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<TITLE>Trying to respond to the position papers - defininig Universal Access</TITLE>
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<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">Friends,</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">Well, my</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">earlier</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">comment seems to have</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">stirred</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS"></FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">a fair amount of</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">correspondence</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">,</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS"> but it stil</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">l</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS"> hasn't</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">elicited a way of</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">responding</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS"></FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">to the position papers</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">.</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">Would</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">someone</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS"></FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">please tell us where we are supposed to send or post our co</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">mm</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">e</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">n</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">ts</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">?</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS"></FONT> </P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">While recognizing that i</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">t's go</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">ing to get disorganized</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">if we do it through this list</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">, I am offering below a short corrective to the</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">definition used in the</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">Universal Access paper</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">.</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">I'll withhold more detailed comments until</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">someone answers the</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">above question, though.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">----------</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">The Unesco</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">Recommendation concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace</FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">(</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS"><A HREF="http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13475&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html" TARGET="_blank">http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13475&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html</A></FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS"></FONT> <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">) has an excellent definition of "universal access", which includ</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">es not just access to the technology but also access to content, both of which are included in the rest of the WGIG paper, but not in the definition offered on the first page. I suggest we use it:</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">"</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">Universal access to cyberspace is equitable and affordabl</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">e access by all citizens to information infrastructure (notably to the Internet) and to information and knowledge essential to collective and individual human development</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">".</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">Note also that WSIS-CT has already worked in this area for previous statements, an</FONT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">d much of this is absent from the present text. I append a text we prepared a couple of years ago (!)below.</FONT></P>
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<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">Chris</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><B></B><A NAME="_MailAutoSig"><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Comic Sans MS">Chris Zielinski</FONT></B></A> </P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Comic Sans MS">STP, Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Comic Sans MS">RPC/EIP, World Health Organization </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Comic Sans MS">Avenue Appia, CH1211,</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Comic Sans MS">Geneva, Switzerland </FONT></P>
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<P ALIGN=LEFT><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Universal access</FONT></B></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">In an equitable information society, everyone must have universal and equitable access to the infrastructure and knowledge available. </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Technological access requires enough of the right kind of infrastructure. It is the responsibility of governments to ensure that the necessary backbone infrastructure is built and maintained, and to ensure that there is an enabling policy and regulatory e</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">n</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">vironment that encourages communities, the private sector, local government and civil society to provide value-added services and to expand this infrastructure in locally relevant ways. </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Public investment in infrastructure, and market imperatives in the p</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">rivate sector, should not result in wealthier urban populations being wired while poorer rural communities are left untouched. The digital inclusion of the few must not be allowed to perpetuate the social and economic exclusion of the many.</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Equally, techno</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">logical access does not merely mean the ability to download information and advertising, it implies the ability to upload information with sufficient bandwidth for two-way communication.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Access should be provided particularly to community organizations an</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">d other constituencies that can have a high impact in terms of distributing benefits of access. The needs of women and of specific communities such as the disabled should be met. </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Expanding technological access to the Internet demands an expansion of the</FONT> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">available address space under IPv6, mindful of the societal and ethical risks to privacy and personal security of increased penetration of the Internet into society.</FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Transparent, accountable governance structures and equitable legal and regulatory frameworks must be established, which are able to provide socially responsible governance in a world that becomes increasingly dependent on the Internet. </FONT></P>
<P ALIGN=LEFT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Finally, universal</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> access must be provided to information essential for human development. Without access to such information and knowledge, there can be no Information Society. This goes beyond the right of access to information in the public domain, and includes all know</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">l</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">edge that is needed for basic survival. Equitable access should be provided to information from all sources, whether from developing or industrialized countries.</FONT></P>
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