[AfrICANN-discuss] The Google campaign ? An ITU view

[SM]

Hi Karim,
At 21:59 27-11-2012, Karim ATTOUMANI MOHAMED wrote:
>I'm interested to the fact that today we applaud leaks for WCIT-12 work
>document but while people download files for a specific use, the same firms
>applauding today brandish the law and want to see people prosecuted for have
>infringed copyright and intellectual property. héhéhé

Yes.

The following submission to wcit-public was made by UNESCO:

   'Our contribution to the ITRs relates 
particularly to Article 5A.4 which states:

    “5A.4 Member States shall ensure unrestricted 
public access to international
     telecommunication services and the unrestricted use of international
     telecommunications, except in cases where international telecommunication
     services are used for the purpose of 
interfering in the internal affairs or
     undermining the sovereignty, national security, territorial integrity and
     public safety of other States, or to divulge 
information of a sensitive nature.”

     We are concerned that this article, in its 
phrase to “information of a sensitive
     nature”, designates a criterion for 
limitation in the access to services that is
     hitherto unrecognized in international 
standards (see below). The phrase entitles
     Member States to exercise related constraints on the right to freedom of
     _expression_ online, which in turn would 
also limit public access to the range
     of information allowed on the Internet. The 
limitation could also impact on the
     boundaries for the media to operate independently.

     In particular, the phrase does not conform 
to the accepted international standards
     as set out by the Article 19 of the 
International Covenant on Civil and Political
     Rights (ICCPR), which is widely accepted as 
the binding elaboration of Article 19
     of the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights. The standards for limiting freedom
     of _expression_ are outlined in Paragraph 3 of the ICCPR:"

The submission is no longer accessible from 
www.itu.int.  Some of the comments can be found 
at 
http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/news/unesco_contribution_itu_regulations.pdf

According to the Head of Communications and 
Partnership Promotion Division, ITU:

   "At ITU, transparency is achieved at the national level, through national
    consultations in national languages. A process we believe more inclusive
    than simply posting an English language text online."

It can be argued that the process is more 
inclusive.  In practice it is unlikely that even 
a third of these 193 member states held public 
consultations at the national level.  If someone 
had to pick a measure for transparency, the most 
quoted source of information for WCIT-12 is 
wcitleaks.org instead of www.itu.int.

"The very thorough and inclusive preparatory 
process leading up to the WCIT-12" is being 
managed by spin doctors on all sides.  The 
various positions are hyped in such a way that it 
is difficult to distinguish fact from fiction.

Regards,
-sm