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December 23, 2003

Goodbye Part I, Hello Part II. An interview in Terra Viva with the Tunisian Foreign Minister Habib Ben Yahia gives a flavour of the sparring we can expect between the WSIS 2005 hosts and critics of that government's record on press freedom. Ben Yahia's boss, State President Ben Ali, indicated one Tunisian tactic for deflecting criticism when in a keynote speech at Geneva he emphasized the need for a bigger role for both civil society and the private sector.

Meanwhile, to recapture WSIS Part I in pictures and to get a feel for the 'alternative space' occupied by non-official civil society, check out OneWorld TV's homepage

Andrew Taussig @ 04:25 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 12, 2003

Last word. It's a success, Jim, but not as we know it. Despite failing to discuss the most important issue (who governs the internet) and making limited progress on how change should be funded in the developing world (contributions are voluntary) the Summit's heads were cheerier than a lioness in heat.

Pascal Couchepin, the Swiss President, said that he was pleased that there was any agreement at all.

"Some feared that we were holding a shallow and empty shell of a meeting," said Moritz Leuenberger, the Swiss minister of communications. The fact that he thinks otherwise tells you more about the nature of United Nations summits than it does about the achievements at Geneva.

M Couchepin believes that despite an impasse so insurmountable that the subject could not even appear on the agenda, negotiations over who governs the internet had come along in leaps and bounds. "To begin with, [private companies] were not prepared to accept that they had any control over the internet at all," he said. "We did not reach an agreement but we were able to agree on the process. This is something positive that was not manageable two months ago."

As for the Global Solidarity Fund (the means through which non-Western countries envisioned that Western countries would help them to build their digital infrastructure) Summit leaders believed that they had not been compromised by their compromise. "Not all member governments are satisfied with the plan of action… but I believe that they are more or less satisfied," said Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union.

Scepticism aside, however, it was unrealistic to expect concrete results from this World Summit. Just because the digital world operates at such a rapid pace, one should not expect UN summits to keep up. Perhaps Nitin Desai, special assistant to Kofi Annan, got it right when he said: "I've been doing this for 10 years now. No UN conference is a pledging conference."

On a final note, Mr Utsimi revealed that he had once had a language test with the British Council as a foreign student. Did he pass? "No," he replied. From the closing press conference you would hardly have known.
Jack Malvern @ 09:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
UN believable (2) - JM (Jack Malvern) has been updating his list of UN acronyms..

Aaron Scullion @ 04:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Geneva v. Jo'burg. Daily Summit asked Mark Malloch Brown of the UNDP, on the third and closing day of WSIS, to compare it with last year's Earth Summit in Johannesburg - which his organisation was instrumental in running.

Earth Summit issues were "middle-aged", said Malloch Brown referring to the fact that climate change, health, education and environment had been discussed at the Stockholm (1972) and Rio (1992) Summits.

By comparison WSIS issues are "in the kindergarten stage". In Geneva we've been working on the ground floor, structuring and formulating issues: in Tunis we'll be one floor higher.

ICT introduces a whole set of new pressures, business interests, technical factors and civil society concerns.

Working out which projects add value is the name of the game.

A proper policy framework often delivers more than pouring in money. But, of course, money is needed too - "Policy should not be a fig leaf behind which we give the donors any easy ride".
Andrew Taussig @ 03:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 11, 2003

Ben's Best Bet. Ben - aka Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's President for the past 16 years - is clearly working on the "publicly done deal" principle over hosting WSIS 2. Aware of mutterings during the WSIS 1 PREPCOMS about his record on journalistic freedom, he is ignoring them and devoting his time to selling his country as host-designate.

His sales pitch includes photo-calls of himself, "Tunis 2005" baseball caps and teashirts available in Tunisia's stand conveniently located in a prestige position and references to WSIS in major speeches, not just this week in Geneva but last week when welcoming French President Jacques Chirac to Tunis.

Full marks though, for for his campaign literature and his polite staff on the stand.

Andrew Taussig @ 09:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Girls Girls Girls, need education, education, education. That's the message from Carol Bellamy, UNICEF's executive eirector , launching their "State of the World's Children report 2004". She said the "leadweight holding back the progress of their own nations" is the sad reality is that 120 million children each year never see the inside of a classroom - and the majority of them are girls.

She also pointed out what a lot of people at WSIS seem to ignore - "ICTs cannot change people's lives if they can't read".

Cara Swift @ 01:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 10, 2003

Scrum down. All is peace and harmony in the world, or so the Swiss president seemed to think as he read out his preposterously tedious speech. (It was one of those "peace is good, war is bad" speeches for which the United Nations is renowned.)

He might have thought differently had he been at the other end of the hall, where technocrat turned against bureaucrat as a scrum formed at the entrance.

Government officials swore in a hundred different languages, with one delegate offering a clearly discernible cry of "stronzo bestiali" as he was trampled underfoot. Now that's what I call freedom of expression.

Jack Malvern @ 02:56 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Are you sitting comfortably? If you get a queasy feeling upon entering the main hall at the World Summit, it might not just be because of the childish drawings projected onto the wobbly screen at the front. The seating plan requires a degree in Kremlinology to negotiate.

To settle most arguments, the seating plan is mainly based on the schoolroom system of alphabetical order (although presumably delegates will not be allowed to move desks to be near their friends in case they distract one another). This is a tremendous boon for states listed between Bahrain and Burkina Faso, who get to sit in the middle of the front row, but not such wonderful news for Singapore and Zimbabwe, who have to sit at the far extremes of the hall in seats that are the equivalent of being sat next to the lavatory in a restaurant.

A worse snub goes to Palestine, which as a troublemaker has to sit in the back row with all the dunces like the British Virgin Islands and the Military Order of Malta (which inexplicably gets its own seat in addition to the Maltese government's place between Mali and the Marshall Islands). It should not feel lonely, however. The row also contains an astonishing 58 supranational agencies, which we'll get to in a little bit...

Daily Summit would like to extend a warm welcome to East Timor's only representative, who asked its reporter to take a photo of him at his seat.
Jack Malvern @ 01:54 PM | Comments (1)

December 09, 2003

Not just a UN face. Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information for the UN, joined Daily Summit fresh from his platform session accompanying his boss Kofi Annan.

Over a shared tin of mints he offered his reflections on media and violence - a main topic today (Dec 9) for the World Electronic Media Forum (WEMF).

The Bombay-born writer and biographer of Nehru, who has a life and a website apart from the UN, reflected on the need to balance frank portrayal against the dangers of inciting further violence.

"More information in generally better than less," he said.

Does it serve the public better to be as candid as you can be? "I think it does," said the Under-Secretary General; a final word on the subject that Daily Summit can easily live with.
Claire Regan @ 08:32 PM | Comments (0)
Kofi Annan speaks. The Daily Summit has been watching the UN Secretary General address the World Electronic Media Forum. He's been talking about the need to bridge the digital divide, and spoke of the power of the electronic media to educate and arouse the conscience, but stressed that the paradox is that it still doesn't reach millions around the world.

We've got his full address if you click on the following link.

He said the digital divide is not just digital, but reflects wide disparities in freedom, wealth and power, and ultimately in hope for a better future - and added that the delegates "are here together in Geneva to put power and paradox together and come up with a plan as partners".

Text of Kofi Annan's speech to the World Economic Forum at WSIS, Tuesday 9th December 2003.

"Ladies and Gentleman, we have just seen the voices and reports from around the world of the power and paradox facing us all. As producers and consumers of electronic media in the information age, the power is clear to educate and entertain, to inspire and inform, to sound the alarm and arouse the conscience, to bring people in places closer together, to shine light on injustice in the world. In the Information Age, electronic media are among the most important vehicles of peace, progress, and solidarity.

And yet there is a paradox. Electronic media may seek to be everywhere but there are many millions of people in the world who it still does not reach. Many do not have electricity let alone electronic media. Others are too poor to buy televisions, radios or satellite dishes. And barriers are not only technical signals, are broadcast in a limited number of languages. In some countries it is not legal to receive signals from around the world. Some programming can make people in rich countries more sensitive to the plight of the less fortunate.

But ownerships provoke envy and resentment on the part of the deprived. Media have also been used in Nazi Germany and in Rwanda, as elsewhere, to disseminate hatred via stereotyping and propaganda. And the consolidation of media ownership has sparked concern about lack of pluralism.

The digital divide is not just digital. It reflects wide disparities in freedom, wealth and in power, and ultimately in hope for a better future. We are here together in Geneva to put power and paradox together and come up with a plan as partners. The goal is not more information in more cases, but an information society open and inclusive in which knowledge can pass all people and serves a cause of improving the human condition.

The media are fellow stakeholders in that work, and freedom of the press is essential if you are to fulfil that vital role. It is one thing for governments to establish regulatory policy and framework, but when they go further down the slope to a censorship and harassment, all of us - and potentially all our rights are imperilled. The summit must reaffirm this fundamental freedom.

Information technologies have brought us into a new age, but also to a threshold, with the explosion of knowledge and capacity, we have more than ever before the ability to reach development goals we have never had before in goals we have sought in many, many years. Like those who witnessed the dawn of the Industrial Age, people around the world are being given their first glimpses of exciting new achievements ahead. All over the developing world, as antennas and satellite dishes sprout across a landscape - some of them placed there in defiance of the authorities - we can see the immense thirst for connection. Let us show that we are listening and we are going to help them fulfil their dream. Thank you very much."
Cara Swift @ 06:00 PM | Comments (0)
Last minute agreement. Further to our earlier post, Marc Furrer, Swiss Secretary of State for WSIS, has just arrived, with PrepCom President Adama Samassekou - the latter resplendent in a blue turquoise robe. Mr Furrer apologised for his tardiness and for not having a copy of the draft text - so fresh is the ink on the new agreement.,

Key revelation - Mr Furrer said that the developed nations have agreed "at least to look into" the possibility of a global fund. Meanwhile the developing nations will each proceed with their various funds organised on a regional basis.

Cara Swift @ 01:26 PM | Comments (0)

December 08, 2003

Information? Society. We don't mean to go on, but the key summit documents still haven't been updated on the WSIS website, after the weekend's key negotiations - despite our calls and emails to the press office..

Update 2200 CET: The documents are now available. Thanks to Robert from the ITU for the link.

Aaron Scullion @ 04:42 PM | Comments (6)

December 06, 2003

Kofi comes home. As Geneva makes last minute preparations for this week's World Information Summit, being held under what's called the "High Patronage" of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the great man reminded the world - in a CNN interview with Inside Africa - that it was in Geneva he first joined the United Nations family as a project officer in the World Health Organization in 1962. That was the year of the Cuban missile crisis.


The Secretary General, who jointly with the U.N. itself won the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize, credited his father and grandfather, tribal chiefs in Ghana, with teaching him some of the skills of conciliation. He made no apology for his non-combative style. "I do it my way", he said; "the U.N. has no army, it must win with the support of governments".

With so many WSIS issues unresolved, the Secretary-General and his team will need all his conciliation skills this week.
Andrew Taussig @ 07:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 28, 2003

WSIS Unzipped. There's a lot to be learnt in this article by Alan Toner (part of art collective Autonomedia, whose Info Exchange is quite something). Alan's article puts WSIS into context, details past attempts to tackle communication on this scale, and explains why it could be remembered, ironically, as a conference without content...

Aaron Scullion @ 04:22 AM | TrackBack

November 27, 2003

Freedom of expression under threat. A list of booby traps lying in wait at WSIS has been issued by the World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC). The WPFC articulates a western free-enterprise view on freedom of expression, media diversity and the role of government in ICTs. The WPFC fear is that, in the WSIS/U.N. "one country-one vote" environment,the developed and richer countries will find themselves in a minority.

WPFC suspects include obvious ones like China which recently announced a programme of standards improvements and quality controls - taken by many to mean buttressing the firewall which insulates China's 68 million-strong web community (the world's second largest) from foreign influences; and Saudi Arabia which, according to a Harvard Law School study reported by the BBC, has - for cultural reasons - blocked up to 2,000 sites.

The Council of Europe (which represents 44 European countries) is also targeted for adopting through its decision-making body, the Council of Ministers, a measure to criminalize "hate speech" on the internet- something which the WPFC, like many libertarian groups, sees as potentially violating civil rights on the internet.

Is the web - unlike other media platforms - a place where "anything goes"?
Andrew Taussig @ 11:52 AM | TrackBack

November 26, 2003

In the news, the Washington Times reports that the "UN could restrict content on the internet", in its take on the ongoing battle between supporters of ICANN and those who want a UN-regulated internet.

In the UN corner are a number of big hitters from the developing world, including Brazil, China and India, complaining about US hegemony, and rising levels of junk mail and fraud.

Standing up for ICANN, those who think UN control could threaten the idea of free speech on the Internet. As Diane Cabell of Harvard's Berkman Centre for Internet and Society puts it: "You might get the lowest common denominator instead of the highest common denominator, and before you know it, you're restricted in terms of what content you can put online".

(Link via Lextext.)
David Steven @ 08:06 PM | TrackBack
Schoolkids are set to interact with one of the largest educational events ever attempted on the internet. Schools from up to 40 countries will link up during WSIS - pupils even get to meet a Head of State online. There's a host of exercises designed to demonstrate how ICTs preparing children for a knowledge-based society, but whether schools play an effective role in that - even in the developed world - is questionable.

Aaron Scullion @ 06:36 PM | TrackBack

November 25, 2003

Who controls the net? The Register, beloved site of techie-types, has a great article covering the arguments over internet governance, closely analysing the "battle lines that are there for all to see" in the summit's key texts, while providing a detailed history of ICANN, the often criticised and much discussed US-based organisation currently in charge of running the Internet's infrastructure. But the author's assertion that WSIS is the "make or break moment" in the long-running "tussle between ICANN and ITU" doesn't do much to encompass the summit's many aims.

Is the internet community so focused on the mechanics of online operation that they're failing to make the important distinction between 'Internet' and 'Information Society'?

Aaron Scullion @ 12:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 24, 2003

On the web, Caspar Henderson, writing on OpenDemocracy's Globolog, casts an eye over the United Nations ("a starved wee critter", whose "legitimacy and competence are as questionable as its finances").

WSIS comes in for a pasting from civil society - "a step back not a step forward." And there's this great quote from William Drake (who works here): "Basically, you have a bunch of dictatorships sitting around discussing which language on freedom of expression they can agree with."


David Steven @ 06:20 PM | TrackBack

November 22, 2003

In the news, Shashi Tharoor (snappy job title: UN under secretary-general for communications and public information) argues that "The information revolution is inconceivable without political democracy."


David Steven @ 07:12 PM | TrackBack
The world's NGOs employ 19 million people and have an annual budget of $1 trillion. Together, claims John Powers, they would form the world's eighth-largest economy.

Powers also offers useful background the relationship between the UN and the NGOs that lobby it on a daily basis:

"For an NGO to be recognized by the United Nations, however, there are requirements, and even two statuses for which an NGO might apply.

The DPI status is under the authority of the U.N. Department of Public Information (UNDPI), which controls U.N. archives and research facilities. To obtain it, according to Paul Hoeffel, chief of the DPI/NGO Section at the United Nations, an organization must have been in existence for at least three years and provide evidence of having worked with the United Nations in some cooperative way. The financial records of the organization must be turned over to the UNDPI for review, and the ideals and philosophy of the organization must not conflict with broad U.N. missions and policy.

'We have to be careful who we accept,' Hoeffel says. The benefit of this status, he says, is that NGOs gain access to all U.N. facilities and conferences and may gather information on their areas of interest at the U.N. library. Currently, he says, about 250 organizations apply for DPI status a year, with 40 to 50 of these being accepted. There now are 1,400 NGOs with DPI status.

The other status for which the NGOs may apply is ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) status. The U.N. Website says that to obtain ECOSOC standing an NGO must prove that its work is directly relevant to U.N. goals. With ECOSOC standing an NGO may enter into a formal consultive relationship with access to officials of U.N. member states and must provide useful or special information to the U.N. Economic and Social Council. There currently are 2,350 NGOs with ECOSOC status."
David Steven @ 07:07 PM | TrackBack

November 20, 2003

Technology League Table. Summit organisers, the ITU are trumpeting their new Digital Access Index as the "World's First Global ICT Ranking".

And it's a Scandinavian one-two-three - with Sweden in pole position, and Denmark and Iceland just behind them on the grid. Norway (5th) and Finland (8th) are only just behind. The US only comes in 11th (apparently because of its weak mobile phone network), just behind Canada, while Italy (22nd) and France (23rd) only just edge out Slovenia.

Niger rolls in last, just behind Mali, Chad, Guinea-Bissau and Ethiopia. Africa's performance is predictably depressing - with only two countries (the Seychelles and Mauritius) squeezing into the index's second division and most languishing in its fourth (and bottom) one.

The performance of Asian countries is improving rapidly - with Korea (4th), Hong Kong (7th), Taiwan (9th), and Singapore (14th) all ahead of tech-obsessed Japan (15th). UAE (34th) heads up the Arab League Table, followed by Bahrain (42nd), Qatar (48th), Kuwait (60th) and Lebanon (67th).

The report's author, Michael Minges, claims lack of infrastructure is not the main, or even the most important, barrier blocking ICT take-up. Affordability and education are equally important factors, he claims.

Contrary to perceived wisdom, he claims English is no longer an advantage. "Over the past four years there's been a big shift," he says. "It's really moving toward Asia and away from the English-speaking nations."

Using data from 1998 on the top 40 countries as a comparator, Minges argues that non-Anglophone countries are on the way up, while English-speakers are plummeting down the rankings.

"This is completely contrary to everything that we've heard, that English is an advantage, if you don't speak English you're behind," he says.

The index aggregates eight (weighted) variables: fixed telephone subscribers per 100 inhabitants; mobile cellular subscribers per 100 inhabitants; internet access price as percentage of gross national income per capita; adult literacy; combined primary, secondary and tertiary school enrolment level; international internet bandwidth (bits) per capita; broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants; and internet users per 100 inhabitants.
David Steven @ 03:35 PM | TrackBack
Technology League Table. Summit organisers, the ITU are trumpeting their new Digital Access Index as the "World's First Global ICT Ranking".

And it's a Scandinavian one-two-three - with Sweden in pole position, and Denmark and Iceland just behind them on the grid. Norway (5th) and Finland (8th) are only just behind. The US only comes in 11th (apparently because of its weak mobile phone network), just behind Canada, while Italy (22nd) and France (23rd) only just edge out Slovenia.

Niger rolls in last, just behind Mali, Chad, Guinea-Bissau and Ethiopia. Africa's performance is predictably depressing - with only two countries (the Seychelles and Mauritius) squeezing into the index's second division and most languishing in its fourth (and bottom) one.

The performance of Asian countries is improving rapidly - with Korea (4th), Hong Kong (7th), Taiwan (9th), and Singapore (14th) all ahead of tech-obsessed Japan (15th). UAE (34th) heads up the Arab League Table, followed by Bahrain (42nd), Qatar (48th), Kuwait (60th) and Lebanon (67th).

The report's author, Michael Minges, claims lack of infrastructure is not the main, or even the most important, barrier blocking ICT take-up. Affordability and education are equally important factors, he claims.

Contrary to perceived wisdom, he claims English is no longer an advantage. "Over the past four years there's been a big shift," he says. "It's really moving toward Asia and away from the English-speaking nations."

Using data from 1998 on the top 40 countries as a comparator, Minges argues that non-Anglophone countries are on the way up, while English-speakers are plummeting down the rankings.

"This is completely contrary to everything that we've heard, that English is an advantage, if you don't speak English you're behind," he says.

The index aggregates eight (weighted) variables: fixed telephone subscribers per 100 inhabitants; mobile cellular subscribers per 100 inhabitants; internet access price as percentage of gross national income per capita; adult literacy; combined primary, secondary and tertiary school enrolment level; international internet bandwidth (bits) per capita; broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants; and internet users per 100 inhabitants.
David Steven @ 03:35 PM | TrackBack

November 15, 2003

Getting Started - It seems that WSIS is about to get started with a handful of surprises. Daily Summit hears that there is a lot of talk about changing the venue of the second phase of the summit and holding it in Cape Town instead of Tunisia. It might be for political reasons but the second surprise is that ITU (International Telecommunication Union) is considering withdrawal from the second phase as well. Reasons given range from lack of resources and lay-offs to inability to coup with intense and broad political negotiations.

Meanwhile, civil society organizations are up against holding the second phase of WSIS in Tunisia and are lobbying for a change of venue or a change in the attitude of the Tunisian government concerning human rights.
Ahmed Reda @ 10:14 PM

November 10, 2003

Conflict Women. The internet is being used as a tool to help track the impact of armed conflict on women, and women's roles in peace-building. The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has launched a web portal with information on women in conflict zones. Three years since a UN Security Council resolution called for prosecution of crimes against women and increased protection of women and children during war, UNIFEM says information is still scarce and scattered.

Cara Swift @ 01:37 PM | TrackBack
In the news, the FT reports that "an attempt by developing countries to put management of the internet under United Nations auspices is likely to be shelved" - at least for now.

Developing countries are unhappy with the way internet registrar, Icann, operates, but the US and EU are defending what they believe is a successful model "based on minimal regulation and commercial principles."

UN officials believe this issue will not be solved until WSIS part 2 - in Tunis in 2005.

Update: More on Icann at Icann Focus.
David Steven @ 09:35 AM | TrackBack

October 31, 2003

The Christian Scientist is calling on the US to "defend the net from the UN."

In an editorial, it argues that countries such as China and Cuba may use WSIS to impose government control on the internet.

"Some governments seek to use national security as an excuse to control Internet freedoms," the paper writes. "Already, Cuba has tried to include language that would approve government filtering and censorship of private media.

The US delegation must ensure in preconference drafting that the final document defends basic freedoms for Internet users."

Meanwhile, a debate is raging within the US about how seriously to take the summit. The State Department's leading telecom official has told industry representatives that decisions have not been made on who will lead the delegation or what position will be taken on key issues.

The private sector seems worried:

"Some private-sector parties at Wednesday's State Department meeting questioned how U.S. interests will be furthered at the meeting, with one industry representative voicing concern about whether developing countries might unite on telecom-information technology policy principles at odds with the Bush administration, potentially repeating the dynamic that doomed September global trade talks in Cancun, Mexico.".
David Steven @ 11:18 AM | TrackBack
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