FINISHED FILE

ASIA PACIFIC REGIONAL INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM
BRISBANE 2023

AUGUST 29
APRIGF OPENING PLENARY 
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES:
IS ASIA PACIFIC READY FOR THE NEXT PHASE OF THE INTERNET?
8:45 A.M. LOCAL TIME

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>> ‑‑ the interested parties in things to do with Internet governance, whether you are from the technical community, from government ‑‑ not governance, from government ‑‑ from civil society, from academia, or from any combination of those.  This is a place, a safe space, a respectful place for us to share and interact with our ideas; to listen, to learn, and to hopefully come forward with some fresh thinking and a halfway, perhaps, if not a full‑blown plan, for what we might all want to do to protect how our voices ‑‑ mutual, individual, and hopefully collective, and dare I say, even collaboratively in agreement sometimes ‑‑ with things to do with our Internet.  It is a huge array of potential topics.  And we do realize that we will not be able to get through everything.  
There's a couple of housekeeping things that I want to draw your attention to, and first, and possibly most important for some of you, if we could have the next slide, please, is surprisingly enough the logon for the Wi‑Fi.  I am not pushing a clicker, so somebody better make the magic happen up the other end.  The Wi‑Fi will come up eventually, and I will continue talking.  With the additional housekeeping that I am going to cover for you today, we have ‑‑ all right.  Perhaps I am going to go ‑‑ oh, come along, people.  Wi‑Fi was next.  Right.  People, look on the back of your tags.  On the back of your tags is the Wi‑Fi.  Log in, enjoy.  Right.  There we are.  Wi‑Fi.  
(Laughter) 
Intuitively, surprisingly enough, Brisbane2023.  
Now we can go to a very important slide, and that is the recognition of our incredibly important sponsors.  It is literally impossible to feed you all, to water you all, to have you housed in these rooms in this building without the generosity of our sponsors.  And to that end, I would like to thank on your behalf these very generous folk.  
We have, obviously, the APNIC Foundation, Internet Governance Forum ‑‑ that's the global Internet Governance Forum, in case you are confused ‑‑ AuDA, our Australian domain name administration; the Internet Society Foundation; the ‑‑ Reliable, who is giving particular assistance for our disability Fellows here today.  
NetThing 2023, which ran yesterday, and we would like to recognize our ‑‑ one of ‑‑ well, two of our very important sponsors, Identity Digital, and of course, Verisign, who have sponsored us so we could help sponsor this event.  APNIC, and the Australian Department of many names.  If you would just come up with a short one, please.  It's too long.  I would be five minutes more into it.  
Let's have a look at some of the important safety things those of you on‑site need to know.  There's a map.  I think you've got one on the back of your badge.  If you haven't, you've got one in the app.  Please note the bathrooms are literally across the plaza.  There's a little diamond, triangle shape of glass.  Go either side.  You will end up in the facilities.  Smoking ‑‑ this is a nonsmoking and I would remind you also non‑vaping venue.  Please don't indulge.  
In the event of emergencies, please follow the instructions of the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre staff.  And if you have a security or medical concern, there is a number there for you to call or dial 8 on any of the phones, one of which is in each of the rooms you will be meeting in.  
If you have a complaint or a concern ‑‑ you might remember I started talking about respectful conversation, about listening, about sharing.  If you are concerned, if you feel offended, if you feel there is something that is complaint worthy, we do have a few folk, myself included, who have a really, really, really, really tiny blue line that says "complaints."  It doesn't mean that I have them ‑‑ although ‑‑ but rather, that I am willing to receive them and help you navigate through to a solution if there is a matter of concern.  So we do have something in plan.  
   	Next slide, please.
	Today, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to be focusing on Emerging Technologies:  Is Asia Pacific ready for the next phase of the Internet?  
But before we get to that, I want to do something, what I would like to consider extremely important.  
Oh, first of all, this is probably almost as important, coffee will be served outside of the room during the breaks, as will your lunch.  
Within Australia, there are many, many, many traditionally owned lands, and I would like to, with great respect and recognition, note the Elders, past, present, and emerging on the many lands that we meet on today, both here in Brisbane and around the country.  
In particular, I'd also like to extend my respect and that, I would like to think, your respect to any other First Nations person joining us from wherever they are joining us today.  
One of the most important things which you'll hear about that occurs in Australia is a welcome to country, and with this, I would very much like to ask Thomas from the Yuggera Turrbal people, who are the traditional people of this area, to come to the stage and give us, hopefully me included, a welcome to this country.  Thank you.  
Hello and welcome.  I was invited out here to do the welcome to country.  But before I go into the welcome to country, I would like to take a moment to introduce myself.  For those who don't know me, my name is Bondama Yah, it was a name given to me from the elders and translated to English.  It manufactures battle‑ax belonging to yah or jah.  I am a descendant of the Yuggera language‑speaking through two separate family lineages that belong to clans of the Yuggera people.  On my father's side, we can trace back to grandfather, patriarch, in stamping grounds, planes from Ipswich out to the foothills such as Rosewood.  Our grandfather was recorded to lead the battle that took place on Mount Tabletop, recorded to be fought with spears, guns, and boulder being rolled down that mountain.  
One of my grandfather's direct descendants is my great‑grandfather, the late Senator, the first Aboriginal senator of Australia, and he identified as a Yuggera man.  When my dad speaks about Granddad, he says Granddad was born in the traditional fashion on traditional birthing grounds, which was an island located on the Tweed River, and it was shared by many people.  
Dad also said that granddad was the lead rower when they went to hunt turtle out in the bay, indicating he was still practicing traditions and developing leadership skills.  
On my mother's side, we can trace our ancestry back to my grandfather, a patriarch recorded in the 1800s.  He was a full blood born of this region, and when he became a man, he was initiated a Yuggera man.  He was also selected to be a message stick carrier for the Yuggera people.  A message stick carrier is one that plays a fundamental role between our relationships with our neighboring language‑speaking neighbors.  Our people were governed by a permission system, meaning we couldn't just travel freely into another country without first seeking permission and thatting about granted.  You could be speared on site.  And these message stick carriers, they were exempt of that law.  
Grandfather, being a message stick carrier, was recorded to speak at least 15 different Aboriginal languages throughout the southeast corridor.  And because of his status within his community, the authorities at that time made my grandfather the first official mayor of Baramba, commonly known today as sureberg.  My grandfather became the official ‑‑ changed his name to Charlie of more ton, later on Charlie Morton.  Prior to the 1920s, this region was known as the Morton region.  It wasn't until 1924 that they changed the name of the CBD or central business district into what we know now as Brisbane City.  
That's what qualifies me to speak on country is my blood lineages.  What is a welcome to country.  Prior to settlement, we had a number of festivals throughout this region.  Two that spring to mind is the mullet festival, and a more well‑known festival, which was the Bunyonate festival held by the people of the glass house region.  These festivals were invitation only, meaning that the host nation would send forth their message stick carrier with the invitations.  The invitations would extend beyond Yuggera country.  Those who were invited beyond Yuggera country would send forth their message stick carrier seeking to travel safely.  Laying down the laws of the land, which animals not to hunt related to our totem systems and our sacred sites to steer clear of them.  Then we call out to our spirit ‑‑ our ancestor spirits to guide those traveling through Yuggera country.  
We then follow through with a smoking ceremony.  Smoking ceremony, to us, in its essence is a spiritual cleansing area to cleanse the area and particular of a particular spirit, a negative spirit, and to invite a spirit or the good nuro to come join us.  
The country I am welcoming you to is Yuggerada.  It extends from the mouth of the Brisbane River, the north Banks where botanical gardens.  Known as Mianjin p.m. the second location is where we gather today, known as Coropa, the place of the water rat or water rat belonging to, essentially the south Bank itself going from kangaroo point cliffs down to the park at west den and we still gather here at least once a year to celebrate our annual festivities and also to conduct serious business of elders who have passed on from this region.  
We follow the Brisbane river, as it meanders its way through the suburbs west of the city from the Wivenho, begins journey southwest, leading from Ipswich to the planes and reach our western border.  Our southern border is the Logon river itself, travels through parts of Logan, traditional is a name for dwelling place of the south or southern dwelling place.  We follow the river out to Morton Bay, in our language it means the dolphin storm, that's our eastern border.  
Our northern border is the Kabulcho river, meaning carpet snake and belonging to.  We have northern clans recorded to speak the Gagura language, from Brisbane city up to prime rivers and deception bay and from there, the Ondombe clan is transitioning to other people.  That is the full extent of Yuggera.  
To the north is the Cubbi Cubbi or Gubbi Gubbi.  To the west is the Wakka Wakka people.  South of the Logan River is the Yugambeh River, and to the east of the bay, the Janda people.  We would like to recognize our other communities living here on Yuggera.  All that said, I would like to welcome you on behalf of my family lineages and on behalf of the Yuggera language speaking nation with their family lineages and clans and like to welcome you in the old tongue, which is (speaking native language) which means hello and welcome to Yuggera country.  I welcome you and good spirit.  
To make you feel welcome here, I would like to play this instrument in front of me.  Throughout Australia and the world, it's known as didgeridoo.  It does not originate from this area, where we believe the origin of this instrument comes from is the Urakala people locate.  They call this instrument Yidiki.  Through the ancient trade routes of the east coast and we traded the fire sticks.  When we receive this instrument, we also received the law of this instrument, and the law of this instrument is that it is strictly a men's instrument and a men's instrument only.  Women are forbidden to play this instrument or even touch this instrument.  Also saying that, women in this region have their own instrument, which is a Gumpi or a pos some skin drum that they will stretch over their legs and play to the rhythm of the song and dance.  Men are forbidden to touch that instrument.  Welcome to our country.  

(Playing digeridoo) 

(Applause) 

Thank you.  Sorry.  
Thank you.  On behalf of the Yuggera speaking Nation with their family lineages and their clans, I would like to thank you for inviting me out here, and on behalf of our tribal experiences, a company that represents our people.  The language comes from grandfather Mukum, the last message stick carrier of the Yuggera people.  He played a very fundamental role between our relationships between our neighboring language speaking nations.  Any interaction that goes on between our neighbor language speaking nations go directly through these message stick carriers, and grandfather Mukum was the last one.  Thank you for allowing me to come here and share some of that knowledge about the Yuggera people and their surrounding clans, and also, I hope you have learned something about Yuggerada and its people.  Welcome to country.  Thank you.   
>> Wow!  I feel welcome, I feel exhilerated.  I feel ready to talk.  We have boring administrative stuff ‑‑ actually, we don't.  We have very exciting ‑‑ Andrea, come on up.  We have the Chair of the APrIGF with our opening remarks.  
>> ANDREA: Thank you so much for that warm welcome from the First Nations people.  Honestly, what you said in terms of relationship is what we want in this forum, so thank you so much for that.  
I hope that today and this whole week we can create meaningful relationships, meaningful partnerships.  Good morning to everyone, particularly to our persons with disability, youths, next generation leaders.  Where are you?  Leaders, where are you?  Next Generation Leaders! Wake up! Wake up! Our women.  A lot of the partners and stakeholders that have joined from Asia and the Pacific.  I have also been told that people are joining all the way from the U.S.  Thank you again for joining today.  
Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting some really amazing people, and it makes a big difference to see people who are passionate about making a difference in Internet Governance, particularly from people who are coming from their countries, from their regions.  These are champions, the local champions that have been working hard.  So again, thank you very much for being here.  
(Applause) 

I also had the pleasure of meeting the CEO of AuDA.  She actually explained how to pronounce the name AuDA.  That means inclusive.  And I really, really love that.  Thank you, Rosemary Sinclair.  Jordan, your team.  Thank you so much for everything.  
(Applause) 
Many of us are grappling with a lot of the challenges, particularly people who are not here, the voices that are left behind today.  When we are thinking about any of the sessions that we do in terms of emerging technologies, AI, et cetera, please think about these people that are not here.  Many were not able to join because of visa issues.  Others were not able to join because of disability issues or not having an assistant to support them.  And it's funding also.  So it is limited.  We also want to make sure that we have this in the future.  
I also want to thank my Multi‑Stakeholder Committee because without them I would not be here.  I really want to acknowledge them because they have been working behind the scenes for the events, for the program.  The secretariat has been looking after everyone in terms of managing everything, streamlining with the team in AuDA.  I really am very thankful.  
One thing that I do want to say is that when we are in these various sessions this week, be intentional.  Find a way to connect to people.  And be a bit more pragmatic and practical when you are talking with them because many of them face so many challenges.  There are people from remote island countries here.  There are people from communities that are not connected.  So when you are thinking about people in terms of emerging technologies, bring them to the conversation.  And like I said, establish that meaningful partnership and meaningful relationship with the people.  Work together to find the next generation champions because, at some point, I am going to also leave, and the next‑generation leaders are going to take over.  
And please walk up to a person with disability.  I know we have Shabbir, Ashok, we have a few others here.  Go up to them.  Meet them.  And engage with them.  Include them in your conversations.  
And lastly, and I think, you know, Cheryl's already mentioned, being respectful and being kind.  Because we all have our different challenges, like I said before.  It is important for us to also rise above petty politics.  There's also geopolitics that we have to think about when we come into artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, anything in terms of digital connectivity, just making sure that you show empathy.  
And engage the ones who are very shy.  I used to be very, very shy.  You know, you wouldn't believe it, but I was.  But as a tech developer, as a software developer, I stayed always behind the scenes.  But then it took me a while to get out there.  So when you see someone shy, just go up to them, introduce yourself, and just make them feel comfortable so they are part of this beautiful journey.  
I hope we can work together to continue the journey of regional and also national IGFs.  Many of you are from the national IGFs.  We need your support.  Listen with humility, and let's find a way to enjoy the rest of the week.  Enjoy, and take care.  
(Applause) 
   
>> If I can ask the chairman of AuDA, Mr. Alan Cameron.  Thank you very much, Alan.  Your opening remarks.  
>> ALAN CAMERON: Cheryl was shy once.  On behalf of the AuDA, I am delighted to welcome you all to Brisbane for the 2023 Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum.  I think Thomas has left, but I do want to thank Thomas as well for that spectacular welcome to country and for sharing his stories with us.  I also acknowledge the Yuggera and Turrbal people, traditional peoples of the land on which we stand today and extend my respect to peoples here today.  
Acknowledge our distinguished guest, Australia's Ambassador for Cyber and Critical Technology, Ambassador Brendan Dowling, from whom we will hear shortly.  Ambassador, we appreciate you taking the time to be with us today.  
We also welcome the continued operation from you and your team at Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.  
We also welcome our colleagues from the Department of Communications and other less important things, some of whom ‑‑ (Laughter) ‑‑ you may have interacted with at ICANN and other fora.  
AuDA is a proud champion of the multi‑stakeholder model of Internet Governance, and we are pleased to work in close partnership with the Australian government in this pursuit.  We are pleased to embrace this remit by supporting the APrIGF but also collocated it alongside NetThing, which we hosted here yesterday, and the Pacific IGF and Youth IGF, both running in parallel to this forum.  We welcome participants and organizers from those fora here today.  
In addition, of course, we are proud supporters of and contributors to ICANN and the global IGF.  These forums are all important parts of maintaining an Internet that is open, free, secure, and globally interoperable, and charting a future course for the Internet and how it is governed as key to protecting the future of the Internet.  Now, the Internet has had a transformative impact on our world, and some of those aspects were discussed in the sessions yesterday.  But it's now facing new challenges.  The rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning is changing the way we communicate and the way we interact with the Internet.  The spread of misinformation and disinformation is undermining trust in the Internet.  In addition, the growing threat of cyber crime is putting our data and privacy at risk.  This is something of which AuDA is keenly aware, having had to respond to an alleged cyber incident recently.  Now, our comprehensive investigations in response to this incident indicated that the cyber criminals were unsuccessful in accessing our systems or obtaining AuDA data.  But the mere fact that it happened provides another timely reminder that we all need to be vigilant to cyber security threats.  
We need to work together to address the significant global digital challenges and ensure that the Internet remains a force for good in the world.  The APrIGF is an important opportunity for us to do this.  
	Just a few weeks ago, auDA published an Internet Governance roadmap in which we set our our high‑level contribution to global discussions on the future governance of the Internet.  The roadmap explores the need for principles to shape the framework of Internet Governance, goals to connect it to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, improving participation by underrepresented stakeholder groups and regions, greater collaboration among the Internet technical community, and the fact that our institutions need to innovate and establish new collaborations to address emerging issues such as AI that today's Internet institutions weren't designed to address.  
Many of my colleagues from AuDA and the AuDA board will be here during the week, and I encourage you all to engage with us and share your views on this topic.  Did we get things right?  Are you interested in joining us in whether you agree or have different views, our hope is you will actively participate in the discussions and share your ideas.  Together we must work to keep the Internet open, free, secure, and globally interoperable.  Together we can shape the future of the Internet.  It's our absolute pleasure to host you here over the next few days.  Enjoy the forum.  
(Applause) 

>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Thank you very, very much, Alan.  Look, five minutes.  Exactly on time.  Beautiful work.  Wonderful job.  Let's see how we go with our next very honored speaker.  If I could ask you to come to the stage, Your Excellency, our Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology, Mr. Brendan Dowling, the stage is yours.  
>> BRENDAN DOWLING: It's a real honor to be with you all today.  I think the importance of this gathering and of the connections that you make, the conversations that you have, is something that's not well understood outside of this community.  What we are talking about is the very future of the Internet.  As Alan has just run through, the global interoperability of the Internet that we all depend on for our lives is not something that we can take for granted.  The infrastructure that's been built up over many years now, which has proven to work, which has been run by multi‑stakeholder community, by consensus‑based approach and how we operate the infrastructure of the Internet, that's something that we enjoy, that we take an advantage of, but it's not something that's guaranteed to always be part of the future.  So these sort of gatherings are crucial, and it's crucial for this region to have a strong voice represented in the global discussions around the future of the Internet and how we shape emerging technologies.  
Australia established the role of an Ambassador for Cyber Affairs in 2016, and the reason for putting that role in place, which was the first of its kind globally, is to make sure that we are putting the way that we use technology, the way that technology is developed, Australia's interests, the region's interests in technology, the Internet, digital, other digital issues, putting it at the center of our foreign policy issues.  But it was also about making sure that we had a voice in the global forums, in the commercial markets in terms of how the technology is developed and used.  
We see in this region the rate of digitization, the rate of adoption of new technologies is phenomenal.  We are seeing governments digitize their services.  We are seeing the penetration of mobile devices through the Asia Pacific at phenomenally high levels, particularly as we see our young people take advantage of our technology.  
With this brings huge opportunities.  The economic development opportunities are enormous.  The productivity benefits are enormous.  The opportunities for social and professional interactions are enormous.  But there's also potential huge benefits for development agenda.  The economic development of the Pacific, of the Asia region will be tied to the future of digitization.  We also look at the benefits that it will bring for our health innovation, the reach of modern, innovative health technologies into remote populations is something extraordinary that Internet connectivity brings to us.  
The application of new technologies to solving the climate crisis is potentially our best hope to come at how we deal with the global warming.  But with this connectivity has come major risks, and we need to be transparent about these.  We need to talk openly about them.  And we need to raise awareness amongst all our people about the risks of connectivity.  
In Australia last year we saw two of the biggest cyber attacks that we have seen in our history.  That brought cyber security into the kitchen table conversations of every family in Australia in a real and meaningful way.  People saw that their information was compromised.  People saw that cyber criminals were targeting them in Australia, operating out of Russia in a way that is very difficult to do anything about.  
The proliferation of scams, the proliferation of abhorrent online material, whether it's obscene material or dis information, these are really issues that we are living with today and that we are all struggling with how we deal with.  
We can see that Nation States present throughout the region in our critical infrastructure and have the ability to disrupt our services in a way that breaches responsible state behavior.  
So all of this says that we need to be very active about how we shape the future of the technologies that we use, how we shape the future of the Internet.  Otherwise, we will continue some of the downsides that we've seen to date, which is that countries and families, communities, businesses often face a trade‑off between security and affordability and functionality.  We need technology companies putting security at the heart of the technology that they build and which we use in our communities in a way that you don't have to make a choice between an affordable product or affordable software and a secure piece of software.  
When we look at the AI revolution, which will affect so many aspects of the way that we live our lives, of the way that we do business, there's a real risk that the deployment of AI tools will entrench the digital divide that we already see today.  There's a real risk that the incumbency advantage that goes to the big players that are already dominant in the AI market will continue and that many countries in our region won't be able to take advantage of many of the benefits that some AI tools will bring.  
So all of this is to say it's important that we have these types of gatherings.  It's important that we are confident in the voice that this region brings into global discussions, in the way that we advocate to technology companies, in the way that we advocate into multilateral institutions.  And it's important that we have core principles at the heart of what we promote from this region.  Transparency, a diversity in the marketplace, competition, security by design, and security by default in the products that we use.  Nowhere is this more important than Internet Governance.  The multi‑stakeholder consensus‑based approach to Internet Governance has worked, and it's given us the Internet that we know and mostly love today.  There is a real risk that this will be jeopardized as states look to exercise more control over the future of the Internet.  There is a role for states to play in what is a major piece of global infrastructure.  But it's important that we preserve what has worked well when it comes to Internet Governance, which is that multi‑stakeholder approach which uses a consensus‑based approach and which gives a voice to industry, to academia and civil society in how we determine the future of this piece of technology.  
What's at risk here is the end of global interoperability.  It's the end of the Internet as we know it.  So it's really important that we are bold and confident as we look to the future and shape it in a way that accords with all our interests.  
So I am really pleased to be able to spend today and the next few days with you.  I am really excited to hear the perspectives that you all bring.  And I think the victory is in the fact that we are all gathered in this room together and building the connections and building the debate that hopefully sustain us as we tackle this next phase of Internet Governance.  Thanks so much for your time.  
(Applause) 
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Thank you.  Thank you very much.  If I could ask Edmon to come to the stage.  Speaking on behalf of the secretariat for APrIGF.  
>> EDMON CHUNG: Thank you, Cheryl, and good morning, everyone.  Let me start by really thanking our host today and greatest thanks to the host of the 14th installment of the APrIGF now.  And thanks for bringing us to this beautiful city of Brisbane, and I'd like to show that we have a room with natural light, which is something that I hope we all brought you as well.  
So the pandemic seems to be distant memory by now, but it wasn't so when AuDA was willing to actually propose and host the APrIGF.  So we are very appreciative of AuDA's willingness, and also we would like to really applaud the AuDA team of really taking great care and being able to quickly put this conference together and their commitment to make this APrIGF 2023 possible.  So a special thanks to Jordan, Michael, Angela, and many more on the team who worked tirelessly especially to accommodate our last‑minute requests, such as what I am going to report to you right now.  
So we have ‑‑ you know, we are really happy that we have a total number of registrations of just over a thousand.  We have about 450 on‑site registrations and about 550 online registrations coming from 68 countries or economies around the world.  So ‑‑ and that includes 15 plus 8, so about 23 fellows from around the region, especially from the Pacific region as well.  We will have a total of 34 sessions here this week and total number of speakers of over 140.  So we are very excited to welcome you to this 14th APrIGF.  
We are also very tremendously grateful for the continued support from the international Internet community, especially from APNIC and the APNIC Foundation, Internet Society and the foundation, the IGF secretariat, as well as ICANN, and for their continued support, both in terms of sponsorship and in terms of participation.  Number we are very much honored to continue to serve as the secretariat for the APrIGF, and our core vision at .Asia from when we started was not only just to operate the .Asia domain, but to bring together the collaboration among the Asia Pacific Internet community from Asia and for the Asia Pacific.  Last year, at APrIGF 2022, we worked very closely with APNIC, who was our gracious host, to actually bring together the APNIC conference as well as AP‑SIG jointly, the Asia Pacific School of Internet Governance.  And not to mention our staple at APrIGF, which is the YIGF, the Youth IGF component.  And this year, we are very excited that not only the APrIGF, we also are, because of the support from AuDA and the Government of Australia, we are pleased to see that the Pacific IGF and NetThing is also jointly held her alongside APrIGF and especially with the coordination from the IGF Secretariat, we, for the first time in the 14 years of APrIGF, have a parliamentary track that will be overlapping and immediately following the APrIGF.  So the ‑‑ I believe this also, this parliamentary track will be a very important component of the IGF movement into the future.  
The overarching theme of APrIGF this year is about emerging technologies, and yesterday at the youth IGF sessions, the discussions on the topic actually prompted my thoughts, so I want to share with you just as well.  
Just a few years ago, AI governance, data governance, and Internet governance were separate spheres, but today those lines are really blurring.  And the intersection of them all, at the core, I believe, is the matters of digital rights, privacy, and many more.  But more importantly, these are issues that must be tackled beyond borders and national interests.  The norms, the codes, the laws across boundaries must work together and not against each other.  A global multi‑stakeholder Internet Governance community must come together to work through the differences for one Internet, unfragmented, of people for the people.  
We must work together with the civil society, with the private sector, with legislators, regionally and globally, so that we can push forward the multi‑stakeholder model, which we know is not perfect yet.  So as we drive towards WSIS+20, it is really imperative for us to work together to continue to evolve the multi‑stakeholder model.  
As a prophetic quote from George Orwell actually said:  Who controls the past controls the future.  
Here at APrIGF secretariat at .Asia, we think we are humbly working to upkeep the record of this multi‑stakeholder discussion here at APrIGF and so that we can have a history that we can build on for the future.  
Speaking of the .asia secretariat, I want to especially, last but not least, thank my team, Jasmine especially, who quickly picked up the work from the secretariat.  Jen, Jen who you will see also at the Town Hall sessions for the synthesis document as well.  And of course, Jenna, who helps us coordinate the Youth IGF component.  So I wish everyone a fruitful meeting.  Thank you.  
(Applause) 
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Thank you, Edmon.  I'd like to welcome ‑‑ I do it every time ‑‑ my apologies ‑‑ from the IGF secretariat.  You see, these two women keep far too similar names, and it gets me muddled every time.  Please, a few words from you.  
(Applause) 
>> Thank you.  Thank you very much, Cheryl.  Excellency, Ambassador Dowling, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to say a few words on behalf of the Internet Governance Forum secretariat and its head of office on the occasion of the 2023 Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum.  
I have to say at the beginning that the organizers of this has brought new standards of what means carpe diem, seize of day, because this is the first time I am witnessing that we have three distinct but so interconnected processes hosted in the same week.  Thank you very much for tripling our opportunities to learning, knowledge sharing, and networking.  
I use this opportunity to congratulate on this great achievement the multi‑stakeholder steering Group of the Asia Pacific Regional IGF as well as to the multi‑stakeholder organizing team of the Pacific IGF, NetThing, also of the Asia Pacific Youth Regional IGF, for making this wonderful opportunity for all of us to be here.  
Particularly, special gratitude is to .au, the main administration, AuDA, for making sure that we have wonderful conditions here in beautiful city of Brisbane.  And thank you very much for bringing us to Australia.  For many years, many of us have been experiencing the talent, knowledge, skills, commitment to multi‑stakeholder model coming from people in Australia through cooperating and working with them through the IGF and all the national regional practices.  However, this is the very first time for many of us, I believe, that we can firsthand confirm this at local turf, and it comes with the privilege of experiencing wonderful hospitality in this incredibly beautiful country.  
In our increasingly interconnected world, effective Internet Governance holds paramount importance.  The Internet's pervasive influence is everywhere.  We are seeing it in all areas ‑‑ of our education, economies, communication, shaping of public opinion.  And along with great opportunities, as many of the colleagues said before me, comes also great harms and risks, also concerns.  For example, the spread of disinformation online, cyber attacks, abuse online, fraud, just some of the examples of harm people are experiencing on a daily basis.  And this calls for our urgent attention and action to ensure our online environment is safe and secure, affordable and accessible, and conducive to human rights.  And certainly, we cannot achieve this alone.  The rapid development of digital technologies, such as already remarked, the AI is evidently quicker than us.  But it does not necessarily have to be.  If we apply the multi‑stakeholder model and join efforts to have the public sector working with the private sector with the technical community and civil society as one.  And in this doing, we cannot forget the complexity of the world the Internet impacts.  The opportunities and issues are not the same for all everywhere.  Which is why we need to empower local mechanisms to understand the issues and globally unite through the multi‑stakeholder model and sharing a collective vision that maintains integrity and inclusivity.  And this approach deeply resonates with the achievements of the World Summit on the Information Society and with that through the IGF.  Nothing illustrates best those achievements, just as you, people who are working through the national and regional IGFs to make sure that we translate our concerns and also opportunities we see in the digital environment into concrete actions.  As we stand on the verge of the WSIS+20 and IGF review coming in 2025, it is critical that we continue building on the foundation of these accomplishments that this community has been cultivating.  
Many things that you are doing here certainly are incredibly valuable, and they are done also by more than 160 other national and regional IGFs.  But I have to notice that there is something that makes you very special since the very beginning, as you pioneered one of the most remarkable capacity development initiatives and investments in sustainability and bright future of all of us.  I speak about your investment in capacity development for young people, through your programs with the Youth APrIGF, with the NetMission, you are really standing as an example to all of us, including 160 on the rise, in a way to ensure that the next generation of experts and leaders is skilled and knowledgeable to lead us toward a brighter future.  
The IGF secretariat is also grateful to you for helping us to implement the IGF 2023 youth track, and just, I believe, tomorrow, together with the Youth APrIGF and other youth IGFs, we will be hosting the third workshop of the capacity development series within the track.  
On the note of the capacity development, as mentioned previously, the investment into capacity development of legislators, those who coin our rules of behavior as mandatory is also critical.  The IGF secretariat has been investing efforts since 2019, when it started working with the Government of Germany as our host country, to develop capacity and work together with members of parliaments coming from around the world.  
I wish that the Government of Australia, especially the team led by Mr. Ian Sheldon, for helping us to work hard to ensure that the parliamentary track indeed takes place at the APrIGF.  
The agenda of the APrIGF, just as of the Pacific IGF, of the Youth APrIGF, promises a lot of work in this week.  It's a very ambitious one.  You are addressing some of the most contemporary but also contentious issues related to global digital policy.  And we are certainly looking forward to learning from you and engaging in these discussions.  The outcomes you will produce here certainly will be valuable inputs to the 18th Annual IGF meeting hosted by the Government of Japan in Kyoto from 8 to 12 of October.  "The Internet we want ‑ empowering all people" is the overarching theme of this year's IGF, and we expect thousands and thousands of people to gather in Kyoto to address through more than 300 sessions various issues on Internet Governance that concern us all.  
With that, I hope many of you will be joining us in person in Kyoto, if not in person then alternatively online.  And I sincerely wish us exciting, important discussions in the next coming days.  Thank you very much.  
(Applause) 
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Thank you.  Take a deep breath, don't go anywhere, because we are doing a quick table change for part 2.  If I could ask our panelists ‑‑ you all know who you are ‑‑ to come to stage, that would be appreciated.  You might even find a home behind a tent card.  Who knows?  It's possible.  
If I could have the next slide, please. 
Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pleasure I gather with this esteemed group today, some of you you may recognize from other things this week, some new to the stage.  But I am go to ask each of them to do a brief introduction.  And also answer one of the first questions we are going to be posing today.  As we know, an enormous amount has been happening in emerging technologies recently and particularly in the last few years.  So we are going to look at how is Asia Pacific going to look forward and manage with all of our diversity, with all of our geopolitical differences, with all of our different voices, to work hopefully collaboratively together, perhaps who knows, with some sort of unified standards happening.  Anything is possible.  It's up to these people to present.  Where are we going?  How are we going to do it?  Is it good for society?  Is it not good for society?  Should we run and hide from the AI robots that are going to come and take our jobs?  Whatever it is, today's panel is going to have a little play with those concepts.  
Some of the questions we are going to be working with are are these technologies going to help or not the digital divide?  And it's that question that I would like them to respond to as they go in order, I think.  Shall we have ‑‑ who would like to go first?  I think you might have a little to say in this area, Johanna.  
>> JOHANNA WEAVER: Thank you so much.  It's so wonderful to be here today.  I am Professor Johanna Weaver.  I am the Director of the technology design Center at the Australian National University, and I am also Australia's former cap expert to the United Nations, so I have spent a lot of time in windowless rooms, and I also appreciate the light in this room today.  
On the question of will the emerging tech revolution lessen or increase the digital divide, we'll dive into that in the panel.  Just in terms of a quick response, I think for all of us, this is a question about whether or not we are going to engage to shape the future.  Whether or not these technologies shape the future for the better or for the worse, I really believe is up for grabs.  And it is the people that are in this room and whether or not and how we engage that will be making the difference into the future.  
So I am conscious that I have been instructed, Cheryl, to be very brief.  I will stop there.  
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Okay.  Brendan, would you like to have a little go next?  
>> Hi, everyone.  My name is Fernando Serto, CTO of CloudFlare for Asia Pacific.  Do you guys know CloudFlare, just a show of hands?  Cool.  We pay a big part in (?) cyber security background.  Happen to have grown up being part of a hacking group in Brazil.  Obviously, now I work to try and revert all the damage that we've caused over the years and build solutions that, you know, are affordable to everyone or free in a lot of cases.  But I work with a lot of our legal and policy and compliance teams to understand not only what we can and can't do from an Internet perspective, but also what we should and shouldn't do to make sure that we are looking after citizens of pretty much every country.  
My role is I travel across Asia Pacific.  I look after 13 countries now.  So it's been incredible to see the amount of change.  We are talking about emerging technologies and looking into how far behind a lot of countries were a few years ago in Asia Pacific from a tech adoption perspective and how, you know, how much they have leapfrogged into adopting a lot of the tech that has been out for a while and also the new ones has been just incredible.  
So hopefully we have a good discussion here today, and I'll be around for a few hours after if you guys want to have a chat about anything, really.  Thank you.  
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Thank you.  Doctor, could I ask you to not only introduce yourself but a quick comment on whether you think these emerging technologies will widen or shrink the digital divide from your very unique perspective?  
>> MUHAMMAD SHABBIR: Thank you very much for this question.  Before I delve into the introduction part of my answer, I would first like to acknowledge the invitation by the chair of APrIGF, the organizers, and also the very kind (?) I have received to come here physically by the Global physical disability awareness day Foundation.  Thanks to all who made my presence in this hall possible.  
I am Dr. Muhammad Shabbir from Pakistan.  Ladies and gentlemen, many of you may know me sitting in this hall.  I work with Internet Society as a Board of Trustees from 2021 to 2023.  I also serve as the coordinator of the IGF Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability.  And I am also on the multi‑stakeholder group of the APrIGF and a number of other organizations.  
With regards to the question and also being conscious of the time factor, Cheryl, I believe technically we are doing good.  And as we witnessed the advent and introduction of AI into technologies, we see that we are going very well in terms of technological advancements.  We don't have any fears.  But my question is that are these technologies, as they advance, are we taking everyone aboard, or are we leaving people behind?  Because nature corrects itself, but the human‑made things, they don't unless humans themselves do so.  So my question to you all would be ‑‑ and I would definitely give you my perspective on that ‑‑ think about that.  Whether people with disabilities that you see around you, are they able to use your website?  Are they available?  How much capacity are they available in this hall?  How much of the people with disabilities would be able to reach at this stage where I am sitting in we were ‑‑ if they were here.  And of course, last but not the least, the question is that is it just their people that need these facilities, or could be as we, many of us age, and as you were saying some next generation leader would be there to take her place, so as we all age, do some day we may need these technologies or not?  
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Thank you, Doctor.  I am wondering, Johanna, if you can delve into some of the legal and policy frameworks that we are going to have to navigate.  
>> JOHANNA WEAVER: Absolutely.  I want to pick up on a point that Mohammad made.  This is something I am saying about the agency to shape the future.  I think we often focus on the fact that technology is shaping us, and we forget the fact that humans make technology and that we can make technology differently.  So I think that's a really important point just to emphasize.  
In terms of the legal and regulatory frameworks, this is something that my team and at the Australian National University really focus on.  We are looking at the different trends and the way that governments are looking to regulate technologies.  For a long time, governments didn't regulate; right?  There was a perception that they couldn't or that they shouldn't regulate technology.  And that really has shifted.  We are seeing governments increasingly regulating.  And you so often hear the narrative that you have a U.S.‑led model, which is, you know, the market leads, you know, technology evangelism, and we'll let the market decide what is right.  You have the EU approach, which is largely looking at it from a regulatory perspective, saying you know, how can we shape these technologies, not via technologists and not by the market, but we are going to shape it via regulation.  You have the Chinese approach, which is largely looking at how can the State shape the technologies?  And what I think is often missed in this conversation is how our region is engaging to shape technologies.  When you look at countries like Taiwan or Singapore or India, they take quite a different approach to those common approaches that people always site.  It is a mixture of tech evangelism.  You know, you look at what India has done with digital identity, for example, but also combined with regulation.  And I think this is a brand of shaping our future, shaping the future of technology that we, as a region, really should be very proud of and much more actively engage in shaping the regulation of the future.  
I also think it's really important that when we are doing that that we recognize the diversity in our region.  This is something that was touched upon in the opening remarks.  We have some of the most developed countries, and we also have some of the least developed countries.  And we also have a number of countries that have a mix of all of these things within their countries and sometimes within one city.  
So for many of us ‑‑ and I say this as an Australian who has witnessed this many times ‑‑ for us sitting here talking about privacy and human rights and security, when for many countries, this is about economic development.  It's about the food that we eat in the future, the fibers that we wear.  So I think we need to be looking at the regulatory and legal frameworks in a much broader perspective.  And one of the tools my team has developed to do this is a tech policy atlas, which is looking at having a global repository.  Where do you go to when you want to know what countries are doing to regulate in this space?  So I say that as a little bit of a shameless plug for the Tech Policy Atlas, but also because we built this atlas to be a useful tool for this community.  We want you to be using that and to be engaging with it.  Happy to talk a little more about what those regulations should be, but I will pause and let my colleagues jump in as well.  
>> BRENDAN DOWLING: You know, it's funny, we see a lot of innovation and ‑‑ 
>> FERNANDO SERTO: It's funny, we see a lot of regulation coming out of the U.S., but the U.S. from a regulatory perspective is one of the most behind countries ever.  Right?  Financial services, the reserve bank of India has done a much better job of regulating cashless payments than the U.S. has done.  I was in the U.S. for Black Hat, a conference in Vegas, two weeks ago, and I was blown away that Apple Pay doesn't work everywhere.  You go to a restaurant, you can't pay with Apple Pay.  I haven't carried a wallet inside Australia for two years.  Right?  I have had a digital driver's license from New South Wales.  Now Queensland is rolling it out next month, I believe.  So you know, and we have all this technology that is, you know, coming out of the U.S., a lot of tech vendors such as CloudFlare based in the bay area and so on, but they don't really adopt that from a regulatory perspective.  Then it's such a fragmented issue; right?  For us to travel abroad.  I go to Singapore without a wallet.  I carry my passport and phone and that's it.  I think we are learning how to deal with a lot of these other challenges with digital first; right?  You go to a place like Indonesia, the vast majority of the population has a smartphone; right?  They do everything.  Digital India is another great example of how they are dealing with societies that if you think you are in India, 85%, 86% of the society there leaves in tier 3 cities; right?  Which is really poorly connected, geographically it's hard for them to travel into main cities and so on, but they are rolling that out at scale.  And we see countries that should be doing a better job.  Yes, we privileged in Australia, but we see all the countries that should be doing a better job and they are not.  I think we just need to sort of spread and sort of cross‑pollinate a little bit.  What should places like the U.S. be doing?  What could they learn from places like India and sort of make the Internet better for everyone?  
>> Dr. Shabbir, do you have input, perhaps in particular about all of the rights of these people that we are going to be getting all of these new wonderful toys working with?  
>> MUHAMMAD SHABBIR: Yes, I do.  Interestingly, when we talk about these regulatory things and regulation, policies, as a student of international relations, most of the time we tend to miss the human side of the picture, when of course, these policies are there to regulate humans.  But most of the time they miss the human side, and I will explain here why and how.  
As we have established here, our region is most diverse region with some of the most developed and least developed economies.  In this country we have here, we have heard from this stage that a person doesn't go for years without getting a wallet.  And in the same region, we have people and we have countries, there are people with disabilities, they are not allowed to open bank accounts, much less to talk about using the e‑facilities, much less to talk about carrying credit card.  So where do we go with these regulatory measures?  And it's not just the technology that is stopping them.  It's the regulatory measures that are stopping them.  Even in my own country, ten years back, we were not allowed, as a person with vision impairment, to carry credit cards.  We had to fight with the state bank, a long fight.  We had to convince them that these technologies ‑‑ and they were all in the name of securing people with blindness.  Well, one would have very choice words to say about that.  We had to convince them, we had to convince them that this technology doesn't make us more insecure, as you do by these regulations.  
(Laughter) 
So the point is that the regulations, so technology is evolving fast.  The question is that is the regulations are evolving along with the technology too?  I would say no with capitals.  
(Laughter) 
I am sorry if I offend someone.  
>> FERNANDO SERTO: Can I just add something?  It's interesting, I think a lot of people building the technology sometimes don't have disability in mind.  We have NDIA ‑‑ NDIS, rather, National Disability Insurance Scheme, we had to adapt our project because of the way we use things to access services because everything was based on face ID or anything that sort of you can see what you are doing; right?  Not really interacting with other devices that already exist that will help authenticate someone with a disability; right?  So it's good that we have been pushed to do that, and I think it was a very valuable lesson for us, and every single product we have now we have that in mind with what are we catering for here; right?  What do we need to adapt to make sure that we are including everyone from a product development perspective; right?  
>> MUHAMMAD SHABBIR: Yes, exactly.  And when we are talking about the product development, it's also ‑‑ that was one side of the regulation.  I am not saying that regulation are bad.  On the other side, these are the regulations that from these companies, such as Apple and Dell, all those working in developed countries, due to the regulations, they are bound to take care of the needs of the persons with disabilities as well.  Otherwise they would not be allowed to come in the market.  So on one hand, if policies hinder; on the other, they can enable people as well.  We just need to pick that what and where do we, as policymakers and implementers, want to stand?  
>> JOHANNA WEAVER: I think this is such an important point.  Being able to take on the role as developed economies who are focused and who have got regulations in this space around whether it's inclusivity, whether it's looking at privacy or cyber security, and it's incumbent on us but also on the technologists who are then selling these products in other countries that may be less developed economies, not because it's not something that is important to them, but because it is a question of priorities, the things that they are going to be asking for are going to be things that will deliver on the more fundamental rights or the more fundamental needs that as we are doing that, we are also uplifting the capacity from bringing the greater commitment to rights as we do that.  And that isn't in a preachy way.  It's saying we've learnt this the hard way, and you can have the benefit.  And that's how we skip the digital divide rather than reinforce it.  
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: I just want to take a little break and first of all let everybody have a sip of water should you so desire on the panel.  I am wondering what you are all thinking about this, ladies and gentlemen.  Show of hands will do me to start with.  Do you think all of these new wonderful technologies, these emerging technologies, these things that like devices are coming at us without us wanting them or not, are they going to do anything to close the digital divide?  To service community better?  Who is in the yes camp, raise your hand?  Thank you, Bruce.  I hope you are not the only one.  Hands up.  Who is in the yes camp?  
Who is in the no camp?  Oh, dear, we've got a lot of work to do here.  
>> JOHANNA WEAVER: There's also a lot of undecideds.  
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Who is doing stock market reviews and their banking?  Who is checking their emails?  Oh, sorry.  
(Laughter) 
Have you got any questions that you would like to pose on those particular topics we've looked at today?  If you would like, we have a standing microphone should the urge take you to come and get our attention that way.  To the left here just below the clock, feel free to come there, and we will take your questions.  Or you can raise your hand now, and a friendly person ‑‑ not me because I am neither friendly nor a runner ‑‑ will come to you with a microphone.  Any questions for the panelists at this stage?  Any comments?  
>> JOHANNA WEAVER: Promise we don't bite.  
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: All right.  We are not going to bite.  I can't see why not, really.  
(Laughter) 
All right.  Well, obviously, we are making ourselves very, very clear, which is fine.  Oh, well, I might run to you.  
(Laughter) 
Let me straggle across here.  It's all right.  Stretch.  (Laughter).  
>> AUDIENCE: I'd love to hear, you've all spoken about the importance of this region capitalizing on the diversity that we have but also being more active in shaping how we address, I think, the challenge that Cheryl has put out.  That's a choice.  There's a fork in the road.  These technologies can do, I think, have those benefits for communities, or we can see that we can reap some of the downsides in the way we have social media, where arguably, the technology markets were left with too much freedom.  
Could you talk a little bit about striking the balance in terms of advocating for the interests of development in the region but also not going too far down the path of overregulation to be too stifling or to sort of hold back this region from capitalizing on new technologies, on companies who are developing those new technologies, actually operating from this region?  What do we actually do to thread that needle?  
>> JOHANNA WEAVER: Look, I think part of it is moving beyond this binary decision of are we promoting cyber security privacy and rights, or are we promoting innovation?  I think we are very close to a point where if you deliver a product to market that isn't a product that builds in cyber security, privacy, safety by design, your product won't be considered to be an innovative product.  It will be considered to be an incomplete product.  And Brendan, you have heard me say that before.  But I think this idea that innovation will be quashed because we are prioritizing rights is a false equation for us to be sitting with.  And partly that's because when you look at the drivers in our region, yes, we absolutely have amazing Internet uptake and penetration.  We have more than half of the users of the Internet in our region.  But we still only have 67% of our region connected to the Internet.  From our region, we have 25% of the world's unicorns come from our region.  Now, yes, 60% come from the U.S.  But we still have far more than come from the EU.   
So when you think about the brain power that we have within our region, the innovative ‑‑ the power of innovation, but also the challenges that we have to solve, I don't think we can solve those problems unless we are baking into those solutions security, privacy, and rights.  And that needs to be considered as part of the solution, not as an add‑on.  
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Fernando, please.  
>> FERNANDO SERTO: I will pick on the start‑up stat.  I think some of the challenge we see and the reason why a lot of the number of startups coming out of the U.S. is far greater than individual countries anywhere else is just that they are sort of, you know, building technology that can be adopted in pretty much anywhere.  But we see startups in our world that pick those technologies, and they innovate on top of that; right?  And the interesting thing and the diversity of our region here, the problems are very different.  Right?  And obviously, you know, privacy is something that we have to go, and I talk to a lot of regulators.  I talk to a lot of startups.  I talk to a lot of government entities, a lot of the priority sector as well.  There are a lot of countries that have challenges, but government not allowing privacy to be a real thing, but you know, and then ‑‑ but we see the divide between innovation and privacy just being led by lack of education a lot of times; right?  And I think more education into what that means, because the technology is available to everyone today; right?  And the cost of adoption of technology is getting lower and lower; right?  But it's more of a, you know, what should and shouldn't you do rather than, you know, what can or you can't do.  And I think it's up to us, really, to ‑‑ you know, people with a little bit of knowledge and understanding of the potential, the downfall of lack of privacy, for example, to educate people on how to build secure products, you know, how to build private products and so on; right?  
Like you look into, you know, forms on every website.  Like a lot of the data, why do you store that?  We saw what happened this year.  A simple mistake, someone got a production data set, put in a development API, ends up with 10 million records being leaked or 10 million individuals with potential issues; right?  
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Dr. Shabbir, I'd like to ask you to also react to something that I know you have a particular interest in.  As many of us in the disability sector have been saying for a very long time, universal design is not just for us; it's for everybody.  We heard there about the possibility of things being seen as incomplete product if they haven't taken cyber security and certain other aspects of design that is to benefit us all into account.  What about this aspect of universal design so it's actually easier for everyone to use, simpler for us all to deploy, and, dare I say, safer?  
>> MUHAMMAD SHABBIR: Yes, you are right, and part of the answer lies in your very question as well; that universal design is not just for persons with disabilities.  It's often misperceived as when the discussion on universal design comes in the hall, it's perceived that it's just for persons with disabilities.  And it's for their benefit as well.  Whereas, VoiceOver can be used for many other persons as well.  For instance, Siri is the voice assistant, can be used by any other person.  In the same way, a website which was built on a universal design, accessible for everyone, is equally and easily be used for any other person.  So the discussion ‑‑ and it's also kind of education by the developer side that it costs more.  It costs more when you start retrofitting accessibility into the product.  When you are designing, if you design accessible; when you are building, if you build accessible, it doesn't cost much.  But yes, when you have erected a complete building and now you want them from under the stage a lever should come up to take the speaker down, of course there will be costs.  So universal design on one hand is for the benefit of everyone, and on the other hand, it's affordable when used from the design stage and not at the later stage.  
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Thank you very much for that, Dr. Shabbir.  
We have a hand up over ‑‑ okay, over to you, thank you, Julie.  
>> Thanks, Cheryl, and thanks to the panel members for such an interesting presentation.  
You have commented on the differences in the uptake of emerging technologies that result from economic differences, from cultural differences, geographic.  I wonder if you'd comment on generational differences because my observation is that there's quite different use of technologies by young teenagers, by people in their 20s, than perhaps by those of my generation who are actually around and even in the workforce when the Internet was invented.  So I would be interested in your thoughts on generational differences.  
Sorry, Julie Hammer is my name.  My apologies.  
>> FERNANDO SERTO: It's an interesting point because I think the adoption of technology, things like social media, for example, I will use India again as an example.  We are looking to, you know, everyone who has got a smartphone in India, a lot of people, especially the older generation there, the only thing that they use is really SMS, calls, and use the camera to scan a QR code whenever they need to pay for something; right?  So the need to ‑‑ if you go into any merchant now, there's a little QR code using phone pay or any of the other UPI compliant payment systems there.  Everyone knows what to do; right?  And it hasn't been that much of a struggle for people to understand that.  
Now, you ask them to send an email to someone, that's a bit of a stretch.  You ask them to be on Facebook or whatever, they are just not interested.  They just don't know how to operate that.  But the benefits of using, you know, a smartphone for the very basic function of using the camera, everyone can do that; right?  And I am from Brazil, and I see exactly the same sort of adoption in Brazil as well, that the ease of use is not necessarily, you know, you don't need to be a waste, download a bunch of different apps.  All you do is open the camera.  
>> JOHANNA WEAVER: Yeah, look, I think this is a really important point, both from a usability for individuals and how they experience the Internet and how they experience the world; right?  Because so much of what we do is online.  But the other part of this that is really important is that many of us decision‑makers, particularly in our region, are of a generation that didn't grow up with the Internet, that don't understand these technologies.  And yet we are looking to them to regulate these technologies.  And that is, you know, I think all credit to the program with the parliamentary track that is happening in parallel to this IGF because it is so absolutely vital that we upskill not just the technologists, but also the people who are making decisions around that work.  And that's something that my team and I are also very much focused on and in Australia and hope to expand that work into Asia Pacific as well.  So it is absolutely vital.  
I would also say that the point about upskilling people is not just about upskilling people on technical issues.  It's about upskilling people to ask the question about technology being made differently.  We have been trained to accept the technology that we've been given as opposed to say, okay, can the technology do this a different way?  And so actually, it's as much a cultural relearning of the way that we perceive technology as it is a technical understanding of these issues.  
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Dr. Shabbir, I am wondering from what you have heard the other speakers and those interventions from the floor whether we are getting to a point where it needs to be recognized that some form of early planning, early involvement of, dare I say, actual lived experience individuals, people, perhaps, with the next technical know‑how of the things that are being designed?  So not just building a new, wonderful toy because it is a great idea and it's a niche market, but how can I build it to its simplest form, its most effective.  It can be really complex behind the scenes, but how is the interface most useful?  How is its activity best guided in that development phase?  
Would you like to say a few words about that?  
>> MUHAMMAD SHABBIR: Yes, thank you, Cheryl, for the question.  And I would just remind you an often quoted statement, "nothing about us without us" is a statement more often than not quoted in disability circles, by the disability circles as well.  So it's true.  And while we all see this happening there on the IGF, there is a parliamentary track, there is youth track, there are youth IGF, I am going to leave you all with the question that what sort of accessibility or disability forums we have on these?  And at what stage are they?  There are fellows programs.  How many of them they have been made persons with disabilities?  There would be an IGF in 2023.  As the coordinator on dynamic relation on accessibility and disability, I am happy to announce that we, with the support of Internet evangelist Vint Cerf and Google are providing and enabling persons with disabilities to go to IGF, participate in person or to participate remotely.  It's their choice.  We cannot push people to say, okay, if you want to participate in the discussion, you have to be in person.  Or if you want to participate, you cannot be in person.  So Dynamic Coalition on accessibility and disability has a fellowship program.  The deadline of that is today, unfortunately.  It is circulated, yes.  And after that, we will be evaluating applications.  And this program, I can say, is solely targeted for persons with disabilities, but when I say targeted for persons with disabilities, I am not saying that we are excluding persons without disabilities.  But they would have to really work for it, to show for it that their participation in the IGF would benefit persons with disabilities so that they would be considered then.  
So these kind of programs, they are really necessary.  If you want people's involvement, if you want to talk with the youth, let the youth talk for themselves.  Do not try to speak on their behalf.  If you want to work on persons with disabilities, let them say what is required.  Do not perceive that this may be their requirement and this could be done or this could not be done.  Same is the case with the design.  Sometimes we think that these designs could be difficult.  If you had given me an 
>> FINN PETERSEN: Some 15 years back, I would have said oh, what a mess is this?  But today, the situation is different.  So as we grow, as we learn, we adapt to the things and the environments.  
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Thank you, Dr. Shabbir.  
(Applause) 
Dr. Shabbir, I am going to leave the microphone with you very briefly because I'd like to hear from you what you think our future is like in Asia Pacific in terms of these emerging technologies?  What do you see or what do you want to see for the future of these emerging technologies?  
>> MUHAMMAD SHABBIR: Well, what I want to see or what do I ‑‑ what I see would be a different thing.  And if you want an honest answer.  
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: I want an answer.  
>> MUHAMMAD SHABBIR: Well, I want to see ‑‑ for instance, there are a number of tech developments going on.  Every day we are seeing new technologies coming in the market.  If not, every day there is a new app coming in the market, new website coming in the market, and more often than not, it's a stated fact, we did it, and G3ict also did a survey of one million websites all around the world.  Just the homepages of those websites.  And 97% of those were inaccessible.  So I would ‑‑ what I want, what I would want is that 97% to see at least that they are accessible in this region.  Well, what I see, I see the things that they are moving in a positive direction.  If I am sitting here today speaking to the audience, not just in this hall, but across the Asia Pacific region and across the world through the technology, and I am holding a degree, PhD degree, it is all thanks to this technology.  So I am hopeful that things are improving and they would be better.  
(Applause) 
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Thank you very much.  I am going to go to Fernando next.  So Fernando, closing remarks.  What do you see ‑‑ in your very brief time ‑‑ what do you see as the future from your perspective?  
>> FERNANDO SERTO: Well, I think, you know, depending on the ‑‑ which side of the equation you are looking at, but we always are a step behind; right?  So you know, sometimes, you know, we'll think about something really cool we can do with tech, someone will create that tech, then oh, look at the problems with it.  Same thing with cyber security.  Talking about building secure products and so on.  I see large organizations that have exactly the same problems that they had 20‑some years ago when I was on the other side of the fence; right?  So this is something that's always going to be a cat‑and‑mouse game depending which way you are looking at it.  But we are learning; right?  And I think when we talk specifically about emerging technologies, like I have been talking about AI, and you know, generative AI, and it's been wonderful for a little while now.  While we have this fear of, you know, AI taking people's jobs and so on, but I just think, you know, everyone's being more productive.  Right?  We are learning what we need to do to prevent it from taking over the world.  But you know, technology is here to ‑‑ technologists just build technology, and then we figure out what we can and cannot do it with it later.  It's the biggest challenge we have.  But we are ‑‑ with a rapid adoption of a lot of those, I think we are learning faster as well and understanding what problems can come with it a lot earlier in the workflow as well.  
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Segue to Joanna.  
>> JOHANNA WEAVER: Thank you.  One comment.  What we have not discussed on the panel today is whether or not what we've been discussing is actually relevant to Internet governance.  When we think about Internet Governance, Internet Governance is about the technical management of the Internet.  What we have been speaking about is emerging and critical technologies, which, of course, will shape our future.  I think it's an absolute credit to the Internet Governance community, which is such a welcoming and inclusive community, that people are looking to bring these discussions about emerging technology into this community.  But I do worry a little bit that as we do and expand the mandate of the IGF, we are diluting the focus on the core business of keeping the Internet running and functioning.  You know, the extraordinary work that AuDA do, that APNIC, that .Asia does, they are barely topics of discussion in the IGF on the current agenda.  So let's not take for granted the incredible work and how much everything depends on that.  
As for my predictions for the future of the Internet, I think I am going to go with 97% accessibility; much faster, much cheaper Internet.  I think we will see much more use of the Internet, particularly around the way that we work.  I think we will see incredible applications for travel as well, so thinking here about efforts with the metaverse as one example.  But I also hope that as we move more and more online that we also value more our experiences offline; as it becomes cheaper to engage online and have these experiences, that our face‑to‑face experiences become a luxury item, something that we value more.  So I'll leave that with you as a thought.  
(Applause) 
>> CHERYL LANGDON‑ORR: Perfect.  Thank you very much.  Ladies and gentlemen, it seems to me that a couple of tag‑ons can come out of this.  One, of course, is the not about us without us.  And I am hearing a lot of "better together" from this as well, that if we do actually do more of this proactive work, not just in our own little silos, but across our region, it will benefit us all.  And having been benefitted by this fabulous set of panelists, I'd like you to put your hands together for all of them.  
(Applause) 

Morning tea is outside these doors.  Don't rush.  Don't rush.  Because in the half hour, so at 11:00 local time, will you have a choice of three rooms to go back to.  Please look to your programs.  If you haven't downloaded your app, please do so.  Decide what you are going to see, and enjoy the rest of the day.  Thank you one and all.  Bye for now.  

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