Fwd: Dec 17, US State on WSIS

[Meryem Marzouki <marzouki@ras.eu.org>]

Hi all,

Here are some notes taken by Manon Ress (CPTech) on a US meeting on 
WSIS. These notes may help getting a better idea on US views of the 
WSIS. Thanks for sharing with us your notes.

Début du message réexpédié :

> De : Manon Anne Ress <manon.ress@cptech.org>
> Date : Mer 18 déc 2002  08:12:36 PM Europe/Paris
> À : Meryem Marzouki <marzouki@ras.eu.org>
> Objet : Rép : Dec 17,  US State on WSIS
>
> Dear Meryem,
> I do not know if these notes are of any interests to you or your 
> colleagues.
> Manon
>
> These are my informal notes from the International Telecommunications 
> Advisory Committee (ITAC) meeting regarding the World Summit on the 
> Information Society (WSIS) December 17, 2002, 10-12pm at the National 
> Academy of Sciences Building (NAS).  Please note that this is the first 
> time I attend a meeting on the WSIS, I'm not sure what is going on and 
> who are the players.  Obviously many people at the meeting knew each 
> other and there was not much introduction...
>
> The auditorium was far from full (40 people) but I recognized a few 
> people I have seen in various  fora such as ICANN or The Hague 
> Convention, people like Marilyn Cade (ATT), Sarah Deustch (Verizon) and 
> David Farris (USCIB and GBD), as well as a woman from Microsoft but I 
> cannot remember her name now.
>
> On stage was David Gross (sp?) (US State Department) with 3 other 
> people I believe from State (a Sally (?) is setting up an email and 
> maybe a listserve to discuss WSIS).
> The Agenda:
> 1.Introduction/Opening remarks
> 2. Review of key Documents
> -1998 ITU Plenipotentiary resolution 73 (1)
> -UN general Assembly Resolution A/RES/56/183 (2)
> -WSIS Rules of Procedure/process for Accreditation (3)
> -UNECE Bucharest Declaration (4)
> -Timeline thru WSIS 2003 (see copy at end of my notes)
> 3. ITU and UNESCO Activities (5)
> 4.Other WSIS-related activities (6)
> 5. Future Events
> (Let me know if you cannot get access to any of these documents, I can 
> fax some to you)
>
> David Gross announced that this meeting was the first of four.  His 
> approach to the summit is first to define it as different from a 
> "conference" in the sense that it is "narrow and focused by nature" 
> which is important for head of states that will participate.  He 
> identified 3 main areas:  network security, infrastructure development 
> and human capacity building.  Anything ''outside" of this, anything 
> that would make the summit looked as used to advance "other agendas" 
> would be a wrong approach.  "we should focus on what we can agree upon 
> since there's a lot that needs to be done there".
> He mentioned that the WSIS is unusual in the sense that it's divided 
> into 2 parts, one to take place in December 03 and one in Tunisia in 
> 2005.  Also different is the fact that NGOs are "invited" for input.
>
> The second speaker (from State?) gave a short background and reviewed 
> documents 1-6.
> It started in 1998 with ITU resolution 73.  Then, the UN General 
> Assembly 56/183.  Document 9 dated 13 December 2002 (3) that gives the 
> "substance of the summit".  See Annex 2 that gives various views, role 
> of ITU, role after the summit.  He then talked about (4) the Bucharest 
> Declaration that contains 'what we agree on" and gives the 'pattern of 
> what the summit will be".  The Bucharest meeting followed the Bamako 
> regional meeting and there will be another one in the Dominican 
> Republic at the end of January (that will be our regional meeting).
> Document (5) is about the role of UNESCO and shows it is an important 
> player.  They have prepared materials and a forum for comments on their 
> website.
> The Document (6) "Arrangements for participation adopted at the first 
> session of the prepatory Committee (Geneva 1-5 July 2002) shows that 
> January 5 is the deadline for PrepCom II).  It will be an 
> intergovernmental meeting but other organizations will meet around it. 
> Sector members of ITU are participants as members of ITU.  Academics 
> (University of Geneva and Montreal University) and others might go but 
> nothing is finalized yet.
>
> The next speaker (State?) talked about other players such as UPU, WIPO, 
> UNESCO.  He focused on UNESCO. US is not member of UNESCO since 94 (is 
> observer) but that will be changed in October.  UNESCO has coordinated 
> civil society input with 3 main focus:  freedom of expression/press, 
> cultural diversity and education.  The access to content issue remains 
> problematic.  UNESCO's forum December 9 to January 15 on the web.
>
> Gross mentioned another organization that is involved: the UN ICT task 
> force (created by Koffi Annan a year ago), they are preparing their 
> contribution.
>
> The "panel" invited speakers who made short presentations:
> Harvey Newman (Caltech) lead a workshop in Bucharest and talked about 
> the importance of "creating infrastructure while maintaining US 
> leadership". The other important focus is bridging the digital divide. 
> Problems are not only the economy of some countries but regulations.  
> He presented recommendations to various governments about "open 
> policies" to "create a sustainable cycle of innovation".
>
> Paul Ulhir (NAS) talked about the NAS (medicine/engineering and 
> scientific research) and mentioned advisory reports to the federal govt 
> that would be relevant.  He also announced a symposium in Paris March 
> 10-11 at UNESCO Headquarters.  Open to the public but seating is 
> limited, register online at www.codata.org.  More info on program at 
> www7.nationalacademies.org/usnc-codata/OpenAccessWorkshop.html.
>
> David Farris representing USCIB and coalition of international 
> businesses talked about how they conducted parallel session in 
> Bucharest.  Content and themes sent to the summit by businesses have to 
> be focused.  Key theme:  "fostering creation of market" and key 
> messages "ICTs are development tool, entrepreneurship, govt have to be 
> early adopters".  International businesses want to be equal partners in 
> the process
>
> Gross (?) talked about January 03 Mauricius forum where US gov will 
> discuss basic African development issues with head of States and trade 
> ministers (not only communication ministers).
>
> During the Q&A:
> Marilyn Cade (ATT) asked questions on finances.  The ITU has leadership 
> and is financing the process while member states are reducing 
> contributions.  Gross:  it seems it is a priority that will be 
> addressed by 46 countries at the May Council meeting.  So far 18 
> million of CHF and host may have to add.  Unesco has also contributed 
> so did some delegation (Canada) but not the US.
> Mike Nelson (IBM and ISOC) asked what is the Summit going to 
> accomplish, how big of a deal is it?
> Gross replied that they do not know how many head of states will 
> participate but it's certainly on many calendars.  Among things US 
> wants to accomplish are (his personal view) the promotion of the idea 
> that the growth of the Internet is good for democracy.  An 
> accomplishment would be to use "the Summit to promote democratic 
> values".
>
> Don Riley (University of Maryland at College Park) talked about his 
> involvement in Internet 2 and how we should build a system where 
> bandwidth should be free for universities etc in some poor countries.
>
> Howard (US DOC) asked how he could get involved.  he was told the 
> delegation is interagency delegation, NTIA is already in it and he was 
> told how to find out more on how to be included.
>
> Marilyn Green (Sp?) representing the press (a group in Reston, VA) said 
> she was glad to see the US was insisting on a narrow focus and happy 
> that the US was supportive of UNESCO's involvement.  She expressed 
> concerns about the fact that the US and other countries might be in 
> minority at talking about the freedom of speech (Art 19 of HR 
> convention).  She "hoped that nothing about restricting speech in favor 
> of other social goods" will come up.
>
> Microsoft talked about how ICTs are both tools and political goals.
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Document Distributed on Dec 17, 2002 at NAS Meeting:
>
> WSIS Timeline
>
> May 2002 African regional Conference, Bamako
> July 2002 WSIS PrepCom I
> Sept/Oct 2002 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference
> Sept/Oct. 2002 Third Meeting-UN ICT Task Force
> Nov 7-9, 2002 Pan European Regional Conference in Bucharest
> Dec 9Jan 15, 2003 UNESCO: Online Forum for Civil Society WSIS 
> Preparations
> January 13-15, 2003 Asian Regional Conference, Tokyo
> January 29-31, 2003 Latin America and Caribbean Conference
> February 17-28, 2003 WSIS PrepCom II
> February 21-23, 2003 Fourth Mtg- UNICT Task Force
> March 10-11, 2003 International Symposium on Open Access and the Public 
> Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science, Paris
> September 2002 PreCom III
> December 10-12, 2003 WSIS in Geneva
>
>
>
>
>
> -- Manon Anne Ress
> Consumer Project on Technology
> www.cptech.org
> PO Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
> manon.ress@cptech.org, voice: 1.202.387.8030, fax: 1.202.234.5176
>