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Speaking of property rights...
Submitted by Willie Currie on Tue, 2008-04-29 11:53.
This is a posting on an electronic mailing list for discussions on Internet governance in response to Milton Mueller's article 'Info-communism? Ownership and freedom in the digital economy' in the online journal First Monday.
I think that the notion of info-communism is a red herring, (excuse the pun) and can't be taken seriously - there is a some kind of radical chic at play there in the iconography - Che Guevara has become a mainstream icon used ironically by all comers, including business advertisers for their own purposes.
The Akshaya model and the lessons to be learnt from it
Submitted by Parminder on Fri, 2008-02-29 05:16.
It may be easier to judge the success of a project – like Akshaya – than to judge the factors behind its success. And when I see the enormously success of Akshaya project, my mind of course goes toward seeking to explore the crucial factors that made Akshaya possible, and more, made it successful. Two factors are often mentioned in this regard. One is the level of literacy, and the value placed on literacy in Kerala. Computers appeared to many as just the next level of literacy, and truly so in today’s age.
Community Radio as a shared infrastructure
Submitted by Parminder on Tue, 2008-01-15 10:11.This is a response to an email on the community radio forum, seeking reasons for slow take up of community radio among NGOs.
Excerpts from the original e-mail in response to which this posting has been written have been reproduced below.
The case's of IT policy and civil society non-engagement
Submitted by Vivek Vaidyanathan on Thu, 2007-10-25 05:32.
This musing is in response to an article on Internet censorship which I read today morning. ( The article is posted below ). The article talks about the fact that a man who was arrested for allegedly tainting the image of ‘Shivaji’ – a prominent Maratha(Hindu) ruler, over Orkut was finally released after 50 days… because they had got the wrong guy and he in fact was innocent…
What is disturbing is the fact that this person was behind bars for 50 days… I mean we know that there are probably hundreds of thousands of people in India and all over the world even who are behind bars for donkeys years without facing any kind of trail/not knowing why there are in there in the first place… however there are 2 aspects to this story which appalls me
Arguments for FOSS - from political, economic social perspectives
Submitted by Guru on Thu, 2007-10-18 06:03.Introduction
The debate on Free and Open Source software versus proprietary software has often got bogged down in ‘its free’ versus ‘it is not free’ arguments. However there are other critical aspects that need to be considered. The argument for FOSS is looked at from different perspectives in this note.
Blogs Anyone???
Submitted by Vivek Vaidyanathan on Wed, 2007-09-19 06:06.So what does blogging entail and why should one take it up or not take it up…. I think (and I could be wholly wrong even) that the word ‘blog’ arrived from the word ‘weblog’ which literally means maintaining an online dairy. (Note: MS Word refuses to acknowledge the word ‘blog’… it gives me a spell check error and instead suggests that I replace the word ‘blog’ with ‘bog’… quite emancipatory I must say… but seriously what else would you expect from MS Word) Somewhere along the way …some person decided to give it a jazzy name and hence the word ‘blog’ evolved. Pretty catchy I must say… A blog could relate to anything… your thoughts about life capturing different emotions, hues, various moods etc etc…in essence it is a personal diary which reveals much about you (or does it J)
Development Agenda and Internet Governance - Institutional Design
Submitted by Sudhir on Wed, 2007-09-12 07:35.
In my first post I had suggested that it is critical that the link between Internet Governance (IG) and the Development Agenda (DA) needs to be translated in to concrete normative principles and policy proposals which flow from these principles. However the current debates on the Internet Governance Caucus lists and the recent IGF consultation in Geneva remind us that the substantive content of such a ‘development agenda’ is still torn between a concern for providing access and with the governance of critical internet resources. I will sidestep this debate for the moment and try to elaborate on the key axes along which the future debate on the development agenda is likely to take at IGF Rio 2007.
Domain Name Policy in India
Submitted by Sudhir on Wed, 2007-08-08 07:43.The creation of ccTLD's under the control of national governments allows these governments to evolve a domain name policy which responds to the cultural sensitivities and the developmental priorities of the nation. In that sense they allow national governments the autonomy to frame an important aspect of Internet policy and thereby promote the rapid spread of internet use as well as the opportunity to articulate a new normative framework and vocabulary in which Internet policy and governance may be framed.
Development Agenda and Internet Governance
Submitted by Sudhir on Thu, 2007-06-28 09:45.The Development Agenda at the World Intellectual Property Organization reached a critical phase this month as negotiators from 93 member states and 40 observers agreed on a final list of proposals to enhance the development dimension in WIPO’s work to be recommended for action to the WIPO General Assembly in September 2007. They also recommended the establishment of a new Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) to address these issues. The process by which civil society groups and some governments have promoted the development agenda holds many lessons for advocates of a development agenda at the IGF.
Private enterprise and equity
Submitted by Guru on Mon, 2007-06-25 16:59.I was reading on-line the latest Down to Earth magazine (June 25, 2007) which carries in its cover story, diseases that still are rampant in India, since they largely affect the poor and their is not much incentive for the pharmaceutical companies to invest in R&D to treat/cure them. For e.g. the Kala Azar disease largely affects the poor in Bihar and there is no medicine for it .... what is used is medicines that have been forumulated for diseases such as cancer etc...
the article suggests that public funding into R&D on health reasearch is critical for ensuring that medicines for the poor / treating ailments that affect the poor are indeed available...
