[WSIS CS-Plenary] Kofi Annan: The U.N. Isn't a Threat to the Net (fwd)

[Andy Carvin]

An editorial from Kofi Annan in today's Washington Post:

The U.N. Isn't a Threat to the Net

The main objective of the World Summit on the Information Society to be 
held this month in Tunisia is to ensure that poor countries get the full 
benefits that new information and communication technologies -- 
including the Internet -- can bring to economic and social development. 
But as the meeting draws nearer, there is a growing chorus of 
misinformation about it.

One mistaken notion is that the United Nations wants to "take over," 
police or otherwise control the Internet. Nothing could be farther from 
the truth. The United Nations wants only to ensure the Internet's global 
reach, and that effort is at the heart of this summit.

Strong feelings about protecting the Internet are to be expected. In its 
short life, the Internet has become an agent of revolutionary change in 
health, education, journalism and politics, among other areas. In the 
United Nations' own work for development, we have glimpsed only the 
beginning of the benefits it can provide: for victims of disaster, 
quicker, better-coordinated relief; for poor people in remote areas, 
lifesaving medical information; and, for people trapped under repressive 
governments, access to uncensored information as well as an outlet to 
air their grievances and appeal for help.

<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/04/AR2005110401431.html

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Andy Carvin
Program Director
EDC Center for Media & Community
acarvin @ edc . org
http://www.digitaldivide.net
http://katrina05.blogspot.com
Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com
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