[WSIS CS-Plenary] commentary UNESCO, Microsoft, convention

Fri Nov 19 09:21:45 GMT 2004

In French bellow,
Hi Dear Lisa, Diva and Francis, 
Indeed this problematic issue of the partnership
public private contitutes one of the most dangerous
question in the future.
Those who follow the preparation of WSIS can check how
main private companies lead the process thank to the
UIT leaders serving mainly private interest.
Those who work in the field for UN System can check
how thanks to UNSG orientation UN Agencies chief in
the field have a new mission : collecting resources
from private companies as Microsoft, Cisco, etc....
North Governments support such a tendancy which reduce
their responsability concerning the tragedy effects of
Official Develoment Aid diminushing.
It will be a great pitty, if the Civile Society accept
this situation and don't fight it during the WSIS.
Chers Diva, Lisa et Francis,
Décidemment, cette prblèmatique des 3P partenaroat
public privé risque d'empoisonner les débats dans
l'avenir tant elle recelle des dangers certains.
Les collègues qui ont suivi les étapes de préparation
du SMSI peuvent témoigner combien les interventions
des multinationales sont pernicieuses et risquent de
fausser les débats mondiaux.
Ceux qui ont eu la chance d'intervenir sur le terrain
peuvent aussi témoigner de la dérive des agences du
système onusien, sur directive de ses plus hautes
instances pour aller quémander l'aumone auprès des
multinationales tel Microsoft, Cisco et autres. 
Les gouvernements des pays riches aussi soutiennent
l'initiative qui dissimule la tendance à la diminution
avec des effets tragiques de l'aide public au
développement.
Ce serait vraiment dommage si la société civile rate
l'opportunité du SMSI pour faire avaloir haut et fort
une position alternative aux 3P
Amitiés
Djilali 

--- "Dr. Francis MUGUET" <muguet at mdpi.org> wrote:

> Dear Veni & all.
> 
> I went to the Microsoft conference at UNESCO, I got
> parts of the press 
> kit and
> I have the text of the agreement.
> French journalists questions, especially the first
> one to speak, whom I 
> know,
> were very critical.
> 
> >
> > the problem with Microsoft "working" with UNESCO
> and other 
> > UN-organizations, is that it just gives software,
> calculated at high 
> > prices, and thus pretending they are actually
> investing... 
> 
> Yes, it is exactly that :  Bill told it was a one
> *billion* USD 
> "program", among which
>  *700* millions USD were "donated" software (
> actually, this is not 
> really true, in the agreement, it is mentionned
> "deeply discounted licence" ) and *300* millions USD
> were networking, 
> computing hardware and training.
> 
> I will post more info on this Friday night
> I sent by postal mail the agreement to Djilali that
> might scan it and 
> post it, if
> UNESCO does not post the agreement on its website.
> 
> Best regards.
> 
> Francis
> 
> >
> > Simple trick, but it works.
> > Once you have them "infected" and working on
> Windows, then it's easier 
> > to sell them at even higher prices software, when
> they become 
> > ministers, governmental officials, etc.
> >
> > v.
> >
> >
> > At 09:42 18-11-2004 +0100, Meigs wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> Hi, lisa, Djilali and all
> >>
> >> Thank you for your very insightful responses.
> They confirm the fact 
> >> that the
> >> UN partnerships with the private sector have to
> be watched carefully, as
> >> they may create precedents, within the WSIS
> framework. They may become
> >> standard practice in the name of multistakeholder
> partnerships, even 
> >> if the
> >> other partners have not been consulted and have
> no public say in the 
> >> matter
> >> at work.
> >>
> >> It is necessary to assess how Microsoft has
> framed its offer within 
> >> the WSIS
> >> goals and how Unesco deals with this and its
> other commitments (to open
> >> software for instance). The actual text of the
> agreement is available 
> >> on the
> >> Unesco site, as Francis Muguet informs us, and it
> is worth checking 
> >> on it,
> >> so as to consider all the implications.   We can
> then address crucial 
> >> issues
> >> of transparency, accountability, etc.
> >>
> >> However, I still think it should be the task of
> the "content and 
> >> themes "
> >> group to draft a response document, but it
> doesn't prevent us to 
> >> include it
> >> within the positions of the  Civil Society
> Finance Mechanism working 
> >> group,
> >> as suggested by Djilali. What do yo think, karen
> and Steve, as 
> >> co-chairs of
> >> the content and themes group?
> >>
> >> Best
> >> Divina,
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Plenary mailing list
> > Plenary at wsis-cs.org
> >
>
http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/plenary
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
>
------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Francis F. MUGUET Ph.D 
> 
> MDPI Foundation Open Access Journals
> Associate Publisher
> http://www.mdpi.org   http://www.mdpi.net
> muguet at mdpi.org       muguet at mdpi.net
> 
> ENSTA   Paris, France
> KNIS lab.  Director 
> "Knowledge Networks & Information Society" (KNIS)
> muguet at ensta.fr   http://www.ensta.fr/~muguet
> 
> World Summit On the Information Society (WSIS)
> Civil Society Working Groups
> Scientific Information :  http://www.wsis-si.org 
> chair
> Patents & Copyrights   :  http://www.wsis-pct.org
> co-chair
> Financing Mechanismns  : 
> http://www.wsis-finance.org web
> 
> UNMSP project : http://www.unmsp.org
> WTIS initiative: http://www.wtis.org
>
------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Plenary mailing list
> Plenary at wsis-cs.org
>
http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/plenary
> 

=====
Djilali Benamrane : dbenamrane at yahoo.com
Tel/fax : (227) 75 35 09 BP 11207 - Niamey - Niger
Tél/Fax : (331) 01 45 39 77 02 Paris - France
Page web sur le SMSI (mecanismes de financement) : en cours de construction 
Page web sur l'Afrique et la globalisation : http://www.multimania.com/djilalibenamrane/
Groupe de discussion: http://www.egroups.com/list/afriqueglobalization

__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Meet the all-new My Yahoo! - Try it today! 
http://my.yahoo.com 