[WSIS CS-Plenary] EU Draft Action Plan

[Kenan Jarboe]

Sean -- thanks for sending this out.  I think risk-averse is a good way of 
characterizing not just this document, but the entire summit process.  At 
least the EU document seems to acknowledge that the focus of the meeting is 
on the Information Society -- and not narrowly on the technology.  Based on 
my read of the various documents, it seems to me that the title of the 
meeting should be the World Summit on Information Technology Infrastructure.




At 04:03 AM 6/23/2003, you wrote:
>Attached find the EU Contribution to the Draft Action Plan.
>
>This appears to be a risk-averse document, with very little of interest.  e.g.
>
>- on open-source, the uses the word of 'encourage' not 'promote', which is 
>almost the US line; no mention of free software;
>- on public domain, there is no talk of expanding only  'policy guidelines 
>for development and promotion'
>- on intellectual property rights, there is talk of the 'actions should be 
>taken towards the protection  of rights of creators'  ...  'with special 
>attention to the fair balance ... ' .  Action is what matters here.
>- on investment, the role of the public sector is to pay 'in those regions 
>which are not yet sufficiently attractive for private investments'  at the 
>same time as ensuring a 'conducive environment' for the private 
>sector  i.e. the poor can wait, but let us not let anything get in the way 
>of profits.
>
>At first read, this is a disappointing document.
>
>Sean
>
>___________________________________________________
>Seán Ó Siochrú  Central office: tel:  +353 1 473 0599 fax: +353 1 473 0597
>NEXUS Research  Mobile: +353 87 20 48 150
>14 Eaton Brae   Direct office tel: +353 1 272 0739  fax: +353 1 272 0034
>Shankill
>Co. Dublin              e-mail: sean at nexus.ie
>Ireland                 Web site: http://www.iol.ie/nexus
>
>
>
>---
>Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
>Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
>Version: 6.0.491 / Virus Database: 290 - Release Date: 18/06/2003


Kenan Patrick Jarboe, Ph.D.
Athena Alliance
911 East Capitol Street, SE
Washington, DC  20003-3903
(202) 547-7064
kpjarboe at athenaalliance.org
http://www.athenaalliance.org