cyberBRICS observatory | nº 16, December/2021

Prof. Luca Belli, CyberBRICS Director, analyses the prominence that Cybersecurity has taken at the thirteenth BRICS Summit, held on 9 September 2021. Over the past years, the BRICS countries’ engagement with and initiatives regarding cybersecurity have gained remarkable relevance and their policy priorities are increasingly compatible, with particular relevance of data security, content regulation, and cybercrime Although their approaches feature several points of overlap and tend towards convergence, they remain significantly different in many respects. This post provides some context on the BRICS’ cybersecurity agenda(s) and suggests potential areas for cybersecurity cooperation, which the BRICS leaders are now explicitly advocating for.

The 2021 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit took place from 26 to 28, September 2021 in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province. Themed as “Towards a New Era of Digital Civilization – Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace,” the Wuzhen Summit was held both online and offline this year.

The 2021 Think Tank Forum was themed as “Global Landscape and Order in the Digital Era” and was organized by the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies, University of Edinburgh, WIDE Project and the Centre for Technology and Society (CTS-FGV). The forum invited renowned experts and high-level representatives from global think tanks, research institutes, and international organizations to discuss and share ideas on topics of global concern in the post-COVID-19 world, including opportunities and challenges brought by emerging technologies such as AI and 5G, international landscape and order in the digital era as well as role of think tanks in the global cooperation and rules making on global digital governance.

Check the transcription of Professor Luca Belli’s intervention.

PrivacyNama 2021 was the first edition of MediaNama’s flagship conference, focused on key themes related to privacy and global data governance issues, such as privacy Legislation trends in BRICS and the operationalisation of a Data Protection Authority.

The event hosted a session on the “Impact of privacy legislation on the openness of the Internet”, in partnership with the CyberBRICS project, and focusing on privacy legislation and the push for digital – and hence data – sovereignty, and the impact this has on the global nature of the Internet. The speakers Alexa Lee, Alison Gillwald (CyberBRICS Advisory Board), Luca Belli (CyberBRICS Director) and Udbhav Tiwari shared their perspectives on China, South Africa, Brazil and India respectively. The session took place on October 6, 2021.

Watch the full panel recording (at 1:37:00).

On October 21st, CyberBRICS fellow Smriti Parsheera spoke on the panel “Multistakeholderism 3.0: Global Solutions for Global Challenges" at the CyFy 2021. The event was held by the Observer Research Foundation.

Check the full report of the webinar “Digital Silk Road as a promoter of closer people to people ties”, that took place on October 22 as part of the 4th Seminar Brazil-China Dialogue. Sofia Chang, CyberBRICS researcher at CTS-FGV, moderated the session, joined by Fred Arruda (C.E.S.A.R. institute), Shen Yi (Fudan University), Lin Baihe (China Mobile International Brazil) and In Hsieh (Chinnovation).

The event ‘Data Architectures in the BRICS Countries’ was co-hosted with the CyberBRICS Project, which created a space for the exchange of information about the evolving data architectures in the BRICS countries. The event took place on November 5 and included the speakers Luca Belli (CyberBRICS Director), the CyberBRICS Advisory Board member Sizwe Snail Ka Mtzue, CyberBRICS Associated Scholar Danilo Doneda and  the CyberBRICS Fellows Wei Wang and Smriti Parsheera.

Safe digital inclusion is a great challenge for all countries, especially in the post-covid 19 recovery. Brazil has been acting in several international forums that aim at cooperation and sharing of national regulations and practices. The event intends to bring together experts and government authorities to discuss some of the aspects especially related to cybersecurity and Brazil's international cooperation, especially in multilateral groups and institutions, such as the United Nations and BRICS. Among the challenges to be faced in international cooperation, we can highlight responsible behavior in the cyberspace environment and safe digital inclusion.
This debate was realized in Portuguese.

The 16th annual IGF meeting will be hosted by the Government of Poland in Katowice from 6-10 December, under the overarching theme: Internet United. The IGF 2021 hybrid process, develops around the issue areas and features a preparatory and engagement phase which includes build-up sessions on the IGF 2021’s issue areas, development of the intersessional work as well as a series of capacity development activities. More information about the implementation of the hybrid format, as well as the draft IGF 2021 programme is available on the IGF website. The registration process is open.

The CyberBRICS Team will be joining in seven seasons. Check them all here.

The 5G auction took place in Brazil on November 4th and brought about some relevant potential changes to the market structure of the sector. As Prof. Luca Belli (CyberBRICS Director) points out, although the three traditional telecom companies (Claro, Vivo and Tim) have acquired the rights over bigger Brazilian cities, in smaller regions of the country new and smaller companies have entered the playing field. This might prove beneficial to competition and to the expansion of 5G services in the country, since these new operators already had fiber infrastructure deployed that might facilitate the implementation of the new technology. However, digital divides remain unsolved and, as it stands, the deployment of 5G technology may further exacerbate existing connectivity inequalities.

The Russian National Committee on BRICS Research, supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, organized the BRICS International School is a unique scientific and educational programme aimed at training young experts specializing in BRICS studies in political, economic, humanitarian fields and other relevant areas of interaction within the five countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

In a new article, India Times addresses the use of the Internet shutdown tactic as a regulatory tool by the Indian state. While seen as a killer of dissent and free speech by many, the other end of the same spectrum sees Internet restrictions as one of the main ways to preserve democracy and freedom of expression. The article mainly highlights the situation in the region of Jammu and Kashmir, which suffered from the biggest blackout in history: lack of connection between August 4, 2019 and February 6, 2021.

On September 30, 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) published the Measures for the Administration of Data Security in the Field of Industrial and Information Technology sectors and is soliciting public opinions until October 30, 2021.

The draft Measures aims to regulate the industrial and telecoms data processing activities carried out in China. The draft bans enterprises from moving “core data” out of China and it requires companies to get a government security review before providing “important data” abroad.

Cloud computing, along with increasingly ubiquitous digital tools for collecting, aggregating many more mature systems in transforming health and improving health outcomes. However, more rigor and attention must be focused on protecting the privacy and security of health data.

Free and informed consent over data disclosure and control over health data itself must be equally applied across geographies – this must be a focus not just in South Africa, but across the African continent. Check the full Africa News article on health data protection.