[WSIS CS-Plenary] Strategic priorities for WGIG

[Rui Correia]

At 4:05 PM +0100 1/27/05, Vittorio Bertola wrote:
>> You can give for granted that "root servers" and "names/IP
>> administration" will be there; my personal choice for the rest would
>> possibly be "intellectual property", "privacy/consumer rights", "spam",
>> "interconnection costs" and perhaps "trade/liberalization".

ASIDE COMMENT: I see that on some postings we are using "IP" for two
different things -  as in the quote above and as Intellectual Property,
often appearing within lines of each other in one posting. 

Whether or not to bring in Int. Prop. Rights into WGIG would hinge on
Milton's "intersection" ("I am not suggesting a review and reform of _ALL_
global IPR regimes on the planet; I am saying that those aspects of IPR that
affect Internet governance must be dealt with. The sets intersect, and we
should deal with the intersection. Not the union"). 

I fully concur. We should focus on those aspects that will in days to come
determine whether or not IPR will limit one's choice of content, the mode of
access etc, such that people will no longer have access to information and
knowledge.

As for my choice of priorities, as seen from a (Southern) African
perspective (in no specific order):
**Affordable & Universal Access AND internet leased line costs
**Competition policy, liberalization, privatization, regulations AND
national policies and regulations - and here I refer to telecommunications,
which after all is the backbone
**Spam - until we have adequate access, a box full of spam is a waste of
resources, productivity and connection costs
**Cultural and linguistic diversity - all the knowledge in the world is not
worth an iota if it is not available in an understandable language.
**Open Source and Libre Software - goes without saying
**Privacy - where invasion of such is done to monitor political opinion and
goes hand in hand with Article 19 and other legislation on freedom of
expression. 


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Rui Correia
Advocacy, Media and Language Consultant
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