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<title>Some Help Needed in Developing CS Statement for OECD Ministerial</title>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Michael<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Thanks for taking up this initiative. I agree
to go with the statement as it stands, and I think it is very comprehensive.
However I am offering some comments which you may use if and as found appropriate.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> I am replying publicly because I
thought some the comments offered here may draw some responses here which
themselves may be of some use to you. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I think the statement is very good, and
covers most areas of ‘specific’ exclusions in the IS (or info
economy, IE) very well. I would though like to have some overall text prefacing
what you have put down, which points to the ‘systemic exclusions’ arising
from the way dominant version of IS or IE is conceived and practiced at present.
Oftentimes, speaking only of ‘marginal’ exclusions, which can be
corrected by patchwork here and there, serves to draw attention away from the
issue of systemic exclusions which are more fundamental, and severely limit any
real possibility of participation and inclusion. I therefore think that the statement
should engage at both these levels. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Classically, every (political) economy
recognizes the distinction between those aspects that are of a ‘public
infrastructural’ nature and those that need to be an exclusive preserve
of the markets. Public infrastructural aspects requires large scale public
investments in areas which support a huge amount of supra-structural economic
activity, and these infrastructural areas may by themselves, for various
structural reasons, be not attractive enough to private investment. Even if private
investment does go into these critical infrastructures it may tend to skew the opportunity
structures in a manner inimical to both the overall economy, and the concerns
of equity within it. The emerging IS or IE has new key infrastructural elements
at many levels whose ‘public nature’ needs to be recognized, and
the financing and regulation of these elements has to proceed from this recognition.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> Beyond this distinction, every
(political) economy or society also recognizes areas where direct public
investments are needed not only as per economic logic stated above, but as a
matter of social policy, to account for various basic needs and rights of the
people, and to address various social inclusions. Policy makers need to see the
Internet not only as a new market infrastructure, but also as a critical social
infrastructure, bringing in the issues of rights and entitlements that are important
aspects of today’s welfare state. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>At present Information economy (or
society) is often recognized as one exclusively market-mediated monolith where
public sector is mostly only given a regulatory role. The traditional
socio-economic distinctions of areas of an economy where markets dominate
–personal automobiles for instance, and areas where public sector
dominates – basic essential infrastructure, and specific domains like education
and health, are obliterated. This is done in the fictional belief that somehow
ICTs have completely perfected the markets, and that public sector interventions
were in any case only needed for correcting market imperfections. This is a dangerous
political economy assumption, which is not proven, and would certainly lead to massive
exclusions and discriminations in the emerging information society (economy). <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>When speaking about guiding principles of
the future Information economy, which I understand the OECD ministerial seeks to
do, it is important to recognize the elements of the IS – and of its paradigmatic
infrastructure, the Internet – that are essentially of the nature of public
infrastructure and public services. Discriminations and exclusions are systemically
and structurally related to this issue of the adequate policy distinction between
the private or market-mediated, on one hand, and the ‘public’, on
the other, in the IS, while it is still important to deal specifically with
each kind of exclusion that your statement elaborates on so well.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> In this context it may also be
useful to refer the inputs of the European Council to the IGF which emphasizes
the ‘public service value’ of the Internet, and links the issue of
access to the Internet with democratic citizenship. To quote.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>“Consequently, it
is proposed that everyone should be entitled to expect the delivery of a
minimum level of Internet services (for example effective and affordable access,
a suitable environment for businesses to operate, etc.) irrespective of both the
architecture of the World Wide Web (infrastructure, accessibility,
interconnectivity) and the arrangements concerning its construction and
development, with regard to the rules or principles that apply – or ought
to apply – to the Internet’s use (such as freedom of speech and of
association, right to private life and correspondence, consumer protection,
security, crime-prevention).”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> (<a
href="http://www.intgovforum.org/Substantive_1st_IGF/CoE%20submission%20to%20the%20IGF.pdf">http://www.intgovforum.org/Substantive_1st_IGF/CoE%20submission%20to%20the%20IGF.pdf</a>
) <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Parminder <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> Michael Gurstein
[mailto:gurstein@gmail.com] <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, March 05, 2008
9:40 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> plenary@wsis-cs.org;
governance@lists.cpsr.org; coalition@mailman.thepublicvoice.org<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [governance] Some Help
Needed in Developing CS Statement for OECD Ministerial</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'>Hello colleagues:</span></font><span lang=EN-CA> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'>I've agreed to pull together a section on "Discrimination in the
Information Economy" for the CS statement to the OECD Ministerial in Seoul
in June.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'>I've done up several very general statements as placeholders but I know
that there are individuals on this list with specific expertise in these areas
and I would very much appreciate if they could redo what I've done and as well add
appropriate referencing to previous CS documents, standards, appropriate
websites etc.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'>If people could send their comments to me individually indicating which
numbered section they are referring to, I'll compile them and recirculate
them. I've agreed to do a final by Monday at the latest so speed is of
the essence. (This is a bit of a last minute job so I'm not sure how much
debate on wording will actually be possible so please if comments could be made
as "generic" from a CS perspective as possible that would be great.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'>Among the barriers to equitable participation are: </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'>1.<u>physical disability</u> which interferes with the opportunity to
make use of the input/output devices through which the digital platform is
access. Such disabilities might include visual disabilities (the inability to
read or interpret messages on a screen) as for example arising from blindness,
colour blindness or other forms of visual impairment. There are a variety of
well recognized standards for the design of web interfaces which enable
utilization of these sites by those with visual disabilities but these
standards are for the most part voluntary and frequently are ignored or
overlooked. The enforcement of these standards particularly in government sites
or site which are supportive of public participation, provide public services,
or are overall in the realm of “public activities” should become
mandatory and means for their enforcement should be developed. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'>2.levels of</span></font><u><span lang=EN-CA> </span></u><u><font
size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>literacy</span></font></u><font
size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>
may be required by certain digitally enabled activities which act as
discriminants for those with lower levels of education, cognitive abilities or
limited facility with the language being used on the site. Similarly as with
visual disabilities standards exist for determining the level of literacy
required for utilization of specific sites and these should be formally adopted
and means developed for their enforcement particularly in those sites necessary
for social, political and economic functioning in the Information Society </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'>3.differential access to the use of the Internet because of<u> barriers
of cost of access</u></span></font><span lang=EN-CA> </span><font size=2
face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>(Internet
access costs or costs of the input/output devices themselves (personal
computers for example). Many of those currently not using the Internet (as
understood by means of the concept of the “Digital Divide”) are not
doing so because of the cost of this service. Ensuring that publicly accessible
services at no or nominal cost is a minimum basis for ensuring equitable
participation in the Information Society.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'> </span></font><span lang=EN-CA> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'>4.related to the financial barrier of access may be the</span></font><u><span
lang=EN-CA> </span></u><u><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>barriers of physical disability in
limiting access</span></font></u><span lang=EN-CA> </span><font size=2
face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>to
places where no or minimal cost Internet access may be available. Many of those
with physical disabilities also have very low incomes so the opportunity to use
the Internet (or other ICTs) may only come through public Internet access
points (PIAPs). If these PIAPs are themselves not accessible because of
physical barriers (as for example not being wheel chair accessible), then the
opportunity to participate is doubly restricted. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'>5.further, many of those also who do not make use of the Internet may
not be doing so because of a</span></font><u><span lang=EN-CA> </span></u><u><font
size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>lack
of knowledge or personal confidence</span></font></u><span lang=EN-CA> </span><font
size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>with
respect to the means for making such use. This would be particularly the case for
the elderly and those with lower levels of education. The barrier of confidence
or skill with respect to Internet use may be overcome through the availability
of training or support services in the context of the PIAPs and thus publicly
supported means for providing this training (it is frequently done through
support of volunteers or student interns) is a further means for ensuring that
discriminatory barriers do not exist for Internet participation. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'>6.</span></font><u><span lang=EN-CA> </span></u><u><font size=2
face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Equitable
gender access</span></font></u><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> to ICT has been linked to an
increase in overall social equality for women; however, within numerous global
contexts—including those of Developed Countries—gender disparities
in access to ICT persist, and women predominate the lower-wage sectors of the
information economy. Women also are under-represented in ICT decision-making
capacities. Gender is one of many factors that determine the impact of ICT on
women’s lives. Ethnicity, religion, age, physical ability, and
socio-economic status also figure into the degrees of inclusion and exclusion
that differentiate regions and communities. Key to overcoming the barriers,
shortcomings and misconceptions that exacerbate gender inequalities in ICT are
the comprehensive education of all persons regardless of gender, the promotion
of equal access for women to scientific and technological arenas, the provision
of opportunities for lifelong learning in ICT, and the augmentation of
women’s roles in ICT decision-making. Governments should enable equal
access and opportunity for all via policies and programs as well as collaborate
more broadly with the private sector and civil society to change social
attitudes, cultural ideologies, and stereotypes that limit women’s
participation in the digital economy. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'>7. in many circumstances there are additional difficulties (and costs)
in obtaining access to the means for participation in the digital economy by
those living in</span></font><u><span lang=EN-CA> </span></u><u><font size=2
face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>remote,
rural, or low-income areas</span></font></u><font size=2 face=Arial><span
lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>. The cost of the
provision of enhanced (broadband for example) infrastructures in such areas may
lead to gaps in access in these areas if the service provision is only left to
market considerations. In order to ensure that there is no discrimination or
additional barriers to participation on the part of rural and remote residents
it may be necessary for public authorities to intervene to find means to
balance costs as between locales. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'>8.</span></font><u><span lang=EN-CA> </span></u><u><font size=2
face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Individuals'
relationship with access providers or their business partners</span></font></u><span
lang=EN-CA> </span><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>may also be a source for discrimination against
particular users. Vertical integration of access provision with other products,
content, and services may lead access providers to engage in tying behaviors,
such as blocking or degrading competitors' services. Competition and
communications authorities should act to prevent such behavior.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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