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Official page: http://www.itu.int/wsis/ Webcasting now from: http://www.itu.int/ibs/WSIS/pc2/ UNESCO's WSIS Page: http://portal.unesco.org/wsis A good discussion/news lists about the WSIS: http://vancouvercommunity.net/lists/info/dotforce-wsis http://www.comunica.org/pipermail/crisinfo_comunica.org/ Lots more links below and a news story. Steven Clift Democracies Online Some news/commentary from the CRIS list: -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Bruce Girard Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 3:19 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [CRIS Info] Summit Prep Meet Caught between Two Visions - IPS CRIS Info is a public list for information and questions about the campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) http://crisinfo.org CRIS also has a Latin American regional list at: http://comunica.org/mailman/listinfo/crisal_comunica.org < ________________________________________ Summit Prep Meet Caught between Two Visions Gustavo Capdevila GENEVA, Feb 17 (IPS) - In the preparatory discussions for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), to take place in December, a rift has emerged between the visions aiming to put new technology at the service of business, or of citizens. The differences were evident from the beginning, in Monday's sessions of Prepcom-2 in Geneva, convened by the United Nations to discuss how to achieve greater equality in access to information and communications technology. The pillars of the debate are access, referring to the digital divide that leaves the people of the developing South excluded; power, and the concentration of ownership of the communications media; democracy, or freedom of expression; and cultural diversity. The first portion of the Summit, slated to take place in Geneva, Dec 10-12, has a mandate to issue a declaration on these issues and establish policies for an action plan. The WSIS will continue in Tunisia in 2005 to follow up on the results and to make corrections to improve the process. Only the private sector has the experience and resources to translate the concept of the information society from cyberspace to everyday life, said María Cattaui, secretary-general of the International Chamber of Commerce. But governments must cooperate, creating stable economic conditions and favourable legal frameworks to attract private investment, she said. The information and communications technology (ICT) industry shrank in 2001. Sales of semiconductor materials fell 29 percent, and computer sales declined for the first time in 15 years, while mobile telephone sales stagnated, according to figures from the World Trade Organisation (WTO). But Cattaui expressed optimism that the sector is ready to recuperate its role as the ”key provider of solutions.” ”ICT is empowering citizens, not necessarily corporations,” said civil society representative Izumi Aizu, of the Japan-based Asia Network Research. Lawrence Lessig, law professor from Stanford University in the United States and expert in ICT issues, said it is ”inappropriate” to focus on a business vs. non-business division in the information society. Lessig urged the delegates at Prepcom-2 to resist the ”extreme protectionism” of intellectual property rights in the ICT sphere, noting that this phenomenon is particularly strong in the United States. Jacques Attali, a French politician and intellectual, agreed that innovations in the information and communications fields should be freely accessible, at least in the early stages. Attali commented that in the early days of radio, artists worked for free, and their ”generous attitude” continued until that media sector was consolidated. The essence of the debate, he said, is centred on a concept of information as a ”public good”, while access to information is truly ”a vital good” that is not limited to the right to receive it, but rather to generating it. The right to inform, added Attali, is complemented by the right to have the means with which to inform. During the first day of Prepcom-2 sessions, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF - Reporters Without Borders) issued a warning against any initiative that would jeopardise Internet freedoms. At previous meetings, many government delegates had suggested that they would use the fight against Internet crimes to justify monitoring and repressive measures, said the Paris-based RSF. Yoshio Utsumi, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, the UN body in charge of organising the conference, told a Monday press conference that there is no clear consensus that the WSIS should take up the matter of Internet regulation. However, Utsumi acknowledged that Internet security will be discussed, an issue of interest to the United States, particularly for its role in fighting international terrorism. Civil society groups taking part in the process want the debate to include information as a human right and as a public good, opposing the view of information as mere product. ”Information and communication technologies... are not only the drivers of economic and financial globalisation, but also powerful vehicles for ideas and images that are shaping our vision of the world and our consumption patterns,” says the Swiss Coalition of NGOs. According to the Coalition, ITU ”has neither the requisite stature nor capabilities” to organise the WSIS or to ”galvanise energies” or carry any emerging visions forward. Furthermore, says the Coalition, the official documents the ITU has released so far ”place more emphasis on infrastructure development (for the South) and potential markets (for the North) than on the rights and real needs of human beings.” ITU chief Utsumi said there are global inequalities in the distribution of televisions, radios, fixed and mobile telephones, but acknowledged that the Internet situation is even worse. At year-end 2002, ITU estimated there were 500 million Internet users worldwide, 80 percent of whom were from industrialised countries. In the developing world, one of 50 people has access to the Internet, while in the industrialised world the portion is two of every five. Utsumi suggested that the Summit should aid the ICT industry, which has surplus capacity in wealthy countries, to cover the existing markets in developing countries. (END/2003) -- Bruce Girard @ Roma [EMAIL PROTECTED] Office: +3906 5705 5467 (SDRE-FAO) Home: +3906 474 4124 Fax and voicemail: +31 84 882 6517 _______________________________________________ Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) For more information see http://www.crisinfo.org/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Crisinfo mailing list Send contributions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] CRIS Info archives are at: http://comunica.org/mailman/listinfo/crisinfo_comunica.org This list is provided courtesy of Comunica - http://comunica.org ----- End forwarded message ----- From: http://www.cpsr.org/wsis/print.php?sid=2 CPSR - WSIS Alert #2 World Summit on the Information Society Resources available online. Author: Robert Guerra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Issued Nov 3, 2002 New: URL's: (1) * UNESCO Observatory on the Information Society http://www.unesco.org/webworld/observatory Mirrors: - Japan (by the United Nations University): http://mirror-japan.unesco.org/webworld/observatory/index.html - United States (by the University of Nebraska): http://mirror-us.unesco.org/webworld/observatory/index.html 2.0 Events 2.1 Upcoming Events * Paneuropean Regional Conference, Bucharest , November 2002 Information and communication technologies and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women (Republic of Korea, 11 - 14 November 2002) http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/ict2002/index.html Participation and access of women to the media and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women (Beirut, Lebanon, 12 - 15 November 2002) http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/media2002/index.html The symposium, “Freedom of Expression in the Information Society”, is the only event in the series of meetings held to prepare the WSIS that will address urgent questions pertaining to freedom of expression on the internet. (UNESCO HQ, Paris, France, 16 - 16 November 2002) UNESCO CS Consultation, paris nov 28-29: Asian CS Consultation, Manila, Philippines nov 27-29: * II Congreso Nacional de Derecho Informatico y Comercia Electrónico 28, 29 y 30 Nov 2002 (http://www.idertel.org/) * Latin America & Caribbean Regional Conference: Santo Domingo, January, 2003 * Asia-Pacific Regional Conference, Tokyo, January, 2003 * WSIS Second Preparatory Meeting (PrepCom 2), Geneva, February, 2003 * 13th Annual Computers Freedom and Privacy Conference, New York , April, 2003 * WSIS Third Preparatory Meeting, Geneva, September 2003 * 4th Global Summit on Community Networking in the Digital Era – Global CN 2003, Melbourne, Australia, November 2003 http://www.clik.to/gcn2003 * WSIS First Summit, Geneva, December 10-12, 2003 * WSIS Second Summit, Tunis , 2005 2.2 Past Events * Regional Conference Africa - Bamako, May 2002 -- done * Preparation of the World Summit on the Information Society, UNESCO Consultation with NGOs, February 2002, UNESCO Headquarters, Paris -- done * WSIS First Preparatory Meeting (PrepCom1), Geneva, July 2002 – done * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) , Plenipotentiary Conference, September 23-October 18, in Marrakesh, Morroco * WSIS presentation at the CPSR Annual Meeting, Boston (Harvard University), October 2002 * 3rd Global Summit on Community Networking in the Digital Era – Global CN 2002, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, October 2002 * Mass Media and Communications in the E-society in the XXI century: Access and Participation Moscow, Russia, 17 - 19 October 2002 The European Consortium for Communications Research (ECCR) in association with the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University http://home.pi.be/eccr/Moscow.html * WSIS Consultation with Canadian NGOs - Canadian Commission for UNESCO, Toronto, October 2002 3.1. WSIS Civil Society Secretariat Alain Clerc & Louise Lassonde C/o UIT – Place des Nations CH 1211 Genève 20 Switzerland http://www.itu.int/wsis Telephone Work: +41 (22) 730-6304 Work fax: +41 (22) 730-6363 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 3.2. WSIS – References - Official WSIS/ ITU http://www.itu.int/wsis/ WSIS - Civil Society Secretariat http://www.geneva2003.org (civil society platform) 3.3. WSIS – References – CPSR Hosted Sites WSIS information to the CPSR Community http://www.cpsr.org/wsis/ Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility – 2002 Annual Meeting – Shrinking World, Expanding Net http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/annmtg02/index.html 3.4. WSIS – NGO Mailing Lists Civil Society PrepCom Mailing List (english) http://lists.cpsr.org/wsis-prep1/ Civil Society Mailing List (spanish) (Sociedad de la informacion) http://lists.cpsr.org/socinfo/ Civil Society – Financial Subcommittee Mailing List (english) http://lists.cpsr.org/fincom/ Civil Society Sub-committee on Content and Themes (SCT) List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Human Rights in the Information Society Caucus http://www.iris.sgdg.org/actions/smsi/hr-wsis/list/ 3.5. WSIS – References – NGOs/Others Association for Progressive Communications (APC) http://www.apc.org Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) http://www.crisinfo.org Imaginons un Réseau Internet Solidaire (Iris) - France http://www.iris.sgdg.org/actions/smsi/ (English/French) Takingitglobal.org - Canada http://www.takingitglobal.org VECAM: Réflexion et Action pour L’Internet Citoyen (English, French & Spanish) http://montreal.vecam.org/ World Forum on Community Networking http://www.globalcn.org 4.0. WSIS – References – Governments Bishkek conference on the Information Society Kyrgyzstan 2002, 9-11 September http://www.ict.kg/conference/wsis/eng/index.htm 4.1. United Nations United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force - UN ICT TF http://www.unicttaskforce.org/ 4.1.1 United Nations - UNESCO UNESCO and the World Summit on the Information Society http://www.unesco.org/wsis UNESCO Observatory on the Information Society http://www.unesco.org/webworld/observatory Mirrors: - Japan (by the United Nations University): http://mirror-japan.unesco.org/webworld/observatory/index.html - United States (by the University of Nebraska): http://mirror-us.unesco.org/webworld/observatory/index.html 4.1.2 United Nations - Other Economic Commission of Africa http://www.uneca.org http://www.uneca.org/aisi/docs/Bamako%202002%20rev1.ppt United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Science & Technology for Development Network http://www.unctad.org/stdev/about.html 4.1.2 International Organizations International Council for Open and Distance Education http://www.icde.org/ Global Knowledge Partnership www.globalknowledge.org 4.2. Brazil Programa Sociedade da Informação no Brasil http://www.socinfo.org.br/ 4.3. Canada Canadian Commission for UNESCO http://www.unesco.ca/ WSIS Canadian Consultation http://www.dgroups.org/groups/xsWSIS/index.cfm UK UK UNESCO - World Summit on the Information Society http://www.unesco.org.uk/592.htm These pages contain links to key UNESCO documents and information about civil society preparations in the UK. Rusia Institute of the Information Society http://www.iis.ru/ Botswana World Summit on the Information Society http://www.bta.org.bw/wisc.htm 5.0 Contacts 5.1 Industry Related Sites Electronic Industries Alliance (USA) http://www.eia.org contact Meredith Singer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> SITA (switzerland) SITA is the world's leading provider of global information and telecommunication solutions to the air transport and related industries. http://www.sita.int Contact Rosa M. Delgado - <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) http://www.witsa.org/ The World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) is a consortium of 46 information technology (IT) industry associations from economies around the world. WITSA members represent over 90 percent of the world IT market 5.2 International Associations ICSU - The International Council for Science ODATA, the Committee on Data for Science and Technology and IFIP, the International Federation for Information Processing. http://www.icsu.org/WSIS/ contact Carthage Smith, Deputy Executive Director, ICSU [EMAIL PROTECTED] 6.0 General/ Misc Documents 6.1 NGO/ Civil Society 6.1.1 Universities Institute for CyberInformation at Kent State University http://www.ici.kent.edu Established in 1999 the Institute for CyberInformation at Kent State University strives "to conduct interdisciplinary research and to support university- industry partnerships as they relate to the application and integration of digital information technologies ... 6.2 Governments Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) - Switzerland http://www.bakom.ch/en/aktuell/smsi/ US State Department Public Diplomacy Calendar http://usinfo.state.gov/products/calendar/calendar.htm 6.1 E-Zines Pulse Online Monthly update from TIA for manufacturers and suppliers of communications and information technology products and services. (carries information about ITU & WSIS) http://pulse.tiaonline.org/ -- Steven Clift http://publicus.net [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** Past Messages, Discussion http://e-democracy.org/do *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** Message body: SUB DO-WIRE *** *** To UNSUBSCRIBE instead, write: UNSUB DO-WIRE *** *** Please send submissions to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
