Source:
APC
The term ‘e-strategies’ has gained widespread use over the last few years in the debates on the role of information and communications technologies (ICTs) for development, following the UN Millennium Declaration in 2000. This paper explores its meaning in the framework of the WSIS I outcomes. PDF file.
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Although policies are formally put in place by governments, different stakeholders and in particular the private sector make inputs into the policy process and affect its outcomes. Thus, for example, in the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an intergovernmental body for governments to coordinate rules and regulations in the field of telecommunications, the influence of multinationals has grown enormously. Privatisation of state-owned companies has meant that governments can rarely control telecommunications directly. The privatised telecom companies, often partly controlled by foreign shareholders, look after their own interests. In the context of globalised markets, large and rich corporations are often more powerful than developing countries’ governments, allowing them to shape the policy-making process.
Two sets of issues in ICT policy are critical to civil society at the moment: access and civil liberties. Access has to do with making it possible for everyone to use the internet and other media. In countries where only a minority have telephones, ensuring affordable access to the internet is a huge challenge. Much of the response would lie in social solutions such as community or public access centres. In richer countries, basic access to internet is available almost to all, and faster broadband connections are fairly widespread. Access to traditional media is now a key concern, as new technologies make community video, radio and television more feasible than before.
The other set of issues, civil liberties, includes human rights such as freedom of expression, the right to privacy, the right to communicate, intellectual property rights, etc. These rights as applied to broadcast media have been threatened in many countries, and now the internet, which began as a space of freedom, is also threatened by government legislation and emerging restrictions. Some of the most blatant attacks on freedom of expression come from developing countries such as China and Vietnam, but even in countries which have a long tradition of freedom of expression, such as the USA, there are new attempts to restrict internet users’ privacy and to limit their right to choose. At the same time, restrictions that are intended to limit media monopolies are being weakened and pushed aside.
The complexity of the WSIS process has been discussed extensively, but this article questions whether the WSIS is "uniquely" complex, exploring multistakeholder participation in policy processes, particularly at national level, and examines consensus and conflict in the WSIS civil society space and why the issue of collaboration with the private sector has become so contentious. April 2005.
The term ‘e-strategies’ has gained widespread use over the last few years in the debates on the role of information and communications technologies (ICTs) for development, following the UN Millennium Declaration in 2000. This paper explores its meaning in the framework of the WSIS I outcomes. PDF file.
Access to information and communications technologies (ICTs) is expanding but the majority of people in developing countries are still excluded, says APC. At the United Nations’ World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), held in Geneva in December, governments will agree on a declaration and action plan that could enhance or hinder access to ICTs for the vast majority of the world’s population. APC and the CRIS Campaign have been following the WSIS process and their publication -"Involving Civil Society in ICT Policy: the World Summit on the Information Society"- highlights some of the principal issues at stake (pdf format).
The ICT Policy for Civil Society training course builds the capacity of civil society organisations to understand policy and regulation related to information and communication technologies (ICT) so that they can begin to engage and influence policy processes affecting ICT adoption and implementation at national, regional and global levels.
The APC ICT Policy Monitors specifically focus on the Latin American and African continents, as well as Europe, the scene of much of the earliest enacted Internet legislation. They gather legislation, statistics, documents, news, listings of organisations and other resources covering topics such as freedom of expression, privacy, censorship, and intellectual property.
This book will help people who feel that ICT policy is important but don't know much about it. Readers will be non-specialists that want to find out about the new 'information society' debates that are beginning to make the news more and more. Downloadable in PDF format.
Bridges.org is producing a series of Policy Briefs that will describe issues faced by developing countries that prevent the integration of ICTs into communities. The briefs will also assess the legislative and regulatory frameworks that are either supportive or detract from the absorption of ICT into society.
In March 2001, the United Nations Economic and Social Council requested the Secretary-General to establish an Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Task Force. The objective of the Task Force is to "provide overall leadership to the United Nations role in helping to formulate strategies for the development of information and communication technologies and putting those technologies at the service of development and, on the basis of consultations with all stakeholders and Member States, forging a strategic partnership between the United Nations system, private industry and financing trusts and foundations, donors, programme countries and other relevant stakeholders in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions."
ECA's objectives include assisting member States in the formulation and implementation of sectoral, national, village, and regional policies, plans and strategies, including information policies.
The ESCAP Information, Communication and Space Technology Division (ICSTD) was officially established on 1 July 2002. It comprises three sections - the ICT Policy Section, the ICT Applications Section and the Space Technology Applications Section. The division has been established to strengthen the capacity of ESCAP members and associate members to create enabling environments that improve access to, and application of, information, communication and space technology.
The three principal strategic objectives of the Sector’s programmes are: promoting the free flow of ideas and universal access to information, promoting the expression of pluralism and cultural diversity in the media and world information networks and promoting access for all to ICTs.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Strategy and Policy Unit (SPU) is intended to support the Secretary-General by identifying emerging trends in the telecommunications environment and analysing their implications for ITU and its membership. It conducts telecommunication and Internet country case studies, produces reports on telecommunications and Internet policy trends and organizes World Telecommunication Policy Forums.
The WTPF was established by ITU's Plenipotentiary Conference in Kyoto, 1994. Its purpose is to provide a forum where ITU Member States and Sector Members can discuss and exchange views and information on emerging telecommunication policy and regulatory matters arising from the changing telecommunication environment. Although the WTPF does not produce prescriptive regulatory outcomes or outputs with binding force, it prepares reports and, where appropriate, opinions for consideration by Members and relevant ITU meetings.
The Beijing Platform for Action meets the World Summit on the information society
This information brief supports that initiative by linking discussions in the preparatory processes of WSIS to the 12 "critical areas of concern" in the Beijing Platform for Action. Each page focuses on a critical area of concern, examples of how women are using ICTs in their programmes, and lobbying efforts by women at the WSIS PrepComs
Sponsored by the UN ICT Task Force, this paper represents an attempt to define more precisely how Information and Communication Technologies can be used to further the achievement of basic development objectives (pdf format).
