{"id":5530,"date":"2018-06-17T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-17T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/2018\/06\/17\/en-armenia-igf-2018-overview\/"},"modified":"2018-06-17T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-06-17T08:00:00","slug":"en-armenia-igf-2018-overview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/2018\/06\/17\/en-armenia-igf-2018-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"The IV Armenian Internet Governance Forum (ArmIGF 2018) \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-armenia-igf-2018-overview_thumbnail-2.svg\" alt=\"Armenia IGF 2018 \u30a8\u30ec\u30d0\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-armenia-igf-2018-overview_s3-1.svg\" alt=\"Armenia IGF 2018 \u30a8\u30ec\u30d0\u30f3 \u2014 3-line summary\"><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>The 4th ArmIGF met in Yerevan on 10 October 2018: 145 participants, 9 sessions, 23 speakers, with IGFSA chair Markus Kummer among the international guests at the opening.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The agenda ran from GDPR compliance and a newly created domain-name-dispute arbitration centre to the struggling .\u0570\u0561\u0575 Armenian-script domain, blockchain, and autism support \u2014 plus a preview of WCIT 2019, the world IT congress coming to Yerevan.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>With 53% women and 31% youth among attendees, the forum stood out demographically; its debate on adapting to the GDPR \u2014 an extraterritorial regulation \u2014 mirrors what every non-EU country faced.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Welcome \u2014 this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on <strong>The IV Armenian Internet Governance Forum (ArmIGF 2018)<\/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-armenia-igf-2018-overview_h2-1.svg\" alt=\"Armenia IGF 2018 \u30a8\u30ec\u30d0\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>Official name<\/td>\n<td>The IV Armenian Internet Governance Forum (ArmIGF 2018)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Dates<\/td>\n<td>10 October 2018<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Venue<\/td>\n<td>Yerevan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Theme<\/td>\n<td>Regional governance themes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Participants<\/td>\n<td>145<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Sessions<\/td>\n<td>9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Speakers<\/td>\n<td>23<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Opening<\/td>\n<td>Opened by Minister Hakob Arshakyan, IGFSA chair Markus Kummer, ISOC&#39;s Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Donck and RIPE NCC&#39;s Chris Buckridge, with certificates awarded to graduates of the 2nd Armenian School on Internet Governance (ArmSIG)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Host<\/td>\n<td>Organised by the multistakeholder Internet Governance Council (IGC) with the support of the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies and the Internet Society NGO<\/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-armenia-igf-2018-overview_minutes-1.svg\" alt=\"Armenia IGF 2018 \u30a8\u30ec\u30d0\u30f3 \u2014 Discussion map\"><\/p>\n<p>Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.<\/p>\n<h3>1. Personal Data and the GDPR \u2014 &#39;Compliant&#39; on Paper, Fines Aside<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Session &#39;Personal Data Protection: National Legislation Compliance to GDPR&#39;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Data Protection Agency head Gevorg Hayrapetyan said Armenia&#39;s 2015 law aligned with the GDPR \u2014 while the report notes it lacks GDPR-scale fines [2]<\/li>\n<li>The police cybercrime unit explained cross-border data requests via national focal points; ICANN&#39;s Alexandra Kulikova presented fixes for the GDPR-shaken WHOIS database [2]<\/li>\n<li>Participants agreed that non-conflicting data-protection rules would require studying the emerging practice across countries [2]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>2. The .\u0570\u0561\u0575 IDN and Universal Acceptance \u2014 The Reality of 300 Registrations<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Session &#39;&quot;.\u0570\u0561\u0575&quot; IDN and Universal Acceptance&#39; (moderated by IGC chair Grigori Saghyan)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lianna Galstyan reported frankly that .\u0570\u0561\u0575 had only about 300 registrations, and outlined ISOC&#39;s promotion work [2]<\/li>\n<li>The state Language Committee&#39;s vice-chair pledged cooperation, framing .\u0570\u0561\u0575 adoption as part of enforcing Armenian-language policy \u2014 domain policy meeting language policy [2]<\/li>\n<li>UASG ambassador Du\u0161an Stoji\u010devi\u0107 argued government support is essential for a truly multilingual internet navigable entirely in local languages [2]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>3. A Domain-Name Dispute Arbitration Centre \u2014 New as of January 2018<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Session &#39;Arbitration Centre of Settlement of Domain Name Disputes Foundation&#39;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lawyer Ani Varderesyan traced alternative domain-dispute resolution back to WIPO&#39;s 1999 report, reporting that a new registration policy for .am and .\u0570\u0561\u0575 led to the arbitration centre&#39;s creation in January 2018 [2]<\/li>\n<li>Pitched as faster than courts and free of conflict-of-laws problems, it stands as a UDRP-style implementation in a small ccTLD [2]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>4. Blockchain and WCIT 2019 \u2014 Decentralisation as Technology and Diplomacy<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: &#39;Blockchain Talk&#39; (Nooor Blockchain Association) and &#39;WCIT 2019: Update&#39; (UATE)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nooor founder Vigen Arushanyan walked through decentralisation and distribution as blockchain&#39;s core features, ten years after Bitcoin&#39;s creation [2]<\/li>\n<li>UATE&#39;s Karen Vardanyan previewed WCIT 2019 in Yerevan \u2014 &#39;Fulfilling the Promise of the Digital Age: The Power of Decentralization&#39;, expecting 2,000+ delegates from 60 countries [2]<\/li>\n<li>Decentralisation thus linked the technical session and the country&#39;s flagship conference diplomacy [2]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>5. Inclusion and IoT \u2014 Autism Support, Rural Libraries, Urban Ecology<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: &#39;Disability Challenges: Autism and the Society&#39;, &#39;Online Educational Platforms in Armenian&#39;, &#39;Urban Ecology Monitoring System using IoT&#39;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The TMM centre showed video-modelling speech support for autistic children; Armenian-language e-learning was represented by the 3,000-student AGBU Virtual University and ISOC&#39;s project that has put 100+ computers into rural libraries over six years [2]<\/li>\n<li>Smaller technical-market topics \u2014 IoT urban-ecology monitoring, the economics of sub-regional ad geo-targeting that pits operators against advertisers \u2014 got their own slots [2]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Three-Minute Short Talk \u2014 Your Questions Answered<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q. What did this meeting decide?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A. Nothing binding, but the 145 participants worked through issues with direct practical consequences \u2014 GDPR adaptation, and the debut of a brand-new domain-dispute arbitration centre.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q. The most striking number?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A. 300 \u2014 the total registrations in the much-heralded Armenian-script .\u0570\u0561\u0575 domain. The organisers admitted it openly and debated remedies head-on.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q. Why should I care?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A. How non-EU countries absorb the GDPR was 2018&#39;s universal homework, and the .\u0570\u0561\u0575 adoption struggle echoes the fate of internationalised domain names everywhere.<\/p>\n<h2>What Is Armenia IGF? (for first-time readers)<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-armenia-igf-2018-overview_h1-1.svg\" alt=\"Armenia IGF 2018 \u30a8\u30ec\u30d0\u30f3 \u2014 About Armenia IGF\"><\/p>\n<p>Armenia IGF 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 2018 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:\/\/armigf.am\/2018\/en\/home\/\">The IV Armenian Internet Governance Forum\uff08\u516c\u5f0f\u82f1\u8a9e\u30da\u30fc\u30b8\uff09<\/a> \u2014 ArmIGF\u516c\u5f0f\u30b5\u30a4\u30c8 (accessed 2026-07-11)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/armigf.am\/2018\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ArmIGF2018_Report_EN.pdf\">ArmIGF 2018 Annual Report\uff08\u516c\u5f0f\u5831\u544a\u66f8\u30fb\u82f1\u8a9e\uff09<\/a> \u2014 ArmIGF\u516c\u5f0f\u30b5\u30a4\u30c8 (accessed 2026-07-11)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/dig.watch\/event\/armenian-internet-governance-forum-armigf\">Armenian Internet Governance Forum (ArmIGF)\uff08\u7b2c4\u56de\u30fb2018\u5e7410\u670810\u65e5\u306e\u6982\u8981\uff09<\/a> \u2014 DiploFoundation (accessed 2026-07-11)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isoc.am\/armenian-internet-governance-forum-armigf\/\">Armenian Internet Governance Forum (ArmIGF)\uff08\u7cfb\u5217\u6982\u8981\uff09<\/a> \u2014 Internet Society NGO\uff08ISOC Armenia\u3001.am\/.\u0570\u0561\u0575\u30ec\u30b8\u30b9\u30c8\u30ea\uff09 (accessed 2026-07-11)<\/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 17 June 2018, 10:00 (Article published)<\/p>\n<p>Rev. 2 \u2014 updated 17 July 2026, 12:32 (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>The 4th ArmIGF met in Yerevan on 10 October 2018: 145 participants, 9 sessions, 23 speakers, with IGFSA chair Markus Kummer among the intern<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,3,11],"tags":[163,379,161,160,162,164],"class_list":["post-5530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-armenia-igf","category-igf","category-regional-igf","tag-3-line-summary","tag-armeniaigf2018","tag-deep-dive","tag-english","tag-minutes-digest","tag-sourced"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5530","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=5530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5530\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}