Thursday, October 27, 2005

World Summit on the Information Society: Who Controls the Net?

The second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society will see the gathering of world leaders in Tunisia on November 16-18 2005. The WSIS was set into motion by the International Telecommunications Union in 1998. The United Nations General Assembly then endorsed the framework set by the ITU Council. The WSIS addresses the impacts of the digital revolution to the lives of everyone on the planet. Aside from tackling issues of governance, the summit also addresses issues of global inequality in access to information.

As in issues of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and Trade in Agriculture, the economic giants are once again at odds on the issue of Internet governance. The European Union, as well as other developing countries are challenging US dominance of the management of the Internet.

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