[WSIS CS-Plenary] S&T for Development in WSIS - notes from meeting in Washington

[Fullsack Jean-Louis]

French below

Hello Ralf
I fairly understood that there were not only business people who attended
this meeting which was rather an academic gathering. When I mentioned
"business managers" I precisely alluded to those "academicians" and
pseudo-academicians who are eager to transform education in a vast business,
leaving the market.solve the issues and provide its "solutions".
Good bye education as a public service and a common good for all, in the
North and in the South !
It's our major task as CS members to combat such a perversion. Clearly and
resolutely.
All the best, and once again many thanks for your job there.
Jean-Louis Fullsack
CSDPTT-France

Bonjour Ralf
J'ai parfaitement compris qu'il n'y avait pas que des commerciaux qui
participaient a cette reunion qui etait plutot un rassemblement
d'universitaires. Quand j'ai mentionne les "business managers" j'ai fait
precisement allusion a ces "universitaires" et pseudo universitaires qui
sont presses de transformer l'education en un vaste commerce, laissant le
marche resoudre les problemes et fournir ses "solutions".
Adieu a l'education/enseignement comme service public et bien public pour
tous, au Nord comme au Sud.
C'est notre tache principale de membres de la SC que de combattre une telle
perversion. Clairement et resolument.
Bonne continuation et encore merci pour ton travail la-bas.
Jean-Louis Fullsack
CSDPTT-France

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ralf Bendrath" <bendrath at zedat.fu-berlin.de>
To: <plenary at wsis-cs.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2004 9:26 PM
Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] S&T for Development in WSIS - notes from meeting
in Washington


> Hi all,
>
> Fullsack Jean-Louis wrote:
>
> > Many thanks Ralf. Be attentive and tell these business managers the
opinion of CS.
>
> Actually it was not only business people, but many from scientific
> organizations who more belong to civil society. But the good old cs
> left-liberal groups were missing who still have principles and don't let
> themselves buyout by private sector money.
>
> And yes: We told them what we think. Not everything (time for discussion
> was limited), but at least we were there and held up the flag.
>
> Here are the notes I took durng the meeting. Pretty unedited, but
> probably interesting.
> Bottom line: Private Sector and Science Community is going to developing
> countries to tell them how to regulate (read: dereulate and privatize)
> their information society. The Washington CS groups really should become
> more active here, if I may suggest. Well, Frannie ad the Public Voice is
> working on this, as is the CRIS USA chapter, but there is still a lot to
> do.
>
> Best, Ralf
>
> -------------------------
>
> US National Academies
> Science and Technology for Development of the Information Society
> Planning Meeting for Post-WSIS I Follow-up Activities
> Washington DC, 23 March 2004
>
>
> Session I: Overview presentations
>
> Opening Remarks
> William Wulf, Natl. Academy of Engineering
> -wsis.nap.edu
>
> US Government Interests in WSIS
> Richard Beaird, US State Department (the big guy who was in Geneva all
> the time, RB)
> -WSIS "an experience you can keep living"
> -Regions of the world reached remarkable similar conclusions:
>   oICTs are important for their development (economic, political,
> cultural)
>   oAll wanted to further their involvement. Question only was: How where
> when?
>   oPrinciple vehicle for this InfoSoc they want to be part of is the
> internet
>   oSomething healthy in all that for us
>   oOur fear of what the world would do with the InfoSoc became less
>   oWe have been mostly involved with the private sector
>   oWe now deal with civil society and scientific community
>   oNow there are all three major pillars of our society involved:
> Private Sector, Civil Society, Scientific Community
>   oThree principles
>    - Cyber Security
>    - Infrastructure development
>    - Capacity building
>   o'summit is not only about developing world!
>   oMajor Principles for US:
>    - Free flow of information & freedom of the press
>      - "enabling environment" as in plan of action
>      - rule of law
>      - foreign direct investment
>      - tech is an enabler, not an end in itself
>      - chances for SMEs, especially important in the developing world
>      - intellectual property rights: key principle, have been endorsed
> in the first phase. "Key enabler for disseminating knowledge"
>      - tech-neutral international standards
>      - governments have to play a role in the delivering of fundamental
> social services (education, health, .)
>    o aware of our audience: developed and developing world
>      - we must be sensitive to those in marginalized areas
>      - our partners in civil society and private sector
>      - work together with them
>
> UNESCO's interests in WSIS
> Mogens Schmidt, UNESCO
> - UNESCO overview: education, science, culture, communication as areas
> of action
> - WSIS plan of action is mirroring UNESCO's activities
> - rather "knowledge societies" than "information society"
> - enhancing info-flows is not sufficient, you need to strengthen
> reflection etc.
> - four principles for UNESCO:
>   oFreedom of expression
>   oUniversal access to info and knowledge
>   oHuman dignity and cultural and linguistic diversity
>   oQuality education for all
> -WSIS II:
>  oFinance /digital solidarity agenda
>  oInternet governance
>  oNetwork security
>  omain focus for UNESCO:
>   - building capacities in the developing world, practicing digital
> solidarity
>   - scientific information sharing: we support this different IPR model.
> The IPR issue will pop up again! UNESCO developing policy guidelines for
> public domain information
>  oInternet governance: UNESCO would support any model that maintains the
> openness of the current ICANN model without creating a new bureaucracy
>   - UNESCO will hold a multi-stakeholder meeting on 7 April in Paris on
> phase two structure and issues.
>
> The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) program for ICT
> infrastructure
> Jim Gale, OPIC
> - were part of the Marshal Plan
> - direct investment & insurance in ICT infrastructure build-up in the
> developing world (infrastructure, B2B projects, wired and wireless, .)
> - mission: mobilize and facilitate US private capital investment in the
> developing world
> - OPIC has given or insured some tens of billions of US-Dollars
> -At WSIS 2003 they announced a new programme: 400 million dollar fund to
> help broaden US ICT companies involvement in developing countries
> - www.opic.gov
> - jgale at opic.gov
>
> Questions & Answers
>
> (some others went to the microphone, but I was busy preparing my
> remarks/questions. RB)
>
> Ralf Bendrath
> - CS involvement in US delegation? --> no, but fighting for CS
> participation in rules of procedure
> - ICANN / Internet governance debate? --> no specific interest to engage
> in this
> - intergovernmental bureau meeting last Friday (March 19)? ' no new
> president elected
> - rumours say US govt is planning a thematic meeting on cyber-security?
> --> Beaird did not know about this
> - Tunisia? --> Demarche from EU (Irish presidency) two weeks ago, George
> W Bush has addressed human rights situation directly with president Ben
> Ali recently.
>
>
> Break
>
> Session II: Proposals for WSIS-related Public-Sector Projects
>
> Chair:Paul Uhlir, National Research Council, ISTIP
>
> -Wesley Shrum by conference call
>  oPre-summit event "Past, Present and Future of Science and Engineering
> in the Information Society", Tunis, November 13-15
>  oSheet was distributed on this
>  oThe draft of the web page is at http://worldsci.net
> -AAAS (American Association for Advancement of Science) / Association
> for Women in Science):
>  obetter dissemination of scientific information
>  ogender issues in ICT,
>  oinvolve AAAS members into bridging digital divides;
>  oIPR: increase access to scientific information by developing nations,
> determine acceptable levels of protection of IPRs for all
> -Institute of Museum and Library Services
>  oAlso planning a pre-summit conference on the role of libraries in the
> information society
>  oSheet with more info was distributed
>  oContact: Joyce Ray jray at inls.gov
> -NRC, ISTIP Office
>  oGlobal series of workshops on open access to digital information
> resources
>  oGoal: develop economically sustainable models for access to scientific
> information, mainly in health and environment areas. Multi-Stakeholder
> approach
>  oInventory of what US public sector in S&T has already underway with
> regard to action plan implementation in developing countries, to be
> officially delivered by US government at next summit. "Will not too hard
> to do, but be quite impressive". Will not cost any extra money. ;-)
> Encourages private Sector to do the same.
>  oCODATA-ICSTI Web portal for archiving digital scientific information
> resources, with emphasis on developing countries. Conference in Berlin
> in November 2004.
>
> Discussion:
>
> - who is collecting all this info? ' no-one yet
> - listserv will be created as outcome of this meeting for US S&T
> coordination, contact:  Paul Uhlir, National Research Council, ISTIP
> - what came out of CERN meeting right before WSIS 2003? ' publications
> planned
> - what happened to the project ideas that came up at the WSIS
> roundtables?
> - Link between MDGs and WSIS outcomes?
> - Who can help the scientific organizations who want to help the WSIS
> action plan to happen but don't know how to do this? ' UNESCO and others
> are trying to create clearinghouses. Also use www.wsis-online.net! But
> also do it nationally!
>
> Session 3: Proposals for WSIS-related Public-Private Partnerships
>
> Introductory Remarks
> Marilyn Cade, AT&T
> - companies are not able to be involved as they used to be
> - "private sector = NGOs and companies"
> - examples:
>   o educational programmes for regulators all over the world,
> US-Congress funded, the participants afterwards go back to their
> countries and implement it. "You can help here!"
>   o EU-funded programme that educates people in eastern European and
> developing countries on how to run an ISP, negotiate bandwidth etc.
>   o IT mentors programme: USAID funded: helping to set up ICT business
> associations in developing countries.
> - "Introducing privatization in developing countries is still work in
> progress"
> - how do we advance the building up of infrastructure in those
> countries? Get away from routing every packet through the US.
> - How do they get the money?
> - Some funding could be re-prioritized
> - Do it as multi-stakeholder-approach! Re-create the original founding
> structure of the internet!
>
> Project Presentations
>
> - Global Internet Policy Initiative (GIPI)
>  oCDT and others are running it
>  oHow to build policy reform into the info-society?
>  o' how to bring deregulation, privatization, democracy, human rights
> etc.into developing countries' internet policy reform?
>  o' working on them country by country by multi-stakeholder-approaches
>  obased on best practices and international standards
>  oactive in India, Russia, Indonesia, etc., many in Caucasian countries
>  overy good record in working with US gov, private sector and UN
> agencies
>  ono parachute-in - parachute-out approach
>  ohave a project on information security in Russia (!)
>  owww.internetpolicy.net
>
> - Interoperable Search Standard for Government Information
>  oProposal by US Geological Survey
>  oCommon search standard for govt. information proposed
>  oGovernments and parliaments are interested, but need some incentive
>  oPart of WSIS e-government actions
>  oUse open standards from ISO etc.
>  oMakes govt systems more robust in case of changes of technical systems
> Hardware, Software)
>  oDon't want to be dependent on Google's trade secrets on how the page
> ranking is done
>  oIT companies could become involved and work together (Oracle,
> Microsoft, Sun, others), they have been doing this before (for
> Geological Data)
>  oWorks with Internet, gene data, pictures, everyting
>  oContact: Eliot Christian, echristian at usgs.gov
>
> Here, an interesting discussion popped up on what the "original goal of
> WSIS" was and where it went. Private sector people arguing for
> "de-politicizing" the process in order to get infrastructure projects up
> und running.
> (Personal remark: There are no "non-political" projects. And civil
> society's very important contribution to WSIS was to move the debate
> from "information (read: ICTs) to "society", which is of course highly
> political. The attempt of private sector companies to "de-politicize" it
> will only further lead to the hegemony of the free market model. RB)
>
> - People Link
>   o "Internet you can eat"
>   o active in 42 countries
>   o Did not really tell what they do, sorry.
>
> - World Federation of Scientists: Permanent Monitoring Panel of
> Information Security
>   o Part of WFS's efforts to warn of planetary emergencies
>   o Secretary general of NATO is chair here
>   o Delivered report to UNGA etc.
>   o The usual fear-mongering, but also raised concerns on
> privacy-threats.(RB)
>
> Questions and Answers
>
> Ralf Bendrath:
>   o Information Security: careful, can be about "content security" (i.e.
> censorship)
>   o Privacy under threat, not security. Much bigger planetary emergency!
>   o --> answer: Don't want discussion, but get projects done.
>
> Discussion on a US action plan for implementation of WSIS action plan
> - no plans yet at government level
> - government will have it very narrow if they do anything here
> - multi-stakeholder-approach should be started here to broaden it
> - other way: first make a survey of who is doing actual stuff anyway
> that relates to the WSIS action plan headlines
> - "would be good for state department also"
> - more on the above mentioned listserv to be set up
>
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