ID-Config aims to address internet governance issues in Indonesia

With Internet restrictions being a hot topic in the recent U.N. ITU discussions, organizations in Indonesia are convening ID-Config to help address governance issues in the country and beyond.

Another Indonesian internet organization is emerging, with local civil society organizations forming the Indonesian CSOs Network for Internet Governance (ID-Config) a few days ago. This network is aimed at facilitating information exchange amongst members themselves in regards to internet governance in the country. In particular, the organization wishes to highlight freedom of online expression and human rights.

One of the short term goals behind ID-Config is to facilitate communication, collaboration and communication with academicians, businesses and government as the multi-stakeholders at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in 2013.

ID-Config supporting organizations (Credit: ID-Config)

Center for Innovation, Policy and Governance (CIPG), Yayasan Air Putih, Indonesian Center for Deradicalisation and Wisdom (ICDW), Aliansi Jurnalis Indonesia (AJI), Relawan Teknologi Informasi dan Komunikasi (RTIK), Lembaga Studi & Advokasi Masyarakat (ELSAM), Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR), Combine Resource Institution (CRI), Indonesia Online Advocacy (IDOLA), Common Room Networks Foundation, and ICT Watch are the supporting organizations.

As for IGF, the annual conference brings together world Information and Communication Technology gurus, leaders, officials and founders to discuss the future of the Internet. Baku, located in Azerbaijan, was selected to host the seventh UN-sponsored event last month. Webcasts and workshop transcripts were publicly available to anyone interested to know the key points in the four-day meeting. For 2013, the forum will take place in Bali around October.

At IGF, Internet Society (ISOC) President and CEO Lynn St. Amour, Head of Communications and Partnership at International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Paul Conneally, World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Daniel Kerimi, Google Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf, Facebook Global Director of Public Policy Erika Mann, amongst other. Participants tried to answer the contentious question: “Who owns, controls and governs the net?” as well as debated Internet governance with each other and the audience.

For startups and industry observers, IGF provides plenty of access to the who’s who of the industry, giving everyone the opportunity to network. You are allowed to make yourself heard with few limits or actual moderation.

A few months ago, the Indonesian internet community has convened the Indonesia Internet Governance Forum (ID-IGF). Like similar organizations in other countries, it was intended to follow-up the action plan of World Summit Information Society (WSIS) 2003 and 2005 stating that half of population across the globe should be able to access information via ICT infrastructure. It’s something that the country needs to pay their attention to at the moment, given the emerging trends in communication worldwide.

As for ID-Config, the organization will proactively exert effort to drive transparent and accountable dialogue amongst the multi-stakeholders. To that end, its main goal is to improve internet governance in Indonesia.