III Internet Governance Forum of the Dominican Republic (III-IGFDO-2017) — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

On 2–3 November 2017, the third Dominican Republic IGF (III-IGFDO-2017) gathered 70-plus participants from as many public and private institutions at the Hotel Barceló in Santo Domingo, under the theme 'From infrastructure to human rights.'
After debating the tensions between cybersecurity and national security, the digital economy, and youth and women's participation, day two hosted the country's first workshop on internet exchange points (IXPs), with ISOC and LACNIC experts mapping a path to cheaper connectivity.
The agenda-setting is strikingly clear for a developing country: infrastructure first, because that is what makes rights real. It shows exactly why an IXP can be a human-rights issue where connectivity is expensive.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on III Internet Governance Forum of the Dominican Republic (III-IGFDO-2017) draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

Item	Detail
Official name	III Internet Governance Forum of the Dominican Republic (III-IGFDO-2017)
Dates	2–3 November 2017
Venue	Salón Lina, Hotel Barceló Santo Domingo (main forum, 2 Nov); the country's first IXP workshop followed on 3 Nov
Theme	'Desde la infraestructura hacia los derechos humanos' (From infrastructure to human rights)
Participants	70 (More than 70 participants from a like number of public and private institutions (closing report))
Host	ISOC-DO (ISOC-RD), sponsored by the Internet Society, NIC.do, INDOTEL, COLUMBUS, NAP del Caribe and the IGFSA
Note	Held to mark the 25th anniversary of the Internet Society

(See the source list at the end of this article.)

Discussion Digest — from the Session Records

Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.

1. Cybersecurity — Tensions Between Privacy and National Security

Sessions: Panel 'Cybersecurity: tensions between privacy and national security' (2 Nov, 9:30, moderated by Enmanuel Alcántara)

Peruvian IT-law expert Erick Iriarte joined César Moliné of regulator INDOTEL, Claudio Peguero of the National Police and Carlos Ramírez Castaños, head of cybercrime investigations at the DNI intelligence agency [1][2]
Human-rights and gender expert Laura Bretón and INTEC's Osvaldo Larancuent completed the panel, publicly debating where investigative powers end and citizens' privacy begins [1][2]
Seating police, intelligence and civil society on one panel was itself a novelty for the country [1][2]

2. IXPs — The Country's First Workshop on Internet Exchange Points

Sessions: Presentation 'Role, importance and impact of an IXP' plus panel 'Prospects for implementing a national IXP' (2–3 Nov, moderated by Christian O'Flaherty, ISOC)

Christian O'Flaherty (ISOC Latin America & Caribbean) and Guillermo Cicileo (LACNIC) explained how an internet exchange point streamlines routing, improves quality of service and cuts interconnection costs [1][2]
The implementation panel drew INDOTEL (Katrina Naut), NAP del Caribe, WIND TELECOM, COLUMBUS, the cable-TV operators' associations, Yacine Khelladi of the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) and NIC.DO to debate institutional models for a national IXP [1][2]
This discussion seeded the national IXP project 'IX-DO', whose progress was reported at the subsequent FGI-DO-2019 [1][2]

3. Digital Economy — Taking Stock of Local Initiatives

Sessions: Panel 'Digital economy: local initiatives' (2 Nov, 11:30, moderated by Osvaldo Larancuent)

Soviesky Naut (digital economy lead at the SME vice-ministry), Armando Manzueta of fintech FINEXT and ISOC's Shernon Osepa reported on the state of e-payments and e-commerce in the country [1][2]
The panel revisited a question carried over from 2016 — how to spur local digital content creation and commercialisation — by comparing government and private-sector initiatives side by side [1][2]

4. Youth and Women in Internet Governance — Widening the Circle

Sessions: Panel 'Participation of youth and women in internet governance' (2 Nov, 14:15, moderated by Teresa López)

Federica Tortorella, Laura Bretón and Alexandre Toribio discussed what it takes for young people and women to move from spectators to protagonists of governance debates [1][2]
Opening the forum, ISOC regional affairs manager Shernon Osepa and ISOC-DO vice-president Wanda Pérez set out the event's core stance: the internet should remain open, transparent, secure, democratic and inclusive [1][2]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What did the meeting decide?

A. It is not a decision-making body, but it set a direction: the country's first IXP workshop on day two became the starting point for the national exchange-point project IX-DO, aimed at cutting connectivity costs.

Q. What was the most contentious topic?

A. The cybersecurity panel. It put the national police and intelligence agency on stage to debate — with civil society — where investigative powers should end and privacy begin.

Q. Why should I care?

A. The theme 'from infrastructure to human rights' captures a developing-country lens that is easy to miss elsewhere: when connectivity is expensive, an internet exchange point is a human-rights issue.

What Is Dominican Republic IGF? (for first-time readers)

Dominican Republic IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.

Why It Matters to You

What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2017 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.