The London Process is a series of multistakeholder meetings held biennially since 2011 under the name Global Conference on Cyberspace or GCCS. In each GCCS meeting,

governments A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

, the

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...

and

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.cyberspace Cyberspace is a concept describing a widespread interconnected digital technology. "The expression dates back from the first decade of the diffusion of the internet. It refers to the online world as a world 'apart', as distinct from everyday re ...

, to enhance cyber

capacity building Capacity building (or capacity development, capacity strengthening) is the improvement in an individual's or organization's facility (or capability) "to produce, perform or deploy". The terms ''capacity building'' and ''capacity development'' ha ...

, and to discuss norms for responsible behavior in cyberspace. The London Process was proposed by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Foreign Secretary The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwe ...

William Hague William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

at the 2011

Munich Security Conference The Munich Security Conference (MSC; german: Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz) is an annual conference on international security policy that has been held in Munich, Bavaria, Germany since 1963. Former names are ''Wehrkundetagung'' and ''Münchner ...

History

First conference

The first GCCS conference was held in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on November 23rd-24th 2011, under the auspices of the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

. The location of the first meeting inspired the name "London Process" for the series of meetings which followed. At this first meeting a set of principles “for governing behavior in cyberspace” were established through discussion amongst the 700 participants.

Second conference

The second GCCS conference was held on October 4-5th, 2012 in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

. The main subject and focus that has been discussed was the relationship between internet rights and internet security. Even though very few civil society organisations were invited to speak, the networking was valuable, and had more longer term impact than the Chair’s statement which represents the outcome of the event.

Third conference

The third event held on 17–18 October 2013 in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

. The conference had grown to approximately 1,600 attendees with greater representation from countries in the

global south The concept of Global North and Global South (or North–South divide in a global context) is used to describe a grouping of countries along socio-economic and political characteristics. The Global South is a term often used to identify region ...

. The principle outcome of the third GCCS was the ''Seoul Framework for and Commitment to Open and Secure Cyberspace'', which highlights the importance of universal Internet access, emphasizes that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, and reinforces a UN principle that international law is applicable online and is essential to maintaining peace and stability and promoting an open, secure, peaceful and accessible ICT environment.

Fourth conference

The fourth GCCS conference was held at the World Forum from 16 to 17 April 2015 in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, under the auspices of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Fifth conference

The fifth GCCS conference held from 23 to 24 November 2017 in New Delhi, India, and had 3,500 participants. Theme of GCCS 2017 is “Cyber4All: A Secure and Inclusive Cyberspace for Sustainable Development”. However it could further be divided into following four sections: Cyber4Growth – share ideas and insights to foster growth and development with growing importance of the cyber space to individuals, small businesses, large companies etc. Cyber4DigitalInclusion –draw road map for inclusive . society by sharing best practices for digital identity, idea of open and free Internet for all, digital technologies for enabling differently abled etc. Cyber4Security –framework for comprehensive cyber. security protocols for organisations and nations. Cyber4Diplomacy –explore various facets of cyber security . such as interstate cooperation for preventing Cyber Warfare and Cyber Diplomacy for Global Order.

References

{{cite web, url=https://www.apc.org/en/news/what-global-conference-cyberspace-faqs-gccs-hague, title="What is the Global Conference on Cyberspace?" FAQs on the GCCS, The Hague, 16-17 April 2015, accessdate=June 28, 2015 Web-related conferences 2011 establishments