[bestbits] AP Forum on Sustainable Development

[willi uebelherr]

(this is a copy from ISOC Internet Policy list)

Dear Parminder,

many thanks for this documents and many thanks to all the people, they 
work for this statements.

But, after i read the 2 documents, i can say: The "Statement..." of the 
S&T constituency is a chatter without substance. Very different to the 
"Updated Position..." text.

I love this text. And i see, that the basic principles are the same or 
mostly the same like that from the written ISOC principles. This can be 
a fantastic base to go deeper. I hope, that the people in this 
organisations follow this principles.

And i ask me: If you also follow this principles, why you don´t speak on 
the WSIS+10 Review not about? Concentrated in a short form?

many greetings, willi
St. Elena de Uairen, Venezuela


Am 06.04.2016 um 09:16 schrieb parminder:
> Hi All
>
> Over the last 6 days I was at the Asia Pacific (AP) Forum on Sustainable
> Development, which is an annual event of the Asia Pacific's Regional UN
> Commission ( UN Economic and Social Commission for the Asia Pacific)
> ..There is a civil society network of over 250 AP civil society
> organisations, called the AP Regional CSOs (Civil Society Organisations)
> Engagement Mechanism, which met for three days prior to the official forum.
>
> The Science and Technology constituency of this civil society network
> prepared a constituency statement, which has a part on Internet/ data
> issues. It also gave a shorter statement to the official forum. Both are
> enclosed.
>
> Excerpts from the shorter statement submitted to the official Forum
>
> (begins)
> The Agenda 2030 puts emphasis on the development and use of data in
> service of the SDGs. Data is not only a resource but a vital reality
> structuring people's lives, choices and opportunities today. Vast
> amounts of data are now held by big businesses unwilling to share the
> same to public agencies for public interest purposes. The socialisation
> of all data from people's digital social interactions and its use in
> public interest is a precondition for reaching the SDGs. Such data
> should by default be publicly owned, with transparent collection
> methodologies and well-defined regulatory frameworks for collecting
> private firms. There should be in place ethical standards in the
> collation and dissemination of data that adhere to gender equality and
> women’s rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, communication
> rights, right to privacy and equal access to knowledge.
> (ends)
>
> Internet/ data related issues from the longer constituency statement
>
> (begins)
>
> *1.3.5. Corporatisation of ICTs, Internet and big data; and reclaiming
> them as a global commons *
>
> Internet, as its name suggests, is nothing but people inter-connected,
> without the hierarchies of technical and institutional mediation. As a
> platform that connects people, the Internet should be governed
> democratically and appropriated by countries and communities as a
> powerful force for equality and social justice. The Internet today is
> however greatly commodified, with corporations mediating people's
> relationships, surveilling them, and predicting and controlling their
> behaviour, in pursuit of profits. Instead of bringing people to new
> frontiers of self determination, digital innovation is captured within
> the walled gardens of software applications that serve the interests of
> their corporate owners. Though derived from public laboratories,
> Internet technologies are today almost entirely privatised. In fact,
> even their governance is privatised, in the hands of the Internet
> industry itself.
>
> The Internet must be freed. It should be governed democratically,
> towards egalitarian outcomes. Internet platforms must be collaborative
> spaces, controlled by their users. Big data should be owned by and
> employed for the best interests of the people, to whom such data
> originally belongs.
>
> Recent developments indicate that abuse of biometrics, DNA profiling and
> other invasive technologies combined with big data for profit,
> surveillance and invasion of privacy without any safeguards - such as
> unique identity platforms like Aadhar in India – are emerging as serious
> threats (in South Asia at least – encompassing India, Pakistan,
> Bangladesh and Nepal). This potential abuse of science and science based
> technologies – in the name of promoting development - needs to be
> questioned and resisted.
>
> The SDGs document puts great emphasis on the use of big data, and on
> strengthening of national statistical agencies for better employment of
> data in the service of the SDGs. However, this requires that countries
> must put in place the necessary legislative safeguards that guarantee
> people's rights with respect to their data. Data is not only a resource
> to be used for development. Data is a vital reality structuring people's
> lives, choices and opportunities today. Of deep concern is the fact that
> 'public data' is held by private corporations motivated purely by
> monopolistic control and unwilling to share the same to public agencies
> for public interest purposes. This undesirable situation requires that
> the basic issue of who owns social data generated over digital 'social'
> platforms be addressed. Such data should by default be publicly owned,
> with the collating private corporation licensed to make limited
> profit-motivated use of it within well-defined regulatory frameworks.
> The socialisation of all Internet-based big data that originates from
> people's digital social interactions over the Internet and its use in
> public interest is a precondition for reaching the SDGs.
>
> In this regard, both the Internet as the people's inter-connectivity
> infrastructure, and big data as the people's digital footprints over the
> Internet, should be claimed and governed as a real commons.
>
> (ends)
>
> parminder
>
>
>
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