[Ecommerce] Informal notes on WSIS Briefing July 24 in Washington DC

[Manon Anne Ress]

Dear colleagues,
These are my informal notes taken at the WSIS briefing yesterday.

To summarize:  the meeting at the National Academy of Sciences Building 
was chaired by Ambassador Gross who introduced the speakers, Mr. Adama 
Samassekou, the President of PrepCom, and 3 Swiss representatives. 
Maybe 30 people attended, mostly industry people.

The speakers shared their “vision” of what the World Summit on the 
Information Society (the Summit) was about and stressed the importance 
of having “all stakeholders” included in the “dialogue”.  The importance 
or success of the Summit will be measured by how many head of States 
attend and the “implementation of ideas”.

Paul Uhlir, (NAS) the host, asked about the issue of recognition of the 
role of science, and specifically public science in the Declaration.

Dana Bullen (World Press Freedom Committee) asked why there was no clear 
statement in the current draft about freedom of the Press, "a major 
problem."

Manon

Contact info for speakers:
Paul Uhlir" <PUhlir@nas.edu>
Dana Bullen Ph. 703 715 9811
Adama Samassekou
+41 22 730 6360
adama.samassekou@ties.itu.int

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Informal notes: On July 24, 2003, I attended the WSIS briefing given by 
Mr. Adama Samassekou, Chair of the Prep Committee and by representatives 
of the Swiss Government at the National Academy of Sciences.  The 
meeting was short and sweet, (only 1 hour) because the speakers (who had 
had breakfast with US private sector) were on their way to the White 
House.  Today they have a few other meetings (not open to the public) 
organized by associations etc.

Ambassador Gross introduced Adama Samassekou, President of PrepCom, 
Former Minister of Education (of Mali I think) and 3 other speakers  who 
were representatives from Switzerland.

Mr. Samassekou praised the organizers of the briefing because he wants 
“all the stakeholders to be on board.”  He talked about the issues we’re 
facing such as “disease, poverty, hunger” and highlighted that we have 
the means to end these terrible problems.  “The WSIS is not”, he said, a 
“new UN Conference”, is not a “Summit on new technologies” it is an 
“historical opportunity for what could be called a shared-knowledge 
society that would allow all citizens to use ICTs.”

Mr. Samassekou repeated figures he likes to mention “91% of users are 
from the North where only 19% of the population lives”.  A “digital 
revolution” is the first issue of this Summit and the second issue is 
“why the poor are getting poorer and the rich richer.”
The development goals are a way to improve the Summit in the time frame 
(2005).  The third issue is how to let the “majority use Internet to 
develop identity, culture etc.”  He also asks “how to make them real 
actors in democracy building in their countries and how to share 
knowledge in the Internet.”

For Mr. Samassekou, in order to be successful, the Summit must, by 2005, 
change "attitudes and mentalities" with all stakeholders working together.

The following speakers shared the “same vision” but highlighted the task 
of “doing a good Summit in Switzerland”.    Mr. F.(?) explained why this 
Summit is not “just a lot of talk” and that what is needed is a new kind 
of Summit.  For him the subject (Information Society) is new, as well as 
the architecture, the openness and the tripartite aspect.  His measure 
of success depends on the participation of heads of States, the quality 
of the dialogue and sustainability in 2d phase [Tunis] that will be 
based on “principles and action plans done in Geneva”

The next speaker explained what ICT4D is about:  “a platform showcasing 
about 200 to 300 Projects implemented in some 50 countries within the 
framework of development aid”  The Palexpo is already 80% booked and 
invited people to participate.

Paul Uhlir made a statement urging for more clarity regarding the “role 
for the Science community”, mentioned the instrumental role of public 
science  for ex. satellites, internet, search engine, all developed in 
the public sector and commercialized by the private sector in the last 
decades.  He described briefly the work the National Academies of 
Sciences with other international organization such as UNESCO.  While 
there has been recognition of the role of sciences in Paris, Mr. Uhlir 
hopes that there will be “linkage in the Summit and implementation”.

Dana Bullen (World Press Freedom Committee) stated that his organization 
is still “concerned that the text fails to provide clear language 
regarding freedom of the Press”.
If this is an oversight, he said, it should be corrected quickly, if not 
“we have a major problem”.

Ellen Shaw (sp?) US Chamber of Commerce and ICC referred to an earlier 
conversation with the speakers (“As I was saying this morning...”) and 
repeated that the focus should be “on creating a competitive environment 
for business to invest with firm commitment by leaders”.  She was 
pleased that “high level businesses were encouraged to participate”.

Regarding the comments by the World Press Freedom, the Swiss 
Representative stated that this is “controversial” and “in bracket”, 
“we’ll do it” he said “but in a proper way, we have to be sensitive to 
culture, for example having pornographic materials on satellites is a 
problem in Arab countries.”

For Mr. Samassekou, thanking Mr. Bullen, it’s all about “a better 
society, poverty is caused also by ignorance, building knowledge is 
fighting poverty.”  He stated that in Mali any citizen can develop a 
newspaper...and that this matter needs to be address within the process 
even if controversial.

David Gross asked if Microsoft wanted to add anything and mentioned the 
upcoming “interactive breakfast” for industries and the speakers.





-- 
Manon Anne Ress
Consumer Project on Technology
www.cptech.org
PO Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
manon.ress@cptech.org, voice: 1.202.387.8030, fax: 1.202.234.5176