--- Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 18:21:45 +0100 From: Karin Spaink <kspainkat_private> Organization: Marcab Inc. To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private> Subject: OSCE, Freedom of the Media and Internet Dear Declan The OSCE - the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which has 56 member states, not only most European countries but also many former Russian states, the Vatican, Canada and the USA - is one of the few supranational bodies which has a mandate to intervene. Their office for Freedom of the Media (OSCE-FOM), led by Freimut Duve, monitors journalistic freedom in the region and has the right to issues warnings to governments who fail to uphold that freedom, and even to intervene. For the first time, OSCE-FOM is considering how it should deal with freedom on the internet. A special article for their 2001-2002 Yearbook was written by me and co-authored by one of the senior advisors of OSCE-FOM (published in August 2002), attempting to give an overview of the European situation. The full yearbook is available at http://www.osce.org/fom/documents/books/files/yb2001_2002.pdf (667 Kb)and that ine particular article is also available at http://www.spaink.net/english/osce-fom.pdf Currently, OSCE-FOM is working on a conference for all its members, to be held in late spring 2004. In preparation of that, a workshop was held in Vienna where international experts convened. The topics debated during the workshop, which was held on 30 November, included: * universal access to Cyberspace Strategies of the "Inter- governmental Council of the Information for All" Programme (IFAP) run by UNESCO; * Council of Europe activities regarding new information and communication technologies; * the diminishing importance of constitutional rights in the Internet age; * the importance of the public domain for creativity, innovation, and culture; * the effects of September 11th on the Internet; and * censorship and intellectual property rights in an inter- national context. A full press release is available at http://www.osce.org/news/generate.php3?news_id=2923 . A brochure containing the vatrious contributions to the Nov. 30 Vienna workshop will be published before the Spring conference. regards, - K - -- "Conformity or rebellion?" "Neither one. Both ways are simple-minded - they are only for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity." - Neil Stephenson: The Diamond Age ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q\clan -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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