[AfrICANN-discuss] IG Weekly Brief : United Nations on ICT in SDGs, UNCTAD on consumer protection, WTO & OECD for connectivity, Nepal to get Internet from China, net neutrality “day of action", China to block VPNs, UNCTAD's e-commerce index

[Mamadou LO]

SUMMARY

This week, "Senior government representatives are at the United Nations for the High-level Political Forum tracking progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs<https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs>), two years after they were adopted. Underscoring the importance of information and communication technologies (ICT) in today's world, the heads of over 20 United Nations agencies and offices have called for leveraging those technologies to “fast forward” implementation of the 2030 Agenda<https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld> for Sustainable Development. In a new report<http://www.itu.int/en/sustainable-world/Pages/report-hlpf-2017.aspx>, the senior officials also highlighted the critical link between information and communication technologies and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs<https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs>)".

On E-commerce, during the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Consumer Protection Law and Policy (IGE), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)<http://www.globaltrademag.com/global-logistics/unctad-port-data-project-gathers-steam> announced the development of the World Consumer Protection Map to provide relevant information about consumer protection worldwide and to enable better coordination channels between Consumer Protection Agencies globally. Also, according to UNCTAD's e-commerce index,"Africa is trailing far behind in terms of readiness to engage in and benefit from e-commerce". In addition, The biennial “Global Review of Aid for Trade” kicked off on Tuesday 11 July at WTO headquarters, with the heads of multiple international agencies calling for greater efforts to improve digital connectivity, lower trade costs, and improve infrastructure through the Aid for Trade initiative.

In Africa, Chinese internet entrepreneur Jack Ma is to team up with the United Nations (UN) trade and development agency head Mukhisa Kituyi in co-hosting meetings in East Africa to promote entrepreneurship and small business among young people. Also, The GSMA has announced several developments in its Mobile for Development programme in Africa, supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

On data protection, an EU working party named Article 29 declared that any data sourced from an internet search of candidates must be necessary and relevant to the performance of the job. Employers who use Facebook, Twitter and other social media to check on potential job candidates could be breaking European law in future.
Nepal is likely to get internet connection through Chinese optical fiber from next month, ending India's monopoly over the online services.
On access, China’s government has reportedly ordered  three telecommunications companies to completely block access to virtual private networks, or VPNs, by February 2018. Microsoft wants to improve rural broadband access by using TV white spaces spectrum, and eliminate the gap across the US over the next five years.
On net neutrality, organizers of a net neutrality<http://variety.com/t/net-neutrality/> “day of action,” designed to urge the FCC to retain its existing rules of the road for the Internet, said that more than 1.6 million comments were filed to the agency as of Wednesday afternoon, after thousands of websites posted messages warning of a proposed rollback of existing net neutrality rules.
On Open Government; OECD launches open Consultation.
As for events, we note the Global Symposium of Regulators and AFNOG CHIX in the Gambia.
Below, informations on those subjects and events as well as documents on cyberpolitics, domain name, Open Government..
Cordially

See weekly review in full here
http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/profiles/blogs/ig-weekly-brief-united-nations-on-ict-in-sdgs-unctad-on-consumer
IG Weekly Brief : United Nations on ICT in SDGs, UNCTAD on consumer protection, WTO & OECD for connectivity, Nepal to get Internet from China, net neutrality “day of action", China to block VPNs<http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/profiles/blogs/ig-weekly-brief-united-nations-on-ict-in-sdgs-unctad-on-consumer>
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SUMMARYThis week, Senior government representatives are at the United Nations for the High-level Political Forum tracking progress on the Sustainable Developm…

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