[WSIS CS-Plenary] ALERT: new "terrorist" paragraph 50bisintroduced

[Laina Raveendran Greene]

I agree that there may be political, moral or social agenda for this, but we
need to be careful it does have a negative impact on freedom of expression
and other such rights on the Internet. Legitimate NGOs can always be stopeed
in name of protecting against terrorism. There is a very careful balance to
be made here between the need to stop real terrorism (as defined by SG Kofi
Annan in his report to the Millenium Summit terrorism, any action
"........intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or
non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating ........" 

The lack of clear and universally agreed definition makes this a very
ambiguos and dangerous thing to do. I agree that I don't think the
conference has time to discuss this within the short time frame it has. We
may need to exclude it based on its last minute inclusion.

Just a personal thought.

Laina

-----Original Message-----
From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org] On Behalf
Of Richard Vincent
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 8:23 PM
To: plenary at wsis-cs.org
Subject: Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] ALERT: new "terrorist" paragraph
50bisintroduced

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Dear Ralf, et al.:

As a U.S. citizen, I am extremely concerned with a "terrorism" clause in
this draft.  We already have seen major attacks on civil liberties in the
United States under the rubric of "Homeland 'Security'".  Today, U.S.
citizens and visitors both enjoy far less freedom than they did prior to
9/11, and many Americans are not convinced these changes are for the better.
It appears that the term "terrorism" has become a front for anyone who
simply espouses stronger control of the public.  Terrorism is also an
acknowledged reason the United States has announced it would indefinitely
retain oversight of the main computers that control traffic on the Internet
according to its 30 June 2005 announcement.  This was a clear rebuff on WSIS
and UN efforts seeking to address Internet governance and issues of
oversight of root servers.  It is also unclear as to whether such a stance
is being motivated by security concerns or instead by market motives.

I believe we must stand up and oppose the inclusion of any language that
would stand in opposition to free communication flows through the Internet.
Whether such moves are based on security concerns, moral grounds, or some
other expressed political or social agenda, I believe a restriction of the
Internet is simply wrong.  It is essential that we fight such actions
whenever it arises.  This is not, in my opinion, an area where the concept
of negative freedoms should be employed to restrict Internet users and/or
Internet content.

Rick Vincent


Dr. Richard C. Vincent
Professor
Department of Communication
Indiana State University
Terre Haute, IN 47809
U.S.A.

email: rvincent at indstate.edu
telephone: +1 812 237-3246
fax: +1 812 237-3217
>>> westasiaregion at hotmail.com 09/28/05 11:44 AM >>>
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Dear Ralf,

As we discussed before with you, and as a represnetiave from a region which
is being the first victim of terrorism in the world, let me raise my own
concern that in principle if there is any note to terrorism in the
documents, this is good, but our concern should be how they will interpret
it later on to limit freedom of expression in the name of terrorism. But in
principle we support reference to misuse of internet for terrorism, but we
leave to you as experts of how you wish to refer to it in your statement. I
should say, that many groups (including NGOs) in middle east region may
support this new para.

Regards
Amir


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ralf Bendrath" <bendrath at zedat.fu-berlin.de>
To: "wsis-cs-plenary" <plenary at wsis-cs.org>; "WSIS Internet Governance 
Caucus" <governance at lists.cpsr.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 6:09 PM
Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] ALERT: new "terrorist" paragraph 50bis introduced


> [Please note that by using 'REPLY', your response goes to the entire list.

> Kindly use individual addresses for responses intended for specific 
> people]
>
> Click http://wsis.funredes.org/plenary/ to access automatic translation of

> this message!
> _______________________________________
>
> Hi all,
>
> a disturbing development occured this afternoon:
>
> In the working group chaired by Canada from 13:30-15:00, Isreael at the 
> very end introduced a new paragraph proposal (50bis). Other delegations 
> said they have to consult before discussing it, and they will discuss
> it this evening, I think. The paragraph reads:
>
> "New 50bis. We underline the importance of countering the manifestations
> of terrorism at all its forms in the Internet. In particular, we condemn
> the use of the internet for purposes of financing of terrorist acts,
> radicalization towards terrorist acts, recruitment for terrorist acts, and
> glorification of terrorist acts that may incite further terrorist acts."
>
> The Privacy & Security Working Group and the Human Rights Caucus will 
> issue a statement this evening. But in the meantime, talk to your 
> delegations and tell them we don't like this at all.
>
> As much as we hate terrorism - formulations like "glorification" etc. are 
> way too ambigous and vague and may easily lead to restrictions of freedom 
> of speech.
>
> Best, Ralf
>
> PS: The drafting group was open to observers for the whole time, but I did

> not ask for the
> floor.
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