40 Years of Digital Turbulences from the 1990s to the 2030s
The Internet was not built in a boardroom. It was built in the middle of debates — about who controls it, who protects it, and who it belongs to. Those arguments never really stopped. They moved from mailing lists to multistakeholder forums and many global, regional and national discussions.
For 20 years, the European Summer School on Internet Governance (EuroSSIG) has trained the people who navigate those debates — policymakers, business representatives, technologists, civil society leaders, and academic researchers from around the world. To mark this milestone, we have opened up the conversation beyond the classroom.
The EuroSSIG Podcast brings together host Sandra Hoferichter and Wolfgang Kleinwächter — one of the field’s founding figures, present from the earliest institutional battles to today’s debates — for an initial three-part conversation spanning four decades of digital turbulence.
Episode 1: The Institutional Framework – ICANN, IGF & the AI Panel
How do you govern something that never stops changing shape? This episode traces the institutions built to manage the Internet — and why they keep having to reinvent themselves.
Sandra Hoferichter talks to Wolfgang Kleinwächter
Episode 2: Cybersecurity, Cybercrime & Cyberwar
From early hacking culture to state-sponsored cyber conflict: how the threat evolved, and what it demands of governance today.
Sandra Hoferichter talks to Wolfgang Kleinwächter
Episode 3: Digital Human Rights, Privacy & Freedom of Expression
Rights do not move online automatically — they are fought for. This episode unpacks the ongoing struggle to protect privacy and voice in digital spaces.
Together, these initial episodes offer something rare: a firsthand account of how Internet governance became what it is — told by someone who helped shape it, in conversation with someone who has spent decades working to impart valuable knowledge to the next generation to do the same.
Sandra Hoferichter talks to Wolfgang Kleinwächter
Future episodes will build on this foundation to address key current issues. Stay tuned for:
- Episode 4: Digital Economy: eCommerce & Digital Taxes
- Episode 5: Artificial Intelligence: Moving into Slippery Territory