[Ecommerce] Profile of open standards ramped up at Rio IGF

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.keionline.org/index.php?option=3Dcom_jd-wp&Itemid=3D39

Thiru, from Geneva | Open Standards
Profile of open standards ramped up at Rio IGF
November 14th, 2007 by Thiru Balasubramaniam

At the first Internet Governance Forum launched in Athens in the
winter of 2006, the prevailing perception of open standards was that
of an arcane, technical subject confined to obscure standard setting
organizations staffed by computer scientists, engineers and
technologists. It is perhaps testament to the efforts of the Dynamic
Coalition of Open Standards (DCOS), created in Athens in 2006 with the
mission to

     provide government policy makers and other stakeholders with
useful tools to make informed decisions to preserve the current open
architecture of the Internet and the World Wide Web, which together
provide a knowledge ecosystems that has profoundly shaped the
multiplier effect of global public goods and improved economic and
social welfare

that open standards has come to the fore of the 2nd Internet
Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro.

DCOS is dynamic coalition that includes such actors from standards
setting organizations, industry, academia, government and civil
society. A forthcoming blog will detail the workshops we have held on
=93The Intersection of Open ICT Standards, Development, and Public
Policy=94 and on =93Best Practice Workshop: =93Open ICT Standards for
Greater Citizen Access: Best Practices in Government Policy and
Procurement Practices=94 each attended by around 80 people.

During the opening session of the Rio IGF, Anriette Esterhuysen (Head
of the Association of Progressive Communication) noted that:

     Increasingly, there are standards being made outside of public
spaces that have social implications that limit what people can do
with the Internet. And the IGF needs to address this. This touches on
issues of intellectual property, interoperability between different
applications and devices. And these are things that impact on the
cost. Why should blind people pay more for interfaces to read text
because they=92re blind and because someone owns a royalty on making two
applications talk to one another? This is wrong. On the issue of
access, I think as has been said, it=92s really vital.

During today=92s session on =93Openness=94 attended by 250 people, Ronaldo
Lemos (Funda=E7=E3o Getulio Vargas and Chairman of the Openness session)
highlighted the political dimension of openness. In his view this
political dimension was encapsulated by open standards and inter-
operability. I asked Professor Lemos =93Could you please further
elaborate on the development dimension of open standards and inter-
operability and how they relate to the discussions at the IGF?=94 For
his answer, and the rich debate that transpired including an
outstanding summary of this panel by Markus Kummer of the IGF
Secretariat, please read my forthcoming blog entry.