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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=548144206-03072008>Ron,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=548144206-03072008></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=548144206-03072008>I'll
confess to not being very well versed in the intricacies of "rights"
discussions/negotiations...</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=548144206-03072008></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=548144206-03072008>However, the issue being presented through this
workshop is not related to "expression" (FoE) as would normally, I think be
understood but rather would have to do with the role that the Internet plays as
an enabler of information management/manipulation/distribution at a
distance including in service delivery, transaction management and
processing, digitally enabled action/control at a distance and so on. I
think it is a major stretch to consider these uses of the Internet as a form of
"expression" but it is precisely these which make the Internet so valuable as a
means for wealth creation and not incidentally for social and economic
development.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=548144206-03072008></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=548144206-03072008>The
notion of a Right to the Internet or Internet for All refers I think to issues
which have to do with the Internet as a primary means for production and
distribution in the Information Economy/Society (and ensuring some degree of
inclusive access and opportunity for use of the Internet for these purposes) and
not simply as a means for communication/expression.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=548144206-03072008></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=548144206-03072008>MG</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
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<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><FONT size=2><SPAN class=548144206-03072008><FONT
face=Arial color=#0000ff></FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=548144206-03072008> </SPAN>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
KovenRonald@aol.com [mailto:KovenRonald@aol.com] <BR><B>Sent:</B> July 2, 2008
8:31 AM<BR><B>To:</B> gurstein@gmail.com;
governance@lists.cpsr.org<BR><B>Cc:</B> karenb@gn.apc.org;
Embench@aol.com<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [governance] IGF workshop: Internet for
All (v 2.0)<BR><BR></DIV></FONT></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT
color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF">Dear All --<BR><BR>On the question of
freedom of expression and the Internet, the position of the press freedom
groups of the Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, to which
the World Press Freedom Committee belongs, has been the same as that taken by
leading delegations such as that of Canada and others in the WSIS, that there
should be "no new rights" but that there is a need for reaffirmation of
existing rights, notably Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.<BR><BR>In this 60th anniversary year of the UDHR, the Coordinating
Committee adopted a resolution just last month in Belgrade that there is
nothing to add or to subtract from Art. 19 and that it is time to work for its
full implenentation in the world. I append the text below.<BR><BR>While I
understand the desire to explore other aspects of Internet access, I strongly
feel that, when it comes to freedom of expression, any attempts to "improve"
on Art. 19 in an intergovernmental context will only lead to watering down its
unqualified call for free speech, on and off-line.<BR><BR>It was a major
struggle to get Art. 19 into the final WSIS texts, a struggle in which pretty
much all of the civil society groups took part cooperatively. Nothing being
proposed here should now come to undermine the notable success of that
effort.<BR><BR>We are prepared to reiterate the above points in
Hyderabad.<BR><BR>Best regards, <BR>Ronald Koven<BR>European
Representative<BR>World Press Freedom Committee<BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=1
face=Verdana color=#112132 size=2><B>COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS<BR>INTER
AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION<BR>INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTING
<BR>INTERNATIONAL PRESS INSTITUTE <BR>WORLD ASSOCIATION OF NEWSPAPERS<BR>WORLD
PRESS FREEDOM COMMITTEE</B></FONT><FONT lang=1 face=Verdana
color=#112132><BR></FONT><FONT lang=1 face=Verdana color=#112132><B><BR><FONT
size=2>Resolution on Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights</FONT></B></FONT><FONT lang=1 face=Verdana color=#112132><BR><BR><FONT
size=2>The Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, meeting in
Belgrade June 18, 2008, hailed forthcoming United Nations commemorations of
the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and called
upon UN bodies and their member states to act to implement their pledge of
freedom of expression and of press freedom, as contained in the Declaration's
Article 19:<BR><BR></FONT></FONT><FONT lang=1 face=Verdana color=#112132
size=2><I> "Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to
hold opinions without interference and to seek,
receive and impart information and ideas through any
media and regardless of frontiers."</I></FONT><FONT lang=1 face=Verdana
color=#112132><BR><BR><FONT size=2>While means of enforcement were not
provided for when the UN voted that text on Dec. 10, 1948, it has been widely
recognized by the world's most prestigious national and international courts
as now constituting international customary law. It was a pledge by the
international community to enshrine free speech and a free press among the
fundamental rights for everyone everywhere.<BR><BR>Article 19 has stood the
test of time. The text was prescient. There is nothing to add and nothing to
subtract. Its provision of the free flow of "information and ideas through any
media and regardless of frontiers" made it possible to move from a world in
which short wave radio was the main transfrontier news outlet to one that
encompasses all later developments in communications technology, including
direct satellite broadcasting and the Internet.<BR><BR>Contrary to some later
assertions, it was not produced solely by Western countries but by a globally
representative group of countries. The Drafting Committee that wrote it
comprised Australia, Chile, China, France, Lebanon, Soviet Union, United
Kingdom, and United States, represented by Eleanor Roosevelt, who chaired the
Committee. It was adopted without dissent by the UN General
Assembly.<BR><BR>The only problem with Article 19 is that it is not respected
nor implemented everywhere. The time is long past for the United Nations to
move to make it so. Those countries that ignore their commitments to respect
freedom of expression and freedom of the press should be enjoined to do
so.<BR><BR>Failure to honor those commitments should be treated as a serious
breach and should be sanctioned by such measures as exclusion from UN human
rights bodies. The UN system should reinforce its aid to the development of
independent news outlets everywhere.<BR><BR>We members of the Coordinating
Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, representing journalists and news
outlets throughout the world, call upon the United Nations and its agencies to
move now from their promise of global press freedom to adopt measures for
implementation needed to transform that promise into
practice.</FONT></FONT><FONT face=Geneva color=#000000
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"><BR></FONT><FONT face=Geneva color=#000000
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