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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/wsis.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/wsis.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a273f89 --- /dev/null +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/wsis.html @@ -0,0 +1,164 @@ +<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> +<!-- Parent-Version: 1.77 --> + +<title>World Summit on the Information Society - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> + +<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/wsis.translist" --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> + +<h2>World Summit on the Information Society</h2> + +<p>by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/"><strong>Richard Stallman</strong></a></p> + +<p><em>(Originally published on Newsforge.)</em></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>At <abbr title="World Summit on the Information Society">WSIS</abbr>, +in a climate of suppression of dissent, the score is 0-0<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 30%">-- Richard Stallman</span></p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The World Summit on the Information Society is supposed to +formulate plans to end the “digital divide” and make the +internet accessible to everyone on Earth. The negotiations were +completed in November, so the big official meeting in Geneva last week +was more of a trade show and conference than a real summit +meeting.</p> + +<p>The summit procedures were designed so that non-governmental +organizations (mainly those that promote human rights and equality, +and work to reduce poverty) could attend, see the discussions, and +comment. However, the actual declaration paid little attention to the +comments and recommendations that these organizations made. In effect, +civil society was offered the chance to speak to a dead mike.</p> + +<p>The summit's declaration includes little that is bold or new. When +it comes to the question of what people will be free to <em>do</em> +with the internet, it responds to demands made by various governments +to impose restrictions on citizens of cyberspace.</p> + +<p>Part of the digital divide comes from artificial obstacles to the +sharing of information. This includes the licenses of non-free +software, and harmfully restrictive copyright laws. The Brazilian +declaration sought measures to promote free software, but the US +delegation was firmly against it (remember that the Bush campaign got +money from Microsoft). The outcome was a sort of draw, with the final +declaration presenting free software, open source, and proprietary +software as equally legitimate. The US also insisted on praising +so-called “intellectual property rights”. (That biased +term <a href="/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#IntellectualProperty"> +promotes simplistic over-generalization</a>; for the sake of clear +thinking about the issues of copyright law, and about the very +different issues of patent law, that term should always be +avoided.)</p> + +<p>The declaration calls on governments to ensure unhindered access to +the public domain, but says nothing about whether any additional works +should ever enter the public domain.</p> + +<p>Human rights were given lip service, but the proposal for a +“right to communicate” (not merely to access information) +using the internet was shot down by many of the countries. The summit +has been criticized for situating its 2005 meeting in Tunisia, which +is a prime example of what the information society must not do. +People have +been <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2777389.stm"> +imprisoned in Tunisia for using the internet to criticize the +government</a>. +</p> + +<p>Suppression of criticism has been evident here at the summit too. +A counter-summit, actually a series of talks and discussions, was +planned for last Tuesday, but it was shut down by the Geneva police +who clearly were searching for an excuse to do so. First they claimed +that the landlord did not approve use of the space, but the tenant who +has a long-term lease for the space then arrived and said he had +authorized the event. So the police cited a fire code violation which +I'm told is applicable to most buildings in Geneva—in effect, an +all-purpose excuse to shut down anything. Press coverage of this +maneuver eventually forced the city to allow the counter-summit to +proceed on Wednesday in a different location.</p> + +<p>In a more minor act of suppression, the moderator of the official +round table in which I spoke told me “your time is up” +well before the three minutes each participant was supposed to have. +She later did the same thing to the EPIC representative. I later +learned that she works for the International Chamber of +Commerce—no wonder she silenced us. And how telling that the +summit would put a representative of the ICC at the throttle when we +spoke.</p> + +<p>Suppression was also visible in the exclusion of certain NGOs from +the summit because their focus on human rights might embarrass the +governments that trample them. For instance, the +summit <a href="http://www.hrichina.org/en/content/2301"> +refused to accredit Human Rights In China</a>, a group that criticizes +the Chinese government for (among other things) censorship of the +internet.</p> + +<p><!--a href="http://ar.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=8774"-->Reporters +Without Borders was also excluded<!--/a--> from the summit. To raise +awareness of their exclusion, and of the censorship of the internet in +various countries, they set up an unauthorized radio station in nearby +France and handed out mini-radios, so that summit attendees could hear +what the organization had been blocked from saying at the summit +itself.</p> + +<p>The summit may have a few useful side effects. For instance, +several people came together to plan an organization to help +organizations in Africa switch to GNU/Linux. But the summit did +nothing to support this activity beyond providing an occasion for us +to meet. Nor, I believe, was it intended to support any such thing. +The overall attitude of the summit can be seen in its having invited +Microsoft to speak alongside, and before, most of the various +participating governments—as if to accord that criminal +corporation the standing of a state.</p> + +</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> + +<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> +<div id="footer"> +<div class="unprintable"> + +<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to +<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. +There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> +the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent +to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> + +<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, + replace it with the translation of these two: + + We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality + translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. + Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard + to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> + <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> + + <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of + our web pages, see <a + href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations + README</a>. --> +Please see the <a +href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations +README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations +of this article.</p> +</div> + +<p>Copyright © 2003 Richard M. Stallman</p> + +<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" +href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative +Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License</a>.</p> + +<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> + +<p class="unprintable">Updated: +<!-- timestamp start --> +$Date: 2014/08/21 15:01:30 $ +<!-- timestamp end --> +</p> +</div> +</div> +</body> +</html> |