Internet Society

The 4th Georgian Internet Governance Forum and the Georgian Network Operators meeting took part on 10-11 December 2018, in Tbilisi, Georgia. The forum created a platform for subjects that are the most discussed and demanded in Georgia, such as: Internet Access, Safe Internet Puzzle, ccTLDs and IDNs (.GE and .გე), Content, Copyright and about the Next Generation and the Georgian IG Community.Internet Society NGO members Armen Muradyan, Andranik Minasyan, Annie Dallakian, Arnak Melikyan, Grigori Saghyan, Lianna Galstyan, Siranush Vardanyan, Vahan Hovsepyan and Kristine Gyonjyan actively participated to these meetings.Internet Society Armenia Chapter members participated to GeoIGF2018 as panel speakers for “Stakeholder Engagement Opportunities” session. Lianna Galstyan, the Board Chair, gave a brief introduction about #MAG and spoke about #SEEDIG initiative and its capacity development programmes and engagement opportunities. Vahan Hovsepyan, Board Member, shared opportunities of RIPE NCC Fellowship Programs.For more detailed info on GeoIGF 2018 ` http://geoigf.ge/

 The 3-rd Eastern European DNS Forum was held on 4-5 December, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. EE DNS is a platform for Internet industry experts and everyone who watches its evolution. This forum gathers domain registries and registrars, Internet service providers, network operators, lawyers, marketers, technical specialists, non-profit organizations, state bodies. EE DNS 2018 discussed the evolution of the infrastructure supporting the work of the DNS root zone, the latest trends in the development of the Internet address system, latest breakthroughs in technologies used by the modern domain industry, the origins of initial working projects with foreign partners and more DNS related issues. Internet Society NGO Board member Anna Karakhanyan and members Katarine Gevorgyan and Kristina Hakobyan took part in the forum. Kristina also participated at session “Regional view on global policy making agenda” as a speaker.

The 13th Global Internet Governance Forum was held on 12-14 November at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the President of France Emmanuel Macron made keynote opening speech.The overarching theme was "The Internet of Trust" highlighting the Internet security and trust. The multiple topics of discussions included cyber security, emerging technologies, evolution of the Internet governance, human rights issues, media and fake new, and more. The Armenian IGF, represented by ISOC AM Board Member Lianna Galstyan, actively participated in discussions on various topics. The Internet Society NGO members Katarine Gevorgyan,Khristina Hakobyan and Ani Mkrtchyan also participated to the Forum.More information about the IGF key messages can be found here: http://www.intgovforum.org/multilin…/…/igf-2018-key-messages

Grigori Saghyan, Vice President of the Internet Society NGO, completed a Mission Report around ITU Technical assistance for .MV (Maldives) ccTLD registry. The Report of Mr. Saghyan had the certain aim of giving some recommendations to the Communications Authority of Maldives (CAM) on Governing Framework of ccTLD Maldives through analyzing the current situation at .mv, the best practices of other ccTLDs in the Asia-Pacific region, relevant instruments required for the management of the ccTLD. It is important to mention that the implementation of this project was facilitated by APTLD. Both ITU and APTLD are strong advocates of the establishment of a robust, modern .mv ccTLD registry system. *ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies.

ICANN63 meeting was held in the Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona (CCIB), Barcelona, Spain. “Internet Society” NGO board member Siranush Vardanyan and members Kristina Hakobyan and Katarine Gevorgyan took part in the ICANN63.

The 3-rd Belarus Internet Governance Forum took place in Minsk, Belarus on October 3, 2018. The Internet Society NGO Director Arman Nersisyan and Board members Lianna Galstyan and Armen Muradyan participated to the forum. In the panel discussion, Lianna Galstyan also shared the practice of organizing the Armenian IGF as well as the perspective of Internet governance in general. The forum covered discussions about: - Cybersecurity. The internet and trust. - IoT. - Personal data in Belarus. Open data. - Digital skills and so on. The IGF.BY was organized by Hoster.BY with the support of the Ministry of Communications and Informatization of the RB, ICANN, Internet Society, IGFSA and RIPE NCC.

The Coordination Center for TLD RU has hosted the International conference for ccTLD registries and registrars of CIS, Central and Eastern Europe since 2008. The conference aims to engage leading registrars from different ccTLDs into discussions on the Internet issues; as well the conference will focus on organization of interaction between ccTLDs registries and registrars. This issue has become pressing in the light of a prompt development of national segments of the Internet.

Internet Society members Vahan Hovsepyan, Armen Muradyan, Kristina Hakobyan, Gevorg Safaryan and Karen Tadevosyan participated in RIPE NCC regional meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan on September 25, 2018. The meeting discussed the issues and possible solutions of regional digital industry.

Internet Society NGO Board Member Lianna Galstyan participated as a MAG member to the IGF 2018 Second Open Consultations and MAG meeting held on 11-13 July in Geneva, Switzerland. Face-to-face meeting was devoted to the planning process of the 13th IGF to be held on 12-13 November in Paris, France. Details can be found in the official website.