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Consensus needed on information society

Paul Vecchiatto
By Paul Vecchiatto, ITWeb Cape Town correspondent
Cape Town, 22 Aug 2005

The objective of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) is to reach consensus on how the information society is to be built, says Adama Samessekou, WSIS president (Geneva Phase).

SA has already put in practice the multi-stakeholder approach the development of the information society needs, he says.

Samessekou was talking to ITWeb following his opening address at the civil society Thetha forum on the WSIS that is taking place in Cape Town as part of the Information Society Week.

The multi-stakeholder approach will involve all parties, government, business and civil society, in developing a common objective, he says.

Samessekou says he would like to see two documents emerge from the WSIS process - one political and the other operational.

The political document will be linked to the Geneva Declaration and possibly be called the "Fundamental Principles of Digital Solidarity" and the second document will incorporate all of the 11 key principles in the original Geneva document, according to Samessekou.

"This follow-up to the Geneva document must create a foundation for how the new era information society is to function and create a new vision of relationships. We need to replace the ideologies of competition with those of solidarity," he says.

Internet governance

Paul Esselaar of the Internet Society South African Chapter (ISOC-ZA) also addressed the forum. ISOC-ZA, he said, could not see the benefit of creating a new body to govern the Internet.

"We fundamentally disagree with the proposition that a greater voice for less developed countries would be available if an oversight body would be created. Such a body could decrease freedom of expression - encouraging corruption among governments," he says.

Internet governance has become a topic of heated debate since the US government decided that it would not allow the International Telecommunications Union to take control of it. Rather, it extended the memorandum of understanding it has with the Internet Corporation on Assigned Names and Numbers.

Poverty alleviation

The SA Non-Governmental Network (Sangonet), which is arranging the Cape Town forum, says it is an important event, symbolising the recognition by the global community that ICT can play a major role in social and economic development and contribute significantly towards poverty alleviation.

In the past few months Sangonet has compiled a draft WSIS civil society document with the support of various local civil society organisations.

This draft document focuses on issues such as local content; community broadcasting; freedom of expression, diversity and pluralism; financing the digital divide; education and ICT literacy.

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