGF (Internet Governance Forum) is one of the most important forums in the field of Internet policy, where stakeholders from around the world gather to discuss issues related to the Internet under the auspices of the United Nations.

PACC was invited to participate in a session at the 2023 IGF in Kyoto, Japan — “Encryption’s Critical Role in Safeguarding Human Rights.” 

The workshop was held on Day 2 of the IGF Kyoto 2023, organized by Pavel Zoneff at the Tor Project, and moderated on site by Al Smith (Tor Project) and online by Tate Ryan-Mosley, MIT Technology Review.

PACC president Sharon Polsky MAPP was joined on the panel by Roger Dingledine, co-founder and original developer of the Tor Project, and Rand Hammoud, Human Rights Researcher at Access Now.

The panel addressed the role of public and private entities in protecting privacy-preserving technologies to uncover potential elements for a human-rights forward governance framework for encryption, and raise awareness of the importance of encryption for privacy and security protections online. The panelists demonstrated how the protection of digital rights is inextricably linked to upholding human rights, equipping attendees to engage in productive discourse around what a responsible governance framework for encryption might look like.

The 2023 IGF was hosted in a hybrid format by the Government of Japan in Kyoto from 8 to 12 October 2023, under the overarching theme “The Internet We Want – Empowering All People.” More than 11,000 people from 178 countries registered for the event.