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<DIV><FONT face="comic sans ms">After relative 'silence' its interesting to note that Rights & Access are not in the first three things the US wants to be reflected in the Declaration of Principles, which According to</FONT><FONT face="comic sans ms" size=3> <EM>Mr. David A. Gross, the U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy at the State Department, Includes: the importance of (1) developing information and communications infrastructure, (2) developing content, and (3) ensuring network security.</EM></FONT></DIV><FONT size=3></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT><FONT face="comic sans ms">Titi Akinsanmi</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.pin.itgo.com"><FONT face="comic sans ms">www.pin.itgo.com</FONT></A><FONT face="comic sans ms"> </FONT><A href="http://www.ayinitiative.net"><FONT face="comic sans ms">www.ayinitiative.net</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.ycdo.net"><FONT face="comic sans ms">www.ycdo.net</FONT></A><FONT face="comic sans ms"> </FONT><A href="http://www.mtechcomm.com"><FONT face="comic sans ms">www.mtechcomm.com</FONT></A> <BR><B><I>Sasha Costanza-Chock <schock@asc.upenn.edu></I></B> wrote: </DIV>
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<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid; WIDTH: 100%">WSIS in the news...<BR><BR>sc<BR><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From: Carrie Biggs-Adams<BR>To: schock@asc.upenn.edu<BR>Sent: 7/28/2003 12:37 PM<BR>Subject: WSIS - From Telecom Daily 7/25<BR><BR>OFFICIALS REPORT PROGRESS IN PLANNING<BR>FOR WORLD SUMMIT ON INFORMATION SOCIETY<BR><BR>Officials from the U.S. and other countries today said they were <BR>making progress in planning for the World Summit on the Information <BR>Society, which is scheduled to be held in Geneva, Switzerland, in <BR>December and in Tunis, Tunisia in 2005.<BR><BR>The purpose of the summit is to identify ways to use information and <BR>communications technologies, such Internet access, to improve life in <BR>the developing world. Those being invited include world leaders, <BR>industry, international intergovernmental organizations, and civil <BR>leaders. The United Nations is sponsoring the summit, whic
h is
being <BR>managed by the International Telecommunication Union.<BR><BR>At a Washington news conference today, organizers of the event <BR>acknowledged that the process has been difficult, but they expressed <BR>optimism that a planned declaration of principles and action plan <BR>would be ready by the time the summit begins in 4-1/2 months. The <BR>event is scheduled to be held Dec. 10-12 in Geneva and Nov. 16-18, <BR>2005, in Tunis.<BR><BR>David A. Gross, the U.S. coordinator for international communications <BR>and information policy at the State Department, said he was pleased <BR>with the progress made by attendees last week during a special four-<BR>day planning meeting held in Paris. The meeting was held after <BR>participants were disappointed by the lack of progress at two earlier <BR>planned preparatory sessions, he said. The last scheduled preparatory<BR><BR>session is scheduled to be held in Geneva in September.<BR><BR>"I was not widely optimistic that we were goi
ng to
make substantial <BR>progress, but I was very pleased by the progress that we did make. . .<BR>. <BR>There was a lot of effort by many of the other administrations to find<BR><BR>common ground, to raise the level of discourse in terms of trying to <BR>find the language that would work for all," he said. "I come out of<BR>this <BR>knowing there's a lot of work to be done but feeling more positive, <BR>particularly with the relatively short amount of time remaining before<BR><BR>the summit."<BR><BR>He noted that participants at last week's meeting whittled down the <BR>draft declaration of principles from about 40 pages to 12 and plan to <BR>further reduce it to about five or six pages. He said plans called for<BR><BR>officials to finalize the principles at the September meeting. A "more<BR><BR>user-friendly" draft of the action plan is scheduled for release next <BR>month; delegates plan to tackle it at the September meeting. He said <BR>the U.S. would like three things to be
reflected in the declaration of<BR><BR>principles: the importance of (1) developing information and <BR>communications infrastructure, (2) developing content, and (3) <BR>ensuring network security.<BR><BR>Mr. Gross and other U.S. officials have expressed concern that some <BR>attendees at the summit would push for heavy regulation of the <BR>Internet. "There are a number of things that we are concerned about <BR>that are still floating around," he said. But he said he was pleased<BR>that <BR>ITU Secretary General Yoshio Utsumi's call for international treaties <BR>on cyber issues was not reflected in the draft documents prepared for <BR>the summit.<BR><BR>On other issues, he said U.S. officials wanted to ensure that<BR>intellectual <BR>property right issues - specifically open-source and propriety software<BR><BR>- were "offered in a balanced way." He also reiterated that the U.S. <BR>would resist any efforts to include language that governments should <BR>play a direct role
in
controlling management of the Internet. For <BR>example, he noted that U.S. officials favored private-sector <BR>management, with "government input," of the Internet Corporation for <BR>Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).<BR><BR>Mr. Gross also said U.S. officials "would like to see a clear, stronger<BR><BR>statement about the importance of good governance," as well as "a <BR>clearer reaffirmation of freedom of communication." That is "a <BR>controversial concept for many administrations," he noted.<BR><BR>But he also stressed that the U.S. would oppose any of the summit's <BR>work being mandated on countries. "The declaration and the plan of <BR>action will not, ought not to, be a set of legal requirements on<BR>anyone," <BR>he said. "Rather, what we have focused on is trying to identify those<BR><BR>areas that give the greatest benefit for which there is general <BR>international consensus."<BR><BR>Other speakers at today's news conference stressed the need for such <BR>con
sensus.
"There is some great distrust among world stakeholders," <BR>said Adama Samassekou, a former Mali education minister who is <BR>heading the summit preparatory process. But he said participants had <BR>an "historic opportunity" to develop partnerships. He acknowledged <BR>that it wouldn't be easy. "We will have in this summit very important<BR><BR>issues which are controversial."<BR><BR>Marc Furrer, secretary of state for Switzerland's Federal Office of <BR>Communications, said among the more controversial issues were (1) <BR>concerns about governments being able to access personal information <BR>about consumers, (2) the role of open markets vs. state monopolies, <BR>and (3) free trade. He said he was hopeful that the Geneva session, <BR>which is expected to attract 6,000-8,000 people, could at least begin<BR>to <BR>tackle all of the issues, even though some might not be resolved until<BR><BR>the 2005 meeting. Others said the purpose of the 2005 session was to <BR>follow up
on
implementation of initiatives launched as a result of this<BR><BR>year's conference. - Paul Kirby, pkirby@tr.com <BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Plenary mailing list<BR>Plenary@wsis-cs.org<BR>http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/plenary</BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></DIV><BR><BR><P align=center><EM><FONT color=#7f007f face="Comic Sans MS"><STRONG>IMPACT YOUR GENERATION!!!</STRONG></FONT></P></EM><p><hr SIZE=1>
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