[WSIS CS-Plenary] EDRI-gram newsletter - WSIS special 3.23, 21 November 2005
Markus Beckedahl
markus at nnm-ev.de
Tue Nov 22 11:56:54 GMT 2005
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EDRI-gram
biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe
Number 3.23, 21 November 2005
---WSIS SPECIAL---
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Contents
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Urgent call for support for EDRI-gram
1. General disappointment in WSIS-host Tunisia
2. Tunisian government blocks citizens counter summit
3. Agreement on internet governance issue
4. Civil Society Tunis declaration
5. Panel meeting with EU delegation
6. RSF report: 15 enemies of the internet
7. Panel on freedom of expression
8. Panel on privacy and security
9. Panel on WIPO and intellectual property
10. P2P, filesharing and digital rights
11. Forum on ubiquitous computing
12. Unesco round table
13. Recommended reading
14. Petition closed: 58.000 signatures
15. Agenda
16. About
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- Urgent call for support for EDRI-gram -
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1. General disappointment in WSIS-host Tunisia
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As host country of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS),
Tunisia has not lived up to the optimistic expectations of some UN
officials, but in stead exceeded the worst expectations of civil society.
Many individuals searched their souls whether to attend the Summit or not.
But the promise of a Citizens Summit, dedicated to the human rights
demands of civil society and inclusive of the Tunisian people and
organisations purposefully excluded by the Tunisian government, convinced
many of them to come to Tunis and mingle amongst the 23.000 official
participants.
In an opinion article titled 'No place to talk about Internet freedom' for
the International Herald Tribune, Kamel Labidi, the former director of
Amnesty International-Tunisia, describes Tunisia as "one of the Arabs
world's most autocratic regimes." "Not only is the choice of Tunis
insensitive to the many brave Tunisians who have suffered harsh reprisals
from their governments for expressing their views, it also signals that
repressive governments face little consequence when they systematically
curtail basic human rights." But he also said the activities by the NGOs
to show the unworthyness of the country as a host "sparked hope among
Tunisians yearning for freedom and democracy".
The Citizens Summit on the Information Society (CSIS) was to be organised
by 19 organisations, made up of both Tunisian and international NGOs. The
organisation was difficult from the start. The CSIS objectives were to
send a strong message of support and solidarity from international civil
society to the local civil society and citizens, and to address the main
issues being debated at the WSIS, from the perspective of citizen groups
and the public. But the Tunisians did all they could to disrupt civil
society meetings. It started at the third Prepcom in Hammameth, where
meetings were disturbed by incredible quantities of loud-mouthed Tunisian
infiltrants, claiming to represent civil society in Tunisia.
In Tunis the reserved rooms for the counter summit, though confirmed and
prepaid, were cancelled at the last minute, because of 'urgent renovation
works'. And no other hotel or venue could be found that dared to resist
Tunisian government pressure. The obstructions facing the CSIS culminated
on Monday 14 November when civil society organisations were forcefully
prevented from holding a planning meeting at the Goethe Institute downtown
Tunis. Following this incident, the EU group, represented by the British
ambassador to the UN, Nicholas Thorne, issued a demarche (diplomatic
letter of concern) to the Tunisian foreign minister.
In his opening speech, the Swiss president mr. Samuel Schmid used very
harsh words about this climate of repression. "It is not acceptable — and
I say this without beating about the bush — for the United Nations
Organisation to continue to include among its members those States which
imprison citizens for the sole reason that they have criticised their
government or their authorities on the internet or in the press. Any
knowledge society respects the independence of its media as it respects
human rights. I therefore expect that freedom of expression and freedom of
information will constitute central themes over the course of this Summit.
For myself, it goes without question that here in Tunis, within its walls
and without, anyone can discuss quite freely. For us, it is one of the
conditions sine qua non for the success of this international conference."
Though the Tunisian national television had a live broadcast of the
opening ceremony, halfway during the speech of the Swiss president the
broadcast suddenly turned into a black screen, much to the dismay of the
Swiss delegation. The next speech, by Shirin Ebadi, winner of the Nobel
Peace prize in 2003, explicitly addressed the practice of Tunisia to
create fake NGOs to frustrate the NGO decision making process. She also
addressed the problem of censorship and the possibility that internet
providers in the Western world could be forced for political or economical
reasons to deprive entire parts of the world of their internet access. She
called on the plenary to institute a forum under UN supervision to watch
over internet filtering and equal access rights.
After the closing ceremony on 18 November, the US delegation used very
harsh words in a press release. "We are therefore obliged to express our
disappointment that the government of Tunisia did not take advantage of
this important opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to freedom of
expression and assembly in Tunisia."
Opening speech Swiss president, mr. Samuel Schmid (16.11.2005)
http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/statements/docs/g-switzerland-opening/1.pdf
Opening speech Ms. Shirin EBADI (in French, 16.11.2005)
http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/statements/docs/cs-opening/1-fr.pdf
EU attacks police tactics at Tunis internet conference (16.11.2005)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,1643550,00.html
Kamel Labidi, 'No place to talk about Internet freedom' (16.11.2005)
International Herald Tribune
U.S. Delegation Urges Progress in Tunisian Reform, Human Rights (19.11.2005)
http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/Archive/2005/Nov/19-325692.html
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2. Tunisian government blocks citizens counter summit
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While the Tunisian authorities did all they could to prevent civil society
events outside the Kram exhibition centre, on Wednesday 16 November civil
society activists succeeded in getting the upper hand against state
repression. A press conference to announce the cancellation of the
Citizens Summit transformed into a major human rights event.
When civil society activists and journalists moved from the official WSIS
Kram centre to the offices of the Tunisian Human Rights League on
Wednesday afternoon – the day of the opening of the WSIS summit – they
didn't know what to expect. All earlier meetings and press conferences
outside the official summit area had been forcefully prevented by Tunisian
police and secret service. What they found, however, was a room packed
with international journalists, civil society and government delegates,
and the who-is-who of international human rights advocacy.
On 14 November, some 30 law enforcement agents in plain clothes shouted,
pushed, and tried to physically intimidate the Tunisian representatives of
Tunisian independent NGOs present at a coordinating meeting for the Civil
Society Summit in front of the Goethe Institute, the German cultural
embassy. When members of international NGOs, such as the Association for
Progressive Communications (APC), Human Rights Watch, the Danish Human
Rights Institute and other civil society representatives tried to
intervene, the police officers moved away, and pushed the international
delegates away. In response a number of civil society organisations
cancelled their scheduled events on Wednesday 16 November and used the
space to issue a letter of protest in solidarity with their Tunisian
colleagues.
A lot of high-profile participants took the floor at the press conference
on 16 November and addressed the more than 150 journalists and other
participants. Amongst them Mokhtar Trifi, President of the LTDH, Shirin
Ebadi, Sidiki Kaba, president of the International League of Human Rights,
Manuel Tornare, Mayor of Geneva, Ambeyi Ligabo, UN special rapporteur on
freedom of expression, Catherine Trautmann from the EU Parliament and
Steve Buckley, President of the World Association of Community
Broadcasters.
They all denounced the repression against civil society activities in
Tunisia and showed strong support to the local human rights groups. "We
are here to express our total solidarity with the LTDH and all strikers,
all prisoners, because they have said no to censorship", Sidiki Kaba said.
Mr Ligabo summarised the many statements by proclaiming: "Human rights are
not a gift. They are the rights of each and every person." He demanded
Tunisia should release all prisoners of opinion.
As the press conference continued, it transformed into a major discussion
with many participants joining in – a mini Citizens Summit, with a
powerful, celebratory atmosphere. This was exactly what the Tunisian
authorities had tried to prevent. In the official press statement Rikke
Frank Jørgensen from the Danish Human Rights Institute said: "All the
participants in this press conference have made the summit a reality."
Steve Buckley added: "The Citizens Summit exists in all free media, all
free associations, all free gatherings. We are all the Citizens Summit!"
The Association of Progressive Communication APC summarised the event like
this: "While heads of states’ speeches present at the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS) were pouring in on all TV channels, revolution
was just around the corner in another district of Tunis."
Flagrant violation of human rights this morning alongside UN summit
(14.11.2005)
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=2430527
The citizens summit is dead – long live the citizens summit!
http://www.worldsummit2005.de/en/web/830.htm
Flagrant violation of human rights (14.11.2005)
http://www.apc.org/english/wsis/blog/index.shtml?x=2431813
(Article copied from APC News and the Heinrich Böll Foundation WSIS
weblog, thanks to Rikke Frank Jørgensen)
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3. Agreement on internet governance issue
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The day before official opening of the summit, delegates finally reached
an agreement on the sensitive issue of global internet governance. Both
the US and the EU claimed victory at the creation of a new Internet
Governance Forum (IGF). The forum will be set up next year and decide upon
public policy issues for the internet. It will be made up of governments
as well as private and civil society, but it will not have power over
existing bodies. There will not be any new oversight on ICANN. Governments
will continue to discuss policy desires within the Governmental Advisory
Committee (GAC) of ICANN.
Today, e-zine The Register reports that the only dissonant came from ITU
secretary-general Yoshio Utsumi. At the closing press conference he said
that while it would continue to discuss issues in the newly created
Internet Governance Forum (IGF), an increased "regionalisation" of the
internet would mean the ITU will be called upon to take over in five
years' time. "The internet need not be one Net controlled by one centre,"
he said. "Regionalisation has already started and I suspect in a few
years, the simile of the internet will be a quite different one."
US, EU remain at odds over Net governance (16.11.2005)
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,106265,00.html?source=x61
ITU refuses to accept net governance agreement (21.11.2005)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/21/utsumi_rejection/
Report on WSIS PrepCom III (05.10.2005)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.20/PrepCom
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4. Civil Society Tunis declaration
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APC, the association for progressive communication, reports on the civil
society press conference on 18 November. Civil society representatives
from all continents lined up on a panel to deliver a stark closing
statement. The civil society statement was not finalised, but four points
are addressed: internet governance, human rights, financing and
development, and follow-up. The press conference essentially driven by
questions of the audience, revolved around issues of development through
ICTs.
Renate Bloem of the Civil Society Bureau kicked off the conference by
saluting some language used in the official Tunis Commitment such as
multistakeholderism. She held up that civil society has become a force to
be reckoned with. "We have moved to become a partner in negotiations," she
assessed.
Civil society welcomed the creation of the Internet Governance Forum
(IGF), and emphasised the key role it played in its creation. This is seen
as a positive development by these representatives because it is expected
to broaden participation in internet policy. The compromise on the ICANN
did not satisfy everybody, without any clear policy preventing the US from
retaining dominance.
In general though, there was not much optimism about the official outcomes
of the Summit. For example the crucial right to privacy has totally
disappeared from the Tunis Commitment. In stead, security needs are
extensively underlined. This was already partially the case in the Geneva
declaration, back in 2003, where privacy was mentioned only as part of "a
global culture of cyber-security", but at least in 2003, civil society
succeeded in keeping human rights prominently on the discussion agenda.
According to the draft declaration "Paragraph 40 the Tunis Agenda gives
unrestricted authority to governments and law enforcements agencies. This
is a serious problem. Without bounding this license with calls for respect
for human rights, freedom of expression and privacy rights, the text
invites the sorts of abuse that are evident in many countries today, from
the imprisonment of journalists and activists, to the filtering of content
and the registration of bloggers."
Civil society representatives on the panel voiced concern about human
rights such as the freedom of speech not being respected by many countries
in the world. Human rights monitoring was described as an essential means
to attain a more balanced development of the information society.
Compliance with universal human rights standards and the mainstreaming of
ICTs were stressed as building blocks for a respectful and just
implementation of WSIS outcomes.
The human rights issue was approached more specifically in the press
conference that followed. Steve Buckley of the Tunisia freedom of
expression monitoring group vowed "Never again!". He argued that "the
United Nations should never again hold a world summit in a country that
does not respect its international human rights commitments."
He linked the WSIS outcomes directly to the situation on the ground here
in Tunisia where many violations of basic human rights had been observed
on the eve and during WSIS. Thereby, this member of civil society (Steve
Buckley is president of AMARC) wanted to shed light on the central
importance of freedom of expression and human rights, "not only in
Tunisia, but in the entire world."
Meryem Marzouki, from EDRI-member IRIS in France hammered the issue on the
nail by saying that if the UN is to boast its role in aspects of internet
governance, it must start by monitoring its internal accreditation
processes. She suggested that an independent commission be set up to
monitor the accreditation of all stakeholders, including the GONGOs, the
Govermental non governmental organisations. Tunisian government
sympathisers masquerading –and accredited- as NGOs have disrupted multiple
civil society-organised events on and off site in Tunis and in the two
years run-up to the summit. Finally, on behalf of the human rights caucus,
she also asked 'all the media, governments, civil society and, more
generally, all participants and observers to this Summit to keep a close
eye on the situation in Tunisia after the summit."
The close of the WSIS: The civil society verdict (19.11.2005)
http://www.apc.org/english/wsis/blog/index.shtml?x=2529168
Civil Society Tunis Declaration (not ready yet!)
http://www.apc.org
http://www.worldsummit2005.org
Speech Meryem Marzouki (in French)
http://www.iris.sgdg.org/info-debat/comm-smsi1105.html
Official WSIS outcomes
Tunis Agenda for the Information Society (18.11.2005)
http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_multi.asp?lang=en&id=2267|0
Tunis Commitment (18.11.2005)
http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_multi.asp?lang=en&id=2266|0
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5. Panel meeting with EU delegation
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On the closing day of the Summit, Viviane Reding, European Commissioner
for Information Society and Media and Catherine Trautmann, Member of the
European Parliament co-hosted a Workshop on "Human Rights and the
Information Society". Trautmann (Social Democrats) also was the special
rapporteur on the WSIS for the European Parliament. Her report was adopted
in plenary on 23 June 2005.
Speakers included: Ambeyi Ligabo, UN special rapporteur on freedom of
expression, Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society
and Media, Catherine Trautmann from the EU Parliament, Sidiki Kaba,
president of the International League of Human Rights, Sharon Hom from
Human Rights in China, and Rikke Frank Jørgensen, Danish Human Rights
Institute and author of this contribution.
The purpose of the workshop was to cover a range of issues pertaining to
the role and place of human rights in the Information Society and to
provide an opportunity for representatives from civil society and from the
European Union Institutions to exchange views and share respective
concerns, perspectives and recommendations on HR in the IS.
All speakers expressed strong support of the need to uphold human rights
standards in an information society context, and stressed the value of
more civil society inclusiveness. Rikke Frank Jørgensen stressed that
though the European Commission and the European Parliament are generally
supportive of human rights, there is a tendency to flag greater support
for human rights protection in other countries, while not being as
critical to the EUs own policy and legislation.
As examples she mentioned data retention, copyright and the transfer of
passenger data, and called for stronger human rights proofing of proposed
legislation within the EU. She also addressed the fact that many Tunisian
civil society organisations were prevented from participating to the
Summit, just as the Citizen Summit had been prevented. Unfortunately, the
intended debate with the audience was disrupted by a number of Tunisians
who aggressively occupied all speaking slots for the audience and
aggressively yelled at panellists for addressing human rights in Tunisia.
Report Catherine Trautmann (P6_A(2005)0172)
http://www2.europarl.eu.int/registre/seance_pleniere/textes_deposes/rapports/2005/0172/P6_A(2005)0172_EN.doc
(Contribution by Rikke Frank Jørgensen from the Danish Human Rights
Institute and EDRI-member Digital Rights)
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6. RSF report: 15 enemies of the internet
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On 17 November 2005 Reporters without Borders (RSF) released a new report
during the WSIS on the 15 enemies of the Internet, and 15 countries to
watch. RSF writes: "The 15 'enemies' are the countries that crack down
hardest on the Internet, censoring independent news sites and opposition
publications, monitoring the Web to stifle dissident voices, and
harassing, intimidating and sometimes imprisoning Internet users and
bloggers who deviate from the regime’s official line." Amongst those
enemies Tunisia is prominently mentioned, next to predictable countries
such as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The report says about Tunisia: "President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, whose
family has a monopoly on Internet access inside the country, has installed
a very effective system of censoring the Internet. All opposition
publications are blocked, along with many other news sites. The regime
also tries to discourage use of webmail because it is harder to spy on
than standard mail programmes that use Outlook. The Reporters Without
Borders site cannot be seen inside Tunisia. The government also jails
cyber-dissidents and in April 2005, pro-democracy lawyer Mohammed Abbou
was given a three-and-a-half-year sentence for criticising the president
online. Yet Tunisia seems well thought-of by the international community
for its management of the Internet since it has been chosen the
International Telecommunication Union to host the second stage of the
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in November 2005."
The countries to watch cannot be compared to the list of enemies, but
"many countries that have so far respected online freedom seem these days
to want to control the Internet more. Their often laudable aims include
fighting terrorism, paedophilia and Internet-based crime, but the measures
sometimes threaten freedom of expression," RSF writes. The European Union
is included in this latter list, for the e-commerce directive of 2000.
"(This) proved a threat to freedom of expression, by making ISPs
responsible for the content of websites they host and requiring them to
block any page they consider illegal when informed of its existence. This
creates a private system of justice, where the ISP is called on to decide
what is illegal or not."
The report was presented in spite of the fact that Secretary General
Robert Ménard was not allowed into the country to attend the WSIS. "Plain
clothes Tunisian police officers physically prevented Ménard from leaving
an Air France plane after it touched down in Tunis on 17 November 2005.
One officer told the head of the worldwide press freedom organisation that
he had no right to get off the plane since he did not have accreditation
for the WSIS." Though Ménard had official accreditation, he was held on
the plain and flown back.
On 17 November, other representatives from the organisation managed to
stick a giant 2 by 3 meter poster of the "black holes in the web" on the
entrance floor of the main expo building.
Reporters without borders, 15 enemies of the Internet (17.11.2005)
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15613
Robert Ménard prevented from attending the UN Internet summit
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15635
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7. Panel on freedom of expression
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Together with the internet blogging project Global Voices online, the
Dutch NGO Hivos organised a two day program on 17 and 18 November on
freedom of expression. On the first day two panels and two lectures were
scheduled, the second day was devoted to a workshop on secure
communication tools for NGOs. It was only thanks to the Dutch embassy that
the event could actually take place. The event was the subject of immense
and incredible pressure from Tunisian authorities. They pulled every trick
to cancel the event, including the presence of 20 grey-clothed
unidentified representatives from some law enforcement services in the
back of the room. They threatened to close the doors halfway during the
event, if the announced coffee break was to be held, to make sure nobody
could get back in.
The main argument from the Tunisians was that the summit took place in two
different territories; one was an exhibition hall with presentation rooms
and adjacent was U.N. territory, where the plenary sessions were held with
matching diplomatic protection for participants. Obviously, on Tunisian
territory it was out of the question to debate such a sensitive issue as
freedom of expression, and like the EU, Hivos should have quietly moved
its discussion to U.N. territory. But Hivos was unable to move the panel
on such a short notice, especially because of the impossibility to
advertise the new location to all possible participants.
In the first panel, three speakers from Zimbabwe, Iran and China spoke
about their experiences with the limits of freedom of expression.
Chairwoman Rebecca McKinnon from Global Voices said she had left a
comfortable position as CNN desk chief to join the bloggers movement,
especially because these global citizens voices could compensate for the
over-reporting on the US and Western Europe.
The blogger from Iran, currently living in the United States, Hossein
Derakshan gave a lively description of the explosion of blogs in Iran. A
few months after he started one of the first blogs in Iran in 2001, there
were between 3 and 4.000 blogs. Five years later, there are 700.000 blogs
in Iran.
The blogger from China, Isaac Mao, chose his words very carefully, and
explained the level of control was so strong, in China it was important to
focus on free thinking than on free speech.
The representative from Zimbabwe, Taurai Maduna, said internet
participation was very low and legislation extremely tough. Under the
Public Order and Security Act for example, it is illegal for more than 5
people to gather without a previous license. He mentioned two other
examples of successful activist communication in the country, One was a
sticker illegally stuck on condoms. Freely distributed by many government
organisations, the condoms suddenly said "Get up, Stand up!" Another one
was a CD entitled "Rock the regime into retirement." Maduna said he was
unable to detect any specific internet monitoring by the Mugabe
government, since nobody had ever been arrested on an internet related
accusation. But later on, speaker Nart Villeneuve from the Citizen Lab in
Canada said he said it was likely that a shipload of Chinese censorware
was underway to Zimbabwe.
Nart villeneuve also pointed to a brandnew study on internet filtering in
Tunisia. "To document the extent of Tunisia's Internet content controls,
the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) tested 1923 sites from within the state, and
found 187 (10%) blocked. Tunisia's filtering efforts are focused and
effective. The state employs the SmartFilter software, produced by the
U.S. company Secure Computing, to target and prevent access to four types
of material in particular: political opposition to the ruling government,
sites on human rights in Tunisia, tools that enable users to circumvent
these controls, and pages containing pornography or other sexually
explicit content."
The day ended with a second panel debate with panellists from China, Iran
and Europe (your editor) about the limits of freedom of expression and a
closing speech from the Dutch minister of Economical Affairs. The next
day, a group of extremely eloquent and funny geeks from Front Line and the
Tactical Technology Collective presented the project 'Secure NGO in a
box', all kinds of free software tools to enable NGOs to secure their
internet communication. The tools include software to generate secure
passwords and store them in a secure safe on a hard disk or even
USB-stick; references to anonymising proxies, and an easy to understand
guide to use anonymous communication tools such as Tor, JAP and Freenet.
The audience (minus the Tunisian secret service representatives) responded
very enthusiastically when they mentioned Tor is now also available for
use on a USB-stick, to use in any internet cafe.
Translated highlights from Chinese blogs
http://www.chinabloglist.org/
Weblog Hossein Derakshan
www.hoder.org
Internet filtering in Tunisia in 2005
http://www.opennetinitiative.net/tunisia
NGO in a box - security
http://security.ngoinabox.org/
Download Tor software for use on USB-stick
http://torpark.nfshost.com/
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8. Panel on privacy and security
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The US digital rights organisation EPIC organised a panel with a preview
of their annual privacy and human rights report, with 7 panellists from
all continents, from China to Argentina, and from Israel to the Arab Human
Rights Watch. Speaker Alberto Escudero-Pascual from Sweden/Spain focussed
on the RFID badges given to every participant. Some participants were
given badges in which the mini-chip was included, others were given a
cheaper add-on RFID-sticker on their badge. Escudero-Pascual briefly
explained the results of his earlier research into the RFID badges handed
out to participants in Geneva in 2003.
Though he said the mini-chip could probably not be read at any significant
distance and the tags were probably only used at the entrance where
everybody had to hold their tag against a reader to match the picture on
their badge with the picture of the computer screen, he strongly objected
to the fact that nobody was told about the badges. He also protested
against the fact that the WSIS organisation failed to produce any privacy
statement, in spite of repeated requests from civil society.
Free source software champion Richard Stallman did not let the RFID badge
go by unnoticed. He demonstratively foiled the badge in tin foil,
preventing any secret scanning, but alerting an immense crowd of security
employees to his odd behaviour.
Public Voice Symposium (18.11.2005)
http://www.thepublicvoice.org/events/tunis05/
Highlights from the Privacy & Human Rights 2005
http://www.thepublicvoice.org/events/tunis05/laurant.pdf
The physical access security to WSIS: a privacy threat for the
participants (December 2003)
http://www.nodo50.org/wsis/
Richard Stallman Gets in Trouble with UN Security for Wearing a Tin-Foil
Hat (18.11.2005)
http://perens.sourcelabs.com/
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9. Panel on WIPO and intellectual property
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On 16 November IPJustice organised a panel on intellectual property and
WIPO, chaired by Robin Gross.
Philip Petit of WIPO spoke about the history of WIPO, its relation to
other organisations like WTO and its role in various treaties. He also
welcomed NGOs participation in WIPO. According to him WIPO's mission is
promoting IPR in order to accelerate economic and cultural development,
yet IPR is not determined by WIPO but by its member countries. WIPO merely
administers treaties. He also said copyright is no monopoly because
copyright owners are free to donate their rights if they want to. Perhaps
most telling was his statement that "as long as you have no legal right to
your creation, it is not worth anything".
The second speaker was Alex Byrn of IFLA, who spoke about the importance
of IPRs for the libraries. IFLA members are serving more than 2.5 billion
users. Byrn expressed support for the treaty on Access to Knowledge (A2K)
and review of the WIPO mandate, in order to recognise the rights of
different stake-holders, including users. Libraries' concerns include the
imbalance of IP laws favouring right holders, monopolisation of
information, the inhibiting effect of IPR laws on new technologies and the
shrinking of the public domain, but also the protection of indigenous
knowledge.
He also noted that all creators are also users of others' copyrighted
works, invoking Newton's metaphor about standing on the shoulders of
giants. Copyright laws are increasingly a hindrance rather than a help to
libraries, also in developed countries, and any future models should be
based on the right to know.
Next spoke Georg Greve from FSFE. He spoke about the problematic nature of
the term "intellectual property" and how much of the debate is
ideologically charged, as if there were a "church of IPR". In his speech
he underlined user rights and wondered how anyone could compare copying to
real piracy, robbing and killing people. He also wondered whether it made
any sense to have the same copyright rules for literature and software. He
told the audience how FSFE had gotten involved with WIPO and how WIPO
officials actually had been very helpful, even though sometimes appearing
a bit afraid of NGOs. Perhaps key point was that IPR are not a god-given
system but human-made, so it can be modified to work better. Perhaps WIPO
could play a mediating role there. Like Byrn, Greve supported the A2K
treaty.
The fourth speaker was Jamie Love of CPTech. He spoke about IP as a tool
to support innovation. This could be done right or wrong, leading us to
alternative futures. "Do we want to make everything controlled,
patentable, with no commons, or should we rather pause to think what we
really want with IP?" He spoke about the WIPO development agenda and
suggested WIPO should be changed to optimise, rather than maximise IPR.
Love also spoke extensively about the A2K treaty.
All in all the discussion was quite constructive, with all parties
expressing interest in continuing cooperation and hoping NGOs would play a
greater role in future discussions on IPR.
IP Justice information on the WIPO panel
http://www.ipjustice.org/WSIS/WIPOpanel.shtml
(Contribution by Tapani Tarvainen, EDRI-member EFFI, Finland)
============================================================
10. P2P, filesharing and digital rights
============================================================
IPJustice organised another panel on P2P, filesharing and digital rights
on 17 November 2005, with Robin Gross as moderator.
The first speaker was the Canadian law professor Michael Geist, also
editor of the excellent daily newsletter BNA's Internet Law News. He
started by telling that a few months ago IFPI had sued 2.200 people in 17
countries for filesharing, but none in Canada, and proceeded to speculate
why that is. He explained Canadian laws are different. There is no DMCA
equivalent and Canada hasn't ratified the relevant WIPO treaties.
Furthermore Canadian policymakers are increasingly recognising the need
for copyright reform instead of swallowing all the content industry's
claims.
Markus Beckedahl of Netzerk Neue Median (and EDRI) spoke about the
situation in Germany and in particular the implementation of the European
Copyright Directive. He listed five key rights consumers should have:
-right to choice of technology (principle of technology-neutrality);
-right to benefit of new technologies without new restrictions;
-right to interoperability of content;
-right to privacy, and the
-right not to be criminalised (everyone has always shared music, why does
it become criminal when digital?).
Heather Ford of Creative Commons South Africa told of efforts to find
alternatives to copyright in Africa, about fighting against
misleading assumptions and simplifications like "p2p = downloading music,
downloading music is bad and illegal. Therefore p2p should be banned",
whereas in reality downloading music is not always illegal and p2p is very
useful for other purposes, too, especially in low-bandwidth situations.
She explained the most pressing issue in Africa isn't so much downloading
but VoIP and its threat to telecom monopolies, and told a weird story
about a music remix service they had started (with voluntary contributions
by musicians) and how RISA (South African RIAA-equivalent) had threatened
them for making people think remixing music is legal (!). Also, her
university had summarily blocked skype and all mp3 files even though they
have legitimate uses, too. She finished by noting that p2p is not the same
everywhere. Since it is used for many purposes, the technology should not
be demonised.
A discussion followed on a wide range of issues, including the infamous
Sony rootkit, how p2p works with free and open software (very well) and
about using IP addresses to sue people. The only downside of the panel was
the lack of dissenting voices. No copyright industry representative had
bothered (or dared?) to show up.
Information about the P2P panel
http://www.ipjustice.org/WSIS/P2P_panel.shtml
BNA's Internet Law News
http://ecommercecenter.bna.com
(Contribution by Tapani Tarvainen, EDRI-member EFFI Finland)
===========================================================
11. Forum on ubiquitous computing
===========================================================
As a side-event to the World Summit on the Information Society the
Institute for Information Industry and AFACT organised a Forum on the
Advancement of e-Trade & Ubiquitous Society in the Africa Hotel in Tunis.
Following the welcome address by Dr. FC Lin, Chairman of the Institute for
Information Industry, and the opening remarks of Kenneth Lim, Ex-Chair
AFACT, the morning session was dedicated to the advancement of a
ubiquitous society and ICT for All. The afternoon session focussed on
e-Trade Facilitation.
Njideka Ugwuegbu-Harry, Founder of the Youth for Technology Foundation
presented the vision and activities of the Youth for Technology Foundation
towards bridging the Digital Divide. Through cooperations with major
international ICT companies the Foundation managed to benefit over 4.000
youth since its establishment in 2000 and pioneered a digital village
movement in and for Nigeria. Mrs. Njideka Ugwuegbu-Harry stressed the
importance of a people-centered, inclusive development and focus on young
people when introducing ICT in remote rural areas.
Mrs. Cynthia Waddel, Executive Director of the International Center for
Disability Resources on the Internet, focused her presentation on the
accessibility of ICT for people with disabilities. Disability law and
public policy historically reflected what she termed 'medical model',
indicating a focus on diagnosis and disability rather than ability and
human rights for equal opportunity. ICT design therefore did not include
user interfaces for people with disabilities. Now, Mrs. Waddel explained,
signs of an inclusive society shift become visible. A growing recognition
of significant social cost if the divide remains, the emergence of
technical standards for accessible design and economies of scale
contribute to this goal.
Mrs. Saloua Mahmoud of the Higher Institute of Documentation of the
University of Manouba, Tunesia, spoke on the topic ICT & Social
Transformations. She presented an overview of the evolution of
communication and the Internet and explained the principles of information
technology and the way they changed our lives starting from new research
possibilities to telemedicine, electronic voting and e-payment.
In my presentation I focussed on future developments of ubiquitous
computing and the potential dangers stemming from the transformation of
computers from relatively large machines that serve in the center of our
work, demanding our attention to small very specialised gadgets serving
unobtrusive in our surroundings. If not carefully designed the concept of
ubiquitous computing will not only endanger our privacy but also intensify
the digital divide. It will introduce new questions regarding
(intellectual) property rights related to the ubiquitous generated
information and the computing equipment in our surrounding, information
security and unsolicited information.
In conclusion, the morning session demonstrated foremost that the term
ubiquitous computing includes a wide field of important
issues, depending on the geographical, societal and technological area one
chooses to examine.
(Contribution by Andreas Krisch, EDRI-member VIBE!AT)
===========================================================
12. Unesco round table
===========================================================
In the UNESCO high-level round table 'Shaping the Future through
Knowledge' on Thursday 18 November 2005 director-general Koïchiro Matsuura
presented the four main pillars of knowledge societies: respect for human
rights, especially for freedom of speech, universal access to information,
respect for cultural and linguistic diversity and quality education for
all. Those pillars have been described in detail in the recently launched
UNESCO report 'Towards knowledge societies'. The report was prepared in
three earlier conferences organised by Unesco in 2005, described in
EDRI-gram 3.3 and 3.10.
The panel members were asked to reflect on the 4 mission goals. Improving
universal access to education turned out to be the most prominent concern
of the panel. Also the attempts to safeguard indigenous knowledge and the
preservation of small languages were highlighted as important goals. This
could only be achieved in a situation of solidarity.
MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte elevated the discussion with a
provocative statement that the world is heading towards a one language
society. In his opinion language is about communication and not about
preservation. This was not his personal wishful thinking, he said, but his
expectation of unavoidable logic. This opinion met with severe criticism
and concern. Major event of the round table however was Negropontes
presentation of his project to create a one hundred dollar laptop for
every child in developing countries. This technological innovation should
bring down financial barriers and was applauded loudly.
Unesco report 'Towards knowledge societies' (04.11.2005)
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001418/141843e.pdf
Report about UNESCO conference St. Petersburg (24.05.2005)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.10/UNESCO
Two Unesco conferences on internet and human rights (09.02.2005)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.3/unesco
MIT FAQ about the 100 dollar computer (October 2005)
http://laptop.media.mit.edu/faq.html
(Contribution by Jos de Haan, member of the Dutch Unesco delegation)
===========================================================
13. Recommended reading
===========================================================
During the WSIS Summit a number of new books were presented and discussed
during parallel events. Among these are:
"Word Matters", a four language "dictionary" offering multicultural
perspectives on information society concepts, in French,
English, Portuguese and Spanish. "Technology is never neutral: it carries
social, economic and cultural consequences. New information and
communication technologies are no exception. The words used in
international negotiations or legislation are a poor reflection of such
consequences; they propagate perceptions that are rarely subjected to
democratic debate, the fundamental requirement for any political
decision."
The publication is co-ordinated by Alain Ambrosi (WFCN) and Valérie
Peugeot (Vecam) with the collaboration of Daniel Pimienta (Funredes). The
book is a collective work by some thirty authors from civil societies all
over the world. Sample chapters are available online. The 656 page book
can be ordered for 39 euro through:
http://cfeditions.com/
"Human Rights in the Global Information Society"; an upcoming publication
by MIT press to be published in 2006. The book includes a Preface by Adama
Samassekou and contributions by several EDRI-members, and is being
published in the MIT Press series "The Information Revolution and Global
Politics". The introduction by William Drake and book editor/EDRI board
member Rikke Frank Jørgensen is freely available online.
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=10872
"Visions in Process II - Geneva 2003-Tunis 2005" is a publication by the
Heinrich Böll Foundation, which features civil society assessments of
major controversies regarding the agenda and the process of WSIS. The book
is edited by Olga Drossou and Heike Jensen, and is the sequel of "Visions
in Process", a previous publication launched right before the Geneva
Summit, in December 2003. The book features 15 contributions from WSIS
civil society actors, all women, and is structured in three parts: "Human
rights"; "Multi-stakeholder processes and civil society"; and "Developing
the information society". Articles of the book are covered by the Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 license, and can be
downloaded from:
http://www.boell.de/en/nav/275.html
===========================================================
14. Petition closed: 58.000 signatures
===========================================================
The EDRI and XS4ALL petition against data retention has attracted 58.000
signatures, of which over 21.000 from the Netherlands (where the campaign
was launched), almost 7.000 from Germany and almost 6.000 from Finland.
Runners-up in the daily country count are Bulgaria (over 3.000), Sweden
and Spain (over 2.000 each), Austria (over 1.750). France, the UK, Italy,
Belgium, the United States and Slovenia have each contributed over a 1.000
signatures.
85 organisations and companies have signed in support of the petition. The
petition is available in 21 languages, with Portuguese as the last
addition.
The campaign closed today. The petition will be offered to the European
Parliament, to the chairman of the LIBE committee and to rapporteur
Alexander Alvaro on Wednesday afternoon 23 November, the day before the
important vote on the amended Alvaro report.
Petition
http://www.dataretentionisnosolution.com
http://www.stopdataretention.com
Petition WIKI
http://wiki.dataretentionisnosolution.com
===========================================================
15. Agenda
===========================================================
1-2 December 2005, London, UK, Patenting Lives
Conference in the Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute. The
call for papers closes on 26 August 2005 and invites abstracts on topics
such as Access to Knowledge, Consumer Aspects, Public Interest, Public
Goods, Public Domain and Human Rights.
http://www.patentinglives.org/conference.htm
27-31 December 2005, Berlin, Germany, 22nd CCC congress
http://www.ccc.de/
===========================================================
16. About
===========================================================
EDRI-gram is a biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe.
Currently EDRI has 21 members from 14 European countries. European Digital
Rights takes an active interest in developments in the EU accession
countries and wants to share knowledge and awareness through the
EDRI-grams. All contributions, suggestions for content, corrections or
agenda-tips are most welcome. Errors are corrected as soon as possible and
visibly on the EDRI website.
Except where otherwise noted, this newsletter is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License. See the full text at
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Newsletter editor: Sjoera Nas <edrigram at edri.org>
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