Youths speak out on Internet Governance
Young people have been making what could be seen as an unpredected foray into international politics through their participation in the United Nations World Summit on Information Society (WSIS). WSIS is taking place in two main stages over four years and currently we are nearing the completion of the second stage.The WSIS Youth Caucus was well represented at the stage 1 summit held in late 2003 in Geneva and it is expected that there will be a large youth participation in the stage 2 summit coming up this November. The Youth Caucus has also been represented at every preparatory committee (Prepcom) since the summit commenced early in 2002.
Following the investigations of a working group looking at Internet Governance (IG), the topic has arisen on the main WSIS agenda. Recently At the WSIS Prepcom 3, youths made several recommendations to the Civil Society Bureau on the topic of Internet Governance. Later they pushed for their recommendations to be implemented (Document).
This is an example of the energetic activity of young people from all parts of the world that's directed at setting up a better framework (or "constitution") for society in which information and ICTs are at the centre of economies and personal life.
posted by Lisa at 11:14 pm
1 Comments:
Disappointing that the youth document was so limited. Pornography fine, but what about being clear about the need for access to information for young people to be able to participate in the world economy. Broadcast flags, DMCA and DRM are shutting down fair access to participate in an information based economy. The copyright laws use a ratchet system and so each iteration of the treaty process will result in more restrictive laws. Each time that happens tomorrows inventors and creators lose some of their room to participate. IGF is a great forum for opposing this as the internet businesses stand to lose from DMCA too. It is a legal system devised by businesses using pre-internet distribution methods and wanting to lock down the internet to protect them. Internet based businesses and communities are being hobbled to protect those old fashioned business models. Fair Use Fair Dealing Digital Access rights are no longer a default right in many places. This system has been overturned to that you must lobby for your rights each time there is a DMCA round.
This is the major issue for people interested in internet governance.
And most especially for young people.
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