Deputy Premier Hon. Juliana O’Connor-Connolly and Kernilon Owens of the Office of Telecommunications (OFTEL), represented the Cayman Islands at the 8th Caribbean Internet Governance Forum (CIGF) that was held in St. Lucia recently.

In attendance were government ministers, ICT technocrats and advisors, senior public sector policy makers and regulators, industry partners, as well as members of civil society from within the region and North and South America, as well as remote participation from as far as Fiji. The annual event, organised by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), facilitates an annual review of Caribbean Internet Governance Framework and  discusses key Internet Governance (IG) issues and developments in the region.

This year was no different. Two of the subjects highlighted and for which action from Caribbean governments was being advocated, were cyber security and Internet Exchange Points (IXPs).

Hon. Juliana O’Connor-Connolly said she was keen to see developments in the prevention of cyber crime, because “strengthening our borders, whether land, sea, air or via the world wide web, is a priority to small economies such as the Cayman Islands.

“The Caribbean is not immune to cyber crime. The global reach of criminal activities on the internet requires that countries cooperate and streamline their legal systems, whether through international treaties or national legislation, to better combat these activities and their wide-ranging consequences,” she said.

“In the past, cyber criminals have taken advantage of jurisdiction issues. Cyber crime results in global losses and it is in everyone’s interest to prevent it. As a country and the region as a whole, we need to recongise how the harmonisation of international law is related to cyber crime and put in place the proper legislation to share information between countries to ensure that criminals are prosecuted to the full extent of the law and swiftly. Without information sharing and the proper framework, we limit ourselves on a regional and national level. It therefore means that the chances of prosecution would be limited or considerably less severe,” she added.

The other topic on the agenda was the existing internet addressing scheme and mobile technologies being deployed by the regional providers.

“Rationalisation of Internet traffic flows within the region to improve local internet infrastructures, quality of service and efficiency was discussed. Presently we have an expatriation of local content and hosting services in the Cayman Islands and as an outcome of this conference, this model will be re-examined in regards to this critical national infrastructure,” Mr. Owens explained.

Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) and 8th Caribbean Internet Governance Forum in brief

The CIGF has been established to engage stakeholders in the development of policies and structures for Internet Governance (IG) in the Caribbean. The CIGF, as a creation of the CTU, has heavily influenced Internet Governance internationally. Internet Governance has been defined at the World Summit of the Information Technology Society to directly influence technical standards, policies and infrastructure.