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Consumers in the digital age confront a range of issues that are
quite new to the consumer movement. Is it fair for consumers to
receive fewer rights over digital works such as ebooks than over
paper books? What can be done about misleading claims as to the
speed of broadband Internet connections? Can online services
require you to "sign away" your privacy and other rights as a
consumer? Who are the decision-makers in the information society,
and are they listening to consumers?<br>
<br>
On 8-9 March 2012, CI will be hosting a two-day conference on these
and other issues for the digital age, titled "Consumers in the
Information Society: Access, Fairness and Representation". CI
members from around the world, and experts from as far afield as the
United States, Switzerland and Singapore, will come together to
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to report back on their research and
campaigning activities as part of CI's global consumer network on
access to knowledge, broadband, and consumer rights and
representation in the information society.<br>
<br>
Presentations and panels at the conference will cover topics such
as:
<ul>
<li>How the consumer movement can fight back against the insidious
abuse of intellectual property rights by some large businesses,
who use technology and "fine print" in consumer contracts to
limit fair uses of cultural and educational materials that
copyright law would otherwise allow.</li>
<li>Mapping the landscape of governance in the information
society, to reveal where consumers are poorly represented in the
institutions that wield power online, and to suggest how we can
be given a louder voice in guiding these institutions to take
account of our needs.</li>
<li>An ambitious campaign to firmly reestablish a progressive
agenda for today's connected consumers, through amendments on
access to knowledge that we have proposed for the United Nations
Guidelines for Consumer Protection.</li>
<li>Insights from a large-scale global survey of consumers on
their experiences in accessing and using the Internet over
broadband networks, which will reveal the need for leadership
from the consumer movement to raise standards of protection for
consumer rights online.</li>
</ul>
Registration for this major event is now open at <a
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://A2Knetwork.org/registration-infosoc2012">http://A2Knetwork.org/registration-infosoc2012</a>.
Consumers International members may even be eligible for assistance
with travel and accommodation expenses. Please visit the event's
website at <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://A2Knetwork.org/infosoc2012">http://A2Knetwork.org/infosoc2012</a>
to learn more.<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<p style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><b><span style="color:black">Dr
Jeremy Malcolm<br>
Project Coordinator</span></b><br>
<span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:black">Consumers
International</span><br>
<span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:gray">Kuala Lumpur Office for
Asia-Pacific and the Middle East<br>
Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM, 7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg, TTDI, 60000 Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia<br>
Tel: +60 3 7726 1599</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:8.0pt;color:#999999"><b>The global voice
for consumers</b>: <a
href="http://www.consumersinternational.org/">www.consumersinternational.org</a><br>
<b>Connect with CI</b>: Twitter <u><a
href="http://twitter.com/Consumers_Int">@ConsumersInt</a></u>
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<b>Help CI stay in touch:</b> please also add <a
href="mailto:ConsumersInternational@sut1.co.uk">ConsumersInternational@sut1.co.uk</a>
to your safe sender list</span></p>
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href="http://www.consumersinternational.org/email-confidentiality"
target="_blank"> email confidentiality notice</a>. Don't
print this email unless necessary.</span></p>
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