INFORMATION SOCIETY: TEETHING PROBLEMS FOR TUNIS SUMMIT.

PositionInformation Society World Summit - Brief Article

Just six weeks before it is due to open in Tunis, the Information Society World Summit (WSIS) appears to have run into difficulties with delegates apparently unable to agree on the issue of Internet regulation, whilst Tunisia has come under the spotlight regarding its human rights record. The 152 participating countries who gathered for 10 days in Geneva to prepare the World Summit parted at the end of September without having settled the dispute between the United States and the rest of the world on the issue of who should control the Internet.

The Summit, which is intended to consecrate a global drive to reduce the North-South "digital divide", will bring together some 40 heads of state and government representatives under the chairmanship of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.

In Geneva, delegates also failed to agree on the crucial issues of funding aid for countries with low digital development levels, and the implementation procedure for Summit decisions. Two further technical sessions are scheduled for October in Geneva in an attempt to make progress on these points.

The issue of Internet regulation will be the object of three...

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