WSIS Tunis weblog

Human rights takes centre stage at the Tunis Summit. The Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) invited the press and NGOs for what was to become a marathon of explicit talks challenging the Tunisian government on its human rights record. While heads of states' speeches present at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) were pouring in on all TV channels, revolution was just around the corner in another district of Tunis.

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On the afternoon of Friday, November 18, 2005, one of three stakeholders taking part in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) drew a line in the sand. Civil society (CS) representatives from all continents lined up to deliver a stark closing statement.

There were civil society thumbs up for: - the new multistakeholder Internet Governance Forum - the awareness built that people from all walks of life should be involved in ICT policy development, not just technology specialists and government officials - the spotlight shone on state repression and surveillance in the host nation, Tunisia But thumbs down for: - the UN for choosing a flagrant violator of human rights as the host of a UN summit - wealthier governments which insist that financing for ICT for development should be voluntary only - the vague language on internet oversight - the fact that WSIS follow-up will probably be assigned to technology-focused specialist committee link

[National ICT strategies, WSIS implementation] During an intense reunion the countries from the region agreed to have a temporary regional mechanism to establish the foundations for the creation of a permanent mechanism to coordinate and follow up the implementation of eLAC2007. link

Clark Boyd

Tunisia has again come under fire for its attitude towards media freedom.

The North African country has been condemned for the way it filters websites in an academic study released to coincide with a UN net summit there.

Human rights groups have already questioned the UN's decision to hold an information conference in Tunisia.

In a separate development, the head of the media freedom group, Reporters Without Frontiers, said Tunisia had blocked him from entering the country.

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-- ON THE ISSUES: INTERNET GOVERNANCE --

The Tunis Commitment almost signed [By APCNews]

APCNews writing from TUNIS, Tunisia, 16/11/2005 09:15 -- By 10 pm Tuesday, the chairperson, ambassador Khan, had concluded negotiations on chapter 3 on internet governance and received a standing ovation from all attending delegates. The outcome of the internet governance process is to have a forum that will take up broad public policy issues on the one hand, and a process of cooperation on the narrow principles that relate to domain name, numbers and the root zone file on the other.

"This outcome has to be evaluated in terms of the balance of power in the community of nations," said Willie Currie, APC's Communications and Information Policy Programme Manager. "The U.S. clearly saw that its strategic interest with regard to the war on terror and its dominant role in the global economy meant that it had to retain its oversight over the primary form of communications in the world, which today is the internet," Currie added.
http://www.apc.org/english/wsis/blog/index.shtml?x=2466414

APC... recommendations on internet governance [By APC]

APC crystallizes a set of recommendations with regard to internet governance for the final Summit in Tunis in November 2005 including for an internet governance forum that has become reality in the Tunis declaration. Recommendations available in English, Spanish and French. http://www.apc.org/english/wsis/blog/index.shtml?x=2379688

Crucial drafting session in Tunis [By APCNews]

Late on Sunday night, November 13, 2005, an assembly of about 100 people agreed to a series of minimal points of common ground related to internet governance in Tunis. These points were then to be reported back to the general plenary of what is called the resumed PrepCom 3 meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) for definitive negotiation and implementation.
http://www.apc.org/english/wsis/blog/index.shtml?x=2418539

-- ON THE ISSUES: HUMAN RIGHTS IN TUNISIA --

NEWS ALERT: Censorship by the host of THE UN summit on information? People in Tunisia cannot access a number of websites because they are being blocked. And the Citizens' Summit on the Information Society has also been taken 'offline' for Tunisians. List of filtered websites:
http://www.apc.org/english/wsis/blog/index.shtml?x=2436066

Flagrant violation of human rights at Tunis [By APCNews]

Under the incredulous eyes of the participants at the World Summit on
the Information Society (WSIS), journalists and human rights defenders
were manhandled, insulted, and then violently beaten. APCNews reports
from Tunis. http://www.apc.org/english/wsis/blog/index.shtml?x=2431813

Online protest ... an alternative home [By Neila Charchour Hachicha]

Since the official website of the Online Protest is censored as you can check for yourself here http://www.yezzi.org. I copied all pics from the protest on flickr cause I thought you might like to discover this online protest http://flickr.com/photos/yezzi/sets/1366354/. It is a virtual online protest to say "Yezzi...Fock" which means "Enough is Enough". They just cannot say we are disturbing the public order and protesting is a constitutional right. The Keyboard Revolution is doing its way so help us keep the internet free from censorship.
http://www.apc.org/english/wsis/blog/index.shtml?x=2438705

In Tunis, internet governance rhymes with state control [By APCNews]

Today, the website of the Citizens' Summit on the Information Society (CSIS) was effectively off-line for all web users in Tunisia. It appears that Tunisian authorities have started to intensify their crackdown on legitimate initiatives related to the World Summit on the information Society (WSIS). Blocking the access to the www.citizens-summit.org is the latest in a series of measures introduced to silence voices critical of the government and its human right record. http://www.apc.org/english/wsis/blog/index.shtml?x=2436066

-- ON THE ISSUES: FINANCING OF ICT4D --

Making the ride to cyberspace affordable [By APCNews]

En route to the promised global village, the information superhighway is plagued by poor access and high fares that the bulk of this planet simply cannot afford. Reducing international internet costs is an important priority, underlined in a set of recommendations from the APC made to the WSIS stresses.
http://www.apc.org/english/wsis/blog/index.shtml?x=2427753

Some figures... and hard facts [By FN]

Some figures, and hard facts, from a Highway Africa article, titled ICT4 All expo to attract 40,000 participants: "According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the 942 million people living in the world's developed economies enjoy five times better access to fixed and mobile phone services, nine times better access to Internet services, and own 13 times more personal computers than the 85 per cent of the world's population living in low and lower-middle income countries. ITU also estimates that 800,000 villages still lack connection by telephone line, the internet or any other modern ICTs."
http://www.apc.org/english/wsis/blog/index.shtml?x=2418346

Kevin Poulsen

Story location

TUNIS, Tunisia -- Negotiators working late into the night Tuesday shook hands on a deal that creates a new U.N.-sponsored global forum to explore problems like spam and cybercrime, while leaving the United States firmly in control of the internet's domain name system.

The last minute accord settled an issue that threatened to derail the U.N.'s World Summit on the Information Society, which began here Wednesday. The multilateral gathering -- conceived to bridge the "digital divide" between rich nations and poor -- has drawn thousands of delegates and observers from around the globe to this port city in the North African desert.

A U.N. working group, followed by governments including China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and the 25-member European Union, had all proposed taking away control of the domain name "root zone file" from the United States and handing it off to a multinational agency. The root file is the master list of allowed top-level domains -- currently numbering nearly 300, including generic domains like .com and .info, and hundreds of two-letter county codes like .uk and .au.

Story location.

TUNIS, Tunisia -- Murmurs of secret alliances and Realpolitik machinations are already taking root in the dusty soil of this ancient city, as thousands of delegates gather at the U.N.'s World Summit on the Information Society to debate the future of the internet.

Streams of travelers from around the world poured into the Tunis airport Tuesday, some still polishing their speeches during the shuttle ride to an intake center erected minutes from the tarmac. There, participants and press queued up for RFID-embedded badges, before more shuttles swept them to packed hotels as far away as 50 miles from the conference site. The event has swallowed the city, and steeped the surrounding countryside in security both conspicuous and subtle: Uniformed police brandish automatic weapons, while plainclothes security forces question hotel guest -- politely and with strained casualness -- on their way to check in.

Conceived as a vehicle to bring technology to developing nations, the WSIS has been overtaken by the contentious issue of "internet governance" -- in particular, the question of who runs the highest levels of the domain name system, the technology that maps name like "wired.com" into the numeric IP addresses the internet uses under the hood.

The information revolution, spurred by unprecedented new advances in information and communication technologies, has transformed the way we think, work, socialize and communicate.

The new paradigm of human rights in the Internet age has provided unprecedented opportunities for freedom of expression. From cyber-dissidents to online journalists to the over 8 million bloggers, the world’s most repressive regimes have nowhere to hide. More from Amnesty