[WSIS CS-Plenary] WSISII, Free Access to Information, Search Engines

[Wolfgang Sander-Beuermann]

Dear Francis Muguet,

this email to you is because Ralf Bendrath (Germany, Bremen/Berlin, CC set)
gave me the pointer to contact you. My objective is already very shortly
described by the subject line of this email: I strongly believe it's beeing
necessary to introduce a clear and realistic statement into the declarations    
of WSIS2 concerning the free access to information. Access to information is
already stated at WSIS1 (Declaration of Principles: B3 no. 24-28, Plan of
Action: C3), but it does not make sense without more precision regarding the
process of gaining information.

This process is governed in real life by the search engines. Search engines
nowadays are overtaking the role which libraries have had for centuries. And
in that field we observe a monopolism which we never had before in mankind:
one company (Google) has practically taken over the market (more than 80%
marketshare in Germany). This is like if there would be just one library or
just one newspaper for the whole world. The owner of that one company has
then gained control over the minds of all human beeings. The only "chance"
might be that an ever bigger monopolist (Microsoft) will take over that
segment too, which would certainly not generate a better situation.

I strongly feel, that this threat of the information society has to be
clearly phrased at WSIS2. I'm working in the field of search engines at
Hannover University, Germany, since about 8 years
(http://meta.rrzn.uni-hannover.de/suma-eng.html) and I'm really concerned
about what happens in this field.

Will you step into this matter too? I'm looking for people willing to
act too on this global threat of the information society.

Best Wishes!
Wolfgang Sander-Beuermann
--
Dr. Wolfgang Sander-Beuermann        Tel.: ++49-(0)511-762-4383 Office
                                           ++49-(0)5085-6118    @Home
Project Lead SearchEngineLab         http://metager.de/suma-eng.html
University of Hannover