[Air-L] Fwd: [Sigdl-l] Internet Governance must ensure freedom of expression and universal access, UNESCO says

[jeremy hunsinger]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Puna Das <puna_05 at yahoo.co.in>
> Date: December 5, 2008 10:36:35 PM EST
> To: sigdl-l at asis.org, sigkm-l at asis.org
> Subject: [Sigdl-l] Internet Governance must ensure freedom of  
> expression and universal access, UNESCO says
>
> Internet Governance must ensure freedom of expression and universal  
> access, UNESCO says
> 04-12-2008 (Hyderabad)
>
> “The principles of freedom of expression and universal access must  
> be safeguarded on the Internet and, consequently, in Internet  
> Governance structures”, said Abdul Waheed Khan, UNESCO’s Assistant  
> Director-General for Communication and Information yesterday at the  
> Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Hyderabad, India.
>
> Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Forum, Abdul Waheed Khan  
> said that the Internet, as it is inherently democratic and  
> empowering, provides unparalleled opportunities to realize the dream  
> of a global free flow of ideas and universal access to information  
> and knowledge.
>
> “We need clear and globally applicable principles based on human  
> rights, and legal, ethical and technical standards to organize the  
> Internet,” stressed Khan. At the same time, “it is important to  
> ensure that the technical structure of the Internet allows provision  
> of access to content in all languages,” he added.
>
> During the three days of the IGF (3-6 December 2008), UNESCO  
> provides a variety of platforms for discussions on freedom of  
> expression and universal access.
>
> As part of UNESCO's advocacy for free flow of information and  
> freedom of expression in cyberspace, a workshop on Freedom of  
> Expression in Cyberspace: Internet Filtering and Censorship explores  
> the latest challenges to openness and freedom of expression on the  
> Internet and identifies the implications of governmental and other  
> Internet content regulation, particularly by direct implementation  
> of filtering and content censorship.
>
> A workshop on Access to Public Held Information with a Development  
> Perspective addresses the issue of access to public held  
> information, a core element of the right to freedom of information  
> as a fundamental human right, particularly in the context of  
> development.
>
> The Internet Governance Forum that meets for the third time is a  
> forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue to discuss public policy  
> issues related to key elements of Internet governance in order to  
> foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and  
> development of the Internet. One of its main features is to  
> facilitate discourse between bodies dealing with different cross- 
> cutting international public policies regarding the Internet.
>
> In the debates on Internet Governance over the last years, UNESCO  
> has consistently advocated the key values of freedom of expression,  
> cultural diversity and openness that must be safeguarded on the  
> Internet.
>
> Source: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=27868&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Anup Kumar Das
> New Delhi, India
> http://www.openaccess-unesco.blogspot.com
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
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