Information Society Watch

2006, Yochai Benkler,Yale University Press

This book is a useful guide to the networked information economy and an eloquent statement of the left-liberal conception of the Internet’s “institutional ecology”.

March 2007, Jan Aart Scholte

Along with the general intensified globalisation of social relations in contemporary history has come an unprecedented expansion of regulatory apparatuses that cover planetary jurisdictions and constituencies. On the whole, however, this global governance remains weak relative to pressing current needs for global public policy. Shortfalls in moral standing, legal foundations, material delivery, democratic credentials and charismatic leadership have together generated large legitimacy deficits in existing global regimes. This fragile overall legitimacy has in turn constituted a major obstacle to achieving the substantial further growth of global-scale regulation that is required to secure decent human lives for all in a more global world. Insufficient capacities for global governance and insufficient legitimacy of global governance are thus coupled in damaging mutual reinforcement.

August 2008, IT for Change

This is a contribution on behalf of IT for Change towards the September consultations which will decide the agenda for the third annual Internet Governance Forum to be held in Hyderabad in December 2008. This contribution specifically looks at the issue of 'enhanced co-operation' as a process for global Internet policy making.

July 2004, Audrey Selian & Kenneth Neil Cukier, Information Technologies and International Development

The article focuses on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Geneva in December 2003. It highlights the problems being faced by WSIS, which had lofty goals of bringing together people and governments from all countries in order to make the Internet an entity to be shared by one and all.

Seán Ó Siochrú, Social Science Research Council

This analysis maps the role of research in international communications policy, from the neo-liberal agenda taking shape in the 1970s to the role of civil society actors in addressing issues of pro-development ICT policy at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). It focuses on how civil society research has contributed to issues of financing ICTs for Development.

February 23, 2007, James Love, Huffington Post

This article is a statement on the outcomes of the World Intellectual Property Organisation's (WIPO) first review in February of proposals to reform intellectual property issues. Overall the statement finds that negotiations proceeded better than anticipated, with participation from governments of the US and EU states, as well as a crucial role of developing countries and civil society to push forward a reform agenda.

April 20, 2007, Ogle Earth

The author reports on the curious case of the unavailability of Google Earth service in Sudan, apparently due to export control enforced by the United States. This episode brings to focus how such sanctions are actually detracting from helping Sudan in its time of crisis.

July 30, 2007, UNESCO

This UNESCO summary reports on the implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which was held in two phases in Geneva in 1997 and Tunis in 2005. The summary focuses on UNESCO's contributions to WSIS and how it is participating in the emerging field of Internet and Communications Technologies for Development (ICTD).

2007, David Souter, The Association for Progressive Communications (APC)

This study conducted by The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) analyses developing country and civil society participation and influence in World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) by drawing on participants’ observations, questionnaires and interviews with individual participants, detailed interviews with forty key actors, case studies of experiences rooted in five developing countries. The study concludes that WSIS had only limited success and is not necessarily the best starting point for action on ICTs or ICTs for development.

June 2007, South Centre

Discussions for a new treaty to protect broadcasting and cable casting organisations against signal theft at the WIPO are closely linked to the information revolution. This paper argues that member states must carefully strike a balance between granting increased protection to certain segments of broadcasting media to protect their commercial interests with safeguarding the public interest in access and use of the content that is broadcast.