International experts to gather for Internet Week Guyana in October

29/09/2017

By Gerard Best

Internet experts from around the world will be in Georgetown in October for Internet Week Guyana, a high-level technology conference focused on national and regional development issues.

Hosted by the Guyana Ministry of Public Telecommunications, the meeting is jointly organised by the Latin America and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC), the Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG), the Internet Society (ISOC), the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU).

“Internet Week Guyana will draw on the expertise of global Internet organisations, to address local and regional Internet development issues,” said Kevon Swift, Head of Strategic Relations and Integration at LACNIC, an organisation that distributes and manages Internet number resources in the Caribbean and Latin America.

The five-day event starts on October 9 with an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Awareness Day which will introduce topics to be covered more in-depth during the week.

On October 10, ISOC and ICANN will jointly lead an Internet Governance Day, focused on the establishment of Guyana’s national Internet Governance Forum, or IGF.

“Internet Governance discussions go beyond technical matters, but focus also on legal, economic, development, sociocultural, human rights and security aspects. National IGFs are very important because they give the local community the opportunity to discuss local challenges and more importantly, to look for concrete solutions to those challenges,” said Shernon Osepa, Manager of Regional Affairs for Latin America and the Caribbbean at ISOC.

The Internet Governance Day will also focus on the impact of the new generic top-level domain program.

A Cybersecurity Day covering a range of cyber crime issues and networking best practices will be held by CaribNOG on October 11. CaribNOG and the Belize Public Utilities Commission held a weeklong national cyber security symposium in Belize City in April, drawing participants from law enforcement, the military, the judiciary and legal community, government and the private sector.

“Cyber security is a priority for the entire Caribbean. As the region places greater reliance on Internet-based technologies, more capacity has to be built to protect our computer networks and systems,” said Bevil Wooding, Executive Director of CaribNOG and Caribbean Outreach Manager at the American Registry for Internet Numbers.

On October 12, LACNIC will hold an open forum to discuss the benefits of IPv6, the Internet Protocol which addresses the depletion of unallocated numbering resources in the region and around the world.

The conference closes on October 13 with a Youth ICT Day organised by the CTU. Young people will have the chance to learn a range of useful digital skills from a slate of experienced professionals.

All Internet Week Guyana events are free of charge and open to the public. Registration and other information are available at http://onthemove.lacnic.net/internet-week-guyana or by email at onthemove@lacnic.net.