{"id":4273,"date":"2023-08-29T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/2023\/08\/29\/en-aprigf-2023-brisbane-overview\/"},"modified":"2023-08-29T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T23:00:00","slug":"en-aprigf-2023-brisbane-overview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/2023\/08\/29\/en-aprigf-2023-brisbane-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"AprIGF 2023 Brisbane \u2014 In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest &#038; 3-Line Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-aprigf-2023-brisbane-overview_thumbnail-2.svg\" alt=\"AprIGF 2023 \u30d6\u30ea\u30b9\u30d9\u30f3 \u2014 Thumbnail\"><\/p>\n<h2>The 3-Line Summary<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-aprigf-2023-brisbane-overview_s3-1.svg\" alt=\"AprIGF 2023 \u30d6\u30ea\u30b9\u30d9\u30f3 \u2014 3-line summary\"><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>APrIGF 2023 met in Brisbane, Australia, on 29\u201331 August: over 250 on site and 1,000+ online from 68 countries debated &quot;Emerging Technologies \u2013 Is Asia Pacific Ready for the Next Phase of the Internet?&quot;<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>AI regulation, encryption vs online safety, internationalised domain names and e-waste dominated the Access &amp; Inclusion, Trust and Sustainability tracks. The Synthesis Document fed the region&#39;s voice into IGF 2023 in Kyoto and UN processes.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Co-located with Australia&#39;s NetThing and the Pacific IGF, the meeting spotlighted the Pacific islands&#39; cyber vulnerability \u2014 and made the case that a multilingual Internet, not an English-only one, will connect the next billion users.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Welcome \u2014 this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on <strong>AprIGF 2023 in Brisbane<\/strong> draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.<\/p>\n<h2>Conference at a Glance (from official records)<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-aprigf-2023-brisbane-overview_h2-1.svg\" alt=\"AprIGF 2023 \u30d6\u30ea\u30b9\u30d9\u30f3 \u2014 Conference at a glance\"><\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Item<\/th>\n<th>Detail<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Dates<\/td>\n<td>29\u201331 August 2023<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Venue<\/td>\n<td>Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, Australia (hybrid)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Theme<\/td>\n<td>Emerging Technologies \u2013 Is Asia Pacific Ready for the Next Phase of the Internet?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Host<\/td>\n<td>auDA (administrator of Australia&#39;s .au domain)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Outcome<\/td>\n<td>Synthesis Document (published 6 October 2023; fed into IGF 2023 in Kyoto)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>(See the source list at the end of this article.)<\/p>\n<h2>Discussion Digest \u2014 from the Session Records<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-aprigf-2023-brisbane-overview_minutes-1.svg\" alt=\"AprIGF 2023 \u30d6\u30ea\u30b9\u30d9\u30f3 \u2014 Discussion map\"><\/p>\n<p>Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.<\/p>\n<h3>1. The Contours of AI Regulation \u2014 An APAC Answer to US-Centric LLMs<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Trust track, incl. &quot;AI in Asia-Pacific: Charting a Path for Responsible Innovation&quot;<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&quot;AI and other emerging technologies are rapidly transforming the way we live and work&quot;<br \/>\n\u2014 <strong>Rosemary Sinclair AM (CEO, auDA)<\/strong> [1][3]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>With LLM development concentrated in the US, the region should become a developer of open-source LLMs, not just a consumer and data provider [1][3]<\/li>\n<li>Citing ASEAN&#39;s AI governance &#39;guardrails&#39; code due in 2024, participants urged APAC economies to expedite their own AI frameworks [1][3]<\/li>\n<li>Safeguards were demanded against AI-driven disinformation and echo chambers \u2014 especially during elections \u2014 and against bias in AI models [1][3]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>2. Cybersecurity in the Pacific Islands \u2014 An Overlooked Blind Spot<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: &quot;Stories from the Pacific \u2013 the human side of cyber incidents&quot; and others, alongside PacIGF 2023<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cyber incidents are spiking in Fiji and Tonga yet receive far less media attention than other regions; gaps in technical, policy and business responses must be closed [1][4]<\/li>\n<li>Tonga&#39;s CERT, established in 2016, covers the whole kingdom with minimal staff \u2014 its workforce programme with CERT New Zealand was showcased [1][4]<\/li>\n<li>Protecting connectivity was framed as protecting the Pacific&#39;s voice itself, which links distant islands and amplifies the region in the climate fight [1][4]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>3. &quot;Breaking Security for Online Safety&quot; \u2014 Encryption vs Surveillance<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Trust track, &quot;Breaking security for &#39;online safety&#39;: What&#39;s at stake for Asia-Pacific&quot;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mandated encryption backdoors and communications surveillance undermine user privacy and platform trust, and hand governments tools to suppress dissent [1]<\/li>\n<li>Concrete APAC examples were debated: China&#39;s real-name registration regime and India&#39;s IT Act allowing warrantless interception [1]<\/li>\n<li>Governments and law enforcement should invest in strong encryption and cybersecurity education instead of breaking security in the name of safety [1]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>4. A Multilingual Internet and IDNs \u2014 The Key to the Next Billion Users<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Access &amp; Inclusion track (IDN and Universal Acceptance sessions)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For the unconnected who don&#39;t use English, language is the biggest barrier: internationalised domain names (IDNs) and Universal Acceptance were presented as the way to connect the next billion [1]<\/li>\n<li>IDNs also preserve culture \u2014 from the 100+ Aboriginal languages of Australia to Indonesia&#39;s many scripts \u2014 with voice-driven IDN use flagged as a next step [1]<\/li>\n<li>With online content still overwhelmingly English, participants warned that LLMs risk baking language bias into the AI era [1]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>5. E-Waste and Avoiding the Splinternet \u2014 The Sustainability Track<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Sustainability track (e-waste, circular economy and Internet fragmentation sessions)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>45% of the world&#39;s Internet users are under 25; tracing the material lifecycle of smartphones was proposed as education to cut e-waste and drive a circular economy [1]<\/li>\n<li>Data localisation, incompatible devices and geopolitical tension raise splinternet risks \u2014 participants reaffirmed &#39;One World, One Internet&#39; [1]<\/li>\n<li>The sustainability of the multistakeholder model itself \u2014 how to re-gather global support for it \u2014 was posed as an open question [1]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Three-Minute Short Talk \u2014 Your Questions Answered<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q. So what did the conference actually decide?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A. Nothing binding \u2014 it&#39;s the Asia-Pacific edition of the IGF, where governments, business, civil society and technologists talk as equals. The discussions were distilled into a Synthesis Document that carried the region&#39;s voice into the global IGF in Kyoto two months later and into UN processes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q. What was the most contentious topic?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A. Whether encryption may be weakened in the name of &#39;online safety.&#39; Government arguments for backdoors and surveillance collided head-on with privacy and trust \u2014 and the forum&#39;s advice was blunt: don&#39;t break security to achieve safety.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q. Why should I care?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A. Because the trade-offs debated here \u2014 encryption backdoors, AI bias, who builds the LLMs \u2014 are the same ones now landing in national legislation everywhere, and the multilingual-Internet agenda decides who the next billion users will be.<\/p>\n<h2>What Is AprIGF? (for first-time readers)<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-aprigf-2023-brisbane-overview_h1-1.svg\" alt=\"AprIGF 2023 \u30d6\u30ea\u30b9\u30d9\u30f3 \u2014 About AprIGF\"><\/p>\n<p>AprIGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.<\/p>\n<h2>Why It Matters to You<\/h2>\n<p>What was discussed here becomes <strong>the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years<\/strong>. The principles confirmed at the 2023 meeting are the foundation of the &quot;next rules&quot; for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.<\/p>\n<h2>Sources &amp; References<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ap.rigf.asia\/documents\/APrIGF_2023_Brisbane-Hybrid_Synthesis_Document_FINAL.pdf\">Synthesis Document \u2014 Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum Brisbane 2023 (PDF)<\/a> \u2014 APrIGF Secretariat (accessed 2026-07-10)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.auda.org.au\/news-insights\/blog\/aprigf-2023-asia-pacific-and-next-phase-internet\/\">APrIGF 2023: Asia Pacific and the next phase of the internet<\/a> \u2014 auDA\uff08\u30db\u30b9\u30c8\u30fb\u8c6a\u5dde.au\u7ba1\u7406\u56e3\u4f53\uff09 (accessed 2026-07-10)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.auda.org.au\/news-insights\/statements\/ai-and-emerging-tech-headline-regional-internet-governance-forum\/\">AI and emerging tech headline regional internet governance forum<\/a> \u2014 auDA (accessed 2026-07-10)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.apnic.net\/2023\/09\/26\/event-wrap-aprigf-2023-net-thing-2023-and-pacigf-2023\/\">Event Wrap: APrIGF 2023, Net Thing 2023, and PacIGF 2023<\/a> \u2014 APNIC Blog (accessed 2026-07-10)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ap.rigf.asia\/news\/2023\/the-asia-pacific-regional-internet-governance-forum-brisbane-2023-synthesis-document-is-now-published\/\">The Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum Brisbane 2023 Synthesis Document is now published<\/a> \u2014 APrIGF.Asia\uff08\u516c\u5f0f\u30b5\u30a4\u30c8\uff09 (accessed 2026-07-10)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>Quotes are translated or condensed from the records listed above. Bracketed numbers [n] refer to the source list.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Related links<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>IGF official (NRI list): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intgovforum.org\/en\/content\/national-and-regional-igf-initiatives\">https:\/\/www.intgovforum.org\/en\/content\/national-and-regional-igf-initiatives<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Japan IGF: <a href=\"https:\/\/japanigf.jp\/\">https:\/\/japanigf.jp\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Yuki Nakazawa&#39;s blog: <a href=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/category\/igf\/\">https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/category\/igf\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Revision History<\/h2>\n<p>Rev. 1 \u2014 published 29 August 2023, 08:00 (Article published)<\/p>\n<p>Rev. 2 \u2014 updated 10 July 2026, 14:28 (Fully revised into the in-depth edition: added the 3-line summary, minutes digest, short talk, source list and diagrams (all quotes verified against the listed sources))<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 \u4e2d\u6fa4\u7950\u6a39<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>APrIGF 2023 met in Brisbane, Australia, on 29\u201331 August: over 250 on site and 1,000+ online from 68 countries debated &#8220;Emerging Technologies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,3,11],"tags":[163,345,161,160,162,164],"class_list":["post-4273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aprigf","category-igf","category-regional-igf","tag-3-line-summary","tag-aprigf2023","tag-deep-dive","tag-english","tag-minutes-digest","tag-sourced"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4273\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}