Communication Rights in the Information Society

Anna Turley

The following statement was made by Joanne Sandler, Deputy Director for Programmes, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) to the Preparatory Committee of the World Summit on the Information Society, Geneva, 1-5 July 2002.

Anna Turley

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are evolving at breakneck speed as the industrial society that marked the 20th century rapidly gives way to the information society of the 21st century. Within this context, the international community has become increasingly focused on the linkages between ICTs and development. The result is that ICTs are now seen as the magic solution to the multiple problems of economic development, healthcare and education as well as strengthening civil society, promoting democracy, and making governments more open and accountable. At the same time, there is growing recognition that those who most need the boost that ICTs can provide are least able to take advantage of it. The bridging of this ‘digital divide’, is, therefore, now high on the global development agenda with multi-lateral and bi-lateral agencies channelling millions of dollars into projects which aim to support the ability of the marginalised to harness the power of ICTs.

Bruce Girard

More than 150 people, representing some 100 civil society organisations from all over the globe, with diverse interests, activities and priorities came to Geneva to participate in the first Preparatory Committee of the World Summit on the Information Society.

Fernando Reyes Matta

En el 2003 el mundo vivirá una de sus grandes Cumbres Mundiales en torno a un tema global esencial para el nuevo mapa de poder que han configurado las telecomunicaciones, la realidad digital y el llamado ciberespacio. Allí los Estados, pero también las organizaciones de la sociedad civil internacional debatirán – y disputarán – sobre el sentido que esta nueva realidad tiene para los desarrollos económicos, para las diversas culturas y para la vida de los ciudadanos.

Seán Ó Siochrú
 Day 0: Sunday 30 June 2002
 We arrived to register at the Conference Centre, the location of the huge multi-lingual theatres that host the intergovernmental sessions, the day before the PrepCom. We quickly realised that the Civil Society Segment was actually to be held in the basement of the ITU Tower itself, only a couple of minutes walk from the PrepCom venue but still physically removed and unlikely to offer opportunities for informal exchange with delegates. Given this, many of us camped for the duration in the basement Press Area of the Conference Centre, where there was a bank of computers, lots of network connections, better access to delegates, and (vital) unlimited photocopying. This was our ‘unofficial’ networking area, our toe-hold in the official conference building.

Antonio Pasquali

Multimedia conglomerates have hyped new communication technologies in order to create a grossly overinflated global stock market ‘bubble’ for the profit of the few and ruination of the many. What lessons can be learnt by the ‘information society’ and how can the ‘new economy’ be regulated to prevent recurrences in the future? The following article proposes setting up an international tribunal for information and communication with the power to judge and sanction such cynical manipulation of the global economy.

December 2000 – We first heard of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Barcelona at the Global Community Networking conference, from Mohammed Harbi, a senior ITU staff member. In his speech Harbi emphasised the need to involve NGOs and civil society organisations. We had the impression that we were the first ones to be invited.

Cees J. Hamelink

It has become common practice to describe modern societies with the concept ‘information society’. This concept refers in a general sense to increases in available volumes of information, the significance of information processing in ever more societal domains and the fact that information technology provides a basic infrastructure upon which societies become increasingly dependent. The following article argues that this concept is flawed and contested. It is questionable whether one can adequately describe societies with one encompassing variable only and, even if this were possible, whether information is a more precise category than money, crime or aggression. In any case it should be noted that societies pursue very different paths of development and if one insists on the reference to information, the plural notion of ‘information societies’ should be used.

Web sites
The main sites to visit are http://www.itu.int/wsis/ and http://cris.comunica.org/ where there are many links to other organisations working on issues related to the information society including:

Whose information society?

The Information Society, we are told, is upon us. The promise is for a knowledge-based society, yielding untold dividends for education, health, development, democracy and much more. Seamless networking and knowledge flows from major centres to village hut, and back again.