[Ecommerce] FOSS language at WSIS PrepCom2

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

The WSIS PrepCom 2 has been meeting from February 17-25 in Geneva.


 Of interest to readers of this list would the proposal tabled last
Friday by  Brazil, Cuba, India, and the Holy See in the operational part
(Financial Mechanisms) of Document WSIS-II/PC-2/DT-1 (Part 1).   The
proposal read:


New 26 a1. "Providing affordable access to ICTs, by reducing Internet
interconnection costs charged by backbone providers and by promoting
awareness of the positive externalities generated by the use and
development of free and open source software;"

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A drafting group met this week to negotiate the text of this particular
section of the document.  It was open to all interested Member States
and NGOs.  The room document text reproduced below shows a sample of
some key options under discussion this week.

However, it was decided by the Subcommittee today to move the discussion
of FOSS from Chapter 2 (operational)  of Document   WSIS-II/PC-2/DT-1 to
Chapter 1 (Implementation).  Discussions of this text will resume at the
3rd WSIS PrepCom in Geneva in August 2005.  Discussions of this
particular item are now closed.

At this stage it seems premature to assess the implications of this
decision although I was able to get some insight from one NGO who had
been following the discussions.  Mr. Parminder Singh, Director of the
Bangalore based IT for Change said this decision "could have both
positive and negative impacts".  He acknowledged that the removal of the
FOSS text from the operational chapter of the WSIS document was
regrettable as there would be no affirmation of FOSS as a means of
providing affordable access to ICTs in the section which dealt on the
financing mechanism.  However, he noted that moving this text to the
"implementation" section of the WSIS document could give greater
emphasis to FOSS in the document.

For more info on the documents please see:
http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_multi.asp?lang=en&id=1397|1452|1467|1471


Sincerely,

Thiru Balasubramaniam

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Room Document 2 (20h30-23/02/05)
23 February 2005
Original: English only

PARAGRAGH 26

New 26a1: Providing affordable access to ICTs, by the following measures:

a. Reducing International Internet costs charged by backbone providers,
supporting, inter alia, the ccreation and development of regional ICT
backbones and Internet Exchange Points to reduce interconnection costs
and broaden network access.

b. To encourage the ITU to continue to study of the question of the
International Internet Connectivity (IIC) as an urgent matter to develop
appropriate Recommendations.

In order to enable users to make informed choices based on their
individual circumstances, promoting awareness of the possibilities
generated by the development and use of free and open source software as
a possible alternative to proprietary software. [highlighting the
importance of interoperability]


(Option 1):

c. Promoting awareness of the positive externalities generated by the
development and use of free and open source software.

(Option 2):

-Promoting awareness of possibilities genereated by different software
models including proprietary, free and open source software.


((Option 3):

-Promoting the use and development of free and low cost proprietary and
open soure software.








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