DEF held a stakeholder’s discussion on “The role of the Internet and international Internet-related public policy in mitigating the impact of COVID-19 and possible future pandemics” on 13th August 2021.
The discussion focused on low access and connectivity issues, whether new internet applications in the Internet of Things (IoT) and other platforms can be accelerated to overcome the impact of Covid-19 in appropriate Response, Recovery, and Resilience (RRR).
Following were the key questions that were addressed- Dealing with issues and implications of Internet Shutdowns, outages and blackouts during pandemic emergencies; Use and misuse of the Internet as against internet appropriate social and behavioural issues as emerged during Covid-19, lockdown, and social and physical movement restrictions; Whether the internet has evolved as a critical public need during Covid and beyond and requires public interest oversight in policy frameworks and programs; and how measuring the critical impact of Internet performance during Covid and beyond is an international collaborative resource necessity.