The final Tunis documents were released this morning to be adopted by governments at the World Summit on the Information Society. The official Tunis texts can be downloaded from the WSIS website. I have put up not-so-beautiful html versions of the “Tunis Agenda” (action document) and the “Tunis Commitments” (political chapeau) documents. Among the main…
Tunisian authorities harass human rights activists
We’re receiving alarming reports that human rights activists are being harassed, prevented from meeting, and even brutalized by Tunisian police during the last couple of days. Worldsummit2005.org, run by the Boell Foundation, and the Association for Progressive Communications are reporting that the site of a preparatory meeting for a “Citizen’s Summit” was blocked by Tunisian…
What happens after Tunis?
As we get to the final hours of the final Prepcom of the WSIS today, the final question remains: what is to be the follow-up mechanism to ensure that the commitments of Tunis are honored? At the final Prepcom III, debate remains on para 24 of the Tunis Agenda for Action document (DT 26), which…
The Revenge of Prepcom III
The final-final WSIS Prepcom began this afternoon with the Sub-committee on Internet Governance attempting to push through the significant amount of bracketed text left to negotiate. Then the Sub-committee on follow-up, implementation and “all other issues” tried to reach agreement on the texts on international cooperation and post-summit follow-up. As we have been predicting for…
Canada sponsors online global dialogue on urban sustainability
The government of Canada is working with IBM technology to sponsor a global online dialogue on urban sustainability called “Habitat JAM.” Under the auspices of UN-Habitat, the Canadians are hosting a 3 day virtual conference from December 1-3 that seeks to turn “ideas into action on critical issues related to urban sustainability” through engaging and…
Kofi Promises that the UN Isn’t a Threat to the Internet
Kofi Annan wrote an editorial in the Washington Post to address the “mistaken notion” that the United Nations wants to “take over, police or otherwise control the Internet.” “Nothing could be farther from the truth,” he maintains. In the editorial, the UN Secretary-General seeks to do damage-control to counter the US government’s and popular media’s…
$100 Laptop to Debut in Tunis
I just heard that Nicholas Negroponte of MIT Media Lab will be unveiling the $100 laptop they have been working on at the WSIS in Tunis in a couple of weeks! I’m quite excited to see the device and how it works. I blogged about the MIT “One Laptop Per Child” Project, as well as…
UN Launches US Radio Service
The United Nations yesterday announced that they have launched a new radio service for the United States market. Why they have decided to try and go after the American radio audience now is an interesting question. The news service can be found at http://www.un.org/radio/newsusa. According to a press release: Broadcasters can browse a selection of…
NY Times on Internet Governance
The New York Times yesterday published an editorial on internet governance and the WSIS. It basically supports the US government position that control of the root server resources should remain with ICANN under the supervision of the US Department of Commerce. In the editorial the Times expresses the same fears that transferring control of the…
Capturing a Moment in Time
I am enjoying a little holiday with my dad in the spectacular Yosemite national park. We are doing a photographer’s weekend, toting along our various cameras, tripods, and laptops to capture some of the amazing fall colors out here. It’s a great getaway. Cell phone service is almost non-existant here, but the lodge does have…