[IRP] FW: Charter of Human Rights and Principles for the Internet

M I Franklin cos02mf
Wed Aug 18 13:01:13 EEST 2010


Dear All

Unfortunately I'm unable to attend tomorrow's meeting due to another 
engagement though I might manage to be there for the last part.

Have read the latest version of the charter with great interest. 
Congratulations to Wolfgang. Meryem, and Rikke for all their work and 
expertise in producing this working document.

I have some brief comments/queries for the discussion tomorrow  based on 
the current version and points raised by others in terms of language and 
wording.

1) the Title; The Charter, and its sister-documents (e.g. APC Charter, Bill 
of Rights) have run with several sorts of word combinations in their 
titles; Internet Rights; Internet Rights and Principles; Human Rights and 
Principles for the Internet.

I'm not a legal expert but wording, and word-order does matter in this 
setting so I'm interested to hear more about the current title-wording in 
view of tactical issues around 'human rights' being a red flag for certain 
stakeholders. ;

2) I concur with the need to talk about 'digital inclusion' vs. 'digital 
divide'. However, the latter does exist so need this be an either/or choice?

3) I defer to the expertise of Michael G., Ben W., Wolfgang and others 
about FoE and privacy wording.

4) Thinking ahead in terms of how terms of reference/technologies change 
(e.g. inroads being made by mobile internet communications) I was wondering 
what the shelf-life was of the term 'Internet'; would it be possible to 
delineate this term a bit more in the preamble?

5) re. the discussion about 'people' vs. 'citizens' vs. 'users';  The first 
is the most flexible as it encompasses communities and individuals; those 
who can/want to access and use the internet as well as those who don't . 
Btw, 'netizens' is a term that is also in use in some quarters.

6) On ownership; I concur with Wolfgang's point; the Charter needs to be 
launched and made available to a wide range of parties if it is to gain any 
so a bottom-up approach is all the better.

Looking forward to reading the minutes for tomorrow; Is there any chance of 
recording this meeting - does HiDef Conferencing allow for this?

All the best
MF

--On Tuesday, August 17, 2010 17:21 +0200 Anriette Esterhuysen 
<anriette at apc.org> wrote:

> Dear Lisa and others
>
> I have been meaning to ask why the language 'Digital divide' was
> introduced. We never used it in the APC IR Charter.
>
> As Michael points out, the term digital inclusion has been preferred by
> most organisations working in developing countries for the last 10
> years.
>
> Michael's language is perhaps a bit long.. but I think it contains
> important points so forms a good basis.
>
> The challenge with the term digital inclusion is that it relates to so
> many different rights but accessibility and affordability are
> fundamental
>
> Best
>
> Anriette
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, 2010-08-17 at 15:53 +0100, Lisa Horner wrote:
>> Hi all
>>
>>
>>
>> Please see salient comments below from Michael concerning digital
>> inclusion.
>>
>>
>>
>> Looking forward to conference call to discuss all comments this
>> Thursday 19th at 15.00 UK/16.00 CET.  Please could you let me know if
>> you are planning to join?  Please also try to submit all comments in
>> writing by the end of tomorrow (Wednesday) so that we can collate them
>> and discuss them systematically during the call.
>>
>>
>>
>> All the best,
>>
>> Lisa
>>
>>
>>
>> From: Michael Gurstein [mailto:gurstein at gmail.com]
>> Sent: 15 August 2010 15:20
>> To: Lisa Horner
>> Subject: RE: [IRP] Charter of Human Rights and Principles for the
>> Internet
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi Lisa,
>>
>>
>>         Below I suggest some  (unfortunately still
>>         awkward) alternative language under the "Overcoming the
>>         Digital Divide" section I.2.c as below (including changing the
>>         heading) .   The term Digital Inclusion is now coming into
>>         more general use than Digital Divide based in part on a
>>         recognition that there will always (in a fractal world) be
>>         "divides" while broad based "inclusion" while difficult is
>>         achievable. The notion of the "digital divide" also
>>         (inappropriately) tends to disempower and imply dependency on
>>         the part of those on the "wrong" side or the "divide".
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>         Ensuring Digital Inclusion
>>
>>
>>
>>         An Internet based society and economy requires that all have
>>         an equal opportunity for active and effective participation in
>>         and through the Internet.  To this end  active support should
>>         be available for self-managed and other community
>>         based facilities  and services to ensure universal digital
>>         inclusion . Digital inclusion requires the opportunity for
>>         access to, and effective use of the range of digital media,
>>         communication platforms and devices for information management
>>         and processing.
>>
>>
>>
>>         To ensure the opportunity for universal digital access and
>>         use, among the measures that must be put in place are public
>>         internet access points located (with easy physical and
>>         disability oriented design access ) in among other
>>         locations,  telecentres, libraries, community centers, clinics
>>         or schools.  This must be accompanied by support for the
>>         effective use of this access  as well as access obtained via
>>         mobile media. This would be provided
>>         through  appropriate training, social and organizational
>>         mediation and facilitation, and design and governance
>>         regimes including support for the use of the range of Internet
>>         enabled services such as e-government, e-education, e-health
>>         and facilitation and support for locally based initiatives and
>>         participation in content creation, e-governance, service
>>         design and delivery and other.
>>
>>
>>
>>         (Note that I've included here a brief mention of mobile
>>         Internet access... I notice that the overall document seems
>>         rather to ignore mobile Internet which is emerging as the
>>         dominant Internet access means in many parts of the world.
>>         I'm not exactly sure how that impacts on other parts of this
>>         document but as the document proceeds it should be done in
>>         full awareness of the potential of this as an issue.
>>
>>
>>
>>         Best to all,
>>
>>
>>
>>         Mike
>>
>>
>>
>>         Michael Gurstein, Ph.D.
>>         Director: Centre for Community Informatics Research,
>>         Development and Training
>>         Vancouver, CANADA
>>         http://www.communityinformatics.net
>>         CA tel. +1-604-602-0624
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> IRP mailing list
>> IRP at lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org
>> http://lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org/listinfo.cgi/irp-internetri
>> ghtsandprinciples.org
>
> --
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> anriette esterhuysen -
> ???executive director
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