[Kictanet] APC and London School of Economics event: Internet Governance

[Alice Wanjira]

LONDON, UK -- The London School of Economics Department of Information
Systems and the Association For Progressive Communications invite you to a
forum on:

Internet Governance Workshop on Rights and Development

Saturday July 1st, 2pm to 5pm, Old Theatre, London School of Economics and
Political Science, WC2A 2AE

In October 2006, over 1000 people - from Government, Industry, Civil
Society, the 'technical community, United Nations Agencies and
international organisations - will come together in Athens for the first
'Internet Governance Forum'. Agreement by 190 governments to establish an
annual Internet Governance Forum was one of the most concrete outcomes of
the World Summit on the Information Society which concluded with the Tunis
Summit, November 2005.

The overall theme of the Athens IGF meeting will be 'Internet Governance
and Development' and will address global public policy issues such as
'Openness, Security, Diversity and Access' in relation to governance of
the internet. It will prioritise 'capacity building' in all of it's work
and aims to incorporate a human rights based approach to it's work.

Two of the most controversial human rights issues that are likely to be
addressed by the IGF are freedom of expression and privacy. We are
organising this meeting to feed into this new process. The London School
of Economics (LSE) Department of Information Systems and the Association
For Progressive Communications will host a public forum in preparation for
the IGF, to address questions such as:

* rights, development and internet governance: are rights integral to the
'development'process or a by-product? Can we codify human rights which are
applicable to the Internet?

* privacy: can the renewed emphasis on security emerging from the
anti-terrorism and cybercrime agendas be resolved with privacy rights? Can
privacy be built into security requirements?

* freedom of expression: is it possible to establish constructive dialogue
with industry, activists and governments on rights and responsibilities
that will ensure an 'irrepressible' internet?

* your right to be involved: how can civil society organisations engage in
formal governance processes and what knowledge can they bring to the
tables? The Aarhus Convention grants public rights and imposes on Parties
and public authorities obligations regarding access to information and
public participation and access to justice - can we develop a mechanism
like this for internet governance?
http://www.unece.org/env/pp/welcome.html

Guest speakers will include:

* Markus Kummer; Coordinator of the IGF Secretariat
* Michael Stanley-Jones; Environmental Information Management Officer with
the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva and principal
officer of the Aarhus Convention Task Force on Electronic Information
Tools and the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers
* Jerry Fishenden, National Technology Officer, Microsoft UK
* A representative from Amnesty UK, Irrepressible Campaign (to be confirmed)
* Simon Davies, Visiting Fellow at the LSE and Director of Privacy
International







Author: --- (APCNews)
Contact: communications at apc.org
Source: APCNews
Date: 06/29/2006
Location: LONDON, UK
Category: Internet Governance