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TECHNOLOGY: Summit Prep Meet Caught between Two Visions

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Feb 17 2003 (IPS) - In the preparatory discussions for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), to take place in December, a rift has emerged between the visions aiming to put new technology at the service of business, or of citizens.

The differences were evident from the beginning, in Monday’s sessions of Prepcom-2 in Geneva, convened by the United Nations to discuss how to achieve greater equality in access to information and communications technology.

The pillars of the debate are access, referring to the digital divide that leaves the people of the developing South excluded; power, and the concentration of ownership of the communications media; democracy, or freedom of expression; and cultural diversity.

The first portion of the Summit, slated to take place in Geneva, Dec 10-12, has a mandate to issue a declaration on these issues and establish policies for an action plan.

The WSIS will continue in Tunisia in 2005 to follow up on the results and to make corrections to improve the process.

Only the private sector has the experience and resources to translate the concept of the information society from cyberspace to everyday life, said María Cattaui, secretary-general of the International Chamber of Commerce.

But governments must cooperate, creating stable economic conditions and favourable legal frameworks to attract private investment, she said.

The information and communications technology (ICT) industry shrank in 2001. Sales of semiconductor materials fell 29 percent, and computer sales declined for the first time in 15 years, while mobile telephone sales stagnated, according to figures from the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

But Cattaui expressed optimism that the sector is ready to recuperate its role as the "key provider of solutions."

"ICT is empowering citizens, not necessarily corporations," said civil society representative Izumi Aizu, of the Japan-based Asia Network Research.

Lawrence Lessig, law professor from Stanford University in the United States and expert in ICT issues, said it is "inappropriate" to focus on a business vs. non-business division in the information society.

Lessig urged the delegates at Prepcom-2 to resist the "extreme protectionism" of intellectual property rights in the ICT sphere, noting that this phenomenon is particularly strong in the United States.

Jacques Attali, a French politician and intellectual, agreed that innovations in the information and communications fields should be freely accessible, at least in the early stages.

Attali commented that in the early days of radio, artists worked for free, and their "generous attitude" continued until that media sector was consolidated.

The essence of the debate, he said, is centred on a concept of information as a "public good", while access to information is truly "a vital good" that is not limited to the right to receive it, but rather to generating it.

The right to inform, added Attali, is complemented by the right to have the means with which to inform.

During the first day of Prepcom-2 sessions, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF – Reporters Without Borders) issued a warning against any initiative that would jeopardise Internet freedoms.

At previous meetings, many government delegates had suggested that they would use the fight against Internet crimes to justify monitoring and repressive measures, said the Paris-based RSF.

Yoshio Utsumi, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, the UN body in charge of organising the conference, told a Monday press conference that there is no clear consensus that the WSIS should take up the matter of Internet regulation.

However, Utsumi acknowledged that Internet security will be discussed, an issue of interest to the United States, particularly for its role in fighting international terrorism.

Civil society groups taking part in the process want the debate to include information as a human right and as a public good, opposing the view of information as mere product.

"Information and communication technologies… are not only the drivers of economic and financial globalisation, but also powerful vehicles for ideas and images that are shaping our vision of the world and our consumption patterns," says the Swiss Coalition of NGOs.

According to the Coalition, ITU "has neither the requisite stature nor capabilities" to organise the WSIS or to "galvanise energies" or carry any emerging visions forward.

Furthermore, says the Coalition, the official documents the ITU has released so far "place more emphasis on infrastructure development (for the South) and potential markets (for the North) than on the rights and real needs of human beings."

ITU chief Utsumi said there are global inequalities in the distribution of televisions, radios, fixed and mobile telephones, but acknowledged that the Internet situation is even worse.

At year-end 2002, ITU estimated there were 500 million Internet users worldwide, 80 percent of whom were from industrialised countries.

In the developing world, one of 50 people has access to the Internet, while in the industrialised world the portion is two of every five.

Utsumi suggested that the Summit should aid the ICT industry, which has surplus capacity in wealthy countries, to cover the existing markets in developing countries.