The main focus of the fourth day of IGF 2013 addressed one emerging internet governance issues – Internet surveillance, in the context of recent revelations about government-led Internet surveillance activities. While these programs have been justified as necessary for generally accepted objectives like fighting terrorism and strengthening of national security among others, the International community has articulated concerns with regard to the impact of those programs in the exercise of human rights and in preserving the core values of the Internet. Participants in this session discussed aspects related to: the scope of the problem and the involved topics, the role of security and surveillance services in different societies and their oversight and guarantees to citizens and the relation between surveillance and privacy.
The second part of the day featured an open microphone session and the usual closing ceremony during which representatives of different Internet governance stakeholders expressed general views on the IGF and on some of the topics discussed during the day. It was underlined that the four days of intense discussions on currently pressing Internet governance issues have demonstrated, once more, that the IGF provides a unique platform for all stakeholders to sit together and address these issues while taking into account the many different views and trying to identify possible solutions.
Nearly 1500 delegates representing 111 different countries were present in Bali for the eight edition of the IGF. Civil society was the highest represented stakeholder group at the forum. The various sessions taking place during the meeting were webcasted and remote participation increased the number of attendees. Millions of interested individual followed the proceedings on Twitter, enabling discussions to take place before, during and after the meetings.
As IGF 2013 closed, the host countries of next IGF meetings were announced: Turkey for IGF 2014, Brasil for IGF 2015 and Mexico for IGF 2016, in case the mandate of the Forum will be renewed once again.