Fundamentally flawed: impacts of internet fragmentation on people and the economy
Governments around the world are increasingly enacting new requirements that drive internet fragmentation, like data localization mandates which enable them to exercise near-complete control of the internet. These requirements interrupt data flows that are necessary to the free, open, secure, and globally connected internet. They stifle economic growth and innovation, and they undermine democratic governance and chill human rights like privacy and free expression. People all over the world will feel the worst effects of internet fragmentation over the coming years unless we act now to promote data flows as essential to global economic development and fundamental rights. This panel convenes technology policy and human rights experts to discuss this pressing issue.
Speakers
Robyn Greene
Privacy and Public Policy Manager, Facebook
Robyn Greene is a nationally recognized expert in law and policy concerning privacy, surveillance, and cybersecurity. She leads Facebook’s global privacy policy work on surveillance and cross-border data flows, where she focuses on how best to protect the privacy and human rights of Facebook users, and internet users generally. Robyn previously spent five years with New America’s Open Technology Institute (OTI), where she was a Senior Policy Counsel and Government Affairs Lead. Prior to joining OTI, she worked at the Washington Legislative Office for the American Civil Liberties Union. In both positions, she developed policy and legislative proposals and analysis on surveillance and cybersecurity issues. Robyn also served as a subject matter expert on the Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee at the Department of Homeland Security, where she advised on matters related to privacy and data security in the context of DHS’s use of facial recognition technology. Robyn has testified before Congress on cyber threat information sharing, produced the largest publicly available study on US Intelligence Community Section 702 compliance, and has been published in leading media outlets, including the Washington Post, Politico, Lawfare, and Just Security.
Erol Yayboke
Director and Sr. Fellow, Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)
Erol Yayboke is a senior fellow with the International Security Program and director of the Project on Fragility and Mobility at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). His specific research interests include migration and forced displacement, violent conflict and global fragility, conflict-aware stabilization, violent extremism, climate change, civil-military cooperation, and disruptive technologies. Previously, he was a senior fellow and deputy director with the CSIS Project on Prosperity and Development. Prior to CSIS, Mr. Yayboke served on the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign as well as the Evidence for Policy Design team at the Center for International Development at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Mr. Yayboke has long-term field experience working for organizations (Global Communities, Save the Children, and AECOM International Development) in Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan, and the Somali Region of Ethiopia, serving in various senior management roles.
Mr. Yayboke teaches a graduate-level course on global fragility and resilience at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and is a member of the board of directors for the Andi Leadership Institute for Young Women, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit focused on developing the next generation of women peacebuilders. He holds an M.P.A. from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a B.B.A. in international business, also from the University of Texas at Austin. He is fluent in Turkish and Spanish.
Bojana Bellamy
President, Centre for Information Policy Leadership (CIPL)
Bojana is the President of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP's Centre for Information Policy Leadership (CIPL), a preeminent global information policy think tank located in Washington, DC, London, and Brussels. Bojana works with global business and technology leaders, regulators, policy and lawmakers to shape global data policy and practice and develop thought leadership and best practices for responsible and trusted use of data in the 4th Industrial Revolution. With more than 25 years of experience and deep knowledge of global data privacy and cybersecurity law, compliance and policy, Bojana has a proven industry record in designing strategy, and building and managing data privacy compliance programs. She was one of 20 privacy experts to participate in the transatlantic “Privacy Bridge Project” from 2014-2015 that sought to develop practical solutions to bridge the gap between European and US privacy regimes. Bojana was also the recipient of the 2019 International Association of Privacy Professionals’ (IAPP) Vanguard Award, which recognizes privacy professionals for outstanding leadership, knowledge, and creativity in the field of privacy and data protection.
Carl Gahnberg
Senior Policy Advisor, Internet Society (ISOC)
Carl Gahnberg is a Senior Policy Advisor at the Internet Society (ISOC), where he is focused on issues related to Internet governance. In this role, Carl contributes to the organization’s global policy development and its partnerships with international and regional organizations, engaging with global policymakers and non-governmental stakeholders on key Internet issues. This includes ISOC’s engagement in the UN system and the WSIS process, as well as contributions to the Internet Technical Advisory Committee to the OECD.
Carl holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, as well as a Bachelor's Degree in Economics and Political Science from Lund University, Sweden.
Carl is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Nigel Cory
Associate Director, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF)
Nigel Cory is an associate director covering digital and trade policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank. He focuses on cross-border data flows, data governance, intellectual property, and how they each relate to digital trade and the broader digital economy. Cory has provided in-person testimony and written submissions and has published reports and op-eds relating to these issues in the United States, the European Union, Australia, China, India, and New Zealand, among other countries and regions, and he has completed research projects for international bodies such as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation and the World Trade Organization. Cory previously worked as a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Prior to that, he worked for eight years in Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which included positions working on G20 global economic and trade issues and the Doha Development Round.
Sheetal Kumar
Senior Programme Lead, Global Partners Digital
Sheetal Kumar provides strategic oversight for GPD’s global cybersecurity capacity building programme, which supports civil society organizations in protecting and promoting human rights in cybersecurity and cybercrime-related discussions. She also facilitates civil society engagement in key relevant forums, including the UN, through research, facilitation, and coordination support. Sheetal holds an MSc in Media, Communications, and Development from the London School of Economics and an MA in International Relations with French from the University of St Andrews.
Additional Resources
CIPL:
Essential Legislative Approaches for Enabling Cross-Border Data Transfers in a Global Economy
A Path Forward for International Data Transfers Under the GDPR after the CJEU Schrems II Decision
ITIF:
How to Build Back Better the Transatlantic Data Relationship
CSIS:
The Real National Security Concerns over Data Localization
Reversing the Tide: Towards a New US Strategy to Support Democracy and Counter Authoritarianism
Promote and Build: A Strategic Approach to Digital Authoritarianism
ISOC:
Internet Way of Networking Use Case: Data Localization
Additional Materials:
Freedom House:
User Privacy or Cyber Sovereignty?
Digital Europe:
Data Flows and the Digital Decade
GP Digital:
AN OPEN, INTERCONNECTED AND INTEROPERABLE INTERNET (JOINT LETTER)
