[WSIS CS-Plenary] WSIS news

[Robert Guerra]

Subject: RFID Bug devices track officials at world summit
From: rguerra at privaterra.org
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 02:39:46 -0500
X-Message-Number: 1

Sigh!

FYI - Stephanie Perrin and I  attended the UN World Summit on the
Information Society
(WSIS) last week in Geneva.

As per the story below , i'll just say that there are certain factual
errors in the
article. The most important being that it being a UN summit, the data
protection
directives that would apply are those in place at the UN...which, i'm
not sure exist. or
do they?

regards

Robert

>
> Subject: RFID Bug devices track officials at world summit
> From: Jim Kelly <jimkelly at shaw.ca>
> Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2003 11:28:11 -0800
> X-Message-Number: 1
>
> http://washingtontimes.com/national/20031214-011754-1280r.htm
> December 14, 2003
>
>
>                      Bug devices track officials at summit
>
>
>                        By Audrey Hudson
>                        THE WASHINGTON TIMES
>
>
>
>                            Officials who attended a world Internet and
>                        technology summit in Switzerland last week
>                        were unknowingly bugged, said researchers
>                        who attended the forum.
>

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Fw: WSIS coverage
From: "Stephanie Perrin" <stephanie at digitaldiscretion.ca>
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 10:21:34 -0500


WSIS coverageTo those interested in the WSIS Summit this week.  Simon =
Davies is being scathing, he was invited at the last minute to come and =
speak for three minutes at a plenary meeting on behalf of Civil Society,
=
and declined.  While the event was expensive and not well organized in =
some respects, on balance I must say that I think it is time the world =
started talking together about all of these topics.  Those multilateral =
multi-stakeholder efforts are always tedious, slow, and expensive; so is
=
democracy.  What is the alternative?  Watching while those on the other =
side of the digital divide fall off the economic map? Not talking to the
=
dictators and torturers and robber barons?

Canada had a huge delegation, including the federal government and =
provinces, a really great exhibit, had a lot to say in terms of internet
=
prevalence, content, and policy, and I am certainly proud as a Canadian =
of the many great projects we have funded both overseas and here at =
home.  Many human rights advocates were disappointed at the lowest =
common denominator which we reached in the final texts; welcome to =
international drafting parties.  However, we are closer to knowing the =
size of the job that needs to be done:  Immense.  And there is nothing =
more invigorating, when overwhelmed by complex expensive problems, than =
meeting dedicated people from around the world who are working =
tirelessly to make progress in their own areas of interest.  For lots of
=
folks, that interest is still making money and advancing their own =
interests.  For lots of others, it is education, human rights, economic =
development, a free press, health and agriculture, ....even equity.

I spoke on one of the high level roundtables, on behalf of Civil =
Society, along with Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation and
=
Peter Leuprecht, Dean of McGill law school.  Although our sense was that
=
our messages, about human rights, privacy and transparency, and free =
software, were not as welcome as the cheery messages that Simon Davies =
complains about below, nevertheless I think we are all committed to =
hammering away on these issues forever.  We'll be back, as Arnold =
says...

the website for the WSIS conference is at http://www.itu.int/wsis/

Sent: Monday, December 15, 2003 8:13 AM
Subject: WSIS coverage




In today's San Francisco Chronicle.=20

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/chronicle/archive/2003
/=
12/15/EDGGA3G8H41.DTL


Bumps on the Road to a Global Internet
Call for a wired world unplugged

Simon Davies      Monday, December 15, 2003
=20
------------------------------------------------------------------------


It was promoted as the great event for the Internet. Fifty heads of =
state and 12,000 delegates from 175 countries had gathered in Geneva to =
hammer out a blueprint for the future of the global information society.
=
Two years in preparation at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars =
and last week it spectacularly failed.

The U.N. World Summit on the Information Society was set up to reach =
global agreement on complex problems such as bridging the digital divide
=
between rich and poor, broadening access to information and enshrining =
the right of free expression. This would be measured by setting as the =
central goal to get the Internet, telephones and other communications to
=
at least half the world's inhabitants by 2015.

Such a worldwide effort was long overdue: Nearly half the world's people
=
have never made a phone call; crucial and often life-saving information =
about health and education is seldom available outside Western =
countries; and the majority of the world's governments still maintain an
=
iron grip over their citizens' communications.

Adopting the celebratory tone common to all such occasions, the leaders =
of the rich and powerful governments and corporations agreed at the =
summit's conclusion that a Neil Armstrong-like step had been taken in =
the evolution of the information age.

Rubbish.

The event was an expensive boondoggle. It was such a waste that last =
week I turned down a rare invitation to speak at its grand plenary.

"We are going through a historic transformation in the way we live, =
learn, work, communicate and do business," said U.N. Secretary-General =
Kofi Anan in his opening remarks. "We must do so not passively, but as =
makers of our own destiny. Technology has produced the information age. =
Now it is up to all of us to build an information society."

He went on to remind the thousands of delegates of the crucial =
challenges ahead in opening up communications and information for the =
poor of the world. Strong words indeed -- such a pity they went into =
thin air.

Even as Anan was speaking, the Chinese delegates were busy gutting civil
=
rights from the summit's declaration of principles. Meanwhile, the U.S. =
delegation and its corporate allies were stitching up a deal to =
eliminate the establishment of a fund to finance telecommunications =
infrastructure for poor African countries just as the Egyptians were =
finalizing the death blow for a proposed guarantee of free expression.

Then came the nauseating hypocrisy, as country after country declared =
principles that were diametrically opposed to their hidden agendas. =
China's minister for the information industry proclaimed: "Freedom of =
speech should be guaranteed and human dignity and rights safeguarded by =
law" (subject, he added, to respect for cultural norms).

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak ignored his own country's appalling =
record of censorship and discrimination to declare his commitment to =
"freedom, democracy and respect of human rights" (subject to the caveat =
of respect for national identity).

Nor is the United States immune to a charge of serial hypocrisy. While =
it was proclaiming support for openness and freedom for the world, the =
delegation was silently destroying a proposal to endorse the use of =
"open source" software that might have been affordable to poor nations, =
rather than the expensive "proprietary" software such as Microsoft =
Windows. The U.S. efforts paid dividends: The draft declaration of =
principles of the summit quickly changed from "support" for such =
software to merely "promoting awareness."

The whole affair was a deplorable sham and a corporate gravy train in =
which the poorest countries on Earth had yet again been exploited.

Of course, I might have been wrong. Maybe the free market can solve the =
problems of the world's poor. Then I reflected on the news that all =
delegates to the summit, rich and poor alike, were being forced to pay =
$170 for access to the Internet for the week. Welcome to the future.