I’m getting sick and tired of all these bloggers posting paranoid Black Helicopter visions of the United Nations “taking over” the internet. As if the United Nations was one monolithic superpower threatening to engulf the poor, beleagured United States. In fact the situation is the reverse. Among the ill-informed blog entries on the subject are:…
Ex-girlfriend Spam?
I keep getting cryptic messages from an ex-girlfriend’s email address with titles like “update” and “hi there.” They contain no message, just suspicious attachments like “message.exe” and “update.exe.” The mind reels. What could it mean? Have the spammers figured out the email addresses of my former girlfriends, knowing that I can not resist opening mail…
When Cultures Clash: NGOs versus Internet Community
On the WSIS plenary listserv there has been an ongoing debate between those arguing that only accredited NGO entities should be recognized as the primary actors within civil society at the WSIS and those that contend that individuals must have voice and a vote within our processes. Underlying this is a deeper and increasing tension…
WSIS Prepcom III Wrap Up Report
Here is a report I wrote for CONGO on Prepcom III that summarizes the main events and developments going toward Tunis in November. Who should manage the internet? How to coordinate the bridging of the “Digital Divide” across the United Nations system and beyond? Will the extraordinary multi-stakeholder model set by the World Summit on…
A Summit in Tunisia or about Tunisia?
In a bold and surprising move, Canada read out a statement in the name of 37 countries (all of the 25 EU members, plus Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia Montenegro, Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, Iceland, Monaco, Australia, the USA, and Canada) that called upon the Tunisian government to assure that freedom of expression and other human…
Oww, my back!
When I packed for this conference, I had a choice between my more ergonomic but geeky backpack or my more professional and less ergonomic laptop bag. I chose the laptop bag, a decision I have been regretting for a week. I need to remind myself that I only have one back and that long term…
The Prepcom goes into night sessions, parallel sessions, drafting groups…
The official WSIS Prepcom is moving into an accelerated phase as governments try to finalize texts in the next days. Starting yesterday, the sub-committees have begun meeting not only during the regular work hours but also into night sessions from 6-9pm. And they begin parallel sessions today, with two sub-committees meeting at the same time…
WSIS Prepcom III week 1: Nearing the Endgame
The first week of Prepcom III is over. Only five more days of official negotiation are left until the actual summit in Tunis. Lots of interesting events this week: Here’s a recap of some of the week’s excitement: On human rights: There were a couple of events this week on freedom of expression and access…
Moving from “should” to “will”
The governments are getting into the heart of the matter in both Internet Governance and Implementation and Followup of the WSIS. That is, what will be the level of commitments made in Tunis? Clearly some governments, particularly the United States, would like the Tunis outcome document to be a “should” document, i.e. an agreement with…
I’m a Spammer
I find it ironic that during UN meetings on how to resolve some of the worst aspects of new information and communications technologies I have been sending out “spam” messages to thousands of email addresses. Okay, its not really spam. But lots of email programs think I’m sending spam. I manage an email newsletter for…