YOUthDIG 2023

17 – 19 June 2023, YOUthDIG | 19 – 21 June 2023, EuroDIG
About EuroDIG 2023

YOU^thDIG Messages 2023

Topic 1: Creating a brighter future with artificial intelligence: safety and prosperity for all

1. The European Union (EU) should assume a leadership role in promoting global collaboration in artificial intelligence (AI) research and development, with a particular focus on ensuring the safety and ethical use of AI technologies.
2. To mitigate the risks of AI for society:
   1. the EU should invest and support AI alignment and AI development research equally.
   2. governmental bodies must ensure that high-risk AI systems are supplemented by human involvement in order to prevent single points of failure.
3. To improve the EU AI Act:
   1. legislators must implement explicit regulations on using high-risk AI systems for research purposes, to ensure that the AI Act does not hinder ongoing and future research on AI
   2. legislators should include stipulations so that AI providers must consider the impact of applications on both the individual and societal level.
   3. legislators need to explicitly and unambiguously define what constitutes “subliminal techniques” of manipulation.
   4. legislators need to introduce better distinction and regulation of “foundational model” and “general purpose AI” systems.
4. Call for the teaching of AI, namely its potential usages, limitations and ethical implications, both in formal and in life-long learning education across Europe to counteract the lack of comprehensive understanding of the potential applications and limitations of AI.
5. Governmental bodies and civil society need to advocate for AI to be regarded as a common good, emphasizing the importance of inclusive access, fairness, and societal benefit in the development and deployment of AI systems.

Topic 2: Bridging the Divides: Building a Conscientious Digital Ecosystem

1. Call on the European states to reduce mining of critical raw materials by shifting to materials recovery and e-waste recycling to prevent ecosystem degradation and human rights violations.
2. Call for enhancing the digital skills of children by strengthening the sytematic education of caregivers and educators so:
   1. Children can take advantage of digital tools
   2. Risks involved are mitigated
3. Urge all relevant stakeholders to collaboratively prioritize the inclusion of marginalized voices in the decision-making process with the aim to create an inclusive digital landscape in Europe.
4. An urgent appeal to governments to increase investment in rural regions’ Internet infrastructure with the objective to reduce Internet fragmentation and the lack of potential work opportunities it creates.
5. Establish a set of cohesive standards towards increased interoperability in order to avoid vendor lock-in in commercial applications and discourage excessive market concentration.

Topic 3: Current Challenges of Data Governance

1. Protecting data of people on the move:
   1. NGOs need access to and training on safe-by-design data warehouses to safeguard the data of migrants.
   2. The EU Parliament should reduce the four-year period granted by the EU Parliament for the EU large-scale migration database to align with the safeguards in the EU AI Act.
2. Data privacy in healthcare:
   1. EU Member States must collaborate with European institutions to protect individuals’ rights and obligations regarding the collection and handling of personal/health data under GDPR.
   2. The European Union must ensure consistency and uniformity when accepting proposals for the European Health Data Space to ensure cross-border access to efficient healthcare.
3. Private company data governance:
   1. Governmental bodies should provide small companies with affordable and accessible mechanisms for data governance capacity-building.
   2. Private companies should adhere to internal regulatory frameworks and improve codes of conduct to enhance accountability, transparency, and compliance with European data protection regulations.
4. Consensus on digital rights:
   1. National governments must integrate the European Declaration of Digital Rights and Principles into regulations at the EU national level.
   2. Legislative bodies across the European Union should participate in multistakeholder initiatives within and between member states to foster credibility and respect for digital rights.

Topic 4: No backdoors in the future of IG: towards a cooperative and evidence-based Internet governance!

1. Call on the international community to create enforcement mechanisms to hold governments to account for their commitments contained in the Declaration for the Future of the Internet.
2. All stakeholders involved in regulation or development of the Internet should conduct thorough impact assessments to identify the effects of their activities on the Internet and the user experience in order to protect security and privacy and avoid fragmentation.
3. Call on states and the EU to systematically engage the technical community with regards to cybersecurity considerations throughout the policy-making cycle.
   1. Do not break encryption!
   2. No backdoors – no vulnerability management but vulnerability disclosure and patching processes!
4. Call on governments to create a framework for acceptable online activism.
5. EuroDIG must ensure that all past and future youth messages are addressed by their respective stakeholders and ensure that the youth are systematically involved throughout decision-making processes.

About YOU^thDIG

The Youth Dialogue on Internet Governance (YOU^thDIG) is a yearly pre-event to the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) aimed to foster active youth participation. Young people (ages 18-30) from the pan-European region with a strong interest in Internet governance, digital policy and cooperation are working together to draft and advocate for the youth messages.

Every year the YOU^thDIG Organising Team is compiled of former YOU^thDIG participants who design the programme for the upcoming edition. This is a chance to reflect and improve the programme from last editions, build further connections with YOU^thDIG alumni and the EuroDIG community and to provide an opportunity for young people throughout Europe to participate in the Internet Governance Ecosystem focusing on topics that are important to youth in the field.