Georgian Internet Governance Forum: Experts discuss Georgia’s internet safety

Up to 30 organisations and individuals from Georgia and further abroad are discussing how to ensure online safety and other internet-related issues that are vital for Georgia’s internet space at the second annual meeting of the Georgian Internet Governance Forum (GeoIGF).

The Forum is taking place at the Technology Park of Georgia, which is located on Mtatsminda Hill in the area surrounding capital Tbilisi.

E-governance, online protection of children, domain names, privacy and data protection and copyright were some of the topics discussed at today’s event.

The meeting aimed to promote dialogue about the use of the internet in today’s world and to raise awareness of internet governance issues.

Among the participants of today’s Forum are representatives of non-governmental sectors, the state and other industry experts.

Invited speakers from the Council of Europe regional office, the European regional office of Internet Society (ISOC), the Placiajuostis internetas (Lithuania), Mark Carvell from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (UK) and many other local and global experts either delivered speeches at the event or were panelists at various discussions.

The First Internet Governance Forum was organised in December 2015 by the Council of Europe.

In recent years internet-related issues have become an active topic in the Georgian Government’s agenda.

In January 2015 the Government launched its ‘High Speed Internet for Everyone’ project - a $100 million project that will make the internet available for 2,000 Georgian cities and villages, meaning about 90 percent of the population will have internet access.

Before this the Government said the country will be provided with high-speed internet by the end of 2017.

Currently, it is believed that about 40 percent of the population have access to the internet. (Agenda.ge)