Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth

June 19, 2007

Ask a Technocrat

Later this week in Geneva, the International Telecommunications Union will be hosting a high-level UN conference on digital content delivery and the future of the Internet. Thomas Crampton of the International Herald Tribune will moderate a panel this Friday on the role international organizations should play in a world of converging media. His panel will feature leadership from entities such as WIPO, UNESCO, the ITU, the EU parliament and the European Broadcasting Union.

Thomas has put out a request for bloggers to submit questions for the panelists. If you'd like to offer your two cents, you can post your questions in the discussion thread on his blog.

Don't think you have any questions? Think a little harder. These folks are playing a major role in issues ranging from bridging the digital divide to who controls intellectual property on the Internet. I'm sure we can come up with some good questions, right? -andy

Tags: digital divide | Geneva | intellectual property | ITU | telecommunications policy | UN | UNESCO | WIPO

Posted by acarvin at 11:03 AM

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November 21, 2006

Youth Dialogue on Internet Governance

Titi Akinsanmi of the Global Teenager Project has just announced the creation of a three-week online forum for young people to learn about Internet governance and why it's important they become engaged in policy discussions. (Some of you may remember the interview I did with Titi in Geneva in February 2005.) The forum, which opens November 26, intends to build upon the work of the youth caucus from the World Summit on the Information Society, which took place in Geneva and Tunis in 2003 and 2005. They're also hoping to use the forum to identify young people to take a leadership role in the 2007 Internet Governance Forum in Rio. To participate in the discussion, you can subscribe to the forum by emailing YouthandIG-subscribe@groups.takingitglobal.org. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 10:48 AM

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October 16, 2006

Video Blogging to Combat Child Hunger

Fighthunger.org, the blog of the United Nations World Food Programme, recently announced the launch of what they're calling the Walk the World Viral Video Contest. They're looking for people to produce a short video (120 seconds or less) offering an upbeat message that spreads the world about ending child hunger by the year 2015, one of the UN Millennium Development Goals. Anyone 18 years old or older is welcome to submit a video, and they're encouraging users to upload their clips to either blip.tv or Ourmedia.org and tag them fhvideo.

The winning video will be used in official media campaigns of the UN World Food Programme, and the vlogger who produced the video will also be given a free trip to visit a school somewhere in the developing world where they'll get to personally experience the World Food Programme in action.

If you're interested in participating, please be sure to read the contest rules All videos submitted to the contest should use a Creative Commons Attribution - Non-Commercial - Share-Alike License. Videos must be submitted no later than December 15, 2006. So get out that camera and put together a video for a great cause! -andy

ps - Turns out this post is my 1300th post on this blog.

Tags: contests | MDGs | poverty | UN | videoblogging

Posted by acarvin at 10:44 AM

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April 5, 2006

Talking About My New Book at the Harvard Berkman Center

On Thursday, April 6, I'm going to be giving a preview of my new book, "From the Ground Up: Evolution of the Telecentre Movement," at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Every Thursday, a group of local bloggers get together to discuss Internet issues, and I'll be talking about the book for this week's meeting.

The book, edited by me and Mark Surman of Telecentre.org, explores the diversity of public computing initiatives around the world, examining the common visions and goals that unite them. It's intended to inspire technology activists to realize that they're part of a worldwide movement to bridge the digital divide, rather than working in isolation. The book will be distributed this spring by IDRC in Canada, but for now you can review a very large PDF version (It's around 10 megabytes - a necessary evil given the hundreds of photographs in the book.)

If you happen to be in the Boston area, please feel free to join us Thursday evening at Berkman. It'll take place at 7 PM at Baker House, 1587 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge, north of Harvard Square. Hope to see some of you there!

Here are some screen shots of the book:

The book cover

Opening to the Hungary chapter

Opening to the USA chapter

Photo spread from the Ghana chapter

Page from the Chile chapter

Posted by acarvin at 2:15 PM

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January 9, 2006

In Tunisia, The Sound of Enforced Silence

Ever since the end of the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, most of the mainstream media has turned its attention away from Tunisia's shabby human rights record. WSIS, for a brief time, put an intense spotlight on the way the Tunisian government curtails free speech and suppresses political dissent. But the news coverage ended abruptly after WSIS delegates packed their bags and returned home.

Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper has picked up where other news outlets have left off, publishing a strong critique by Tunisian political activist Neila Charchour Hachicha. Some highlights from her essay:

In Tunisia, the price for speaking one's mind is harsh. The late blogger Zouhair Yahyaoui spent a year and a half in prison for his Web commentary. The government sentenced teenagers in the southern port city of Zarzis to 19 years' in prison for having clicked on Web sites of terrorist groups. The teenagers did nothing that analysts, journalists or curious persons do not do several times a month in any democratic state.

The Tunisian government regularly blocks access to my own party's Web site and that of other liberal and secular opposition groups. The government has even blocked the sites of legally recognized opposition parties. Ben Ali tells Washington and Brussels that he alone stands in the way of fundamentalist groups, and he adds that Tunisia is a genuine democratic republic evolving at its own standards of evolution. Indeed each country has its specific context and needs its own standards of evolution; but freedom of speech is and will always be the minimal credible standard for any newborn democracy. Unless this freedom is guaranteed, a regime cannot pretend that it is evolving toward democracy....

It is humiliating to be denied freedom of expression in one's own country. It was embarrassing that it needed the public intervention of the Swiss president to defend our cause and help Ben Ali remember that he must respect Tunisia's national and international commitments as a member of the UN. Democracy cannot be a favor offered by a regime under international pressure. Liberty is a state of mind that each one of us, from the grass roots to the pinnacle of power, must practice every day through tolerance and within the framework of an independent legal system.

Instead of sending its experts after a crime is committed, the UN would be better off considering preventive sanctions for those countries whose regimes do not respect the fundamental rights of its citizens.

If you've never read the Daily Star, I highly recommend it, particularly for its opinions and editorials. They're publishing some of the best English-language commentary on the evolving Middle East. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 11:31 AM

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November 20, 2005

A Nobel Prize-Winning Dinner

After an hour of misery commuting from the Palexpo, we finally arrived at the Diplomat. Other friends and colleagues had gathered there, and they were trying to coordinate enough taxis to get to the restaurant.

"Where is it?" I asked someone.

"In Gammarth."

Ugh. After the most frustrating bus ride of the week, now we had to get in a taxi, go all the way back to the Palexpo, and continue a few more kilometers to Gammarth. Why on earth couldn't this information have been relayed to us earlier? Fortunately, there were lots of old friends to comfort us. Suzanne Stein was more than happy to let me vent for a while, just to get it out of my system. (I owe you one, Suz.)

Our caravan of taxis drove north past Lake Tunis and the Palexpo, arriving at the Gammarth Abou Nawas Hotel's Moroccan restaurant. It was an elegant affair, with beautiful north African tiles in abundance, delicate candle lighting and a trio of musicians performing wonderful malouf folk music. The restaurant was mostly empty, though I recognized one of my fellow civil society delegates at one of the other tables; I waved to him but didn't go over to say hello, embarrassed by the fact that I couldn't remember his name to save my life. All I could recall was that he'd served as the moderator and dragoman of a contentious human rights caucus meeting in Hammamet last year. He was sitting with another delegate and a middle-aged couple; maybe his parents had come on holiday from France?

Anyway, the rest of us feasted on a wonderful dinner - a fine selection of mezzes, salads , tagines and couscous dishes. At one point a belly dancer came out; I tried to appear as if I was focused on my food because I've always been a belly dancer magnet, if you will - wherever I travel, if there's a public dancing performance, invariably the dancer pulls me on stage. Seriously, from Bolivia to Cuba to Dubai, I've been subjected to horrific embarrassment. There are two types of men in the world - those who relish swinging with a belly dancer, and those who fear it. I fear it. Thankfully, I was spared yet another dance, largely because enough of the other WSA men were more than happy to jump on the dance floor, even without her request. She actually seemed somewhat unprepared for the attention, and even stepped away from the men so they wouldn't get too close.

The last man to dance with her was an absolute treat - he was the gentleman with the French delegate whose name I forgot. Unlike every other man who danced with her, he knew what he was doing. Quite astonishingly, he was a superb flamenco dancer. His passionate, highly precise performance transformed the whole ethos of the belly dance. The music hadn't changed - it was still Moroccan, but the sheer act of dancing flamenco brought out the Andalusian elements in the music. Watching him perform was an absolute treat.

Once the dance was over, an Iranian colleague nervously got up and walked over to their table. He spoke to them for a moment and then came back.

"They will let me take a picture," he said excitedly.

"With the flamenco dancer? " I asked. That seemed odd.

"No, with Ms. Ebadi," he replied, grinning from ear to ear.

I turned around and looked at the table. I looked at the woman with the unnamed French delegate. The human rights caucus delegate. Suddenly I realized we had been sitting across from Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi for the last three hours. I hadn't even recognized her, despite the fact I'd seen her a couple of times over the course of the week.

The Iranian man asked if I would take their picture. I went over with him and he sat down with Ms. Ebadi, speaking in Farsi. The Frenchman said hello to me while they chatted. Boy I felt bad I couldn't remember his name. Ebadi then said hello to me in English.

"Hello, it's an honor to meet you," I replied. "Thank you for coming to speak at the summit to represent civil society. I was very moved by your remarks."

"Thank you," she said slowly in English. "You are very welcome."

I snapped several pictures of her with the Iranian man's camera and mine before returning to our group. A little while later, as we were getting ready to return to our various hotels, he asked me to email him the photo of him with Ms. Ebadi.

"Would you also like me to post it on my blog?" I asked.

"Oh yes, that would be wonderful!" he replied immediately.

"Are you sure about that?" I said, somewhat surprised. "Might not that cause you some, err, problems when you go home to Iran?"

"That is a good point," he said, just beginning to think it through. "Let me wonder about it for a while and then I shall tell you yes or no."

Meanwhile, I started talking with some of my friends about their plans for the next day. Many of them were planning to tour Tunis or Carthage, then go to dinner at the home of one of our Tunisian colleagues. I had been invited as well, but I'd planned to go to Kairouan the next day. The more they talked about it, the more I wished I could stay just one more day, since I'd barely had any quality time with them. Alex then offered to put me up in his room at the Hotel Diplomat, since he had a second bed. Why not? Kairouan will still be there on Sunday.

Before getting in my taxi, the Iranian man approached me. "You know, I have thought about it some more.... Please trim me out of the photo before you blog it."

Posted by acarvin at 2:50 PM

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Arbitrary Treatment

By the time we reached the final afternoon of WSIS, there was hardly a delegate in the Kram Palexpo who wasn't thoroughly exhausted. Some people had been working nonstop for almost an entire week; you could feel a strong desire in the air to go home, go relax or go to sleep. (If you're expecting me to post my final thoughts about WSIS now, you'll have to wait a while. For a variety of reasons, I think it's in my best interest for me to postpone my debriefing until I get home and can distance myself, shall we say, from the summit.)

There were lots of things going on at night - no doubt every delegation, if not every clique of delegates, planned to have a final get-together before departing Tunis. For me, my evening would be spent with friends I'd made in the Geneva phase of the summit. A group of us met at the ICT4ALL expo to assemble before heading to the Hotel Diplomat in Central Tunis, where we would rendezvous with other colleagues. I left the Palexpo one last time with Cyd Torquado of Brazil, Alex Felsenberg of Germany and several other colleagues; I also bumped into Phil Noble of PoliticsOnline, so the two of us sat together. The bus ride should have been relatively uneventful, but unfortunately it wasn't.

As Phil and I were talking, a Tunisian woman in a red uniform was arguing with Cyd, who was sitting directly in front of us. She was clearly irritated, and spoke in fast Arabic despite the fact that Cyd didn't speak the language. She then switched to English.

"I told you to open your bag."

"Why? Who are you?" Cyd asked.

"Just do it," she said.

"Are you carrying things?"

"What things?"

"Open your bag."

Cyd finally opened his bag and she gave it a quick look. Apparently she had been walking through the bus randomly searching people, which was quite strange since we were leaving the summit for the last time. What was she looking for? Pavilion set pieces? Translation headphones? I can understand searching us going into the Palexpo, but departing it? This hadn't happened all week.

A moment or two later she was standing in front of Phil and me. "Open your bag," she barked. "Are you carrying things?"

"What things? I asked.

"Things," she replied. "Bad things or good things?"

Another irritated delegate said behind us.

"Who are you?" Phil added. "May I see your identification?"

"No. Open your bag."

She was wearing a badge, but it was turned around backwards. Phil reached out to flip it and she smacked his hand.

"How do we know who you are?" Alex chimed in. "If you are going to search us, identify your self."

"What authority do you have?" Another person said. It was clear she was going to ignore anything we said. By now, it was my time to be verbally assaulted.

"Are you carrying things?" she demanded.

"Again, I ask you - what things would you like to see?" I said, increasingly irritated. She replied in Arabic. This was getting ridiculous.

"These aren't the droids you're looking for," I said, running out of ideas. "Move along." Clearly not getting the reference (I don't think anyone else did either), she simply grabbed my backpack's handle and unzipped the pocket closest to the straps. Inside there was almost nothing, except a couple pamphlets. Apparently these were not the droids she was looking for. Of course, there were three other pockets in my backpack jammed with all sorts of "things," including electronic gadgets and a fine range of human rights-related reports; perhaps these "things" would have been more interesting for her? Who is to say.

The woman had moved on to Alex Felsenberg. He was now arguing in a mix of French and English. "This is ridiculous," he sniped. "The summit is over. This is - what is the word - arbitrary. Completely arbitrary."

Once she left, the group of us continued to complain among ourselves. "Is this the way they say goodbye to delegates here?" "That was pointless, utterly pointless." "What gives her the right to search us without identifying herself?" Etc, etc. Once or twice some of the Tunisian delegates around us chimed in: "That was not right... She was probably exhausted, fatigue, you know- but that is no excuse.... She did it to us as well, but I do not know what she was searching for...."

Just as we were beginning to calm down, the bus stopped. A security official boarded the bus and went down the aisle, checking everyone's WSIS badge. This was getting ridiculous. But everyone was too drained to argue at this point.

Posted by acarvin at 2:41 PM

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November 18, 2005

False Alarm: Protest Ends Without Incident

Good news to report: the protest ended without incident. Police didn't interfere, just made their presence known... Lots of relieved people here. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 1:32 PM

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Report: Riot Police Surround Protestors in Downtown Tunis

UPDATE: The protest ended without incident; everyone is okay. -andy, 1:35pm

Breaking news from Tunis.... Word has reached civil society members here at WSIS that a group of protesters in downtown Tunis have been surrounded by riot police within the last hour. The protesters were apparently leaving the headquarters of a group of Tunisian hunger strikers when the incident began.

I spoke with a representative from AMARC, the World Association of Community Radio, who has been in contact with people on the scene with the protestors. Please note that all of this information is coming to me second hand, so I cannot confirm the exact details of what is going on, but here is what I was told.

"[Nobel Peace Prize laureate] Shirin Ebadi had called on them yesterday, pleading with them to end their hunger strike - that they were needed in the struggle. So they were to announce a decision this morning, and there was to be a press conference this morning."

"We hadn't heard anything more until half an hour ago [approximately 12:15pm local time]," they continued. "We were told that - our colleagues that are covering it had called - and that the people were moving out of [hunger strike] headquarters onto the street and onto [Avenue] Bourghiba, and that they were surrounded by riot police. And we are trying to get more information from them - it was very noisy and it was very difficult to hear when they called here. So we have other people who are trying to find out what was going on."

I'll post an update if I can get more information. Stay tuned... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 1:04 PM

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Coming Soon: Godzilla in 3D!

One of my favorite moments yesterday at WSIS happened while I was exploring the Japan pavilion. They were showing off a whole range of new technologies, including a 3D TV that apparently didn't require those funky disposable glasses.

I was asked to stand directly in front of the TV, about one meter away from it. They had marked off rectangle boxes on the floor so you could see where to position your feet. On the TV, a man was sitting in a chair, pretending to swing punches; a blue-green line flickered across the bottom of the screen. He was a little blurry, and certainly not 3D.

"Rock to the left and right very slowly while looking at the blue-green line," the guy manning the booth said. "When the line turns completely green, stay in that position."

I rocked back and forth for a few moments; nothing seemed to be happening. Then suddenly the line turned blue, and the man's punches started to fly right in front of my nose. I instinctively leaned backwards to avoid the punch; the man next to me laughed.

"You must be seeing the 3D now," he said.

"Oh yes, definitely, I replied. "How does the technology work?"

"It is a little difficult to explain," he said. "If it knows where your eyes are positioned, it can trick you to see 3D."

(punch, punch, swing, punch)

"What about if you want to walk around or slouch on your couch?"

"We will develop a version that can track your face so it can adjust the signal based on the position of your eyes."

(swing, punch, punch, swing)

"But what if you want to watch a football game with a group of friends?"

"Ah, that will not work just yet," he admitted. "More difficult problem to solve."

Ready to leave the pavilion, I thanked him for demonstrating the TV.

"You're welcome," he replied.

"You're welcome," the man on the TV added.

My eyes must have bulged out for a moment, startled by the 3D pugilist talking to me. Now that's a really cool trick, I thought for just a split second.

The whole time I was staring at the TV I managed to pay no attention to the man behind the screen - quite literally. Just behind the guy who was demonstrating the TV, I noticed a curtain. I had assumed it was just part of the pavilion's walls, but suddenly the curtain opened and the virtual slugger appeared in the flesh.

"Hello!" he said, throwing a couple more punches my way. I laughed and took a few swings back at him; he playfully ducked and slipped behind the curtain.

Never doubt the Japanese ability to create bleeding-edge technology. Now if they can only go back and convert all of those Godzilla movies (and perhaps the entire catalogue of Ultra Man episodes) into 3D, now that'll be an important breakthrough.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 12:26 PM

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The Case of the Pilfered Projector?

Just as Ethan Zuckerman was about to begin the second half of his workshop on anonymous blogging, he noticed the projector that had been used in the first half of the session had vanished. Had the projector been kidnapped? Shanghaied? Pinched? Pocketed? Purloined? Or was this a nefarious attempt to crush the free flow of ideas? Audience members looked around and whispered their own conspiracy theories.

As it turns out, the answer was none of the above. The room's tech appears to have taken it away for one reason or another, but within a few moments it was back in place. So much for some vast conspiracy. Now we only have to ponder why this session was placed in one of the few official WSIS rooms without wifi. As the poet once said, inquiring minds want to know.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 12:21 PM

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TakingITGlobal Rocks the Cantina

Last night I joined the TakingITGlobal posse for a party at the La Latina Cafe in Berges du Lac, just north of Tunis. It was quite funny eating couscous and other Tunisian food in a Mexican-themed restaurant while Ricky Martin and Tito Puente played on a flat-panel screen in the background. It was a wonderful evening, with around 100 TIGers, plus lotsa folks from Telecentre.org and the British Council. We all had three reasons to celebrate - TIG's 5th anniversary, DDN's move to TIG, and the launch of Telecentre.org. TIGer and musical virtuoso played guitar, premiering a song about the Youth Caucus the previous night. Everyone was singing along by the final verse.

I've gotta hand it to them - the Youth Caucus is one extraordinary bunch. These guys and gals have been working on WSIS since some of them were in high school. If someone was taking bets, I'd put money on having at least one person in that room being a head of state some day.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 9:56 AM

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November 17, 2005

Global Voices Panel Under Way

Right now Rebecca MacKinnon of Global Voices is moderating a panel entitled "Expression Under Repression," co-hosted by Hivos. Persian blogger Hossein Derakhshan, aka Hoder, is one of the panelists, as are bloggers from China and Zimbabwe. I've recorded podcasts of their sessions and will see if I can get them uploaded later. Meanwhile, I recognized a variety of Global Voices faces in the crowd, including Ethan Zuckerman and Jeff Ooi. The room was packed, truly standing room only, and I can only imagine it will get more crowded as the afternoon progresses.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 3:29 PM

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Dissed by Gaddafi

I found out early this morning that Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi would be speaking during the plenary at 2pm today. I'd always wanted to see him speak - thought it would be a real hoot - so I rearranged my day to make sure I could get to the plenary for his speech.

To my bitter disappointment, I showed up at the appointed hour and looked at the schedule. His name was no longer on it. Is he coming tomorrow instead? Did I miss him earlier? Not sure. But I guess heads of state have the right to reschedule when they want to speak. What a bummer. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 3:22 PM

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Text of Kofi Annan's Remarks

President Ben Ali,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I commend our hosts - President Ben Ali and the Government and people of Tunisia -- for all they have done to make this gathering possible. Let us remember that it was the Government of Tunisia, back in 1998, that first proposed the idea of a summit on the information society.

I also thank the International Telecommunication Union and other members of the UN family for their unremitting efforts to ensure that this process produces concrete results.

Two years ago in Geneva, the first phase of the World Summit articulated a vision of an open and inclusive information society. Our task here in Tunis is to move from diagnosistodeeds.

Last night you spelt out this task in the Tunis agenda for the information society

This Summit must be a summit of solutions. It must push forward the outcome of the World Summit held two months ago at the United Nations in New York. It must lead to information and communications technologies being used in new ways, which will bring new benefits to all social classes. Most of all, it must generate new momentum towards developing the economies and societies of poor countries, and transforming the lives of poor people.

What do we mean by an "information society"? We mean one in which human capacity isexpanded, built up, nourished and liberated, by giving people access to the tools and technologies they need, with the education and training to use them effectively. The hurdle here is more political than financial. The costs of connectivity, computers and mobile telephones can be brought down. These assets -- these bridges to a better life -- can be made universally affordable and accessible. We must summon the will to do it.

The information society also depends on networks. The Internet is the result of, and indeed functions as, a unique and grand collaboration. If its benefits are to spread around the world, we must promote the same cooperative spirit among governments, the private sector, civil society and international organizations.

And of course, the information society'sverylifebloodisfreedom. It is freedom that enables citizens everywhere to benefit from knowledge, journalists to do their essential work, and citizens to hold government accountable. Without openness, without the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers, the information revolution will stall, and the information society we hope to build will be stillborn.

The time has come to move beyond broad discussions of the digital divide. By now, we know what the problems are. We must now get down to the specifics of implementation, and set out ways to foster and expand digital opportunities.

Those opportunities are immense. Already, in Africa and other developing regions, the rapid spread of mobile telephones and wireless telecommunication has spurred entrepreneurship, and helped small businesses take root, particularly those run and owned by women. Doctors in remote areas have gained access to medical information on tropical diseases. Students have been able to tap into world-wide databases of books and research. Early warning of natural disasters has improved, and relief workers have been able to provide quicker, better coordinated relief. The same opportunities - and other, new ones - can be given to many more people in the developing world.

The UN system is ready to help member states and all stakeholders to implement whatever decisions are taken at this Summit, including on Internet governance. But let me be absolutely clear: The United Nations does not want to "take over", police or otherwise control the Internet. The United Nations consists of you, its Member States. It can want only what you agree on. And as I understand it, what we are all striving for is to protect and strengthen the Internet, and to ensure that its benefits are available to all.

The United States deserves our thanks for having developed the Internet and making it available to the world. It has exercised its oversight responsibilities fairly and honourably. I believe all of you agree that day-to-day management of the Internet must be left to technical institutions, not least to shield it from the heat of day-to-day politics. But I think you also all acknowledge the need for more international participation in discussions of Internet governance issues. The question is how to achieve this. Soletthosediscussionscontinue.

This is envisaged in the agreements you reached last night and we in the United Nations will support this process in every way we can.

Mr. President,

The experiences of recent years - in this Summit process, the ICT Task Force, the Working Group on Internet Governance, the Digital Solidarity Fund, UNFIP -- the UN Office for International Partnerships, the Global Compact corporate citizenship initiativeand other efforts -- have given us new insights into what it takes to build effective partnerships and platforms. UN agencies and departments continue to work hard to build capacity, and to use information technologies to boost our efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

These efforts are bearing fruit. But for far too many people, the gains remain out of reach. There is a tremendous yearning, not for technology perse, but for what technology can make possible. I urge you to respond to that thirst, and to take the tangible steps that will enable this Summit to be remembered as an event which advanced the causes of development, of dignity and of peace.

Thank you very much.

Posted by acarvin at 2:02 PM

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November 16, 2005

I Want Bandwidth

WSIS has been a great event for liveblogging, but it's a pain in the butt if you want to videoblog or podcast. I've got two videos and one podcast I want to upload, but so far, no luck - the wifi connection is currently uploading at less than 1k per second. Three hundred bits per second, to be precise. I guess I'll have to do it on my own dime at the hotel late tonight. Or I may just let some of the videos pile up and upload them when I get home. I just can't afford to sit around for hours waiting for 900k clips to upload. Maybe I'll have better luck at the next summit. Oh, wait.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 5:20 PM

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Robert Mugabe's WSIS Speech

Notes from Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe; most notes are direct quotes.

We meet on the occasion of the second phase of WSIS in order to make another imprint on a journey that began in 1998... for a global meeting to promote greater society on what is commonly known as the information society. It's indeed fitting that the Tunis phase should take place in Africa, where the idea of that summit was born...

ICTs can be a useful tool in generating economic growth and employment creation, improving productivity and quality of life for all people.... On one level, this summit provides an opportunity for the global family of nations to address this need....

We attach special importance to the establishment of the digital solidarity fund and trust it will play a positive role in expanding access to ICTs.

I believe that WSIS has achieved one of its initial aims of fostering the full range of opportunities presented by ICTs.

Zimbabwe is concerned that the Internet is being used to undermine a country's values, including child pornography, cyber crime and cyber terrorism.

We also challenge the issue of Internet governance where one or two countries insist on being world policemen on the management and administration of the Internet. We must allow for a more transparent and multilateral approach to Internet governance. Why should our diverse world be beholden to an American company? And without clear financing mechanisms to bridge the digital divide, all of this work may be doomed... The west's resistance to the solidary fund may spell doom for all things developed in this process. Suppose they are being rejected because they are not being managed by the Breton Woods institutions on the strenghs of the west's industrial designs?

Posted by acarvin at 12:41 PM

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Notes from Thabo Mbeki's Speech

Notes from South African President Thabo Mbeki. He talked rather fast so I didn't capture as much as I would have liked; almost all of this is paraphrased. -andy

One of the central challenges of humanity is the eradication of poverty. Having the summit in Africa helps emphasise the role ICTs can play in extricating Africans from poverty....

The creation of an inclusive, development-oriented info society is in the best interest of all humanity. We must be multi-lateral, multi-stakeholder institutions and systems to ensure equitable access to ICTs and participation in Internet governance.

We should move with the necessary speed to implement new licensing models for proprietary software as well as free and open source, as part of the overall strategy in bridging the digital divide.

ICTs are a powerful ally we all must mobilize.... We are determined to do whatever we can to implement the ideas brought forth at WSIS to create an inclusive information society.

Posted by acarvin at 12:30 PM

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Swiss President: Let People Speak Freely

The president of the Swiss Confederation is speaking right now. He's just said he can't believe there are still UN members states that imprison citizens because of their opinons. He added that all people attending WSIS should be allowed to express their opinions freely and openly, clearly a reference to Tunisian interference in civil society's activities here. The comments were met with roaring applause from the civil society gallery. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 10:55 AM

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Kofi Annan's WSIS Speech

Notes from Kofi Annan's opening speech at WSIS:

Two years ago in Geneva, the first phase articulated a vision - a vision of open and inclusive information society. our task here in tunis is to move from diagnosis to deeds.... It must be a summit of solutions. It must lead to the use of ICTs in new ways that will benefit all social classes.... and develop the economies of the poor.

What do we mean by the information society? One where human capacity is built up, liberated with access and the skills to use it effective. The cost of connectivity can be broad down. These bridges to a better life can be universally affordable and accessible. We must summon the will to do it. The information society also depends on networks. If its benefits are to spread around the world, we must promote the same cooperative spirit.

The Internet's very life blood is freedom - allows journalists to do their work and citizens to hold govts accountable. Without this, the information revolution will stall and be stillborn.

By now, we know what the problems are. We now must foster innovation and digital opportunity. The spread of mobile phones in africa have spread entrepreneurship, particularly by women. Doctors have access to medical information, students to research data, relief workers better coordinated relief. The same opportunities can be given to more people in the developing world.

The UN doesn't want to control the Internet... The US deserves thanks for creating the Internet and managing in honorably.... But I think you all acknowledge the need for more international involvement in governance discussions. Let these discussions continue; we in the UN will support this process in every way we can.

There is a tremendous yearning; not for technology per se, but for what technology can make possible. I urge you to take the tangible steps to make this summit a memorable event for advances the causes of dignity, development and peace. Thank you, shukran, shalom alechem.

Posted by acarvin at 10:36 AM

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WSIS Opening Remarks: Tunisian President Ben Ali

Notes from opening remarks from Tunisian President Ben Ali this morning at the World Summit on the Information Society.

Today, by the grace of God, we open the proceedings of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society.

We are firmly convinced at building a knowledge and communication society for a brighter future of all humanity.

This [digital] divide is growing wider... The digital divide is essential a development disparity before it is a technological gap. The need of the least developed countries is growing increasing urgent, particularly in the role of ICTs in education, higher education, science, health, culture and other fields.... These technological developments have confronted humanity with a set of challenges... We must strive to... a new approach to international cooperation. We also look forward to the adoption of practical decisions and proposals to solve the questions put forth by the information society.

These last few years have witnessed the emergence of some types of use that shake confidence... in networks. Some arouse racism, hatred... terrorism... Some others disseminate discriminations and falsehoods... and the illegal use of databases.... Without restrictions or constraints, we find it necessary to establish universal standards... of modern communication means.

The information society offers individuals large freedoms in the use of networks... for the expression of opinions.... Still, this society requires individuals to commit to responsible use.

The effects of the digital divide go beyond social aspects... such as cultural diversity, which represents humanity's true wealth. Communication among languages... now depends on their ability to be available in the virtual space. Statistics show that the current use of languages on the Internet does not reflect cultural diversity...

The first phase of WSIS has offered us the opportunity to examine relevant issues and look into the ways and means whereby we'll be able to meet challenges faced by humanity in the ICT field.... Intensive consultants have been held on pending issues.... Regional meetings have... helped enrich dialogue on Internet government and bridging the digital divide.

The Internet is one of the most important pending issues that need a consensus in order to serve the needs of all humanity.... as regards to the digital divide, there is a need today... for the establishment of a clear, prospective approach outlining an equitable knowledge society, allowing all people to have access to information and communication technologies.

Posted by acarvin at 10:16 AM

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Internet Governance: Let's Call It a Draw

Government delegates managed to wrap up their drafting of the official documents to be agreed upon here at WSIS around 11pm last night. As to the big fight over Internet governance, it basically ended as a stalemate:

An expected fight over the governance of the internet looked to have been averted last night as a tentative deal was struck which would allow the US government to retain overall control of the medium for the foreseeable future. As delegates arrived for today's opening of the UN-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in the Tunisian capital, bureaucrats who had been locked in three days of pre-summit meetings reckoned they had a compromise.

The US government will retain overall control of the technology which powers the internet - its domain name system, root servers and the oversight of the California-based, not-for-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) which looks after it all - for the foreseeable future.

An Internet Governance Forum will be created to discuss and decide upon the over-reaching issues of the internet, but, crucially, will not have any oversight powers. Governments have also agreed to work within existing organisations and infrastructures to gradually transform the way the internet is run.

It is a far cry from the inter-governmental oversight body that was proposed by the European Union in September. That proposal, which shocked the US as much as it pleased Brazil, China and Iran, pushed the previously unnoticed issue of internet governance on to the world stage and turned the topic into the main focus of the WSIS.

No doubt most of the major players on both sides of the issue will probably issue press releases this morning declaring "victory." That's politics for you.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 9:20 AM

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Statement by Media Caucus

The following statement comes from the WSIS civil society media caucus.

Statement of the Civil Society Media Caucus 14 October 2005 Civil Society's Media Caucus at WSIS expresses its indignation over a series of incidents in which Tunisian authorities have hampered the freedom of expression of journalist and their freedom of association as well as that of others attending the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society. In addition to problems involving denial of entry to Tunisia; the following incidents have occurred in the days preceding the summit:

• Christophe Boltanski, a correspondent for the Paris daily newspaper ‘Libération', was beaten and stabbed and had his personal effects stolen near his hotel in the embassy district. When he cried for help, guards standing outside a nearby embassy did not intervene. The attack took place a day after Libération published Boltanski's report about clashes between police and activists protesting in support of seven hunger strikers campaigning for the release of political prisoners in Tunisia

• Representatives of Tunisian and foreign media and human rights organisations were prevented by a large number of Tunisian plainclothes police from entering the Goethe Institute, the cultural centre of the German Embassy in Tunis, for a meeting to plan events parallel to the Summit.
  

• A Belgian television cameraman approaching the Institute had his camera seized by plainclothes police who forced themselves into the TV crew's vehicle. The camera was only returned after the film cassette had been confiscated. The police stated that no pictures may be taken in Tunisia without prior official authorisation and prevented another reporter from taking photographs of the incident. A Tunisian journalist approaching the site was beaten by police.
  

• Various websites which have contained criticism of Tunisia are available to the delegates at the official WSIS venue, but remain blocked and censored in the rest of Tunisia.
  

Such incidents call into question the seriousness of the Tunisian government to allow full freedom of expression and association at the WSIS.

The incidents show that prior concerns about the observance of human rights in Tunisia have been justified, underlining the widespread nature of official abuses in the country.

They also illustrate that concerns about holding a United Nations Summit dealing with communication and freedom of expression in such a country were justified.

To correct the situation the Tunisian government and the International Communication Union as the relevant UN authority organising the summit, must:

• Guarantee equal right to access information via the internet both within and outside of the summit site.

• Guarantee that all journalists have the right to freely report in Tunisia, without fear or intimidation.

• Guarantee that the international media and summit delegates have the right to free movement and to meet with colleagues in the Tunisian media and civil society, outside of the official summit site, without threats or intimidation from the police or government authorities.

• Ensure that Tunisian journalists and civil society members meeting with the international community are not subject to retribution and that free speech, press freedom and other human rights are respected in Tunisia after Summit delegates have gone home.
  

Given the above incidents and the overall poor human rights record of
Tunisia it seems to us that the UN system has contracted a moral obligation to follow up. It should name a special rapporteur to monitor freedom of expression and other human rights in Tunisia.

Posted by acarvin at 8:39 AM

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November 15, 2005

Can't Stand the Heat? Get Out of the Expo

One thing a lot of people have been talking about at WSIS is the uneven distribution of air conditioning at the Kram Palexpo. For example, the ICT4All expo is divided into two areas, basically housed under giant circus tents. (I'll let someone else make a comment about the irony of that.) In one area, the air is cool and pleasant; in the other, it's stifling hot and uncomfortable.

For example, the TakingITGlobal Youth Hub is located near where the two areas intersect. Everyone working there is in a constant state of sweatiness. It's taking its toll on TakingITGlobal; less people are visiting the booth because it's so uncomfortable. Even worse, it seems like it's beginning to affect equipment: their DVD player kept freezing up at random, and Nick Moraitis and I feared it's because of the high temps.

I guess there are two ways of looking at this. On the one hand, NGOs and other exhibitors paid serious money for display space at WSIS, and having arbitrary cooling throughout the expo means that some of that money might as well have been flushed down a toilette. Clearly (and in this case, quite literally) the circus tent-like atmosphere in the Expo hall means that some groups are getting shafted while others stay comfy cozy.

On the other hand, isn't this just another manifestation of the digital divide? I've lost track of the number of telecentres I've visited that don't keep any lights on because it's already so damn hot. Air conditioning may seem like a pre-requisite for a community center, but that's just for us spoiled northerners. Try visiting a telecentre in rural Ghana or Bangladesh - I wouldn't count on A/C. For them, this means greater challenges in keeping equipment functional and visitors happy. It's so easy to assume that most telecentres have some kind of environmental control systems but I would guess the opposite is true. So for the next few days, at least, the hundreds of exhibitors will get to experience this rarely discussed aspect of the digital divide - those communities who can afford to live in cool comfort and those who have to deal with mother nature.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 5:26 PM

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Less Show Girls, More PhDs, Please

Is it me or are there a lot of busty women in tight, low-cut outfits in the ICT4All expo? I'm not talking about delegates , mind you - I'm talking about the young women working many of the corporate and national booths in the expo. Around each corner, I feel like I'm greeted by yet another gorgeous woman repeating the same five talking points about whatever product or service the booth is featuring.

It's not like I haven't seen this before; just go to the NAB conference or another big business confab, and you're bound to see attractive women manning the booths, as it were, no doubt to catch the eye of lonely businessmen and suck them into a sales pitch. But there's something really, really unseemly about having similar tactics used at WSIS. If I recall, the last expo at WSIS Geneva had lots of women, but they were all actually key players in the projects on display - PhDs running national libraries, technologists demonstrating the latest solar panel system. Here, though, I feel like I'm surrounded by women who were hired solely for their looks and not for their knowledge in IT or the digital divide. Is it possible that these vendors don't have any women working for them? Or are they just trying to pull in male delegates, particularly ones from country not used to seeing women flaunting their beauty in public?

I'll spend more time in the Expo this week, of course, as will everyone else. So I'm hoping this is just a weird and somewhat incorrect first impression. Let's just wait and see. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 5:24 PM

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Opinion Polls, Telecentre-Style

Video from the first day of the Telecentre Leadership Forum. Participants spread themselves throughout the room along a line of tape representing the continuum of thinking regarding the notion that a telecentre absolutely must have high quality Internet access in order to be a real telecentre. Most people disagreed, others agreed. This video captures some of the opinions discussed during the forum.

Posted by acarvin at 5:01 PM

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Tuesday Morning at the Kram Palexpo

Podcasting from the Kram Palexpo in Tunis, site of the WSIS summit. Just a quick update on my plans for the day, including the Telecentre Leadership Forum. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 11:43 AM

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Wifi at the Hotel, Slow Uploads from WSIS

I finally managed to find Internet access at my hotel, the Golf Royal in downtown Tunis. There's no access in the rooms, but the lobby has wifi for three dinars every 30 minutes - about five bucks an hour. The speed wasn't too bad, particularly upload speed. Meanwhile, here at the Palexpo, there's decent wifi for downloading content, but the upload speed is abysmal. I hope it gets better or I will have a hard time podcasting and videoblogging during the summit. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 9:39 AM

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November 14, 2005

Blogger Questioned for Taking Photos During WSIS Registration

Pakistani blogger Shahzad of BytesForAll recently posted a message to the APC blog warning people about taking pictures around WSIS facilities. Here's a part of the account, with added emphasis by me:

Maxigas had to register and collect his badge from the WSIS registration centre. I accompanied him to the centre and then thought of taking some pictures of the registration area to share with folks@bytesforall.

Looking at our cameras, when we still had to take a picture, this security person came to us and warned us to refrain from taking pictures. Then, he asked for our passports and started questioning as to why we want to take pictures.

We informed him that we plan to share these on various blogs and websites, to which he responded that only accredited journalists are allowed to take pictures. He also went through all the snapshots available in our digital camera.

In the meantime, the lady translator was apologizing again and again for this. We were detained and questioned for about 15 minutes and allowed to go. We did request them though to place some notices and signs to let other delegates know that photography is forbidden in the WSIS area.

For me, it is very interesting, since almost every delegate is carrying this weapon and surely would want to photograph their event, exhibition area, friends etc. and, in doing so, could seriously fall into trouble.

I personally haven't taken any pictures yet, and I don't have any plans to curtail my photography based on this incident. My guess is some jittery security guard though someone was trying to take pics of registering delegates. But even so, it's next to impossible to take a picture at WSIS without getting some other delegates in the frame accidentally. And as Shahzad said, probably every delegate here is armed with some kind of camera. And 15,000 delegates can't be wrong. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 3:31 PM

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WSISBlogs Off to a Busy Start

My WSIS blog digest WSISBlogs.org is getting very active today, now that lots of people are arriving in Tunis. We have more than two dozen bloggers participating, including group blogs from Panos London and APC. The site will display only the 50 most recent blog entries (yes, that's a lot, but the site is updated frequently), so I've decided to create a Web archive on the Digital Divide Network. It will take a few hours for the site to kick into action, but hopefully by tonight it will begin capturing blog entries and storing them for posterity's sake... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 3:22 PM

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Tunisian Cyberdissent Faces Off with Police

This news just coming in from APC... -andy

Flagrant Violation of Human Rights this morning alongside UN summit

14/11/2005 11:56 APCNews writing from Tunis, Tunisia
Under the incredulous eyes of the participants at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), journalists and human rights defenders were manhandled, insulted, and then violently beaten.

09.30 am of Monday, November 14, 2005, at the Place d'Afrique in Tunis, more than 30 plainclothes policemen impatiently awaited international and Tunisian delegates and members of civil society. Omar Mestiri, Director of the online magazine Kalima (http://www.kalimatunisie.com) and a founder member of the National Council for Freedom in Tunisia (Conseil national pour les libertés en Tunisie - CNLT) was seized as soon as he arrived at the site for the meeting of the coordinating committee of the Citizens' Summit on the Information Society (CSIS). Bombarded with blows and insults, Mr. Mestiri kept calm, before he was able to break away from the group of plainclothes policemen.

Posted by acarvin at 3:15 PM

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Orientation: Kram Session

I'm over at the Kram Center north of Tunis, home to this week's World Summit on the Information Society. Even though WSIS doesn't officially begin until Wednesday, there are thousands of people here, setting up booths in the ICT4ALL expo, participating in side events, attending the resumed Prepcom, etc. As for me, I'm just trying to orient myself to the space. There's lots of last-minute construction going on, so you have to dodge carpet as it unrolls and duck when men pass you with large planks of wood. Internet access is up and running at the main cybercafe, as is wifi. Both are unfiltered and free, which is a relief. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 3:09 PM

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Finally in Tunis

Arrived in Tunis around midnight last night, after a 12-hour wait in Paris and a two-hour flight during which the person next to me threw up twice. Immigration took around 45 minutes in the queues set up for WSIS attendees. I wonder if it would have been faster in the regular queues.

My hotel, the Golf Royal Hotel, is a 1-star dump masquerading as a three star. My room is quite uncomfortable, with a bumpy bed, a loud, broken air conditioner and a bath instead of a proper shower. To make matters worse, there doesn't seem to be Internet access, despite assurances by WSIS organizers that all official WSIS hotels would have it. I will have to ask the afternoon manager of the hotel to see if he or she knows anything. Meanwhile, the bus schedule is erratic. One was supposed to come by the hotel at 20 past the hour, but by 40 minutes past the hour, I had to take a taxi instead. Not exactly the best start if you ask me.

Fortunately, the badging center is quite efficient. I arrived around 11am and there was no wait - the whole process took well under 10 minutes.

I'm still a bit jet laggy after the hellish commute, so I plan to take it easy today, probably exploring the medina, maybe getting some tea over at Sidi Bou Said. I'll try to swing by the Kram Center as well to see how preparations are going. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 11:16 AM

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November 13, 2005

AP Article on Digital Solidarity Fund

I'm quoted today in an AP article today by Nick Jesdanun...

African-led fund aimed at digital divide

An African-led initiative that will use high-speed Internet connections to treat AIDS patients in Burundi and Burkina Faso offers inspiration for those working to bridge the world's digital divide. Its great promise lies in its linking of technology spending with existing campaigns to extinguish poverty, diseases and illiteracy, averting the need to choose one over the other. Yet such projects remain few, despite great need. The age-old challenge remains: Who's going to pay for such works?

As world leaders convene in Tunisia on Wednesday for a U.N. summit on extending technology to the poor, the very fund that was to be its legacy still wants for support. Much of The Digital Solidarity Fund's contributions comes from African nations least able to afford it. The challenge is huge. Worldwide, just 14 percent of the population is online, compared with 62 percent for the United States and an even higher ratio in some Western European countries, according to the International Telecommunication Union. Less than half the world's people have telephones, even as some in developed countries are so wired they can't seem to get away from ringing phones.

(snip)

"There is general agreement we need to do more, ... but there is very little agreement on the best way to do that," said Andy Carvin, a U.S.-based expert on improving access to technology and the Internet. "Many countries feel they have already set up successful programs."

(snip)

At this week's summit, closing the digital divide will likely take a back seat to heated discussions on whether the United States should share control of Internet traffic and directory computers.

In fact, negotiators already reached agreement on much of the language concerning the digital divide.

The draft document calls for using technology not in isolation but as a means for meeting other development goals. But it doesn't say where the money will come from, other than to suggest a mix of old and new funding sources.

For some, the summit will be more important for making contact.

Although the policy discussions may appear like "we're all just rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic," Carvin said, civic leaders, philanthropists and others will be there to exchange ideas and forge new partnerships.

Posted by acarvin at 10:49 AM

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12 Hours at CDG

Greetings from Paris CDG airport.... Arrived about two hours ago after a bumpy ride from boston. Now I get to sit here for 12 hours waiting for my flight to Tunis. There are several other flights there today but they will not let me get on the stand-by list. At least they have let me into the business class lounge for the day.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 10:44 AM

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November 12, 2005

So Much for Arriving in Tunis Today....

Right now I should be posting this from Tunis, but I'm not. Last night, my Air France flight from Boston turned around after 30 minutes, citing "mechanical issues," which they wouldn't explain until we reached the ground. This, of course, made people worry if we'd actually reach Boston, but landing was just fine. The tarmac, though, was filled with ambulances and fire trucks flashing their lights, so clearly they thought there was a major problem with the flight. The pilot then said that they'd detected smoke in the cabin and turned around as a precaution. Next thing we knew, firemen in oxygen tanks were going up and down the aisles with smoke detectors.

The firemen wanted to search more extensively, so we were asked to deboard the plane. We spent the next three hours waiting for them to sort out the situation, at which point they officially cancelled our flight. While I waited at the baggage claim with fellow WSIS delegate Avri Doria, I called the airline to figure out how I'd get to Tunis. They've rebooked me on an 8pm flight tonight that gets into Paris 8am Sunday. Unfortunately, because thousands and thousands of delegates are all trying to get to Tunis, the next flight with an open seat isn't until 9:15pm. So I'm stuck in Paris for more than 12 hours. Now I just need to decide if I'm going to sit at the airport or go into town and take pictures of people rioting. :-/ -andy

Posted by acarvin at 3:48 PM

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November 11, 2005

Almost Forgot: My Panel Session at WSIS

Almost forgot: I'll be participating in a forum organized by CONGO in conjunction with several other groups, including the Telecentres Caucus. The session, "Scaling up best practices to bridge the digital divide," will take place in Salle St Augustin on Wednesday, November 16 from 1pm to 5pm Tunis time. I'll be speaking about regional initiatives to bridge the digital divide. For more info, here's the PDF pamphlet put together by CONGO. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 9:56 PM

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The Long Commute to Tunis

It's just before 4pm here in Boston and I'm sitting in the Air France lounge waiting for my flight to Paris. If all goes well, I'll have a two-hour layover in Paris and a two-hour flight to Tunis; that should put me on the ground somewhere around 11am local time. It sounds like they've set up a welcome desk for WSIS delegates so they can take shuttles to the registration area, then to our hotels. I'll probably be pretty exhausted then, but I suppose it's best to get the badging procedures completed early, so I don't have to waste time at the start of the summit.

Meanwhile, I'm pleasantly surprised there is free wi-fi in the Air France lounge. Massport, which runs Logan Airport, had shut down all the free wi-fi points in the airport lounges, insisting that passengers use their fee-based service for "security reasons." This was a bunch of BS, of course, so complaints were filed by passengers - including me - to the FCC. I didn't think the situation was resolved, but nonetheless I've got free access. Not that I'm complaining or anything.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 3:46 PM

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November 3, 2005

Coming to WSIS and a US Passport Near You: Surveillance?

Security expert Bruce Schneier has written a must-read editorial on the US State Department's numbskull decision to put RFID chips in US passports starting in October 2006. While embedding a smartcard-like chip inside passports as a way of preventing terrorists and crooks from stealing someone's identity makes sense, the State Department has taken a much more reckless approach.

RFID, or Radio Frequency Identification, is a technique for embedding data on chips that can read by radio receivers at a distance. Mundane examples of RFID in action can be seen in chips embedded in packaging so shipping companies can track boxes, or hypodermic chips planted under the skin of your cat, so kitty can be identified by the Humane Society in case he's ever lost. Have one of those little boxes on your car's windshield that allows you to speed through tool booths without having to scavenge for pocket change? RFID. Have a smart key that automatically unlocks your Toyota Prius when you approach it? RFID. Now the State Department wants to apply this same technology that allows people to track packages, identify stray felines and open car doors to safeguard passports.

Unfortunately, there's nothing safe about the idea. As Schneier explains in his essay, RFID-embedded passports open US citizens to surveillance. Since a chip can be read wirelessly by the right kind of scanner, a criminal could sit back with his or her RFID reader and pick up a person's vital personal information off the passport without ever coming near them. The State Department says the chip is designed so that it can only be scanned from a couple of inches away; Schneier notes that with the right equipment, a criminal could read your passport from 69 feet away or more. And even though the chips are being introduced as part of the war on terrorism, they could even increase casualties: Schneier notes a terrorist could design a bomb with a radio receiver designed to explode when four people carrying American passports approach within a given radius. Makes me almost wish I never left the country so often.

To their credit, the folks at State have listened to the whithering criticism they've received from privacy advocates and security advocates. They've introduced a metal screen that would be embedded on each passport jacket; the screen would prevent RFID chips from being read when the passport is closed. But think about the number of times you have to open your passport when traveling abroad: at border crossings, at banks, at hotels - and now apparently at Italian cybercafes, thanks to a new regulation there. All too often, your passport gets used as a basic ID when traveling abroad, and each examination of your passport opens you up to further scrutiny and surveillance.

The State Department keeps coming up with "fixes" to protect citizens carrying RFID passports, but each fix seems to have a loophole seemingly big enough for a terrorist to lob a dirty bomb through it. If the government wants to protect its citizens, it needs to find a technology that isn't a threat to our well-being. RFID may be fine for Fed-Ex shipments and EZ-Pass tollboths, but that doesn't make them fine for protecting citizens.

Oh, and for those of you going to the World Summit on the Information Society, take a good look at the photo badge you receive. As was the case at the 2003 WSIS meeting, there will be a RFID chip embedded in it. Considering there will be dignitaries from 200+ countries at WSIS, the spooks of the world's intelligence agencies will have a field day at the summit, I'm sure.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 9:41 AM

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November 2, 2005

Will WSIS Help Achieve a World of "We" Media?

Andrew Nachison of the Media Center recently published a provocative post in which he raises some questions about the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society, which is just a couple of weeks away in Tunis. Here's a taste of what he wrote:

Maybe you're into technology and love thinking about the future of gear and systems and circuits. Or maybe, like me, you want to try to put all the pieces together and think about the future of humanity. And when I think really big, about life, the universe and everything, sometimes I wonder if the light at the end of the tunnel is a train, not utopia. The promise and hype of social software and the coming era of collaboration take on darker overtones and recall the World War II experience of IBM, which sold Nazi Germany the record-keeping devices used to operate the human-trains-gas-crematorium supply chain.

Policy makers in the U.S. are finally starting to think about what happens to privacy and social responsibility in a global marketplace of data, to determine whose rules govern the limits of collaboration with repressive governments such as China. The U.S. policy makers may have to play catch up to the diplomatic corps. In November 2005 a series of UN-sponsored discussions, largely invisible to ordinary people and registering minimal coverage by big media, will convene in one of the most repressive countries on earth, Tunisia, to consider how to govern the Internet. The World Summit of the Information Society will include governments and policy activists.

I haven't been invited and I'm not sure who will represent me there, so I thought I'd share with all of the delegates, and you, some of the questions I'm asking about the information society. I'm not sure why people in media seem to think life's big questions are all about media - or why they don't like to ask the big questions, at least in public.

I wasn't exactly invited either, but I'm attending nonetheless (it's not really an invite-only event - you just have to go through the morass of bureaucracy to register your organization and yourself). Hopefully I and others like me will do our best to represent the promise of participatory media, but frankly, it's been rather demoralizing how little "We Media" has been discussed in the 5+ years that have gone into planning WSIS. There are a few notable exceptions, of course, particularly the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation and Open Knowledge Network, both of which are committed to empowering local populations to become masters of their own knowledge destinies. But apart from these trailblazers and a few others, most of everyone's energies has been focused on technical issues of Internet governance and funding mechanisms to bridge the digital divide between north and south. Even the language we've used for naming the summit is telling: by referring to it as a world summit on the information society, we do a dissservice to the notion of empowering people with knowledge. Creating more access to information is pointless unless people are empowered with the skills and tools needed to turn it into something meaningful - knowledge that helps prevent disease, educate rural village girls, help people with disabilities live prosperous lives, combat oppression, etc. We shouldn't be striving to give people in the developing world the same information overload we experience in the developed world; we should be focusing on a equitable knowledge overload that can reach everyone and act as a tipping point for catalyzing development and positive social change.

Andrew goes on to list some questions he wanted to share with WSIS delegates, which I'm including below, along with a somewhat feeble attempt to offer responses to them.

Will we be better-informed and better able to apply the unimaginable volumes of data at our fingertips?

From my perspective, there's been scant talk during the WSIS process about information literacy and media literacy. We talk a lot about information itself and sometimes about basic literacy, but it's rare to hear much being said about the importance of helping people deal with the mountain of information that comes from having greater access to technology. If you lack the skills to understand the context of information - who created it, their biases, the motives - or don't understand how information can sway your opinions and beliefs, then information becomes nothing but a tool of control.

The UN Millennium Development Goals call for achieving basic universal literacy - certainly a goal I can support with all of my heart. But basic literacy in a digital world isn't enough. We need to understand the nature of information, how it's produced, why it's produced, and how we can produce it ourselves. Otherwise we're just creating a bigger universe of information consumers and not setting the stage for making the world a better place.

Or - will we nest, retreat to familiar territory, dine on meatloaf and "comfort media" while we tune out the complexity and noise of suffering elsewhere?

This question seems to hearken two issues: Internet governance and media ownership. While I'm personally leary of having the US government keep Internet governance its personal pet, I'm more fearful of seeing countries like China, Turkmenistan, North Korea, Iran and Tunisia receive more power to dominate their citizens through control of the Internet. If want to talk about "tuning out," just try being an informed citizen in Pyongyang or Ashgabat. Meanwhile, let's not neglect the troubling patterns of media ownership here in the US, where fewer and fewer companies are given more and more control of multiple media. Thankfully, we have millions of bloggers and others having their say in the public sphere, but that doesn't change the fact that diversity of opinion in broadcasting and print has fallen by the wayside.

If the digital divide dissipates into a global wireless cloud, will democracy and freedom flourish?

That's a big If, Andrew. ;-) The digital divide isn't dissipating, either here in the US or abroad. Sure, there are more people online than ever before, but generally they represent the mainstreams of society - the educated, the middle class, the comfortable. We've done a bang-up job of getting the suburbs online, no doubt, but there's a hell of a lot of work to be done when it comes to helping disenfranchised populations, from ethnic minorities and the disabled here in the developed world, or entire populations in the developing world. Mobile phones are deploying at an extraordinary rate, and this'll certainly help expand Internet access to the developing world, but it's not a solution in itself. (Try throwing away your laptop and relying on a mobile for all of your information consumption and creation needs. My thumbs hurt just thinking about it.)

But Internet access rings hollow without Internet freedom. Millions of people in China are online, but websites are routinely blocked and bloggers must register with the government. Cybercafes can be found all over Tunisia, but try to find one that doesn't block countless websites or threaten punishment if you browse "questionable" websites. Does bridging the divide divide lay the groundwork for broader public discourse? Certainly. But draconian controls over public technology infrastructure create a chilling effect that makes it all the harder for freedom to flourish.

Will the spread of information reduce starvation and slow the spread of diseases?

If information spreads in conjunction with education, then the answer is yes. Information campaigns can educate people about AIDS, birth control, malaria prevention, you name it. When done well, the possibilities are endless. For example, Open Knowledge Network conducts AIDS awareness trivia contests in kiSwahili via text messaging. As more people across Africa acquire mobile phones, SMS campaigns will be a natural way to get the word out on public health challenges. But it still requires broader efforts to improve education: basic literacy, information literacy etc. Information campaigns are meaningless if they're not backed by public education campaigns.

Will the next government-sponsored propaganda campaign lead to war, or crumble under the weight of truth and instead lead to peace?

If you go back to early 2003, around the time the war started, you'll see that there were already at least a couple million bloggers out there, many of whom who were writing fast and furiously about the foolishness of going to war. Did that stop things? No. Bloggers, 0; Military-Industrial Complex, 1.

Fast forward to, say, 2006. The White House is rallying its forces to strike at Iran, or Syria, or Venezuela, or France - take your pick. (I'll save the actual wargaming for another blog; as far as my online persona is concerned, that's not my bailiwick.) Is it likely that bloggers and others in the world of We Media would be in a position to stop it? Perhaps, if online discourse reaches a tipping point that forces the mainstream media to follow their lead. But in some ways I think that likelihood would be based on the overall position of weakness of a politically wounded presidency, already damaged by a difficult war, an inept Supreme Court selection, a couple of hurricanes, perhaps a couple of indictments, etc. For better or worse, bloggers make their biggest impact in policy circles when there's blood in the water and they're in a position to join the frenzy. But let's say there's another major terrorist attack here at home, and it's clear who instigated it. The calls for a military response will be overwhelming, the president emboldened. Would bloggers be able to call off a response? Would enough of them even want to? Hard to say, but I doubt it. I do wonder, though, if blogging had started just a few years earlier.... What if the number of bloggers that exist today had been around prior to the invasion of Iraq? Would they have made a difference? Maybe. Maybe not.

If Google indexes the world, will the index be an instrument for good or evil?

Good, evil and everything in between. The Internet-as-microcosm-of-the-real-world metaphor has been beaten to death, but that doesn't mean it's not true. I can use the Internet to create a video blog to raise public awareness about suffering at a Liberian refugee camp just as easily as a terrorist can use the Internet to create a video blog of kidnap victims being beheaded. I can use Wikipedia to educate the world about converting my gas tank to consume vegetable oil or I can use Wikipedia to educate the world about how to make explosives out of household cleaning agents. We can put all sorts of information out there, but will we have the knowledge and wisdom to use it responsibly? Depends on how your conscience calls out to you, I guess. Yet another reason for our country to embrace civics education, but that's another blog entry.

Will technology be an instrument of enlightenment, or stupification, or repression?

All of the above. Like you said in your blog, I don't know if the light at the end of the tunnel is daylight or an oncoming train. But I still believe that achieving an information society requires achieving an educated society first, or at least at the same time. Technology can be an instrument of enlightment if we all have the same rights and skills to use it constructively. But if access, skills, or media controls are limited, repressed or consolidated, that's a horse of a different color. See my previous comments on Internet freedoms and media ownership regarding notions of stupification and repression.

What's a collaborator in this new infotopia?

This is my favorite question. I've always been fascinated by the term collaborator, because in my mind at least, it simultaneously evokes two people that couldn't be more different: Philippe Pétain and Jimmy Wales. Philippe Pétain, of course, was the head of state of Vichy France, an archetypal collaborator in the most malevolent sense of the word. Jimmy Wales, on the other hand, is the creator of Wikipedia, one of the best examples of collaborative knowledge-building on the Internet. A collaborator can be someone who partners with others for the most evil or reasons, or for reasons to make the world a better place - though the rhetorical baggage of the word "collaborator" is certainly on the former, and not the latter. Go back to its Latin roots and you'll see it's a combination of "com-" (with, togetherness), "laborare" (to work or toil) and "-tor" (one who does something). Collaborator: one who works together with others. Toils together. If all people are given equal opportunity to use information technology and have the skills to do it effectively and constructively, "collaborator" will hopefully lead to a world with more Jimmy Waleses. But an information society that's accessed by only some people and controlled by even fewer people likely means a few more Philippe Pétains in our future. My gut tells me it'll be both. Let's just hope the Waleses outnumber the Pétains by a significant margin.

Will the phrase "Never Again" ever be true?.

Never, I fear. In the 70s, broadcast media didn't stop Cambodia. In the 90s, cable networks and early Internet access didn't stop Bosnia or Rwanda. And as of this afternoon at least, We Media/Web 2.0 hasn't stopped Darfur. It hasn't stopped the systematic use of rape by the Myanmar military against Shans and other ethnic minorities. And it hasn't exactly caused all of Iraq's children - Sunnis and Shia and Kurds and Turkmen and Assyrians - to join hands together and sing Free At Last. Perhaps it's simply because the Sudanese Janjaweed, the Myanmar junta, or Iraqi insurgents don't read blogs yet. (There's certainly a lot of blogging going on in Iraq, but who's reading it? And what about those bloggers supposedly subsidized by the CIA?) But even if they all did read blogs, the opinions of the We Media universe wouldn't mean much to them. Participatory discourse and participatory democracy only work when everyone respects the rules. If those with the power choose to throw away the rules, then "never again" simply becomes "yet again." (Perhaps what we really need to do is teach the current members of the UN Security Council about RSS feeds and aggregators. Imagine how they'd react when they saw how many Lebanese bloggers were writing about Syria and the Hariri assassination....)

Anyway, those are some quick thoughts on Andrew's questions. Are any of my answers satisfying? I doubt it. But it's certainly a dialogue worth having... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 10:25 AM

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October 31, 2005

Calling All WSIS Bloggers

Hi everyone... I've spent a couple hours today updating the WSISBlogs.org website, which I originally set up last February. The site is a digest of blogs and photos from bloggers attending the World Summit on the Information Society. I'm aggregating blogs from around the world that are covering WSIS, along with relevant photos posted to Flickr.com. So if you're a blogger and you wish to contribute content to the site, send me an email with your RSS file, which I'll need to add your blog to the aggregator.

To make it easier for people to contribute to the blog, I've also set up a WSIS community blog on the TakingITGlobal (TIG) website. Anyone who's a member of TIG can post a blog entry to it. If you're not a TIG member, go to TakingITGlobal and sign up. Once you're registered, post a new blog entry, selecting the WSIS group blog listed under your "post to" menu. It'll then be added automatically to the community blog, as well as to the WSISBlogs site. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 2:31 PM

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October 28, 2005

Text of the Dhaka Declaration

The text of the so-called Dhaka Declaration from this week's WSIS conference in Bangladesh has been published. Here's a copy of it for your convenience. -andy

DHAKA DECLARATION

We, the ICT stakeholders representing Governments, Private Sector, Academicia and the Civil Society, having come from six continents of the world, assembled in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 23 to 25 October 2005 in an International Workshop entitled "Building an Information Society : Road 2 Tunis", organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Information & Communication Technology, Government of Bangladesh in collaboration with UNDP Bangladesh and in association with World Summit Award (WSA), Austria;

after extensive deliberations on the issues of e-governance, transparency & accountability, public and private sector partnership, internet governance, security vis-à-vis privacy, e-content & creativity, holistic ICT education & training for all, rural & universal ICT access, ICT4D leading to poverty alleviation and inclusion of women, children, the underprivileged & people with disabilities as well as the financing aspects of the solidarity fund;

hereby declare our common desire and commitment to build a free multi-stakeholder, people-centric, inclusive and development-oriented knowledge based Information Society in the world at large :

emphasizing that a primary aim of the Information Society must be to provide basic information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure to people to facilitate full utilization of ICT at all levels in society including the grass roots and hence enable the sharing of social and economic benefits by all by means of ubiquitous access to information networks, while preserving cultural diversity and heritage of humankind all over the world;

endorsing the important role that ICT can play in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which describe a fundamental set of principles and guidelines for combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and gender inequality;

recognizing that the concept of a knowledge-based Information Society is one in which affordable access to information & communication technology through content in accessible language and formats can help people achieve their full potential, promote sustainable economic and social development, facilitate participatory decision-making processes in sustaining democracy and good governance and improving quality of life for all;

appreciating the efforts of the UN in convening the WSIS and of the ITU in implementing the summit in two phases, Geneva 2003 - Tunis 2005 and

committing ourselves to the Declared Principles and Plan of Action at the Geneva Phase of the Summit and leading to the Tunis Phase of WSIS.

This Dhaka Declaration adopted at the conclusion of the International Workshop entitled "Building an Information Society : Road 2 Tunis" 23-25 October 2005, Dhaka, Bangladesh and is submitted as input to the Second Phase of the WSIS in Tunis during 16-18 November 2005 through the Secretary General of the ITU and will also be disseminated through governments, civil society, private sector, NGOs and the media.

Dhaka 25 October 2005

The Workshop deliberations and views expressed shall be made available to all ICT stakeholders on the website http://www.mosict.gov.bd/road2tunis.

Posted by acarvin at 9:47 AM

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October 25, 2005

Drafting of the Dhaka Declaration

Right now here in Dhaka, Bangladeshi ICT minister Abdul Moyeen Khan is moderating a plenary drafting session for the "Dhaka Declaration" that will be published at the conclusion of this week's WSIS forum hosted by the Bangladeshi government and UNDP Bangladesh. The current draft of the document is very brief, just one page long, though it is possible that there will be appendices summarizing the results of each panel from the last three days. The ICT minister is encouraging the drafting group to make the document as succint as possible.

We are currently going through a series of interventions. Zahid Jamil of Pakistan requested that the document make reference to multi-stakeholder partnerships as key to bridging the digital divide, while removing the word "appropriate" from the phrase "appropriate content," so there nothing in the document that could be perceived as being counter to freedom of expression. I seconded both of his interventions, as well as requesting the inclusion of the phrase "people with disabilities" when discussion the notion of creating an inclusive information society, along with women, children and the underprivileged, as originally drafted. These interventions were all adopted by the drafting group. Meanwhile, Josie Cacdac of the Philippines has just proposed the inclusion of the concept, "Holistic ICT education and training for all," which was adopted unanimously.

Once the final version is complete, I will post a link to it. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 5:55 AM

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October 23, 2005

WSA Reunion

Impromptu self-portrait I took yesterday with World Summit Awards colleagues Osama Manzar, Alexander Felsenberg and M.D. Akteruzzaman.

Posted by acarvin at 11:51 PM

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Start of the Bangladesh WSIS Conference

It's just before 11:30am here in Dhaka and the Bangladesh WSIS conference, the Road to Tunis, has just begun. The room is packed with people - several hundred Bangladeshis and overseas guests squeezed into every chair and along the aisles.

Bangladeshi ICT Minister Dr. Abdul Moyeen Khan is currently on stage with the ICT Minister of Bhutan and other distinguished guests. Meanwhile, I'm pleasantly surprised to find free wi-fi in the conference hall. I'll certainly do my buest to take advantage of it over the next three days; I just need to get here early enough to sit in a place strategically close to an AC outlet, since my crummy laptop battery only lasts around 75 minutes a charge.

More later.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 1:20 AM

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August 15, 2005

Announcing the Winners of the World Summit Awards USA Competition

Hi everyone,

It's my pleasure to announce the following sites as the winners of the USA round of the World Summit Awards. These sites will now be up for consideration in the worldwide competition, which will be decided this autumn prior to the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis.

E-Culture: Lakota Winter Counts / Lakota Waniyetu Wowapi

Lakota Winter Counts is an online exhibit created by the Smithsonian Museum's National Anthropological Archives. The exhibit effectively uses multimedia as a way to teach users about the history of the Lakota Indian tribe and their use of "Winter Counts," a picture-based language employed to record important events over the course of many years. Lakota Indians have a long tradition of oral history, which they supplemented successfully with the use of these Winter Counts. The online exhibit is a fascinating, moving tribute to Lakota culture. The site also balances robust multimedia content with an accessible version of the website for people with disabilities or limited Internet bandwidth.

E-Entertainment: The Fin, Fur and Feather Bureau of Investigation

The Fin, Fur and Feather Bureau of Investigation (FFFBI) uses humor and storytelling to help kids ages 8-13 learn about places and cultures around the world. Using multimedia stories, online radio and interactive games, FFFBI encourages kids to act as "agents" and investigate a series of mysteries that take them virtually around the world. The website is a production of WGBH Interactive.

E-Government: GovTrack

GovTrack is an extraordinary tool that seeks to lessen the divide between US residents and their policymakers. The website allows users to track legislation online, including the legislation itself, news and speeches about it, and blog discussions by everyday Americans debating the legislation. It's one of the most creative uses of a technology known as RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, which makes it easier for Internet users to customize content that's interesting to them. The site was created by graduate student Joshua Tauberer, which is quite extraordinary in that is surpasses the usefulness of many government-developed e-government websites.

E-Health: Medline Plus

Medline Plus, a service of the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, contains a vast collection of information about diseases, research, medicines and other topics vital for people interested in their health. Visitors can access interactive health tutorials, connect with clinical trials experimenting with cutting-edge medicine, even view videos of surgical procedures.

E-Inclusion: Ourmedia

OurMedia.org is one of the most important recent developments in the world of citizen's media. This website allows anyone with Internet access to produce and publish their own content, including text, images, audio and video. In the last year, thousands of Internet users have begun to produce their own audio blogs, or podcasts, as well as video blogs. For many people, though, the cost of storing this content online prevented them from becoming actively involved as content producers. OurMedia has changed all that. Now, anyone with their own content can publish it for free using OurMedia, and participate in a vibrant online community of citizen's media activists. OurMedia is a powerful tool for bridging the content divide, inviting all Internet users to become content producers in their own right.

E-Learning: International Schools CyberFair

The International Schools CyberFair is one of the leading student website competitions in the world. Coordinated by the Global SchoolNet Foundation, CyberFair gives youth the opportunity to create educational content about their communities as a way of demonstrating their website design skills. Kids from all over the world have contributed content to the website, a massive database of educational websites, all developed by youth. The CyberFair is testimony to the ability of young people to be developers of compelling, diverse and socially relevant content.

E-Science: National Center for Biotechnology Information

The NCBI website is a veritable goldmine of scientific information related to genetics. The site contains an amazing array of resources related to DNA, including the entire sequence of the human genome. The site is a vital tool for geneticists as well as for laypeople interested in understanding the basic building blocks of life.

For the category of e-business, our team of judges decided not to submit a nomination. We were disappointed with the overall quality of the sites up for consideration in this category, as well as their lack of accessibility for people with disabilities and other factors vital to achieving an inclusive information society. We hope that in the future, more e-businesses will submit their sites for consideration.

Posted by acarvin at 11:36 AM

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March 25, 2005

Podcast: Andy's WSIS Speech at the National Model UN Conference

I've just posted the audio of my keynote speech at the National Model United Nations Conference's WSIS simulation. Approximately 500 college students from several dozen countries participated. As I wrote in my previous post, they were an extraordinary group of young people. I really had a lot of fun talking with them.

Here's the MP3 of the speech:

http://www.andycarvin.com/podcasts/nmun.mp3

There's also an open-source OGG format version of the recording: simply change the end of the URL from .mp3 to .ogg if you prefer that format. (I can't hyperlink to it or podcast users will have both versions automatically downloaded onto their computers.)

Meanwhile, here's a copy of my Powerpoint from the presentation. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 8:54 AM | Comments (2)

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February 27, 2005

WSIS the Peace Summit?

There's an interesting twist to the recent Geneva meetings for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS); Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has been invited by Tunisian president ben Ali to partitipate in the summit, and Sharon has accepted. This would mark the first official visit by an Israeli prime minister to a North African country. It certainly would be amazing if WSIS helped the Mideast peace process, along with helping bridge the digital divide, though both prospects may seem like wishful thinking to the cynics among us... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 12:01 PM

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February 25, 2005

The Sun Sets at the Prepcom

It's 7pm here in Geneva and civil society is wrapping up its final official meeting. We've been working on a press release summarizing the delegation's thoughts on the Prepcom. There seems to be a general feeling that WSIS needs to get back to basics, focusing on what we can do to bridge the digital divide and create an information society for all people, no matter their situation.

So much of the WSIS process has focused on Internet governance, it's easy to forget we're talking about giving people access to tools so they can improve their families' lives, their communities. The news about that mysterious World Bank report that doesn't seem to exist anywhere isn't making it any easier; by dismissing the idea that there's a digital divide yet providing scant evidence as to why that's the case just strikes me as so counterproductive. I mean, if African villages suddenly have Internet access, and rural women in India have achieved universal literacy, and people in Tunisia can now say whatever they want using whatever media they want, please tell me, so I can go home and be with my wife and cats rather than having to sleep in crummy hotels and wear a tie for so many days in a row. But the last time I checked, there is a gaping digital divide in this world, and no amount of mobile phones is going to make that go away any time soon.

As you might be able to tell from my tone, I'm tired and a little cranky, but bloggers are usually at their most honest when they've reached this state of mind. So be it. Fortunately, as I've been typing this, there has been a lot of laughter in the room, clapping, lots of smiles, hugs. Despite the fact we sometimes feel like we are so many sisyphuses (sisyphi?) all shoving that godforsaken boulder up the hill, I'm astounded by the boundless energy and hope within civil society. There is still a hell of a lot of work to be done, perhaps even more so because of this zelig-like World Bank report, but that's okay. Tomorrow I go to Paris for a weekend of museums, cafe creme and the occasional burgundy, then to India; after that, somehow we'll get it all done. -ac

Posted by acarvin at 1:22 PM

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Kuwait News Agency Covers Prepcom Privacy Statement

The state-run Kuwait news agency has published an article documenting the civil society statement on privacy rights read at the WSIS Prepcom yesterday. Civil society reps decided to have Qusai Ibrahim Al Shatti of the Kuwait Information Technology Society read the statement in Arabic, which caught the attention of many of the governmental delegates in the plenary. The article quotes heavily from the statement, saying "Privacy is an essential human right, enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant of Political and Civil Rights," among other things. Chances are, the Kuwait news agency wouldn't have covered this important speech if it hadn't been read in Arabic by a Kuwaiti civil society delegate, so it seems the decision to present it this way was a good one indeed.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 7:28 AM

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Criticism of Tunisia Not Welcome at the Prepcom

The Highway Africa News Agency (HANA) has just posted an article about how the WSIS secretariate is preventing a coalition of WSIS-accredited organizations from distributing a report highly critical of the Tunisian government. "The report details the imprisonment of individuals, the blocking of news and information websites, police surveillance of emails and Internet cafes, lack of pluralism and media censorship," HANA reports.

Tunisia, of course, will host the WSIS summit next November, and its questionable record regarding free expression and human rights has led to much criticism. So a coalition of groups participating in the WSIS summit published a report documenting the Tunisian government's record. But because the coalition in itself is not a WSIS-accredited organization, the WSIS secretariate will not allow them to distribute the report here at the WSIS Prepcom in Geneva. Fortunately, you can read the report online.

Posted by acarvin at 7:17 AM

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Text of Disability Caucus Statement

Here is the text of the disability caucus statement presented at the WSIS Prepcom today by Hiroshi Kawamura of the Daisy Consortium. -ac

Thank you Madam Chairperson,

People with disabilities are poorest among the poors in particular in developing countries. Affordable ICTs need to be accessible and usable for individuals with disabilities to guarantee full participation in the community as active partners. So far, ICTs in many cases created new man-made barriers for persons with disabilities in developing countries in terms of affordability, accessibility and usability. For example, a screen reading software for blind people prices US1,000 per license in addition to the standard computer equipment, an intelligent keyboard for persons with cognitive/intellectual disabilities costs more than US1,000 per unit even though assistive technology manufacturers are strongly encouraged to reduce the cost.

Promotion of low cost assistive technologies and accessibility standard development for mainstream ICTs are keys to realize the "digital opportunities" for persons with disabilities. Inclusive and universal access to ICTs requires development of assistive technologies and universal design as stipulated in the Geneva Declaration of Principles.

Therefore I would like to urge governments, international organizations and business sectors to promote existing accessibility standards, such as W3C Web Accessibility Guidelines for example, and to encourage development of accessibility standards for persons with disabilities. Effective financial mechanisms to promote accessibility standards of national as well as international level will include following 3 suggestions:

1. Duty/Tax free requirements for the use of ICTs by persons with disabilities
2. Requirements for application of government or international donor's grant
3. Requirements for procurement

Finally, I would like to draw your attention to ongoing recovery process of Tsunami Disasters and preparedness issues from disability view point. Tsunami killed more than 300,000 people including those who could not hear, could not see, could not evacuate, and who could not react to save their lives. Those survivors are still struggling against physical as well as mental injuries including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The rescue and recovery activities need to have a seamless transition to reconstruction stage with clear vision of safe and inclusive society to prevent another disasters to come. Early warning system should provide timely information in accessible format to everybody. Preparedness including knowledge, training and support for evacuation for persons with special needs need to be developed immediately. Inclusion of persons with disabilities in the disaster preparedness development is, in fact, the most effective and economical way to guarantee a safe community for everybody including foreign travelers. Because people with disabilities may act as role models of a person in extreme conditions such as Tsunami, earth quake, thunderstorm or blackout of the subway.

Based on this fact, I would like to propose a special financing mechanisms to be established for disaster recovery and preparedness development that is inclusive of persons with disabilities.

Thank you very much Madam Chairperson for your attention.

Posted by acarvin at 6:48 AM

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ITU Plugs Telecentres Caucus

It turns out the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has included a nice plug for the WSIS telecentres caucus in its latest Prepcom newsletter, including a quote from me. Here's a snippet:

Telecentre Caucus Sees True Potential

A meeting of the Telecentres Caucus was held in order to further its work to articulate a vision regarding the role of telecentres, community technical centres, telecottages, and similar institutions, in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The caucus currently has 200 members from more than 60 nations. Many of the participants represent local, national and regional telecentre initiatives, as well as public libraries and educational institutions. There are also numerous observers from government, the private sector and international agencies.

The Telecentres Caucus is promoting sustainable, multi-purpose telecentres that enable disenfranchised communities to bridge the digital divide and join the knowledge society. More than just providing Internet access, telecentres help people build new skills, gain access to important health information, become producers of local content and engage civically within their communities.

The caucus, chaired by Andy Carvin of the Digital Divide Network, said that [they hope] "that the second phase of the summit will help catalyze ongoing interactions between stakeholders in government, civil society and the private sector that see telecentres as an important tool for achieving the MDGs." Telecentres are often under-resourced, with limited financial and human capacity, yet they have enormous development mandates within their communities. "We hope that the summit will enable an ongoing exchange of best practices, sustainability models, curricula and other resources that will allow telecentres achieve their true potential and help marginalized communities cross the digital divide."

Always feels nice to be appreciated. :-) -andy

Posted by acarvin at 6:14 AM

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Rik Panganiban is My Hero....

...because he found my computer cord adapter just as I was about to get desperate. Only by chance I mentioned to him that I'd lost the adapter plug for my laptop and I was running out of juice, and without pausing he reached into his bag and pulled it out. Apparently it was sitting on a table in the plenary room last night, and he recognized it as a USA adapter, so he picked it up in case anyone went looking for it. Thanks, Rik! -andy

Posted by acarvin at 5:12 AM

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Last Day at the Prepcom; the Adapter Vanishes

It's the last day here at the WSIS Prepcom in Geneva; we've just wrapped up our morning civil society plenary. I began the day by discovering that I've lost my electric adapter for my laptop. I'm not sure how I could have done that, since I'm very careful about such things usually; I'm hoping it's just somewhere inside my laptop bag. If not, I'm down to 150 minutes of power, so I will have to blog sparingly until I find the adapter or a replacement. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 3:23 AM

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February 24, 2005

Civil Society Gets Shafted on Speaking Slots

We're in the middle of this evening's planning meeting for tomorrow's civil society speaking slots, and we've just received the news from the WSIS secretariate that civil society will not have the speaking slot as had been expected. Lots of people here have put an enormous amount of work into crafting statements for tomorrow on recommendations for the working modalities of the summit in November, including recommendations on equal access for the disabled, and now all of this work has been made moot. Apparently the secretariate is willing to let us speak again on financing mechanisms to bridge the digital divide, but most of the groups planning to address this topic have already done so.

"If it's limited to financing mechanisms, we don't have much to say," disability caucus chair Hiroshi Kawamura said a few minutes ago, clearly shocked by the announcement.

This is extremely demoralizing. Right now we're trying to figure out if there's a way that we can force disability rights onto the table, particularly given the fact that it hasn't been addressed at all in the plenary. Hiroshi is now saying that he'll be able to adjust his statement to focus on the connection between disability and poverty, thus making it a financing issue.

Stay tuned... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 12:23 PM

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Statement on Internet Governance by the Human Rights Caucus

I've just received the text of the Human Rights Caucus statement on Internet Governance, which was presented at the Prepcom about three hours ago. The statement was read by Rikke Frank Joergensen from the Danish Institute for Human Rights. -ac

1. The civil society human rights caucus would like to express our support to the open and inclusive approach, which has been taken so far by the working group on Internet Governance. However, we wish to express our concerns with the following issues.

2. Internet governance has important impact on human rights and democracy. Whether defined broadly or narrowly, at least human right issues of privacy, freedom of expression, access to information, and the public domain of knowledge are at stake in Internet governance. The effective enjoyment of freedom expression and the right to assembly is tightly linked with the protection of privacy. In addition, the current forum for domain name management is a private party, dominated by a limited number of countries and based on a contract with a single government. This lack of inclusion of especially developing countries also applies to many Internet protocols and standard setting bodies. Any decision resulting from WSIS on Internet governance must ensure that future mechanisms are human rights compliant, both through their composition and governing structures and through regular assessment of their decisions.

3. The civil society human rights caucus is deeply concerned with the tendency to address any Internet related aspect within the framework of Internet governance. We recognize that a number of transnational issues related to Internet lack a global space for political discussions and agreement. However, discussions on issues such as privacy, freedom of expression, prohibition against discrimination, access to information, intellectual property, and illegal content, must be addressed within a human rights framework. Internet governance must not result in a lawless zone escaping international human rights protection. This is especially important since, in the information society context, a number of human rights are threatened.

4. We agreed to develop an information society based on human rights. As reaffirmed in the Geneva Declaration of principles, the information society should be based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Charter, protecting and upholding the universality and the indivisibility of all human rights, and their centrality to democracy, the rule of law and to development. The protection of human right standards is the first responsibility of governments. It is a state responsibility to ensure that Internet governance mechanisms are compliant with human right standards, that there are means to enforce them, and that governments can be held accountable for human rights violations, including before international courts. Holding governments responsible and accountable for human rights protection does not exclude the active participation of private parties and civil society; however there must be clear divisions of responsibility.

5. An essential feature of Internet relates to its transnational nature. International agreements have traditionally been based on the assumption of territorial jurisdiction, whereas Internet is a global communication forum. One of the results of the World Summit of the Information Society in Geneva was a growing acceptance of the Internet as a global commons. This implies effective access for all countries to participate in decisions regarding enjoyment of this common good.

6. Internet governance mechanisms can and should further human rights by ensuring an enabling environment that protects and enforces human rights standards and democratic principles of inclusiveness, transparency, checks and balances, and the rule of law.

Posted by acarvin at 9:37 AM

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Cat Gets Translator's Tongue During Privacy Statement

Some of you who may have been following the live English translation at the WSIS Prepcom intergovernmental plenary may have noticed an unfortunate communicative hiccup during the civil society statement on privacy rights. If you didn't, it was a startling example of what happens when translators aren't given copies of a prepared statement -- or perhaps drops them on the floor during the statement.

In my previous blog entry, posted at the start of the speech, I noted that it was being delivered in Arabic (by a Kuwaiti member of the civil society delegation), which seemed to catch the attention of some of the government delegates within the plenary. But about halfway through the speech, the English translator froze up for what seemed like 30 to 60 seconds, stammering like someone with stage fright. As the speaker began to outline several examples of why online privacy must be protected, the translator said basically nothing, except a long series of "Uhhhs" and "Errrrs" and "Ummms," which I can only imagine was not expressed by the speaker in Arabic. Each second passed like an eternity; I almost felt like throwing my laptop through the window of the translator booth so I could get him to read the damn transcript on the DDN wiki website like I was doing.

Hopefully English-speaking government delegates will take the time to read the full transcript of the statement; it is too important to be overlooked simply because of a translator's spontaneous brain-freeze. I just hope the French translators and others managed not to botch it. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 7:19 AM

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Privacy as an Essential Human Right

The civil society statement on privacy rights has just begun, presented in Arabic. Here is the English translation. I'm also very proud to note that the language was drafted using the Digital Divide Network's new wiki space, so I'm glad to see our wiki is being used for such important work. -ac

Privacy is an essential human right, enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant of Political and Civil Rights.

Privacy should be a key element in every issue in the agenda of the Working Group on Internet Governance.

In an ‘Information Society', where almost all attributes of an individual can be known, interactions mapped, and intentions assumed based on records, the need for protection of privacy is more crucial than ever.

Privacy encourages co-operation and trust. Privacy is essential for on-line support groups, in consultations with doctors and counsellors, as well as in the marketplace.

Following from the WSIS declaration in Geneva in 2003 and the work of the WGIG, we insist that privacy is not only protected offline, but also on the Internet and we illustrate this with the following examples:

• Next generation internet protocol, IPv6. There are plans to include in the IPv6 address field the ethernet address of the network card. That would mean that every packet you send out to the public Internet using IPv6 would have your fingerprints on it. And unlike your IPv4 address, which you can change and which can be assigned dynamically, this address is embedded in your hardware permanently. Anonymous Internet access would no longer be possible.

• Marketing and advertising regimes and various web-services can seriously endanger privacy unless effective measures are taken to protect it.

• Voice-over-IP policies and standards that promote surveillance over confidentiality may inhibit the growth potential of this technology.

• Initiatives on unlawful speech and excessive measures to protect intellectual property may threaten privacy.

• Regulatory or technical requirements to disclose your identity prior to speaking or even accessing information will unnecessarily hamper free expression.

• Agreements, standards and protocols on network security that do not first protect the privacy of individuals will affect all conduct within the Information Society.

Privacy protects human dignity and individual autonomy. Total information about someone reduces that person to a set of known facts, an object of control and manipulation. In contrast, a zone of autonomy around the individual limits the opportunities for abuse and oppression. Privacy is a core pre-condition to participation, a most basic civil liberty and thus a fundamental component of freedom and development.

Thank you.

Posted by acarvin at 6:41 AM

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Civil Society Interventions on Internet Governance

Jeanette Hoffmann has just started speaking in the intergovernmental plenary; she is the first of several civil society speakers to address various aspects of Internet governance. She applauded the UN's creation of a working group on Internet governance (WGIG) and its multi-stakeholder approach, involving civil society and the private sector as active participants rather than as observers. Her statement advocates greater sensitivity to gender rights, human rights, linguistic diversity and freedom of expression. She also notes that work on Internet governance should involve disenfranchised groups on the wrong side of the digital divide, including NGOs and individuals. This diversity of perspectives and values should be reflected in the final documents generated by WGIG. These documents must reflect the multi-stakeholder approach that produced it, she said.

Posted by acarvin at 6:39 AM

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Where are All the Bloggers?

In between all the meetings and events here in Geneva, I've been tweaking my new website, WSISblogs.org. The site is still in an experimental stage, but in principle it seems to be working. The idea is to have a webpage that displays all of the latest news from bloggers participating in WSIS. It's what's known as an "aggregator," because it aggregates content from other websites and organizes it in one place. I've also tried to add links to Altavista's Babelfish translator tool, since the site includes blogs written in English, French and German -- not to mention the fact that there are people around the world trying to follow what's going on here in Geneva.

The site has had a few problems, some of which have been out of my control. Because the site relies on RSS feeds to collect content from each blog, the quality of the content on my site depends on the quality of the RSS feeds. And it appears that some of the RSS feeds on the site aren't working as well as they could, so it's not posting the latest blog entries in a timely fashion. I've tried to order the blogs on the site based on how timely their RSS feeds are. So if you're wondering why I placed myself second in line, it's not a reflection of myself in relation to the other bloggers; it's just that my blog's RSS feed is working better than some of the others.

In some ways, I think the biggest disappointment so far has been the dearth of bloggers in general here at the Prepcom. As far as I know, there are only around six or seven people blogging from here, and not everyone has a working RSS feed, so it's been very difficult to disseminate our perspectives to the outside world. There's also an embarrassing lack of diversity; as far as I know, Terri Willard is the only woman blogging from here -- and sadly I can't get her RSS feed to cooperate, which is a shame because her coverage of the prepcom rocks. Additionally, all the bloggers are either European or North American. It seems like such a wasted opportunity, as I know for a fact that government delegates are reading my blog and others, and we could be using the medium as an important advocacy tool. Hopefully by the next Prepcom we'll be able to recruit a larger pool of bloggers, our own little WSIS blogger corps, so we can adequately cover the event from various perspectives. And maybe there can be some other podcasters as well. :-) -andy

Posted by acarvin at 4:50 AM

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Thursday Morning Update

It's 10:30am here in Geneva, and the morning civil society plenary wrapped up about 30 minutes ago. Most of the session was dedicated to updates from various caucuses and working groups, as well as a review of the day's scheduled events. The intergovernmental plenary is now focusing on the so-called political chapeau document, and civil society caucuses are working hard to offer comments on it.

Around noon today, civil society will have its daily speaking slot within the plenary; the speakers will focus on Internet governance, human rights, security and privacy. Later in the day, an updated version of the political chapeau is expected to be distributed within the intergovernmental plenary, and another round of contentious debates will ensue, often split on north/south geographic lines.

Right now I'm sitting in the Youth Caucus meeting, which at the moment is largely comprised of African, European and Middle Eastern youth. They're having a lively discussion, half English, half French.

Later today I'll be back in the education taskforce meeting, and hopefully spend some time in the main plenary. The plenary is back in the grand assembly hall, which means there will be wi-fi access again, so maybe I'll be able to post live from the session... -ac

Posted by acarvin at 4:17 AM

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February 23, 2005

Hanging with the Telecentres Posse

This afternoon I hosted a meeting for members of the telecentres caucus who are participating in the Geneva WSIS Prepcom. Around 15 people attended; interestingly, more than half were new the caucus and had not previously participated in our online discussions. The meeting faced a notable challenge in the sense that the group was evenly divided between English speakers and French speakers, with several of us not strong enough in the other's language to communicate on our own. Fortunately, I managed to recruit Stephane Roberge of IDRC to serve as translator, and he did an excellent job.

Much of the meeting was spent introducing ourselves; we had participants from South Africa, France, Congo-Brazzaville, Switzerland, the USA, Lesotho, Tunisia and several other countries. Several participants described local telecentre initiatives in which they are engaged, including a project to launch 100 telecentres in France, as well as an initiative to open telecentres for the disabled in North Africa.

Given the fact that our gathering represented less than 10% of the caucus membership, we decided to focus less on setting a specific agenda for the group; rather, we committed to reviewing the initial discussions that took place online last autumn in the hopes of prioritizing potential goals previously discussed by the group. Participants also agreed to make a stronger effort at posting comments to the list in more than one language, even if it requires using machine translations such as Babelfish. Otherwise there is the danger that the group could divide into an English language group and a Francophone group. Fortunately, it seemed the group agreed we should avoid this happening, and continue to see the caucus as multilingual, multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder.

So while our meeting was brief and rather small, I feel quite hopeful afterwards, particularly in the way the caucus email list responded so quickly to my request to comment on the document presented by me this morning in the plenary. Similarly, I hope that members of the group will take the time to review the political chapeau document I referred to in a previous email, so we can offer comments on this important document this Friday morning. -ac

Posted by acarvin at 9:43 AM

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Andy's Prepcom Speech

I've just finished speaking in front of the intergovernmental plenary on behalf of the telecentres caucus and the education, academia and research taskforce here at the UN Palais des Nations in Geneva. I spoke for just under four minutes. Here is the transcript of my speech; I've also recorded a podcast of it.

Madame Chair, thank you for the opportunity to speak.

We, the members of civil society's education, academia and research taskforce and the telecentres caucus, have come together to address the importance of the proper financing of educational ICTs and human capacity building. ICTs can be a key tool in achieving universal primary education, while wired schools and non-formal learning institutions such as telecenters can play a major role in addressing the development agenda of the MDGs.

When considering appropriate financing mechanisms for bridging the digital divide, do not neglect the role that schools, universities and non-formal educational institutions such as telecentres play as a community hub for building local knowledge, and integrating marginalized communities into the information society.

Schools, universities, telecentres, libraries and other learning institutions all have an existing infrastructure that focus on the future -- the potential of our children and young people. If properly financed, this infrastructure can serve as a backbone for bridging the digital divide. These institutions offer direct benefit to the young people of the world, who cannot afford to be left on the wrong side of the digital divide; their long-term wellbeing and prosperity are at stake.

However, it is not enough to finance infrastructure initiatives only- educational capacity building such as professional development for teachers and curriculum development must also be addressed simultaneously. Learners must have access to curricula that is linguistically and culturally appropriate, including open courseware.

Moreover, there is a natural synergy that exists between ICT-enabled schools, telecentres and similar institutions. Schools should be financed so they too may serve as community-based telecentres, while telecentres can serve as educational institutions in themselves. This notion of multi-purposing should be addressed when making decisions on investing funds to bridge the digital divide.

As digital divide initiatives are financed, communities must have a vested interest in the success of these institutions if they are to succeed in the long-term. Financing models that embrace bottom-up approaches will help foster educational ICT initiatives that address the development needs of each community.

We also encourage further investment in the development of local open courseware initiatives. Open courseware offers an educational model for promoting open access, cultural and linguistic diversity, and a spectrum of teaching and learning styles. These initiatives should be networked for worldwide capacity building.

With these ideas in mind, we offer the following amendments to the chapter regarding financing mechanisms:

• Paragraph 14: Change the phrase "capacity building" to educational and human capacity building;

• Paragraph 15, last clause: change to: ...as a tool for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

• Paragraph 21, last sentence: change the phrase "poverty reduction strategies" to "education and poverty reduction strategies";

• Paragraph 23a: Change to: ICT capacity-building programmes, materials, tools, educational funding, curriculum such as open courseware, and specialized training initiatives, especially for regulators, educators and other public sector employees and organizations.

• Paragraph 24h, end of the last clause, change to: "especially in the public sector, including education."

Thank you very much.

Now I can relax for a few minutes. :-) -andy

Posted by acarvin at 5:23 AM

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Podcast: Prepcom Plenary Prep

It's 10am in Geneva and I'm getting ready to speak in the intergovernmental plenary. I recorded this podcast as I waited for the plenary to begin. Wish me luck! -ac

Posted by acarvin at 4:03 AM

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Wednesday Morning at the Prepcom

It's 9am here in snowy Geneva, and we're getting ready to start the morning civil society plenary. Bruno Oudet and I are both blogging while the rest of the group settles into their seats. Later this morning during the intergovernmental plenary, we'll have our final opportunity to issue official statements on the proposed documents outlining financing mechanisms to bridge the digital divide. I'm actually going to be one of the speakers, reading a statement written on behalf of the education, academia & research taskforce and the telecentres caucus. (I'll post statement to the blog later.)

In the afternoon, I'm chairing a meeting of the telecentres caucus. So far, we've been meeting virtually, since many of our members aren't present here in Geneva, so it will be nice to see who's here in person.

More later.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 2:48 AM

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February 22, 2005

Rikomatic's Photomat

Rik Panganiban of CONGO has posted a photo album of pics he's taken here in Geneva. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 8:38 AM

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Podcast: Grassroots Indian Women Speak Out

I've just recorded a new podcast called Grassroots Indian Women Speak Out. It's a 10-minute interview with four women from rural India who were invited to participate in the WSIS process by OneWorld South Asia. They discuss the importance of women and linguistic minorities in the WSIS process, and advocate a grass-roots campaign in which rural women from across the South would be invited to participate in WSIS. Special thanks to Geeta Sharma of OneWorld for providing translation.... -ac

ps- I will try to write a transcript of the podcast later; right now I need to help draft language for the education caucus....

Posted by acarvin at 7:13 AM

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Civil Society Presentations in Tuesday Plenary

Civil society representatives have just finished presenting their statements in the morning governmental plenary. Among the speakers were Tracey Naughton of the media caucus and a representative from OneWorld South Asia's Grassroots initiative.

Here are two short video clips of Tracey and the OneWorld representative. I will post transcripts of their statements as soon as I have them. -ac

Posted by acarvin at 5:20 AM

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Podcast: All Quiet at the Palais

A pre-coffee podcast from Andy at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Posted by acarvin at 2:53 AM

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February 21, 2005

Podcast: First Afternoon in Geneva

Here's a three-minute podcast of my first afternoon in Geneva.

Posted by acarvin at 12:00 PM

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Taskforces, Taskforces - And It's Only My First Day Here in Geneva...

The Working Methods Working Group meets in Geneva

It's late afternoon at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, and I've spent the last couple of hours participating in civil society meetings on a variety of issues. My first meeting was the so-called working methods working group, which is civil society speak for "a meeting to figure out how we're gonna conduct meetings." Ramin Kawih and Rik Panganiban chaired the session, in which a dozen or so other people participated. Much of the time was spent on discussing how civil society plenary meetings should be chaired: for example, should there be a rotating chair based on geographic regions, or an ongoing chair who can facilitate the meetings for the rest of the week. There was also discussion on setting up a group of people who could mediate disputes amongst civil society entities.

Following that session, I joined Divina Frau-Meigs for the civil society education taskforce. Over the last week, Dr. Meigs and her colleagues managed to crank out a draft document outlining the taskforce's priorities regarding ICTs in education. The document embraces two broad, but interrelated principles: knowledge sharing and open access. "In a knowledge society, knowledge only exists if it is shared... To be shared, knowedge must be open access."

The document goes on to highlight the importance of professional development for educators when it comes to information and communications technologies, and makes a case for promoting open courseware projects like the one famously pioneered by MIT. Additionally, the document emphasizes the importance of teaching ICT literacy and media literacy; according to the document, students "need to know why, when and how to use [ICT] tools positively, and think critically about the perspective they provide." Lastly, the document encourages a broader perspective on ICT research, going beyond technical research and embracing its cultural implications, user needs, etc. I spent some time talking about the open content initiative Public Library of Science, as well as programs like the E-Rate, which have helped finance telecommunications infrastructure for schools and libraries in the US. I also set up a wiki space for the taskforce, so we could have an online workspace in which all of us could edit and publish freely.

So right now it's around sunset, and I'm sitting in a lounge with a spectacular view of Lake Geneva and the Alps. At some point I hope to explore the grounds here; it's very green with lots of outdoor sculptures and even a few peacocks strutting around. It'll have to wait another day, though, as it's getting dark, and my meetings will continue to at least 8pm tonight. So much for having a relaxing first day... -ac

Posted by acarvin at 11:51 AM

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At the UN, Thinking About Working Methods and Gonzo Journalism

Arrived at the Palais des Nations in Geneva about 90 minutes ago, now participating in the civil society working methods taskforce. There are about a dozen people participating; I'm recording it on my iPod in case anyone wants to hear it later.

Just saw the news that Hunter S. Thompson killed himself. What a waste. -ac

Posted by acarvin at 9:28 AM

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December 14, 2004

WSISblogs.org: An Idea Worth Developing?

Last night on a whim, I went online and bought the domain names wsisblogs.org and wsisblogs.com.

As many of you know, we're less than a year away from the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Organized by the United Nations and the ITU, WSIS will try to wrap up the work of the first WSIS summit in December 2003. During that summit in Geneva, world leaders gathered to tackle bridging the digital divide, Internet governance, online freedom and other important issues. There was a small contingent of bloggers in Geneva, including myself and the amazing folks at DailySummit.net.

Undoubtedly there will be many more at the next summit, including delegates, professional journalists, civic journalists and others. Additionally, there will be two major planning meetings, or prepcoms, between now and then; these meetings are the places where the bulk of the summit's policy outcomes will probably be decided. Should we expect much of media presence? Precedence suggests otherwise. At the last prepcom meeting in Tunisia last June, I was one of three or four bloggers present, all of whom represented civil society; there was practically no mainstream media present, nor any noticeable media coverage after the fact.

Just 10 days ago, Rebecca MacKinnon lamented in her blog on the lack of mainstream media coverage regarding Internet governance, which was discussed at a recent ICANN meeting in Capetown. The event was covered by numerous bloggers, she noted, "But no meaningful mainstream media coverage so far. Maybe it's not as easy to understand or as exciting as the FCC, but isn't it just as important (if not more so) for our global communication future?"

So all of this got me wondering about WSIS, the upcoming prepcoms and other WSIS thematic meetings, and the dearth of quality media coverage. From my perspective, it's incumbent upon civil society -- including civic bloggers -- to embrace a bigger leadership role in publicizing the policy outcomes that are currently at stake, and mobilize the online public to take interest in the issue.

With all of this swirling through my head last night, I purchased the domain names WSISblogs.org and WSISblogs.com. I haven't thought through what should be done with it, but I can envision something like Dave Winer's ConventionBloggers.com, which aggregated all the bloggers covering the Democratic and Republican National Conventions this past summer. In other words, a site where you could find all the latest posts from all the bloggers participating and/or observing the WSIS process. The site could be organized by major policy outcomes and related WSIS topics, so users could explore the latest blogs on Internet governance, the digital divide, protest activities, human rights issues, etc, as they occur. It would also be great to allow bloggers to add their RSS feeds to the site, since it's not always possible to get an authoritative list of who'll be blogging prior to WSIS-related events.

Even if we do nothing, chances are there will be bloggers galore at WSIS: dozens of bloggers, blogging on a variety of issues, in a variety of styles and languages, giving the public unfettered, unfiltered access to the WSIS process. Imagine if we could organize them all in one place.

Anyway, it's just an idea. Would love to hear what others think. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 8:39 AM

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November 19, 2004

At the UN ICT Taskforce Meeting in Berlin

It´s early afternoon in Berlin, and the UN ICT Taskforce meeting is now under way. Around 200 people representing governments, international agencies, civil society and the private sector have gathered for two days to discuss creating enabling environments for the use of ICTs as a tool for development. This morning was dedicated to a series of panel sessions. A government representative from Mozambique discussed his country´s technology policy, and the importance of creating an environment in which ICTs can be embraced as a tool for development without neglecting other development goals. Italy´s technology minister discussed the country´s focus on e-government in its development projects around the world.

Later today there will be break-out sessions on several topics. I plan to attend one on financing mechanisms for bridging the digital divide. Then tomorrow we will hear reports from the other sessions before wrapping up the meeting. In the meantime, Susanne is somewhere in Berlin, hopefully enjoying herself despite the drop in temperatures and the morning rain, which might have let up by now if I could only see outside....

Posted by acarvin at 8:53 AM

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September 1, 2004

Announcing the WSIS Telecentres Working Group!

In November, 2005, thousands of representatives from governments, civil society and the private sector will go to Tunisia for the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), a United Nations event to identify strategies to bridge the digital divide and utilize information and communications technologies (ICTs) for global development. The civil society delegation, which includes representatives from NGOs, academia and other groups, is working to offer input to government leaders during the WSIS process, developing recommendations on a variety of issues, including human rights, privacy, health, education and copyright.

As part of civil society's contribution to WSIS, we are forming a new working group on telecentres and other public technology initiatives, including community technology centers, telecottages, public computing centers at schools and libraries, community wireless networks, and other initiatives that seek to offer Internet access, ICT training and related community services to the public. Participation in the working group is free and open to the public.

Once online discussions commence, the group will brainstorm to identify specific projects that could serve the WSIS process, such as the following:

• Informing policymakers of successful strategies to utilize telecenters as a tool in reaching the UN Millennium Development Goals;

• Identifying opportunities for cross-sector, public-private partnerships for promoting sustainable telecenters;

• Organizing an international thematic conference on telecenters and other public computing venues;

• Establishing an international network of telecenters and telecenter associations at the local, national and regional level in order to forge greater connections between them;

• Collecting and disseminating case studies that demonstrate the rich diversity of telecenters, including programs run by libraries and community networks, and how they impact various aspects of global development (education, health, the environment, civic participation, etc.);

• Sharing of best practices and tools, translated for cultural and linguistic appropriateness.

Other issues may be identified as well. As discussion proceeds, participants will be encouraged to volunteer and coordinate various aspects of the working group, from organizing events, writing position papers and translating the group's official documents.

As this will be an international discussion, the working group will allow posts in English, French and Spanish; participants will be encouraged to utilize free translation tools such as Altavista Babelfish to help make the daily discussion as accessible as possible.
There are two options to join the group:

Option 1: Go to http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/telecentres and fill out the subscription form;

Option 2: Send an email to telecentres-request@wsis-cs.org with this word in the subject line: subscribe

After submitting your subscription request, you'll receive a confirmation request from the list server. Please follow the directions in this email; you'll then be confirmed as a member of the list.

Since this is a new list, we would like to give incoming members a chance to participate from the beginning. To accomodate this, discussions on the list will not open until September 15; at that point, I will post an announcement welcoming members to the list, encouraging them to post personal introductions. Then, we will proceed with the discussion.

For more on WSIS, please visit http://www.wsis.org.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 10:41 AM

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July 7, 2004

Arrival in Mauritius

"Mister Andy?" the driver from the hotel asked as I approached him at the airport.

"Oui, c'est moi," I replied, hoping that I didn't look as exhausted as I felt.

"Bienvenue à Maurice," he said, pointing me to the car. "Let's go."

I'd just spent the last 30 hours crammed in the flying cubby hole known as Coach Class on three Delta and Air France planes, hopscotching their way around the globe , from Boston to New York to Paris to Mauritius. The last two flights were both transcontinental overnight flights. I'd managed to sleep on the plane to Paris - a first - but couldn't catch a wink of shuteye on the 11-hour flight to Mauritius, partially thanks to a Scottish family sitting next to me, who held the philosophy that it's best to encourage your three children to stay awake the entire night before starting your vacation.

And now it was 6:30am on Wednesday, and I sat quietly in the back seat of the hotel shuttle, watching a steady rain obscure my first views of Mauritius. A small island nation in the middle of nowhere off the eastern coast of southern Africa, Mauritius is blessed with beautiful beaches and pastures perfect for growing sugar cane - two facts that have helped make Mauritius one of the more prosperous southern African states. As we drove northwest across the island, it became quite clear that sugar cane was indeed king - endless fields of swaying, corn-like stalks in every direction. Off in the distance I could see several irregularly shaped mountains, dark silhouettes on the far side of the island. As the sun tried to peak through the thick morning clouds, the darkness of the mountains spectrally transformed into a lush green.

About an hour on the road, we reached the capital city, Port Louis (pronounced por-LWEE in honor of the island's French heritage) . It was bigger than I expected, a tight mass of modern skyscrapers intermingling with a collection of colonial buildings built by the British after the French exited the scene. Port Louis was busy with traffic, as locals from the suburbs came into town for work, some in their own cars, some in big red public buses.

Despite the rush hour hubbub, we passed through quite quickly, circling a rotary leading us up the northwest coast. Traffic thinned out after a few kilometers until the only traffic we passed were small trucks overloaded with precarious amounts of sugar cane. Meanwhile, the fields of cane were now the only game in town; the sugar stalks encroached to the very edge of the thin road, towering more than 10 feet in the air for hundreds of meters at a stretch. I almost half-expected George Patton and his mechanized army to appear suddenly, steamrolling their tanks like juggernauts over the sugary hedgerows.

Losing track of time, space and distance due to sugar cane-induced tunnel vision, I was somewhat surprised when we arrived at the Meridien Hotel. Reminiscent of the luxury hotels of Bali, Le Meridien Ile Maurice is built around a series of enormous, open air pavilions. Through the center of the lobby there's a beautiful view of the swimming pool, cascading down several levels on a series of waterfalls, while a thatched-covered tiki pavilion served as the poolside bar. Beyond it were a number of thatched umbrellas along the beach. It was the perfect place for a retreat, a honeymoon, an ICT policy conference. And given the sheets of rain now falling out the sky, I was glad I was here for a conference.

Though I'd been traveling for a day and a half and was living on three or four hours of sleep since Monday morning, I had to rush to my room, shower and shave: my conference would begin in less than 90 minutes. Somehow, I managed to get ready with a few minutes to spare, so I had a quick breakfast in one of the restaurant pavilion, eating scrambled eggs and passion fruit, a pair of song birds crooning as they ate some bread scraps on the table next to mine…. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 12:34 AM

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June 29, 2004

Rik Panganiban's Prepcom Photos

Rik Panganiban of CONGO has put together a nice photo gallery of pictures he took at the recent WSIS Prepcom meeting in Hammamet, Tunisia. He got some nice pictures of the meeting halls and members of the civil society delegation, including some funny pictures of me. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 8:54 AM

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One Last Night in Hammamet

Following the final plenary, we left the meeting hall and spent some time hanging out in the medina plaza amongst a group of several hundred delegates who were enjoying the marvelous evening weather. Ralf Bendrath and Karen Banks had invited me to join a bunch of people heading to Hammamet for dinner. Though at first I was up for the idea, I became somewhat wishy-washy as I felt a severe headache and dehydration begin to overtake me. But thanks to some successful guilt-ridden peer pressure, namely from the likes of Ralf and Christine Wenzel of the Heinrich Boll Foundation and Marouen Mraihi of TakingITGlobal Tunisia, I soon caved and agreed to join them.

A large group of us headed out of Yasmine Medina one last time and hailed a group of taxis to take us the 19 kilometers into town. Traffic was rather heavy as people from all over the Hammamet region came into the city for a night on the town. Eventually, the taxi dropped us off several blocks from the Medina, where we met up with some of the others, while Ralf and his colleagues went back to their hotel to change clothes. The rest of us walked over to Sidi Bou Hdid, the oceanside café where I'd enjoyed mint tea and a shisha when I first arrived in Hammamet.

We grabbed a couple of tables and settled in for a while. Eventually, we grew to a posse of around 20 people, spread out over three or four tables, drinking our various fruit juices, teas and sodas as we finally began to wind down from the summit. As our hunger pangs advanced to hunger pains, we decided to go to Les Trois Moutons, a well-known seafood and couscous restaurant a few blocks from the Medina. As some of the group still hadn't arrived at the café, we staggered ourselves, heading over to the restaurant in groups of 10 or so people.

Les Trois Moutons was a cozy, classy place, with impeccably dressed waiters showing off the fresh catch of the day. We gorged ourselves on classic Tunisian mezze plates, including tuna, harissa, olives and French bread. I ordered the couscous special, which featured a combination of chicken and lamb; it was a two-person order, so I split it with Norbert Klein. Some of the group, including colleagues from the Philippines and Mozambique, had never had couscous before, so they decided to give it a whirl, while others went for steaks or fish. Bertrand de la Chapelle managed to pick out an excellent Tunisian Muscat wine, which we ended up polishing off and requiring another bottle in short order.

We hung out at the restaurant until midnight, taking advantage of the short time we had left to spend with each other. Ralf, Christine and Christoph had to leave for the airport by 1am for a pre-dawn flight, while others were being recruited by Marouenfor a late-night shisha. As tempted as I was to enjoy one last puff before returning to my usual non-smoking self, I needed to get up in less than six hours to catch my shuttle bus to the airport. It was so difficult to say goodbye, given the rollercoaster of events we'd all gone through over the last 96 hours, particularly since yesterday afternoon. Most likely, I wouldn't see any of them again until February in Geneva; until then, we'd just have to continue our work and our friendships online.

By the time I returned to the hotel, it was nearly 1am; our taxi had gotten stuck in a traffic jam in Hammamet's night club neighborhood. The strip felt more like Miami Beach than Tunisia, with hundreds of young people in tight, skimpy clothes cruising the road and queuing at the clubs. I felt as if we were cruising as well, as the taxi driver turned on his radio and started blasting a Black Eyed Peas song. So very, very un-Tunisian. Or perhaps not.

Posted by acarvin at 8:50 AM

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June 28, 2004

Work Concludes at the Prepcom

Late into the evening this past Saturday, government delegations wrapped up work at the first preparatory meeting, or prepcom, for the November 2005 World Summit on the Information Society. The final document produced by the governments has no major surprises in it. The governments agreed to work towards reaching a solution on outstanding issues related to Internet governance and funding mechasims to bridge the digital divide. They also agreed not to re-open any of the decisions made during the previous summit in Geneva last December; rather, they would work towards identifying actionable strategies to implement these previous decisions. The next Prepcom will take place in Geneva for seven working days, starting February 17 early next year.

The WSIS Secretariate has published a press release summarizing the results of the Prepcom; additionally, you can download the final document released at the end of the Prepcom.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 8:50 AM

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June 27, 2004

Final Civil Society Plenary: Reflection, Exhaustion Win the Day

As the government plenary went into overtime Saturday night, civil society met for the last time at 6pm, hoping to tie up loose ends. Amir Barmaki of Iran chaired the meeting, which was attended by around 30 people. Compared to previous plenaries, it was calm and relatively orderly. It took several attempts for Amir to get audience members to comply with his request to stick with the agenda; rather, they tried to return to the previous debate over the human rights caucus speech. Eventually, Amir was able to get the group to focus on discussing a proposal for several taskforces to review civil society's rules and procedures, in order to avoid having a similar debacle rear its ugly head in future prepcoms. These groups would publish reports on the matter early this autumn, then circulate them online for a month to collect comments and suggestions. They would then publish a final set of rules and procedures prior to the second Prepcom, scheduled for Geneva in February 2002.

Speakers for the audience were generally supportive, offering constructive criticisms to improve the proposed review process. Speakers representing Tunisian, Sub-Saharan African, and international NGOs all acknowledged the lamentable situation that had occurred over the previous 24 hours, stating that we must all make a concerted effort to rebuild trust and understanding amongst each other.

The plenary came to a close at 7:30pm, at which point the organizers of the Prepcom were expected to hold a press conference announcing the contents of their final report. But the press conference was pushed back to 8:30; it seemed pretty clear that the governments were going to have a long night ahead of them…. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 8:33 AM

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June 26, 2004

Governments Work on Draft Decision for Prepcom

Right now, representatives from more than 100 governments are meeting in plenary session at the WSIS Prepcom to complete a draft document outlining the decisions taken by them during this week's meeting. Prepcom President Karklins joked earlier that he hoped they could work hard so they could enjoy some of Tunisia's beautiful beaches later today, since tomorrow's forecast wasn't looking very positive.

Karklins is now speaking about how the final document must focus on practical, procedural matters for the two future Prepcoms, during which more substantive issues such as Internet governance and financing mechanisms will be addressed. The plenary is scheduled for a lunch break in about 20 minutes, then will reconvene at 3pm.

Posted by acarvin at 7:33 AM

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Tunisian Human Rights Activist Allowed to Speak at WSIS Prepcom

In a very dramatic turn of evetns this morning, Souhayr Belhassen of the Tunisian Human Rights League was given permission from the president of the WSIS Prepcom to speak in the governmental plenary on behalf of civil society. Other Tunisian representatives had tried to block her from participating, causing a major disruption in yesterday's sessions. Earlier today, civil society held another meeting to address the situation; while the meeting was much more orderly than yesterday's, it was apparent there was no chance of reaching an accord. Then, the governments announced they would invite Belhassen to speak in the plenary, despite the opposition by Tunisian representatives attending the civil society meetings.

The president noted the extraordinary circumstances of the situation, and allowed the representative speak during time specially alloted to her, not taking the time from the 15 minutes alloted to civil society. Other Tunisian and African groups, which had opposed her speech, were also given time to speak; in the end they simply read the same remarks that had been prepared for her, minus language they perceived as criticizing the Tunisian government.

Below is the text of her remarks, translated into English.

---

Civil Society statement on human rights
PrepCom1, WSIS second phase, Hammamet June 26 2004

I am Souhayr Belhassen, Vice-President of the International Federation for
Human Rights and Vice-President of the Tunisian League for Human Rights.

At the beginning of this WSIS second phase, civil society organizations
present in Hammamet wish to express their objectives and their working

priorities in view of the Tunis Summit in 2005.

At a time where the foundations of international human rights law are being
challenged by newly adopted laws and measures, everywhere in the world, in
the name of a fight against terrorism, it was important that the
Declaration of principles adopted in Geneva in 2003 makes reference to the
fundamental principles of universality and indivisibility of all human
rights, to the right to development, and specially reaffirms the necessary
respect of the integrality of Article 19 of the UDHR on freedom of

expression, of information and of communication.

This second phase must go beyond that. Indeed, we intend that it clarifies
these principles by also reaffirming the fundamental principle of non
discrimination, the necessity to respect international labor standards, and
the recognition that a true security can only be reached with measures
entirely compatible with internationally recognized human rights, not least
the right to privacy. In addition, we cannot accept that the Declaration of
principles admits that the rule of law is supposed to «reflect national

realities» rather than being in coherence with the legally binding

obligations of States according to the international human rights treaties

they have ratified.

The Tunis phase will focus on Internet governance and infrastructure
financing issues. We will take part in this work, making sure that its
results ensure the promotion of the effective implementation of the whole
set of human rights, and do not derogate from them.

Without effective implementation, the principles would indeed stay without

substance. We request that WSIS allow for these principles to be translated

into an information and communication society serving human rights. To this

end, we wish that the Summit define precise indicators allowing to evaluate

the realization of this objective and set up an international mechanism for

their assessment on this ground, at the local, regional and international

level.

Finally, we are entirely conscious of the fundamental importance of holding
WSIS here and for the people of all the global South countries, and we thus

wish its success. However, we wish to reaffirm that it is the duty of the

two host countries of the Summit to show exemplarity, especially in the

realization of freedom of expression, of information, of communication, as

well as of freedom of association and the right to privacy.

Posted by acarvin at 7:32 AM

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June 25, 2004

Paralysis at Tonight's Civil Society Meeting

This evening's content and themes meeting of the civil society caucus degenerated into chaos, as some Tunisian and African NGO representatives overwhelmed the session, preventing chairs Karen Banks and Steve Buckley from leading a discussion on tomorrow's various civil society speeches to the government plenary. With probably seven or eight Tunisians for every non-Tunisian in the room, they demanded that civil society take an immediate vote on whether language critical of the Tunisian government would be excised from the human rights caucus text.

The Tunisians, who did not participate in the human rights caucus session in which the language was drafted, demanded the right to overrule the text criticizing the Tunisian government, as well as change the speaker to someone they felt represented their view. They argued that a "vote" had been taken earlier in the afternoon during the previous civil society meeting -- rather, it was their supporters shouting acclamation -- and no consistent translation was offered to allow participants to make an informed decision.

For nearly two hours, the audience of nearly 100 people were completely deadlocked, with the Tunisians blocking calls for a discussion proposing that two people - one of their choosing and one chosen by the human rights caucus - be given time to speak tomorrow during the government plenary. On numerous occasions, Karen Banks was shouted down by Tunisian representatives, saying she wasn't the legitimate chair of the meeting and that the chair that had presided over the chaotic afternoon session return to that position.

Eventually, Renate Bloem arrived, having come back from a meeting with government delegates, and implored the group to attempt to arrive at consensus. She said that if the session continued to be held hostage, it would become impossible for civil society to craft the speeches on other issues that need to be addressed during tomorrow's plenary.

By this time it was just before 8pm, and the translators were off the clock and left the room. This made it impossible to continue the debate with adequate translation, and it was decided that a plenary to discuss the human rights issue would be convened first thing tomorrow morning so that the Content and Themes group could have an adequate amount of time tonight to plan tomorrow's other speeches.

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Transcript of George Christiansen's Civil Society Statement

Statement to the Plenary Session on Prepcom 1, WSIS Phase 2, Hammammet, 25 June 2004 - presented by George Christensen, AMARC-Africa

Civil society organisations, participating in the World Summit on the
Information Society believe a just and equitable information society must

be people-centred, based on respect for fundamental human rights and giving

priority to the reduction of poverty and the implementation of sustainable

development.

During the Geneva phase of the Summit, civil society organisations played a
full and active role. Despite significant constraints on dialogue and
communication within the process itself, civil society organisations
contributed extensively and with good effect.

At the completion of the Geneva Summit we can acknowledge three outcomes:

two intergovernmental documents the Declaration of Principles and the Plan

of Action, and one civil society document a declaration titled "Shaping

Information Societies for Human Needs" that was presented to governments at

the final plenary in Geneva.

Although there are several points on which the civil society position is
different from that of the governments we propose the Declaration of
Principles should not be re-opened.

They key principles in the intergovernmental Declaration - on sustainable

development and the millennium development goals, and on human rights and

freedom of expression - should form the measures against which actions in

the second phase are judged.

On the other hand, the Plan of Action, is not a document we can accept to
work with. It was hastily drafted in the final stages of the Geneva Summit,
with little input from civil society. In certain important respects it is
in contradiction with the Declaration of principles and it does not
adequately provide a basis for action and implementation.

We recommend this be reviewed to establish a new and measurable basis for
action.

As we commence the second phase of the World Summit on the Information
Society we would like to re-state our commitment to the priorities set out
in the civil society declaration presented in Geneva copies are available
here today.

We also wish to remind government that the role of civil society is not

simply one of assisting with implementation but also of observation,

monitoring and holding of governments to account. During the second phase

of the Summit we will continue to provide a constructive but critical input

to the process. We ask for the best conditions to do so in the firm belief

that our contribution will assist in achieving a better outcome.

Posted by acarvin at 1:42 PM

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Victoria Cabrera-Balleza's Civil Society Statement

Here is the second of three civil society statements read this morning to the Prepcom plenary. -andy

---

Victoria Cabrera-Balleza
ISIS International Manila

Statement to WSIS PrepCom Plenary
June 25, 2004

At the conclusion of the first phase of this World Summit the
international community agreed a vision and objectives, in the
Declaration of Principles, which are framed around the Millennium
Development Goals and other internationally agreed objectives for
sustainable development. In doing so the Geneva Summit committed to the
challenge of creating an information and communications environment
oriented towards the achievement of a world free of poverty and hunger.

In 2005 the Tunis Summit will coincide with the first five-year review

of international progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.

Governments and multilateral institutions will measure the results of

the WSIS process on the basis of its contribution to the achievement of

universal primary education, promotion of gender equality and women's

empowerment, reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal

health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases and ensuring

environmental sustainability and development of global partnerships for

development.

These are key targets against which action and implementation must be
measured.

We all acknowledge that ICTs can make a contribution to poverty
alleviation and the realization of all human rights, including the right
to development, health, education, and information thereby enabling
developing countries to participate as equal partners in the global
information and communication society. But our efforts are largely
failing and the so-called 'digital-divide' is in fact expanding.

The model that relies primarily on international private investment to
achieve those goals is not working. Markets only provide services for
those who can afford them; governments are unable to correct market
failures due to imposed constraints including external debt and IMF
conditionalities that limit their investments in infrastructure;
investment agreements constrain the delivery of public services and
intellectual property regimes make technology transfers unaffordable.

These contradictions have been most obviously exposed in the case of

efforts to reduce mortality from HIV/AIDS where the basic right of

patients to life has been restricted by international trade rules to

protect the intellectual property of manufacturers of the medicines

vital for effective treatment.

Despite these failures, the Action Plan agreed in Geneva, relies to a
large extent on a false logic. It assumes that investment in information
and communication technology products, services and applications, will
by itself contribute to the achievement of development goals. It

assumes, that setting targets for rolling out the ICT infrastructure,

will automatically lead to alleviation of poverty.

Civil society has a different perspective on the priorities for action
needed to achieve the development goals and objectives set out in the
Declaration of Principles.

We believe policies and investment must be effective from the ground-up.

People and communities must themselves be enabled to take action to

improve their lives and conditions. Civil society initiatives and

community-driven development projects must be supported and encouraged

through improvements to the policy and regulatory environment for access

to information and to the means of communications and through investment

in traditional as well as new communication technologies.

WSIS II can be of enormous help in identifying the national and
international obstacles and the action which is needed to address them.

Posted by acarvin at 12:22 PM

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Full Text of Ralf Bendrath's Speech to Prepcom Plenary

Below is the official text that Ralf Bendrath presented to the Prepcom plenary on behalf of the civil society caucus.

---

Ralf Bendrath, Heinrich Böll Foundation

Statement to the PrepCom Plenary on behalf of the Civil Society plenary

25 June 2004

Dear friends,

The first phase of this summit was a major step forward in developing a
multi-stakeholder process on the global level. For the first time civil
society and others have participated in such a way.

We have worked very hard to use this opportunity in a constructive
manner. By doing so, we also have been reminding you of how a true

vision of a human-centred, just and inclusive information society could

and should look like.

We have to move on in this direction. Governments can not address these
issues alone. Any mechanism that does not closely associate civil
society and other stakeholders is not only unacceptable in principle, it
is also doomed to fail.

You all have acknowledged this. The importance of civil society
participation is evoked routinely by governments and in official WSIS

statements.

What we demand now is that the multi-stakeholder process is not just a
nice phrase, but becomes true reality.

This seems to be the case for the working groups on internet governance
and finance, where we have heard about and experienced very promising
approaches.

We insist that it also becomes a reality for the rest of the summit

process.

We are not convinced yet:

- The speaking time given to Civil Society reveals the ironic asymmetry
between the importance theoretically given to us and the actual reality.
Our speaking slots only amount to 2.7 per cent of the total plenary
time!

- In order to have meaningful discussion among all stakeholders, we need

to be able to speak to the points at the time they are raised. This is

not the case right now, though we already had this modality during the

Geneva phase!

- It is still not clear how we can contribute to the implementation of
the action plan with our knowledge and our experiences.

- Meaningful participation also needs to address the large part of civil
society that can not come to Tunis or Geneva. At this PrepCom, we do not
even have an internet broadcast as in phase one.

We want to make very clear that our further participation is depending
on some conditions:

- We insist that we don't fall back behind the highest levels of
inclusiveness and participation from the first phase. Instead, we even
want to improve them.

- All thematic and regional meetings have to be fully open to all
interested parties.

- Whatever Political Declaration is to be adopted in Tunis, appropriate
mechanisms have to guarantee that civil society is truly involved in any
drafting process and supported in commenting and proposing amendments in
a timely manner.

- We need modalities to ensure meaningful civil society consultation and
cooperation on all areas of the stock-taking exercises and the
implementation of the action plan.

- There must be a creative use of ICTs to ensure civil society
participation from all over the world. We have a lot of experience with
this from our own work.

- We were happy to hear about the participation fund yesterday. However,
we insist that the funding is used in a transparent manner, according to
the actual needs and with meaningful participation of already
established civil society structures on this.

To summarize:

We are not willing to play an alibi role or lend our legitimacy to a
process that excludes us from true meaningful participation. The summit
can only be a summit of successes if there is substantive progress in
our participation.

Posted by acarvin at 12:12 PM

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Videos of Civil Society Plenary on Human Rights

Just in case my blog entry didn't capture the chaos from earlier today, here are some videos of the civil society plenary in which Tunisian human rights activists fought with other Tunisian representatives over the human rights caucus document that was supposed to be delivered to the WSIS prepcom plenary.

http://www.edwebproject.org/andy/blog/video/plenary.hr1.avi

http://www.edwebproject.org/andy/blog/video/plenary.hr2.avi

http://www.edwebproject.org/andy/blog/video/plenary.hr3.avi

Posted by acarvin at 11:32 AM

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Establishing a WSIS Conversation on Telecenters

This afternoon I hosted an informal gathering to discuss the possibility of forming an interdisciplinary telecenter taskforce within civil society's WSIS-related activities. The session started with some confusion, as the room for the event changed three times on the illuminated signs advertising its location. Despite these initial difficulties, we had representatives from civil society, government and the private sector, hailing from France, Canada, Bangladesh, Guinea-Conakry, Taiwan, Denmark and the United States.

In the meeting, I gave a brief overview of discussions that had occurred at the Community Technology Centers Network (CTCNet) conference in Seattle two weeks ago. Given the interdisciplinary nature of telecenters, working in fields ranging from Internet access and education to content and human rights, their interests are spread out amongst the current working groups within civil society; therefore, some of the overarching goals of the telecenter movement might accidentally fall through the cracks, as different groups work to identify their particular work priorities.

We therefore decided to create a discussion list over the course of the next several weeks, allowing people ample time to join the list prior to the start of discussion. Discussions would occur in English, French and Spanish, utilizing translation software to assist the conversation. We would try to identify potential stakeholders within governments, civil society, the private sector, international agencies and donors with an interest in promoting successful, sustainable telecenters as a tool for reaching the Millennium Development Goals. The group would then brainstorm to identify specific projects that could serve the WSIS process, such as an international thematic conference; identifying networks of telecenters at the local, national and regional level in order to forge greater connections between them; collecting and disseminating case studies that demonstrate the rich diversity of telecenters, including programs run by libraries and community networks; and sharing of best practices and telecenter tools, translated for cultural and linguistic appropriateness.

Over the remaining time here at the Prepcom, I'll continue having conversations with people on this issue; then in the coming weeks we'll be able to start organizing more formal discussions via the Internet. Please stay tuned for a formal announcement on the launch of the discussion list and how to participate.

Posted by acarvin at 11:02 AM

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Civil Society Must not be an Alibi for Governments

Ralf Bendrath of the Heinrich Boll Foundation served as one of civil society's speakers during today's first plenary, immediately prior to the lunch break. Bendrath said that the Geneva stage of WSIS was "a major step forward in developing a multi-stakeholder process." Governments cannot address ICT challenges alone, he noted; mechanisms must involve civil society if they are to succeed. "Governments routinely acknowledge civil society…. We demand that a multi-stakeholder approach becomes a reality." Bendrath noted that a multi-stakeholder process is working in regards to efforts surrounding the issues of Internet governance and financing mechanisms, but it hasn't worked well in other areas.

Additionally, Bendrath pointed out that civil society, with only 15 minutes to speak today and tomorrow, is thus given the equivalent of only 2.7 percent of total plenary time. Plus, their speaking slot is separated from the actual periods of debate. "We need to be able to speak to the point [of a particular issue] at the time they are raised," he said. Bendrath also noted that only a small number of civil society representatives are participating here in person, leaving most of the community without an active voice.

Bendrath laid out a series of civil society's concerns. He said that governments must not fall back from previous levels of civil society participation. Regional meetings must be open to all interest parties. Mechanisms must guarantee that civil society is involved in the drafting and amending process. There must be modalities for civil society involvement in implementing the action plan. There should be creative use of ICTs for civil society members around the world to participate. Bendrath also said that civil society was happy to hear about Tunisia's offer to contribute 400,000 dinars for a civil society participation fund; however, the funds must be used in transparent manner.

"We are not willing to play an alibi role," he said in his conclusion. "The summit can only be a success if there is substantive civil society involvement."

Posted by acarvin at 10:41 AM

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Caucus Chaos over Human Rights

Following the suspension of the plenary session, civil society delegates met in the Didon Theatre to try to solve the impasse that had been reached over the human rights caucus statement. Saida Agrebi of Tunisia said the statement should say that all participating countries respect human rights rather than singling out Tunisia, and emphasized the need for an African to represent the caucus during the plenary. Other Tunisians concurred, with many of them dominating the first half of the discussion.

Ambassador Karklins, president of the Prepcom, then arrived and asked the group to resolve its differences. "We will give 15 minutes speaking time for NGOs. We cannot intervene in the decisionmaking process of NGOs, and we can give you time to sort out your internal questions, and I would ask Renate [Bloem] as your coordinator to give me a list of speakers at 12:40pm. The list should contain name, organization they represent, and speakers for their part should follow closely the rules of procedure… So therefore I will be very attentively following your intervention… and if I see that rules of procedure aren't [followed] … I will intervene."

Several speakers then noted that there is "extreme mistrust" between certain elements within the civil society family in terms of their position regarding the Tunisian government and human rights, and that it may be necessary to present both views, given them each time during the plenary speaking slot. Others suggested that the divide that exists within civil society should be acknowledged in the plenary for the sake of openness.

Rikke Frank Joergensen, co-chair of the human rights caucus, defended the process to date. "We followed the procedure that we've followed from the first phase of the summit," she noted. She said that issues were discussed in yesterday's civil society plenary, then people were invited to stay afterwards to help draft language. "The drafting group then decided on four speakers… including two African speakers, one on economic development and a woman from Tunisia on human rights." Regarding the statement, she said it is consistent with statements the caucus had released in the past, and there is precedent to note any human rights issues in the host country, as had been the case in Geneva when there were problems with certain groups being allowed to speak and protest.

In the end, it appeared to be decided that there would be one speaker, a woman from Africa, who would leave out the language singling out Tunisia. There was no actual vote; while one was attempted, the Tunisian delegation overwhelmed the room with shouting and clapping. Additionally, the attempt at a vote was conducted without consistent translation into English, which meant many delegates were unable to participate or follow the proceedings.

As delegates left the room, a number of shouting matches broke out. The representative from the Tunisian Human Rights League called the apparent decision "a scandal," with others shouting their opinion back and forth.

But the question still remains open; when civil society representatives spoke during the late morning plenary, just before lunch, the human rights caucus did not present their remarks, because it was clear that no democratic consensus had been reached on the issue. They will continue the debate later today, and hopefully strike some kind of agreement so they may present first thing tomorrow morning during the plenary session.

Posted by acarvin at 9:06 AM

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Prepcom Plenary Suspended Over Human Rights Dispute

Proceedings at the Prepcom have been suspended because some representatives from Tunisian civil society have objected to a Tunisian human rights activist who was scheduled to speak on behalf of the human rights caucus, as well as to some of the content in their presentation emphasizing the need to respect human rights, privacy and freedom of expression during the Tunis phase of WSIS. Sources say the objecting representatives from within Tunisian civil society complained to the Tunisian government minister in attendance at the Prepcom, who in turn objected to the president of the Prepcom. The agenda of the Prepcom has been suspended for 45 minutes. The dispute remains unresolved. Civil society representatives have scheduled an emergency meeting, which shall begin in a few minutes. More information soon.

Posted by acarvin at 6:36 AM

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Presentations by Intl Agencies, Private Sector - Then Meeting Suspended

The second morning of the WSIS Prepcom in Tunisia began with presentations from representatives of international agencies and the private sector, to be followed by civil society. Various international agencies discussed their priorities for the Tunis phase of WSIS, some offering to host thematic meetings on issues outlined in the plan of action. For example, UNCTAD and OECD stated they are going to host two thematic meetings between now and the Tunis summit in November 2005. First, they will co-host a meeting on ICT indicators and statistics, for monitoring ICT development around the world and help foster informed ICT policymaking; this event has been proposed for February 2005 in Geneva. Second, they outlined plans for an event to address the impact of ICTs on economic development, and exploring best practices for the use of ICTs to raise economic competitiveness of developing countries.

A representative from the private sector then noted their priorities and objectives for the Tunis phase of WSIS. Priorities:

- Observers should be able to attend all WSIS-related meetings to provide meaningful input to government delegates.

- Rules should allow observers to intervene in all meetings.

- transparency and timely distribution of information for documents, meetings and other resources.

Objectives:

- Negotiations during the Prepcoms should focus on unresolved issues, particularly financing mechanisms and Internet governance. Governments should from renegotiating issues that were resolved during the Geneva phase of WSIS.

- Assessment, evaluation and benchmarking of the WSIS Plan of Action should be focus of the Tunis summit.

- Thematic meetings should focus on key themes outlined in the Plan of Action. The meetings should not be used to open previously resolved issues.

At this point in the plenary, Ambassador Karklins suspended presentations for three minutes and called upon bureau representatives from the private sector and civil society to the podium for three minutes. After 15 minutes had elapsed, Karklins suddenly suspending the proceedings for 45 minutes and called for a meeting of the entire bureau. I hope to have more information soon.

Posted by acarvin at 5:57 AM

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An Evening of Work, Food and Music

Following the end of yesterday's plenary sessions, civil society hosted a meeting to discuss drafting the presentations it will give to the full plenary Saturday morning. Karen Banks and Steve Buckley moderated the session, outlining a series of themes they thought should be presented. For the next hour and a half, they took comments and questions from over a dozen members of the audience. Some offered suggestions to recognize cultural diversity, the role of youth in bridging the digital divide, and reiterating the importance of a commitment to human rights and free expression. Several participants argued the 15-minute speaking slot available to civil society on both Friday and Saturday was highly insufficient, and should press for more time in subsequent prepcoms. Additionally, the heated exchange that had occurred amongst Tunisian activists in the human rights caucus meeting earlier in the day spilled out again, provoking passionate arguments on several occasions.

Following the meeting, representatives from several of the caucuses went off to draft language for the presentations, while most of the group joined government and other delegates at the official welcome reception in the medina's plaza. Several hundred participants mingled amongst the rows of cocktail snacks and bartenders, while a group of young Tunisians wearing elaborate Thousand and One Nights costumes posed for pictures with attendees. On stage, a pair of male guitarists performing Django Reinhardt-like ditties dueled with an all-women Tunisian women's ensemble. The women were excellent performers and helped set the atmosphere, but the men, despite their talents, seemed a bit out of place considering the location....

Posted by acarvin at 3:57 AM

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June 24, 2004

Lamenting My Shameful Monolingualism

If there's one lesson I've learned so far here at the WSIS prepcom in Tunisia is that I really, really regret not maintaining and nuturing my French skills from high school. As an official UN event, the prepcom has simultaneous translations in the official languages of the UN -- English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and Russian. But in reality, much of the one-on-one and small group conversations are taking place in French, Frenglish (a French-English melange) or Frengrabic (yes, a blend of French, English and Arabic). Many of the participants are quite fluent in French, and I've had several situations where a group of us would simply speak in the language we're most comfortable speaking, then assume the rest of the group knew enough French and English to get through the conversation. For example, in conversations I've had with delegates from Tunisia, France and Cameroon, we've just spoken in our language of choice and hoped for the best.

At some times I've actually been surprised that I've been able to get the gist of these conversations in French, but when this has happened, I've obviously given off some kind of misleading nonverbal signals suggesting my comprehension is stronger than it actually is, which then leads to a ramping up of French in the conversation. Then I am lost, absolument.

Nonetheless, it's really amazing being among so many people who are bilingual, trilingual, quadrilingual, polyglots to the Nth degree. The president of the Prepcom, a native Latvian speaker, flows between English, French and Russian without blinking, for example. And of course, it really makes me sad that American schools don't require students to start learning a second language in early primary school. What a lost opportunity.

So as soon as I step off the plane in Boston, next stop, Berlitz -- I really need a refresher course... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 12:34 PM

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Telecenters Discussion this Friday in Hammamet

Tomorrow I'll be hosting a discussion on the role of telecenters, community technology centers, libraries and other public access points to the Internet, in the World Summit on the Information Society. The issue of telecenters hasn't received much focus in the process so far, so I've been exploring whether delegates here in Tunisia would be interested in forming some kind of working group on the subject that would be a part of civil society's contribution to WSIS.

If you're in Hammamet, our meeting will take place at 2pm tomorrow in room A6 here at the Medina conference center. Hope to see some of you there; otherwise, I'll also post a summary here on my blog.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 12:15 PM

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A Raucous Caucus

A brief, but large, video clip of the end of the Human Rights Caucus, in which a volatile debate broke out amongst human rights activists and others from Tunisia. Ralf Bendrath has also written a very good summary of the meeting.

Posted by acarvin at 10:30 AM

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Morning Plenary: An Elephant Parade of Speeches

Ambassador Janis Karklins of Latvia, newly-elected president of the Prepcoms for the Tunis phase of WSIS, was the first to speak during the during the first plenary session. "I would like to extend my profound gratitude to the govt of Tunisia for its warm hospitality. Conditions of work here are excellent and certainly stimulate fruitful debate and meaningful outcomes." He paid tribute to Adama Samasekou, who chaired the first phase of Prepcoms for Geneva, then led a vote to adopt the proposed agenda for the three days of meetings.

Most of the morning was spent with countries giving brief statements reiterating their support for the WSIS, as well as outlining any financial contributions they're making to the process. The session wrapped up just after 1pm, and is about to start again for the 3pm plenary, which is running a few minutes late. Ambassador Karklins has been banging the gavel for about five minutes, and is just getting the audience's attention.

Posted by acarvin at 10:17 AM

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Phlogging at the Prepcom

Rather than fill my blog's homepage with large photos, I've started to post some pictures to my photo blog at phlog.net. You can access them by clicking the previous hyperlink, or from the list of photos included on the left column of my blog's homepage. So far I've posted some pics of Renate Bloem, Bruno Oudet and myself. Enjoy.. -ac

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Self Portrait: Andy at the Prepcom

Here's a picture of me blogging from the balcony of the plenary session.

Posted by acarvin at 7:47 AM

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Panorama of Prepcom Plenary Session

Here's a panorama photo of the Prepcom plenary session. It's also available as a much larger jpeg file or as a panoramic Quicktime VR file.

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Prepcom Opening Ceremony

At the Yasmine Hammamet Medina in Tunisia this morning, Mr. Utsumi of the International Telecommunications Union opened the first preparatory meeting (prepcom) of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society. He said we should now move beyond making declarations and embrace real action to bridge the digital divide. "I now call on governments, private sector and civil society to find common ground." The representative of the Swiss government discussed a range of issues, including the role of civil society in the WSIS process. He said that he felt civil society's contributions have helped stimulate ideas amongst governments, and reiterated the importance of civil society participating throughout the process.

The Tunisian government representative then welcomed the plenary audience on behalf of Tunisian President Ben Ali. "I am convinced that the complimentary of the summit process, with its first phase in Geneva and the second phase in Tunis… will strengthen the bonds of international solidarity," he said. He then went on to reaffirm the importance of civil society and the private sector participating in the process. He added that civil society should "intensify" their participation in the process, saying they are "an essential element" for the establishment of the information society. As part of the Tunisian government's support of civil society participation, he called for a permanent UN fund for financing the participation of civil society in the WSIS process. He then said the Tunisian government would contribute 400,000 dinars (USD $320,000) to help facilitate the participation of civil society representatives from the developing world, particularly groups representing youth, women and the disabled. He said these groups would also receive free space to display their activities at the Tunis summit. Similarly, he offered free space for small private sector companies interested in presenting at the summit.

Posted by acarvin at 6:00 AM

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Journalism Rights Brouhaha

It took less than an hour for the first argument to erupt over press freedoms to break out during the morning civil society plenary. Steve Buckley of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) gave an overview of yesterday's media caucus breakout session, and summarized a letter the group has submitted to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan asking for guarantees that press freedoms will be protected during the Tunis phase of WSIS. Then, a Mr. Achour from Tunisia's Doctors Without Borders stood up and gave a monologue on how he knew of no journalists who have been put on trial in Tunisia, and said the media caucus had been plotting in secret meetings. Immediately, Buckley then stood up and started to distribute documentation to people in the audience countering Achour's arguments.

The Tunisian chair of the plenary called for a point of order, as did Renate Bloem, but Achour kept talking. Eventually, Rik Panganiban intervened and said that this plenary is solely for reviewing the caucus meetings from yesterday, and not for debating. The chairwomen then invited Achour to participate in the scheduled media caucus and human rights caucus, open to all attendees, in which he could feel free to debate the issue. Interestingly, Buckley's call for openness and press freedoms were then reaffirmed by the Swiss government representative during his opening remarks of the Prepcom plenary, going on right now.

Posted by acarvin at 5:40 AM

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Janis Karklins and the Lella Baya House Band

Late last night, civil society representatives had the opportunity to chat with Ambassador Janis Karklins of Latvia, who has been nominated to become president of the Prepcom of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society. Karklins, who literally arrived at the Lella Baya Hotel five minutes prior to the meeting at 10:30pm, quickly joined the group of 15 civil society representatives, hosted by Renate Bloem of CONGO. Sitting outside by the pool as a rather obnoxious dance band performed 100 meters away for a throng of gyrating Spanish tourists, Karklins described the basic procedures that had been adopted unanimously by the Prepcom bureau in Geneva. As the dance music throbbed in the background, the group asked questions on a variety of issues, including press freedoms during the Tunis phase, ensuring adequate speaking time for civil society representatives, human rights in the hot country and various procedural issues. Because of the extraordinarily loud music vibrating everyone to the bone, sometimes it was rather difficult to hear what was said; nonetheless, civil society representatives seemed to appreciate the 45 minutes he gave to the group at such a late hour.

Posted by acarvin at 3:40 AM

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UNDP Previews Financial Mechanisms Taskforce

Shoji Nishimoto, Assistant Administrator and Director of UNDP's Bureau for Development Policy, brief ed civil society members on a new UNDP taskforce which will discuss financing mechanisms for bridging the digital divide between developed and developing nations. The taskforce, yet to be formed, will feature representatives from government, civil society and the private sector, who will identify successful strategies for funding sustainable, replicable models to bridge the divide. Nishimoto said the UNDP will seek nominations for experts with experience in implementing funding programs and digital divide initiatives, including programs that have creatively addressed the divide from various perspectives, including infrastructure, education, content, etc.

Nishimoto expects the taskforce to be constituted by the end of July, with work commencing immediately via the Internet and occasional in-person meetings. Mark Malloch Brown, director of UNDP, has asked Nishimoto to report the findings of the taskforce by this December, in order to allow for time to review the report prior to the second Prepcom meeting, expected to be in Geneva early in 2005. Nishimoto predicted around 17 or 18 taskforce members; there will also likely be a mechanism for non-members of this taskforce to submit opinions on the subject via the Internet

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June 23, 2004

Civil Society Content and Themes Plenary

The next plenary session focused on civil society's work in the WSIS process in terms of generating content for official WSIS documents and activities. Renate Bloem opened the session noting that during the first prepcom meeting of the first round of WSIS, civil society was "totally excluded." Complaints about this eventually led to the establishment of an official WSIS civil society bureau that would have a legitimate seat at the table, and would be able to submit input on various relevant topics by civil society organizations. During the second prepcom, civil society representatives divided themselves into various working groups on themes such as human rights, gender, Internet governance, etc, but this was limited to those people who were physically represented at the meeting, meaning that some potential topics might have fallen through the cracks.

"The idea of establishing a civil society bureau was a very, very good one, but we must make sure the process is as democratic and legitimate as possible," she said. Over the next day, civil society groups will have to decide who amongst them will want to speak during two 15-minute time slots in the plenaries this Friday and Saturday morning.

Next, a representative from the civil society content and themes group offered more details on the process. These self-selected working groups were based upon various common interests and geographic regions. The groups would then develop positions on relevant Internet issues and submit them to the content and themes group, whose task it would be to develop the ideas into a unified position document representing all of civil society participating in WSIS. During the first round of WSIS, he said, civil society groups felt that their ideas weren't being taken seriously, though almost half of the ideas suggested by civil society ended up making it into the official documents. Still, he said, this needs improvement, and we should push to re-open the issue so more of the positions of civil society get accepted by the participating governments.

Governments, he said, clearly have unfinished business to do regarding Internet governance and the financing of digital divide initiatives, but that should not stop us from advocating our ideas and trying to get them included in the final WSIS documents. The WSIS plan of action, he said, needs more specifics. Civil society should also hold governments accountable to what they've promised to do throught this process. Last, civil society must make sure that governments take human rights seriously; in particular, he cited the Tunisian government's evolving policies as an important barometer for seeing if governments address the issue in ways that are satisfactory to civil society.

The final speaker was Bertrand de la Chapelle, who gave a demonstration of the website www.wsis-online.net. A community platform for civil society activists, the website is intended to be used by groups so they can coordinate their WSIS-related activities. The site allows users to create event listings, working groups, organizational and personal profiles, etc, all sorted by particular civil society interests. The website's database then allows users to sort people and organizations based on these interests so they can identify each other and hopefully partner with each other to meet civil society goals.

Posted by acarvin at 9:55 AM

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Opening of the Civil Society Event

This morning at the Hammamet Medina, Civil Societybegan a day-long meeting regarding the WSIS prepcom meeting, which will officially open tomorrow morning. After opening comments from Renate Bloem, she then welcomed Charles Geiger of the WSIS Executive Secretariate.Geiger explained the history of the UN's interest in hosting world summits. "Each summit creates their own rules," he said. "This summit is special because it has two phases. On the first summit the governments decided on the rules of procedure…. A world summit is basically an intergovernmental summit, while businesses, international organizations and civil society act as observers."

"The origins of this summit was that the Tunisian government proposed the summit at a meeting of the ITU in Minnesota in 1998…. It was then brought into the UN system, and there was a resolution that was the basis of this becoming a UN summit. They said the first phase would take place in Geneva in 2003, and the second phase would be in Tunisia in 2005."

"There were two breakthroughs at WSIS. You were able to create civil society bureaus so you could speak with one voice. Plus there were joint bureau meetings in which civil society and business were invited to meet with governments. Governments don't like to do new things, but once they do, they probably will continue." Geiger said he couldn't guarantee it would happen in this phase as well, but hoped it would, perhaps starting with a joint bureau meeting this Friday at 6pm.

"At the first summit we had two declarations, so the question now comes, what is left for phase two?" he said. "Here I can only make guesses, since I cannot speak for the governments. There is unfinished business on… Internet governance and financing mechanisms [for a digital divide fund]."

Geiger said there would probably be a second prepcom in Geneva next February, followed by a third prepcom in the late summer, either in Geneva or Tunis. There will also be regional meetings in Brazil, in Ghana in February and one hosted by the Arab League. He also noted that he expects the ITU to announce tomorrow the availability of UN funds to support the WSIS process, since WSIS to date has been an unfunded mandate and supported by various public and private sources.

Posted by acarvin at 6:30 AM

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June 13, 2004

WSIS Civil Society Discussion at CTCNet

Yesterday afternoon at CTCNet, I co-hosted a gathering on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) with Amali DaSilva-Mitchell of the Vancouver Community Network. Almost 20 people attended the informal meeting, and we had an engaging discussion over the course of the hour. Amali and I gave an overview of WSIS, and the process created to encourage civil society representatives to participate. There was concern amongst the group over the relative lack of participation by members of the CTC/telecenter community, some of which may be due to lack of awareness or resources. Additionally, because CTCs and telecenters are largely interdisciplinary, providing education services, Internet access, content development, etc, their interests get distributed amongst the many thematic working groups involved in the WSIS process.

Because there seemed to be a lot of interest in mobilizing CTCs to get more involved in WSIS, Amali and I offered to invite the attendees to participate in the North American Civil Society discussion list. Additionally, I'm going to take a crack at writing a brief essay on what WSIS is all about and why CTCs should care about it. Perhaps one of the end results of this will be the development of an interdisciplinary CTC/telecenter working group as part of the WSIS process; we'll have to see if other civil society reps from around the world think it would be productive to do so.... -andy

Posted by acarvin at 12:56 PM

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December 21, 2003

WSIS Photo Gallery

View of Lausanne and the Alps

Hi everyone.... Yesterday I finished working on my WSIS online photo gallery, and I'd like to invite all of you to visit:

http://www.edwebproject.org/wsis03/

The site includes several exhibits from the summit, including the opening plenary session, President Mohammed Khatami's press conference, and the UNESCO Knowledge Forum. I've also set up exhibits on Lausanne and Geneva, which just happened to be hosting the annual L'Escalade festival the weekend after the summit. (The photo on the right was taken in Lausanne, in case you're wondering.)

Hope you enjoy the photos. Happy holidays! -ac

Posted by acarvin at 10:29 AM

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December 17, 2003

Back from WSIS

It's Wednesday morning in Washington DC, and I've been back from WSIS for a few days. My brain is still on Geneva time, so I've been going to bed by 9pm and up by 5am, which has allowed me to get into work by around 7am and catch up on all of the emails that accumulated during my absence.

It's been really interesting watching all the Monday-morning quarterbacking that's been going on since the summit wrapped up. In general, most of the news stories I've seen seem to take the position that the summit was a mixed bag. I thought one headlines from the Guardian newspaper was particularly entertaining: UN Summit Fails to Bridge Digital Divide. Like there was anything that could have happened at the summit, even under the most idealized circumstances, that could have literally bridged the digital divide then and there.

Meanwhile, the BBC World radio service is running a 15-minute segment on the information society; I managed to do an interview with them, and get quoted twice in the interview, at the 3:10 and 11:20 mark. (Since it's a RealAudio file, you can click and drag the play arrow to exact points in the recording, in case you only want to listen to me and ignore what everyone else said.) I'm not sure how long the recording will be on their website, so enjoy it while you can...

Lastly, some of the folks who were heavily involved in the civil society work at the summit have compiled The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the Summit. Rik Panganiban and Ralf Bendrath, the authors of the document, offer some keen insights on what went well and what didn't.

Posted by acarvin at 8:23 AM | Comments (1)

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December 12, 2003

Desai to Civil Society: What Summit Were You at??

Yoshio Utsumi, Pascal Couchepin & Nitin Desai

At the closing press conference for the World Summit on the Information Society, UN Special Advisor to the Secretary-General Nitin Desai voiced pointed skepticism over civil society's lambasting of the Summit's treatment of protesters and alternative media. Civil Society representatives had released a statement criticizing the authorities for the way they've handled the protestors: "We strongly condemn these violations of the right to assemble and freedom of expression that have cast a shadow of hypocrisy over the summit."

Desai, however, shot back when asked about this by DailySummit.net's David Steven. "I think these people were attending a different conference," he said. "I'd like to see what they're talking about, who they're speaking for." Yoshio Utsumi of the ITU, meanwhile, cited how civil society had a place at the table throughout the entire preparatory process. "All stakeholders could express their views."

President Couchepin of the Swiss Confederation praised the event as "a success" whose declaration and action plan will form "the constitution of the information society." Regarding the failure of the summit to successfully address Internet governance and the approval of a digital solidarity fund, Utsumi added, "We couldn't set up clear measures, but we all agreed to continue to work to the Tunisian phase" of the summit, which takes place in November 2005. Desai seconded this, saying that the UN needed to "maintain the momentum" generated in Geneva in order to work out a final plan of action for Tunis.

When asked about the lack of free expression in Tunisia, which will host the next summit, panelists demurred. "It's not up to Switzerland to judge," Couchepin said. Nitin Desai added, "The standard of access within the conference will be the same" as other UN conferences. Tell that to the dissidents standing outside the Tunisia summit's security cordon, I thought. A representative from Tunisian state television then jumped in and insisted that people should stop harping on Tunisia for its record on free expression and dissent. "I think we need to put an end to this childish debate," he declared, before being asked by the moderator if he actually had a question to ask the panel.

He did not. -ac

Posted by acarvin at 1:33 PM

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Senegal President Declares "World Digital Solidarity Day"

Festus Mogae, Abdoulaye Wade & Themba Dlamini

President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, accompanied by the president of Botswana and the prime minister of Swaziland, declared December 12, 2004 as the first annual World Digital Solidarity Day. The announcement was made to celebrate the decision by countries participating in the World Summit on the Information Society to include language supporting the principle of a "Digital Solidarity Fund" in the summit's final declaration. The details of such a fund, though, have yet to be worked out.

"We are asking all -- particularly the young of the world, to whom this day is addressed -- to take initiative," President Wade said. "Cities, civil society, associations should prepare regional meetings" to plan for the event, which will take place next year at a city in Africa, yet to be determined.

"There's a global agreement of the desirability of IT in the development of all nations," added President Festus Mogae of Botswana, lending his support to the announcement. "The next thing is how to go about it."

"We are hear to witness and give affirmation that we'd like to see ICT promoted," Prime Minister Themba Dlamini of Swaziland said, adding, "The [Digital Solidarity] Fund will go a long way in helping us in the developing world." -ac

Posted by acarvin at 11:46 AM

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Highway Africa: WSIS News Keeps on Comin'....

While I try to catch a second wind and suck down another cup of coffee, I just wanted to pause for a moment and offer muchos kudos to the Highway Africa News Agency, organized by the South Africa Broacasting Corporation and Rhodes University. Comprised of a group of university student journalists from all over Africa, HANA has been plugging away day after day offering some of the best insider coverage of the World Summit. And I'm not saying this because HANA's Megan Knight has been offering me squatting space in her corner of the media room. Seriously, check out the HANA website and enjoy the coverage while it's lasts, which ain't much longer (5pm and ticking here in Geneva).... -ac

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UNDP's Malloch Brown to Microsoft: Seek Dialogue over Open Source; CTCNet Pan-American Alliance

Jose Maria Figueres, Mark Malloch Brown & Jean Philippe Courtios

After brief presentations by former Costa Rican president Jose Maria Figueres and Microsoft's Jean Philippe Courtios, UN Development Program Director Mark Malloch Brown, took advantage of a speaking engagement at Microsoft's Unlimited Potential forum to raise the issue of open source.

"I profoundly believe that [open source] shouldn't divide us" when it comes to bridging the digital divide in the developing world, he said. Directing his comments to Microsoft and to Bill Gates in particular, he continued, "I really count on you to be a part of the fight for freedom on the Internet. UNDP will give no quarter on this issue."

"I also think media ownership is a threat," along with corporate monopolies, he added. But to Malloch Brown, the biggest threats are governments themselves, and they cannot be allowed to quash ICT freedoms. "Every country should make their own choice to select their own software to best suit their needs," he said.

Malloch Brown then compared the need for a compromise on open source to the way a compromise was struck when it came to providing affordable prescription drugs in the developing world. Not long ago, health care costs for individuals in the South were as high as $12,000 per person, he noted. Today, the price has come down to well less than $1,000. Eventually they reached a compromise with pharmaceutical companies that allowed the cost of drugs to plummet, yet remain high enough to ensure that the companies would be able to continue pharmaceutical innovations.

He hoped a similar process could occur regarding open source; that Microsoft would offer more discounts and revise their intellectual property policies to strike a fair compromise. Both Microsoft and the open source community should work together to bridge the digital divide and not allow the situation to degenerate any further.

"UNDP will be happy to hold all the coats when they go into the room and box this all out," he added, provoking laughter from the audience.