[Imc-romania] articole si mai colorate despre WSIS....

[joanne richardson]

http://hubproject.org

... este un site creat de grupul Geneva03 unde participantii din WSIS si
WE SEIZE pot afisa stiri direct din browser. va retrimit o colectie de
fragmente din articolele legate de cenzura si alte abuzuri de dreptul la
libera exprimare 
 in afara de comunicatele de presa de la International
Federation of Journalists, Reporters Without Frontiers si ziarul Terra
Viva (Inter Press Service), care au fost publicate in alte surse (linkuri
mai jos), stirile afisate pe site sint de la participanti si multe sint
anonime.
_____________________________________________________________
International Federation of Journalists Press releases (8 Dec)
compilation of excerpts of two press statements by IFJ, reposted to
hubproject.org by “tz” Tuesday December 09, 2003 at 08:16 PM

The IFJ, an organization representing over 500,000 journalists in more
than 100 countries, says that the Summit has failed to tackle head-on the
problem of media concentration and the growing power of global media
conglomerates, the defence of public broadcasting, the need for enhanced
authors' rights protection for content creators, and protections for
freedom of expression
. "Many of the countries taking part in the debate
this week in Geneva are guilty of violating free expression and
journalists' rights," says the IFJ. "More must be done to free media from
the atmosphere of intimidation and corruption that surrounds journalism in
many parts of the world." The IFJ says Summit organisers have also failed
to confront the employment crisis in the use of new information
technologies, "There are millions of workers who are grossly exploited in
the information society." 
 Philip Jennings, whose union represents
millions of workers in the communication industries states:  "There is no
mention of the fundamental right to freedom of association and no clear
commitment to respect existing labour standards 
 It is not enough to talk
about 'relevant international norms' when information society workers are
being routinely dismissed for trying to form trade unions or while
companies are denying workers the right to social benefits and employment
protection
"

Further information: http://www.ifj.org, http://www.global-unions.org/wsis

______________________________________________________
Reporteurs sans frontieres on WSIS “masquerade” (9 Dec)
posted on hubproject.org by “manos of IMC Cam” Tuesday December 09, 2003
at 07:23 PM

Reporteurs sans frontieres (RSF - reporters without borders), the NGO
representing and caring for the protection of journalists and reporters
around the world had a press conference to express their views on the
World Summit on Information Society (WSIS). RSF has been excluded from the
UN after expressing their indignation that a Libyan diplomat was made the
head of the UN commission on human rights. As a result they have been sent
a letter that explicitly denies them access to the WSIS conference.

The main concern of RSF concerning WSIS is the attempt of some countries
to legitimize and generalize practices already implemented at their
respective national jurisdictions, practices that aim to restrict freedom
of expression and information on the Internet. RSF went as far as labeling
WSIS a “masquerade.” This because, while RSF is excluded, many of those
responsible for sending journalists and other people to jail for
expressing their views will have a prominent role on the platforms.
Furthermore the final stage of WSIS is to be organized by Habib Ammar,
under whose ministry of the interior torture of political dissidents was
widespread. Even if Mr Ammar was not to be the main organizer, Tunisia  -
the host country for the second part of the summit - has an appalling
record of human rights violations, in particular related to freedom of
expression. Under these conditions RSF stated that it would not
participate at WSIS in Tunisia. Finally they clearly denounced the ethics
that is today dominant within the UN, which prioritizes in the most cynic
way good relations with regimes with the most appalling human rights
records.

In order for their voice not to be ignored while the voice of the tyrants
is dominant, RSF is taking some direct action. A pirate radio station
“radio non grata” has been set up from France, and RSF will be
distributing miniature radio receivers to the delegates so that the voice
of RSF can still be heard within WSIS. (More information:
http://www.radionongrata.info)

_____________________________________________
RSF RadioNonGrata Shut Down By Police (10 Dec)
reposted on hubproject.org by “translation” Wednesday December 10, 2003 at
06:46 PM

translation of statement on http://www.radionongrata.info, 10 december
2003, France

Reporters without Borders was forced to stop the transmission of Radio Non
Grata, a pirate radio station that started broadcasting for the beginning
of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) since the 9th December
in Geneva.

”After having been prevented from speaking inside the summit by the UN,
now we are silence by the French authorities,” said Robert Ménard, general
secretary of Reporters Without Borders. “Unless someone decides to censor
the internet the transmissions of radio non grata are always available on
our web site (http://www.rsf.org).”

On 10th December, at 1pm, three members of the national agency of
frequencies went near Ferney-Voltaire (in France, near Geneva) to locate
the transmitter of Radio Non Grata, in the middle of the country side.
They came back an hour later with the Gendarmerie. Under the threat of
having all their equipment seized (mobile transmitter and generator),
Reporters without Borders decided to stop their operations, which had
aimed to denounce their exclusion from the WSIS, and to publicise the
threats to the freedom of expression on the internet that many states
participating in WSIS represent.

Radio non grata was transmitting on 95.8FM, in English and in French, on
and around Geneva. It was broadcasting a radio program especially made for
the WSIS by reporters without borders. The radio was retransmitting
interviews by Robert Ménard, Claude Moisy, ex-director of the Agence
France-Presse, Gérald Sapey, president of the Swiss section of Reporters
without Borders, Jean-Claude Buhrer and Claude Levenson, co-authors of
“L'ONU contre les droits de l'homme," Patrice Mugny, administrative
counselor for cultural affairs in the city of Geneva, Christian Ferrazino,
mayor of the city of Geneva, Pamela Taylor, American journalist and media
specialist.

The organisation points out that more than fifty people are in jail for
having created independent information sites, for distributing texts
critical of power on the internet, or simply for having surfed on
forbidden pages. Tunisia, China, Vietnam, Cuba and the Maldives Islands
are some of the predators of freedom of expression on the internet: They
censor hundreds of sites, intercept emails, trace and imprison
cyber-dissidents. At the same time, the authorities of these countries are
parading in the world summit on information society.

__________________________
PolyMedia eviction! (8-10 Dec)
compilation of excerpts posted to hubproject.org by “Geneva03” organizers
from 08 to 10 December, 2003

The WSIS related parallel event PolyMediaLab proposed to offer a series of
workshops on horizontal communication and knowledge sharing, and
discussions addressing key issues surrounding the Information Society.
Early this morning, organizing and participating members of PolyMediaLab
were informed that they must evacuate the building. The owner claimed that
he was unaware that the venue would be used for this event, and under the
pretext of inappropriate safety measures, demanded that all participants
leave the building immediately. Geneva03 explained that they had been
provided permission and the key to the building by the tenant, and that
under this permission they were entitled to be there.

The associated Strategic Conference event scheduled for 09 December was
cancelled. When organizers arrived at the space, 20 policemen had already
arrived, dressed in full riot gear. Police blocked the entrance and would
allow no entry. Some participants were asked to show their identification
and credentials.

After seeking legal counsel, the participants insisted that they had
entered the building under no false pretence, and reserved the right to
remain there. The political representatives and police professed to be
sympathetic to the situation, and claimed that though safety regulations
would be impossible to satisfy to allow the event to remain in the
building, they would commit to finding a suitable replacement. The
replacement that they eventually proposed seemed almost to good to be
true, a large room in the Maison des Associations, which is hosting other
WSIS related events. Geneva03 requested the agreement in writing. The
representatives avoided this request and faced the participants with an
ultimatum. They were told they must make a decision on whether to take the
arrangement and evacuate the building, or no further negotiations could be
made. Assuring that the deal was made in good faith, and would be
honoured, the authorities convinced the participants to leave.

Arriving at the Maison des Associations, Geneva03 was greeted with
surprise and confusion, as the administration were evidently never
informed of this agreement. Apparently, they had never granted permission
for this agreement, and in fact, could not have possibly accommodated the
event. When confronted with this reality, officials plead
miscommunication, and offered to try to find another solution.

These are the facts. But what are the realities? Did the authorities ever
intend to find an alternative solution to facilitate the needs of the
PolyMediaLab, or were they merely stalling for time? Why are the
authorities so afraid to allow an event that is so fundamentally
philosophically aligned with the *alleged* principles as stated by the
WSIS? The Geneva03 event had no objective of interfering with the main
WSIS conference, has remained politically separated from this process, and
has widely publicized its objectives as supportive to the open
participation of all members of society in the development of a fair and
representative global communication environment.

The Geneva03 asks the civil society to help denounce this repression
against tools for information sharing.

_____________________________________________
Tunisia censored Terra Viva newspaper (10 Dec)
posted to hubproject.org by “stefi” (smilan at ips.org) Wednesday December
10, 2003

Thousands of copies of Terra Viva (http://www.ipsnews.net), a free-press
newspaper with an issue covering the summit, produced by the independent
news agency IPS (Inter Press Service), InfoSud and AWCIS, disappeared on
Tuesday and Wednesday from various sites in Palexpo where the World Summit
on the Information Society is taking place.

How:
Case 1 (Tuesday): A woman who identified herself as an architect from
Tunisia took an estimated 1,000 copies "for her friends" and responded
angrily when questioned.
Case 2 (Wednesday): Two women stuffed plastic bags full of newspapers.
They hurried away when questioned.
Case 3: (Wednesday): When two IPS journalists were distributing the
newspaper at the Palexpo three people from Tunisia attacked them saying
that in the newspaper there were lots of lies about their country. Then
they tried to steal about three hundred copies.

Why? Censorship in the information summit? Perhaps. Terra Viva has
published articles about Tunisia in its two editions to date, and will
continue to do so as news warrants.

What you can do: Tell WSIS officials that you are offended by this type of
behaviour, particularly at a conference that should embrace freedom of
expression.

_________________________________________________________________________
Data collection in the summit: threat for privacy of participants (10 Dec)
posted to hubproject.org by “manos at IMC Cam” Wednesday December 10, 2003

PRESS RELEASE, http://www.contra.info/wsis

An international group of independent researchers* attending the Word
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) has revealed important technical
and legal flaws relating to data protection and privacy, in the security
system used to control access to the UN Summit. The system not only fails
to guarantee the promised high levels of security but also introduces the
very real possibility of constant surveillance of the representatives of
the civil society.

The official Summit badges, which are plastic and the size of a credit
card, hide a “RF smart card” - a hidden chip that can communicate its
information via radio frequency. It carries both a unique identifier
associated with the participant, and a radio frequency tag (RFID) that can
be “read” when close to a sensor. These sensors can be located anywhere,
from vending machines to the entrance of a specific meeting room allowing
the remote identification and tracking of participants, or groups of
participants, attending the event.

The data relating to the card holder (personal details, access
authorization, account information, photograph etc.) is not stored on the
smart card itself, but instead managed by a centralized relational
database. This solution enables the centralized system to monitor closely
every movement of the participants at the entrance of the conference
center, or using data mining techniques, the human interaction of the
participants and their relationship. The system can potentially be
extended to track participants' movements within the summit and detect
their presence at particular session. Because all of the personal data is
stored in a centralized database, any part of the database can be
replicated locally, or transferred to future events - for example the next
WSIS Summit hosted by the Tunisian authorities in 2005.

The procedures of how personal data is being handled during WSIS break the
principles of the Swiss Federal Law on Data Protection of June 1992, the
European Union Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and the United Nation
guidelines concerning Computerized personal data files adopted by the
General Assembly on December 1990. That a system like this gets
implemented without a transparent and open discussion amounts to a real
threat for the participants themselves, and for our Information Society as
a whole.

*International group of researchers:
Ass. Prof. Dr. Alberto Escudero-Pascual, Researcher in Computer Security
and Privacy, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
George Danezis, Researcher in Privacy Enhancing Technologies and Computer
Security, Cambridge University, UK
Stephane Koch, President of Internet Society Geneva, Executive Master of
Economic Crime Investigations, Geneva, Switzerland
More information is available at: http://www.contra.info/wsis, email:
wsis at contra.info

________________________________________________________________________
Le SMSI supprime les interventions des ONG des droits de l'homme (10 Dec)
posted to hubproject.org by “WSIS inside observer” Wednesday December 10,
2003

Les évènements organisés par les structures défendants les droits de
l'homme et le droit à l'information sont supprimées au dernier moment.
Je travaille à l'intérieur du WSIS sur les systèmes d'informations.
(impossible d'en dire plus, j'ai un job et des mômes a nourrir). Je suis
donc bien placé pour être au courant des annulations d'évènements
originellement prévus.

Ainsi, sur les 3 annulations d'aujourd'hui (annulations sans raisons
explicites), toutes ont frappé des organisations de défense des droits de
l'homme ou du droit de tous à l'information.

Exemples de thèmes qui auraient du être présentés:

-"Use of information and knowledge to fight racism, to eradicate poverty
and to ensure sustainable development"
-"Human rights and the information society"

Je ne crois pas aux coincidences...

Quant à la "Civil society", invitée pour faire tapisserie (et servir
d'alibi social) elle est "parquée" dans des stands minuscules dont les
panneaux indiquant le titre sont écrits A LA MAIN !

Ne prenons donc pas le WSIS / SMIS pour une action humaniste, ce n'est
qu'un show commercial.

D'ailleurs les sociétés privées bénéficient de stands immenses et
particulièrement impressionnants.

________________________________________________________
WSIS security guards become the 'thought police' (11 Dec)
posted to hubproject.org by “reports from inside wsis” Thursday December
11, 2003

Today (11/12/03) at the security control for the ICT for Development
exhibition part of the WSIS the military guards subjected a WSIS delegate
to questioning about the copy of ADBSUTERS magazine he had in his bag.
This occured while his bag was being searched. They were not interested in
the electronic hardware, but instead took pains to examine the literature
he had with him.

Books and papers as well as his contacts folder were leafed through and
examined. When they found a copy of the Adbusters magazine which had been
distributed earlier inside the World Forum of Communication Rights, the
guard first looked through the pages, then consulted another guard - they
then called over a (more senior?) plain clothes security guard and showed
him through the pages and articles of the magazine.

The WSIS delegate was then asked to explain to the security personnel –
“What is your relationship to this magazine”?! Shocked at this political
line of questioning the delegate answered indignantly – “well it is in my
bag”! And asked “why, is there a problem with this” as they continued
examining the magazine. And here the interrogation ended, and the delegate
was allowed inside the first part of WSIS, the ICT4D exhibition.

Does this strike anyone as just a little outrageous? And what does it say
about the freedom of communication and the freedom of expression inside
WSIS?