18th edition of Domain pulse started today in Bonn with about 200 participants – Sascha Lobo keynote introduces to two days full of information and exchange about future perspectives of a digital world
Covid-19 is not only a global plague but also a turbo catalyst for digitisation. How we can take advantage of it to advance digitisation in Germany, Europe and worldwide, what should be considered in this context, which implications new rules may have on Internet use and what are the dark sides of the Internet – these are central topics on the agenda of the Domain pulse 2022.
A Look at the Future at a Historical Location
Digital thinker Sascha Lobo opened the conference in the historical plenary chamber of the German parliament with a vivid and entertaining look at the consequences Covid-19 has for the economy, for society and for digital transformation in general. "From the point of view of us digital people, it became clear during the pandemic how right we were with our warning and urging – we must take a much more digital perspective at the problems of the presence. Digitisation is not the problem, it is the solution. Nobody can have serious doubts about that anymore."
An inspiring start of the largest industry congress on Internet domains in the German-speaking territory to take a look ahead in a location with a historical background.
Day 1: Internet policy and regulatory challenges
The first day of the conference was dedicated to digital policy. Göran Marby, CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), underpinned the importance of the multistakeholder model for Internet governance. Representatives from the political field, associations, the domain industry and the media pointed out potential future approaches how to further enhance digitisation, which has become so vital for all areas of life. Not to be neglected in this process are the legal aspects that are currently being addressed with several regulatory initiatives at EU level. The representatives of the registries of the German-speaking territory, SWITCH (.ch and .li), nic.at (.at) and DENIC eG (.de) all agree that their expertise as domain operators should be taken into consideration for drafting such regulations.
Day 2: Truth and security on the Internet
Tomorrow, on the second day of the conference, the function of the Internet as a source of information and the truthfulness of the reports published there will be the central topics. How do conspiracy narratives emerge and how shall we recognise "alternative facts"? The professionalisation of the criminal ecosystem "ransomware business" and breach of duty of care are other topics that will be illuminated.
Domain pulse on the Internet
We have compiled the complete program of the specialist congress and all information about the protagonists involved on DENIC's event website https://domainpulse.de/?lang=en. In the week after the event, presentations and video recordings will also be available there.
The expert congress "Domain pulse" is staged annually in turns by the registries administering the country code Top Level domains of Austria (nic.at), of Switzerland and Liechtenstein (SWITCH), and by DENIC, the registry of the German country code TLD .de, who is hosting this year's event.
