The aptly-named "Digital Solidarity Agenda" for this week's United
Nations/ITU summit on the Internet and information society is mostly
duplicative and predictable. Documents posted Saturday call for more taxes
and spending by governments on politically-favored information technology
programs, the protection of "indigenous peoples'" cultural heritage,
outlawing so-called hate speech ("I think the Irish suck!"), and so on.
There's the obligatory crypto-censorial suggestion that governments must
take "appropriate measures" to combat "combat illegal and harmful content
in media content," whatever that means.
Then there's section D2, which says the U.S. government should take
"concrete efforts" toward expropriating $97 billion a year from American
taxpayers in grants to third-world nations. I'm not sure how much
non-military foreign aid the U.S. hands out today, but in 1997 we gave
around $7 billion. (If we have perhaps 150 million U.S. taxpayers, without
adjusting for income disparities, the extra $90 billion amounts to an
average tax increase of $600 per taxpayer per year. A bargain!)
Of course the U.N. bureaucrats will insist on seeing that extra $90 billion
goes to the rightful recipients -- after they take their cut off the top.
See a report from a former U.S. State Department official titled "A Miasma
of Corruption: The United Nations at 50":
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-253.html
In light of the Geneva U.N. conference this week, an excerpt from that
report is telling: 'One of the most egregious abuses is the United Nations'
penchant for holding international conferences of dubious worth. A splendid
example was last year's $2.5 million Summit for Social Development held in
Copenhagen, Denmark. Featuring 100 world leaders, the summit (and its dozen
preparatory meetings) fuzzily focused on poverty, job creation, and
"solidarity." The outcome was roughly divisible into two categories:
bromides that few could quarrel with or find of practical use and proposals
for yet more government intervention to promote societal betterment.'
The same is true with this week's meeting. About the only concrete
proposal, as you can see in the links below, is a naked power grab to wrest
control of Internet governance (domain names, addresses) from ICANN. As
flawed as ICANN may be, it's probably a heck of a lot better than letting
the U.N. take over.
News coverage:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3300071.stm
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/aptech_story.asp?category=1700&slug=UN%20Tech%20Summit
-Declan
---
http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs/pc3/declaration-principles.pdf
2. Our challenge is to harness the potential of information and
communication technology to
promote the development goals of the Millennium Declaration, namely the
eradication of extreme
poverty and hunger; achievement of universal primary education; promotion
of gender equality and
empowerment of women; reduction of child mortality; improvement of maternal
health; to combat
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental
sustainability; and development of
global partnerships for development for the attainment of a more peaceful,
just and prosperous
world.
15. In the evolution of the Information Society, particular attention must
be given to the special
situation of indigenous peoples, as well as to the preservation of their
heritage and their cultural
legacy.
33. To achieve a sustainable development of the Information Society,
national capability in ICT
research and development should be enhanced. Furthermore, partnerships, in
particular between and
among developed and developing countries, including countries with
economies in transition, in
research and development, technology transfer, manufacturing and
utilisation of ICT products and
services are crucial for promoting capacity building and global
participation in the Information
Society. The manufacture of ICTs presents a significant opportunity for
creation of wealth.
36. While recognizing the principles of universal and non-discriminatory
access to ICTs for all
nations, we support the activities of the United Nations to prevent the
potential use of ICTs for
purposes that are inconsistent with the objectives of maintaining
international stability and security,
and may adversely affect the integrity of the infrastructure within States,
to the detriment of their
security. It is necessary to prevent the use of information resources and
technologies for criminal
and terrorist purposes, while respecting human rights.
37. Spam is a significant and growing problem for users, networks and the
Internet as a whole.
Spam and cyber-security should be dealt with at appropriate national and
international levels.
39. ... Governments should intervene, as appropriate, to
correct market failures, to maintain fair competition, to attract
investment, to enhance the
development of the ICT infrastructure and applications, to maximize
economic and social benefits,
and to serve national priorities.
48. The Internet has evolved into a global facility available to the public
and its governance should
constitute a core issue of the Information Society agenda. The
international management of the
Internet should be multilateral, transparent and democratic, with the full
involvement of
governments, the private sector, civil society and international
organizations. It should ensure an
equitable distribution of resources, facilitate access for all and ensure a
stable and secure
functioning of the Internet, taking into account multilingualism.
50. ... We ask the Secretary-General of the United Nations to set up a
working group on Internet governance, in an
open and inclusive process that ensures a mechanism for the full and active
participation of
governments, the private sector and civil society from both developing and
developed countries,
involving relevant intergovernmental and international organizations and
forums, to investigate and
make proposals for action, as appropriate, on the governance of Internet by
2005.
59. All actors in the Information Society should take appropriate actions
and preventive
measures, as determined by law, against abusive uses of ICTs, such as
illegal and other acts
motivated by racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related
intolerance...
http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs/pc3/plan-action.pdf
e) In the context of national e-strategies, address the special
requirements of older people, persons with
disabilities, children, especially marginalized children and other
disadvantaged and vulnerable groups,
including by appropriate educational administrative and legislative
measures to ensure their full inclusion in
the Information Society.
b) Governments in cooperation with the private sector should prevent,
detect and respond to cyber crime and
misuse of ICTs by: developing guidelines that take into account ongoing
efforts in these areas; considering
legislation that allows for effective investigation and prosecution of
misuse; promoting effective mutual
assistance efforts; strengthening institutional support at the
international level for preventing, detecting and
recovering from such incidents; and encouraging education and raising
awareness.
c) Governments, and other stakeholders, should actively promote user
education and awareness about online
privacy and the means of protecting privacy.
d) Take appropriate action on spam at national and international levels.
e) Encourage the domestic assessment of national law with a view to
overcoming any obstacles to the
effective use of electronic documents and transactions including electronic
means of authentication.
f) Further strengthen the trust and security framework with complementary
and mutually reinforcing
initiatives in the fields of security in the use of ICTs, with initiatives
or guidelines with respect to rights to
privacy, data and consumer protection.
6
b) We ask the Secretary General of the United Nations to set up a working
group on Internet governance, in
an open and inclusive process that ensures a mechanism for the full and
active participation of governments,
the private sector and civil society from both developing and developed
countries, involving relevant
intergovernmental and international organizations and forums, to
investigate and make proposals for action,
as appropriate, on the governance of Internet by 2005. The group should,
inter alia:
i) develop a working definition of Internet governance;
ii) identify the public policy issues that are relevant to Internet governance;
iii) develop a common understanding of the respective roles and
responsibilities of governments,
existing intergovernmental and international organisations and other forums
as well as the private sector
and civil society from both developing and developed countries;
iv) prepare a report on the results of this activity to be presented for
consideration and appropriate action
for the second phase of WSIS in Tunis in 2005.
27. The Digital Solidarity Agenda aims at putting in place the conditions
for mobilizing human, financial
and technological resources for inclusion of all men and women in the
emerging Information Society. Close
national, regional and international cooperation among all stakeholders in
the implementation of this Agenda
is vital. To overcome the digital divide, we need to use more efficiently
existing approaches and
mechanisms and fully explore new ones, in order to provide financing for
the development of infrastructure,
equipment, capacity building and content, which are essential for
participation in the Information Society.
b) Developed countries should make concrete efforts to fulfil their
international commitments to financing
development including the Monterrey Consensus, in which developed countries
that have not done so are
urged to make concrete efforts towards the target of 0.7 per cent of gross
national product (GNP) as ODA to
developing countries and 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of GNP of developed
countries to least developed countries.
D2. Mobilizing resources
a) All countries and international organisations should act to create
conditions conducive to increasing the
availability and effective mobilisation of resources for financing
development as elaborated in the Monterrey
Consensus.
b) Developed countries should make concrete efforts to fulfil their
international commitments to financing
development including the Monterrey Consensus, in which developed countries
that have not done so are
urged to make concrete efforts towards the target of 0.7 per cent of gross
national product (GNP) as ODA to
developing countries and 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of GNP of developed
countries to least developed countries.
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