Internet Summit Ignores "Digital Divide"

by Stefania Milan

(IPS) -- Civil society groups have reacted with disappointment at the decision to leave control of the Internet in the hands of the United States.

Civil society groups have reacted with disappointment at the decision to leave control of the Internet in the hands of the United States.

Under a compromise agreement on the eve of the summit, the California-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that has technological control of the Internet will remain in charge of the web.

"This was presented as a 'summit of solutions,'" said Chantal Peyer from the Swiss NGO Bread for All. "But still there is a clear lack of political will by rich countries."

An Internet governance forum has been set up to debate the future structure of the net. It will include civil society actors and businesses, but its decisions will not be binding.

NGOs seemed divided on the benefits of a forum like this.

"It is a good result for our participation in the summit process, it is a way for civil society to have a say," Sally Burch from the Latin American Information Agency, a non-governmental organization said.

Others said that is not enough. "The WSIS speaks in a vague way of the Internet as a facility. We believe it is a universal public provision which should be available to all," Anita Gurumurthy from the Indian association IT for Change told Terra Viva. "Only from there universal access could be reached."

Far less satisfactory was the debate on financing poor countries' digital infrastructure.

"The positions of the European Union and United States are incoherent. Western countries do not want to commit any additional money, but operate within the existing funding mechanisms, which is not enough," Peyer said.

"It came out that only national governments of developing countries are responsible for bridging the digital divide," Peyer added. "It seems there is no notion of international cooperation and coordination."

While developing countries were asking for a clear mandate for the UN to take action on implementation and monitoring, Western countries and especially the United States oppose any strong language on concrete commitments and implementation measures.

The buzzword for the post-WSIS phase seems to be "voluntarism."

The Digital Solidarity Fund to raise resources to bridge the digital divide has been set up, but participation is voluntary. It is not supported financially by any rich country other than France.

Civil society leaders say other issues that are supposedly a part of the development agenda are being ignored by the summit.

"Gender equality, media concentration, free software and cultural diversity issues were left out. No concrete proposals were made on how social groups from the South can appropriate technologies without infringing laws," Burch said.

NGOS are calling for an active civil society role in the post-WSIS phase. "We will monitor what will be done and put pressure on governments, and continue to work on national and international issues excluded from the summit agenda," Burch said.

NGOs also plan to pursue the link between the UN Millennium Development Goals and new technologies. "There is room for a public policy agenda on development," Peyer said.

"Governments recognized not enough was done so far for inclusion of rural areas. Now WSIS official documents mention the need for public investment and policies for access in rural and disadvantaged areas, and we will start from there to move forward," Peyer said.

A civil society working group began Wednesday to draft an alternative statement to be adopted on Friday by the final civil society plenary assembly.