Uganda Internet Governance Forum to Discuss Digital Identity, Rights and Freedoms

The Internet Society Uganda Chapter (ISOC-Uganda), in partnership with the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, will host the Uganda Internet Governance Forum (UIGF) on August 2, 2024, at Protea Kampala by Marriot Hotel, Kampala. The event will be held under the theme “Building a Multi-Stakeholder Digital Future for Uganda.”

First established in 2006, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is an annual meeting that brings together stakeholders from around the world to facilitate the exchange of information and the sharing of best practices related to the evolution, use, and governance of the Internet. The global IGF 2024 will be hosted by the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, under the theme “Building our Multi-Stakeholder Digital Future.”

Its main objectives are:

To prepare Ugandan stakeholders to address the opportunities, strengths, and challenges arising from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, ensuring they have a voice in shaping Internet policy decisions at the national and global levels.

Provide a learning platform for all individuals to enhance their knowledge about Internet governance through school training sessions. To offer opportunities to share experiences from individuals involved in governance activities, foster a deeper understanding of the global and local Internet ecosystem and strengthen the understanding of the Internet governance process in Uganda.

Globally, there is an increasing interest in deploying and using digital forms of identity, relying on biometric authentication and verification. The World Bank (WB) and the United Nations (UN) assert that foundational biometric digital identity (BDI) systems are critical for achieving development goals and ensuring access to legal identity, furthering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Digital IDs are central to these efforts as they enable the storage of biometric and personal data in digital formats linked to an individual’s legal identity, facilitating reliable identification and authentication, and convenient access to e-government services. However, the rapid adoption of biometric and digital identification systems presents privacy risks due to the collection of personal and sensitive data and their storage in centralized databases without adequate legal and policy frameworks, which may also lead to discrimination.

A new report by the Greater Internet Freedom Project highlights findings from seven country-level studies in Angola, the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. The report aims to identify and compare the state of biometrics and digital identity threats, usage, and impact.

During tomorrow’s meeting, the media fraternity will be represented by African Centre for Media Excellence discussing Digital Identities: Mitigating the Risks and Impact on Independent Journalism in Uganda.

With the rise in the number of online media companies in Uganda, journalists are at risk of losing their identities to hackers and other people who may want to distort information, that may lead them into trouble.

With the current technology, some journalists have reported unknown persons taking their stories, rewriting their articles and changing the information to fit their agenda and re-publishing.

Most journalists have also been forced to limit the use of smart phones as these are easily hacked into, and information about their sources obtained by people with ulterior motives.

A panel of experts is expected to discuss key issues, findings and recommendations for the (NITA-U) and the other partners including media houses, highlight roles, duties and obligations of each partner in protecting privacy, freedom of expression, and other fundamental human rights.