Steven Johnson tours the Ghost Map | Video on TED.com

Steven Johnson tours the Ghost Map | Video on TED.com

http://ictsd.org/i/publications/79866/

http://ictsd.org/i/publications/79866/

"Cazador Recolector"...tagging, nuevos escenarios al interior del q-gov. Antheory... todoas las personas de imagenes en TV, sobre un derrumbe en una mina, hablando por celular..., la visita a un sitio de Trade, que señala que todo es hipotético en la modelación, protegiendo legalmente a la ley, que debe asumir el mundo cambiante...

la internacional

un correo de respuesta

Mi tan estimado profesor Johnson:

Créame que agradezco su atenta y documentada comunicación (que dicho sea de paso, se ha incrementado con las horas...) Instancias como ésta, en las que se conjugan el afecto sincero y la altura de miras por el conocimiento, se hacen tremendamente necesarias en tiempos de oscurantismo como los que (unos más, unos menos), vivimos.

Vano resultaría insistir sobre la necesidad del ser humano de remitir su existencia a algún tipo de ser superior, por cuanto como lo he señalado en mi condición de humano, al no compartir ese principio, niego la universalidad del mismo. Además, aún aquellos que no piensan como lo hago, condicionan su propia creencia al don o la gracia, de ese otro ser en cuestión, impidiendo por razón del dogma o la verdad de fe, cualquier avance posterior a la razón en la materia. Por otra parte, se que así habitaramos en esa perspectiva mundos diferentes, compartimos el respeto a los valores y principios de cada quien, que de ser genuinos, permiten el diálogo, producen armonía y fomentan la paz. Así, acoto que no era Napoleón, a quien la anécdota remite, sino a Lamarck, que aunque a ambos los acompañamos en la escuela, uno se dedicó al poder y el otro a la ciencia.

Y éste es querido amigo, el punto, como bien lo entiende usted. Y hay ciencias de diverso tipo, en ésta perspectiva de una episteme cartesiana que origina las nuestras a partir de la fragmentación y la diversidad. Cuestión en absoluto trivial, porque precisamente parecieramos ser testigos de un cambio de paradigma. Sin ahondar aquí en el tema, básteme señalar que fenómenos como el Cambio Climático, -en el cual como sabes, hace un par de años que me derrito-..., ejemplifican de pertinente manera, la imposibilidad de establecer relaciones directas de causa a efecto, para explicar la complejidad creciente de los fenómenos complejos. Mas bien la generación de visiones globales que rescaten y sinteticen los aportes parciales de las distintas miradas disciplinarias, para generar decisiones que tradicionalmente son de otro ámbito (Napoleón...), parecen constituir nuestro escenario y el desafío de todos.

No puedo sino ser breve. Y así forme a su vez parte de un nuevo "sistema de creencias" (permítame recordar que tradicionalmente se consideran históricamente tres: pensamiento mágico, pensamiento religioso y pensamiento científico), o de una de sus ramas antropológicas (Hauser, Lévi-Strauss, Marx... en orden inverso), repito, "la naturaleza es una categoría social". Como ve, si a partir del 4° informe del IPCC (2007) (www.ipcc.ch) y en cuanto al Cambio Climático, esa intuición -no por ello menos científica-, ya es una realidad verificable, me pregunto de que manera constituye una hipótesis de trabajo válida para la geología. No solo por la evidente relación de sus efectos sobre la sociedad, y llego al punto, sino porque nuestro nivel civilizatorio no permite ya ignorar la capacidad tecnológica que hemos desarrollado para modificarla, hacerla dependiente y desparecerla.

Lo que es cierto, es que en el ámbito disciplinario que me compete, el de las Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, que -es pábulo de su riqueza y condición de su existencia-, no son ni tienen por qué ser "exactas", y por eso mismo promueven el conocimiento hacia lo que no se sabe -If I dare to say-. Tal vez por ello desmerecidas, pero mucho más por una época que las niega en función de más que discutibles criterios de pragmatismo (como decía Rousseau "sabemos lo que el progreso nos dá, pero no sabemos lo que nos quita"), han sido no obstante elemento fundamental de la comprensión a través de los tiempos y por esa condición serán seguramente llamadas a cumplir una tarea cada vez mas importante en las comunicaciones en general y en los espacios interdisciplinarios en particular, a medida que se vayan haciendo mas enrarecidos los climas y las mentes.

De allí que me deba a mantener las líneas gruesas del análisis que me permití esbozar en anterior y que encuentran evidentes razones socioeconómicas, a lo que de otra manera resultaría incomprensible o -más fácil y otra vez en el tema-, inexplicable designio superior. Lo reitero, porque me parece que confundirías la explicación de un hecho (la piedra cae porque Juanito la tiró), con la justificación del mismo (Juanito quería botar una manzana con ella). Cierto que son también extensivos y que cuando uno explica, justifica, pero tampoco me detendré más aquí, que ya sabes tan bien como yo mismo, que malamente podría justificar violencia, quien cualquiera aborrece. Y aunque no tenga por que gustarnos o no, Carlos, la razón de las asonadas, es la perversa conjunción de factores que sintetizé: capitalismo salvaje (insalvables diferencias económicas y culturales entre los grupos), frustración, falta de educación, tele-basura, carencia de principios, confusión total en política y carencia de teorías que nos orienten hacia algo diferente a lo que sabemos no querer, indeferenciación al cabo entre el ser y el tener.

Y seguramente otras, mas finas, por cierto, pero que a esas no sabrían negar. Eso, no me gusta, sino que saludo la expresión pura de lo que se hace rato: éste sistema y cualquiera que sea el lugar en que nos toque y que todos tratamos de llevar de la mejor manera posible, es en estricto rigor y como bien lo dijo mi querido Marx: "la prehistoria de la humanidad". Es así. No es que me guste. Probablemente encuentre mas reprobable que otros que si se preocupan por la propiedad, la estulticia que genera.

Y para terminar esta ya extensa reflexión que vuelvo a agradecerte, tengo que insistir (luego de su relectura), en el carácter sólido de la prospección que se adjuntó, que no tiene la ligereza con que pareces calificarla y que honestamente creo que habría que inscribir como un elemento a considerar junto a otros, dentro de las políticas de conjunción de gobierno y academia que la sociedad de geólogos, por ejemplo, propone en el documento que me enviaste. Como hace usted, sin ir mas lejos para avisar de la próxima reactivación volcánica entre Santiago y Temuco. Que no dude, tomaré en cuenta, aunque poco pueda hacer para evitar.

Y para terminar, querido amigo, la ciencia (que es una forma de nombrar una parte del conocimiento), no tiene otros límites que la realidad (si es que la dinámica a la que el concepto remite, los tiene) y con ella se modifica de manera constante. Si hoy fuera imposible prevenir un terremoto, malamente podríamos aseverar que lo mismo ocurrirá mañana... Ya sé que no tiene nada que ver (¿o sí?...) pero yo, por ejemplo, seguramente porque al vivir solo he agudizado mi atención, me ocurre despertarme unos segundos antes de que empiecen los temblores durante la noche.

A lo mejor no es sino otra muestra de que avanzamos hacia la animalidad, en lugar de salir de ella, pero si lo mismo que me pasa le estuviere ocurriendo a otors diez mil (como probablemente ocurre, dada la naturaleza social de nuestros seres) y hubiéremos reconocido la condición y desarrollado la forma de hacerlo saber, por ejemplo con ayuda de internet, estaríamos en presencia de una nueva forma de conjugar intuición y tecnologías, en formas de conocimiento que hoy no son existentes, pero que no por ello no habrían de tener lugar mañana.

¿Se puede imaginar a Leonardo da Vinci con un celular?
Abrazo y felicidad.

social

Compañeros del Alma Plena:

Imagino que están bien. Eso espero. Y es mi deseo para todos.

La naturaleza es una categoría social (Lévi-Strauss)... Tal vez lo más impactante ha sido constatar que tres décadas de neoliberalismo, con una enorme concentración de la riqueza, privatización de la enseñanza y una fuerte cultura mediática orientada unívocamente al individualismo y el consumo, aunados a una carencia de teoría y orientaciones políticas que fueran más allá del “gobierno” -es decir la administración del sistema-, generaron increíbles olas de saqueos y vandalismo.

Ninguna posterior catequesis teledirigida, centrada en el dinero y en el precio que tuvieren las consciencias, permitirá borrar la evidencia de la falta de solidaridad y valores reales que habita al sistema de la inequidad y la violencia. La “obligación” de sacar al ejército a las calles y decretar “toque de queda”, significa una consiguiente merma adicional a nuestras instituciones democráticas.

Y por cierto, ya que se han mencionado los sistemas de creencias. Como dicen que respondió Lamarck a Napoleón una vez, cuando éste le preguntó por qué, en un tratado de 800 páginas no mencionaba ni una vez a Dios: "La ciencia, señor, no requiere de una tal hipótesis". Les adjunto un estudio del 2008, que anticipa con impresionante precisión el fenómeno telúrico que hemos vivido. Ello demostraría que no es el conocimiento el que falta, sino más bien la "voluntad política para conocer".

Viva la República.

el terremoto como categoría política

¿Tecnología Política? Prefiero intuir que tecpol es más que eso. Refiere directamente al momento actual, una tan intrincada como inextricable mezcla de dimensiones que de otras transformaciones vienen. Políticas y tecnologías, sueños y sociedades, intuiciones y normas, todo se conjuga en sincronía creadora de sentidos. Y en lo que me concierne: me siento bien porque entiendo, pero lo que entiendo no es bueno. Paradoja de una paradoja.

Así dejo dicho para escribirlo luego:

1. La naturaleza es una categoría social.

2. El cambio climático implica una visión no-cartesiana, holística, y así inaugura (ya sin posibilidad ninguna, al menos para los que ya hubieren muerto...) una etapa de "ciencia espiritual", dónde por cierto ni ciencia ni espíritu son lo que eran, es decir aquello que queríamos decir cuando nombramos.

3. El terremoto y el maremoto de la primera luna llena del año del tigre, en Chile, está produciendo un fenómeno político (del poder burdo y ramplón de la evidencia) más que notable. Veamos algunas dimensiones, o simplemente hechos:

a) Asonadas populares saquean los supermercados, el presidente electo llama a la presidenta saliente y ya tenemos al ejército a cargo y toque de queda. No parece haber nadie que relacione los saqueos con la pobreza... sino con la "delincuencia"... y sin duda que habría que cortar el paño de las imagenes de hormigas en fila que capta la televisión desde el aire, en un barrio, sacando productos diversos de un gran depósito. Hombres, mujeres y niños, llevando lo que pueden. La objetivación del consumo reificado como única categoría de humanidad. La naturaleza, les da ahora lo que no pueden lograr por la sociedad, pero que no es la naturaleza que produce y que la sociedad promueve. Lindo.

b) Sería suficiente para graficar el sentido simbólico de la idea, pero además, el terremoto viene a coronar, el principio de la "unidad nacional", que en el fondo, todos quieren: la burguesía (¿o como se puede llamar en síntesis ahora a la clase dominante?...), por tres motivos: porque no tiene gente que conozca el funcionamiento del aparato del Estado, porque así desarma toda eventual oposición de la (no menos eventual) concertación y porque nadie duda que les administramos bien sus negocios, así que ahora lo que se establece es un camino más directo para que recibamos sus instrucciones, c´est tout. Tanto en la anterior como en esta, el manejo total de los media, asume un carácter paradigmático, aunque no sea diferente al que ya tenía. La clase en el poder, fija la agenda.

c) Si bien resulta difícil entender en una lógica de ciencia anclada en la relación causa-efecto, que los terremotos son causados por la acción del ser humano, y dicha explicación pareciera remitir a la consabida imagen milenarista del "castigo", el cambio climático entrega la clave y es el camino para entender que es así: nada ocurre en el planeta que no sea humano, nada ocurre al humano, que no sea en el planeta. Sarva sunyata. La forma y el fondo son lo mismo.

ON RFID...

RFID stands for Radio Frequency IDentification, a technology that uses tiny computer chips smaller than a grain of sand to track items at a distance. RFID "spy chips" have been hidden in the packaging of Gillette razor products and in other products you might buy at a local Wal-Mart, Target, or Tesco - and they are already being used to spy on people.

Each tiny chip is hooked up to an antenna that picks up electromagnetic energy beamed at it from a reader device. When it picks up the energy, the chip sends back its unique identification number to the reader device, allowing the item to be remotely indentified. Spy chips can beam back information anywhere from a couple of inches to up to 20 or 30 feet away.

Some of the world's largest product manufacturers have been plotting behind closed doors since 1999 to develop and commercialize this technology. If they are not opposed, their plan is use these remote-readable spy chips to replace the bar code.

This is NOT an "improved bar code" as the proponents of the technology would like you to believe. RFID technology differs from bar codes in three important ways:

1. With bar code technology, every can of Coke has the same UPC or bar code number (a can of Coke in Toronto has the same number as a can of Coke in Topeka). With RFID, each individual can of Coke would have a unique ID number which could be linked to the person buying it when they scan a credit card or a frequent shopper card (i.e., a "registration system").

2. The second way it's different from a bar code is that these chips can be read from a distance, right through your clothes, wallet, backpack or purse--without your knowledge or consent--by anybody with the right reader device. In a way, it gives strangers x-ray vision powers to spy on you, to identify both you and the things you're wearing and carrying.

3. Unlike the bar code, RFID could be bad for your health. RFID supporters envision a world where RFID reader devices are everywhere - in stores, in floors, in doorways, on airplanes -- even in the refrigerators and medicine cabinets of our own homes. In such a world, we and our children would be continually bombarded with electromagnetic energy. Researchers do not know the long-term health effects of chronic exposure to the energy emitted by these reader devices.

Many huge corporations, including Philip Morris, Procter & Gamble, and Wal-Mart, have begun experimenting with RFID spy chip technology. Gillette is leading the pack, and recently placed an order for up to 500 million RFID tags from a company called "Alien Technology" (we kid you not). These big companies envision a day when every single product on the face of the planet is tracked with RFID spy chips!As consumers we have no way of knowing which packages contain these chips. While some chips are visible inside a package (see our pictures of Gillette spy chips), RFID chips can be well hidden. For example they can be sewn into the seams of clothes, sandwiched between layers of cardboard, molded into plastic or rubber, and integrated into consumer package design.This technology is rapidly evolving and becoming more sophisticated. Now RFID spy chips can even be printed, meaning the dot on a printed letter "i" could be used to track you. In addition, the tell-tale copper antennas commonly seen attached to RFID chips can now be printed with conductive ink, making them nearly imperceptible. Companies are even experimenting with making the product packages themselves serve as antennas.As you can see, it could soon be virtually impossible for a consumer to know whether a product or package contains an RFID spy chip. For this reason, CASPIAN (the creator of this web site) is proposing federal labeling legislation, the RFID Right to Know Act of 2003, which would require complete disclosures on any consumer products containing RFID devices.We believe the public has an absolute right to know when they are interacting with technology that could affect their health and privacy.

Don't you?

Join us. Let's fight this battle before big corporations track our every move.

Bab El Ilani

On Nano. News Release ETC Group18 October 2006

EPA's Nanotech Regs: Ironic Parameters Clean-up - Clam-up - Screw-up?

www.etcgroup.org

During summer vacation, the lead US environmental regulatory agency acknowledged it has approved at least 15 novel nanoscale chemicals. Earlier this year EPA sanctioned the unproven use of iron nanoparticles to clean up a pesticide dump. Hearings this week. Hard on the heels of a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) commitment to consult openly and widely on the development of a regulatory approach to nanotechnology, the government has given the green light to introduce more than 15 novel, nano-formulated chemicals.

Additionally, the EPA itself is experimentally testing iron nanoparticles to clean up groundwater in "Superfund" toxic dumps in a number of locations. The composition of the approved nano- chemicals, their potential commercial end-uses and even the manufacturers' names have been withheld under the EPA's sweeping Confidential Business Information (CBI) provisions. The agency meets with industry and civil society in Washington, DC this Thursday/ Friday to discuss its plans for a voluntary "stewardship program" for nanoscale materials. Nanoscale particles (approximately 100 nm in size and smaller) behave differently from larger-scale particles of the same material. With only a reduction in size, materials may be stronger or lighter or more heat-resistant or better conductors of electricity - or more toxic. The impacts of manufactured nanoparticles on the environment and on human health are unknown and unpredictable and toxicological data are scarce.

In August, BNA (Bureau of National Affairs) reported in its Daily Environment Report that it had asked EPA to explain the agency's review of nanoscale chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) following a notice in the Federal Register that an un-named company would begin manufacturing siloxane-coated alumina nanoparticles. [BNA, Daily Environment Report, Aug. 16, 2006, No. 158, Page A-7.] According to EPA officials, only one nano-chemical reviewed by the agency exhibited novel properties of concern to regulators.

"The companies' patent lawyers would probably beg to differ," says Kathy Jo Wetter of ETC Group. "The government hasn't even agreed on standards for measuring or otherwise characterizing nanoparticles and the EPA has neither the tools nor the expertise to evaluate them. Nanotech companies are telling patent examiners and venture capitalists that they are taking advantage of nanoscale, quantum effects to create novel materials while telling the EPA that these chemicals are just the same-old, same-old."

EPA's Jim Alwood told ETC Group that the agency doesn't keep a running tab on whether or not chemicals are manufactured on the nanoscale, making it very difficult to estimate how many nanoscale chemicals are in production. Alwood thinks that by now, there are "significantly more" than the 15 chemicals reported in August. The Confidential Business Information provisions under TSCA - the regulatory framework for industrial chemicals - make it extremely difficult to find out who is making what. Asked how EPA could be sure that the government isn't letting nanoscale materials with novel properties slip through the cracks, Alwood explained that regulators rely on data submitted by companies in their pre-manufacture notices.

"These are the folks who created the toxic dumps the EPA is charged with cleaning up," says Pat Mooney, executive director of ETC Group. "Maybe EPA trusts them, but the public does not." Groundless groundwater experimentation: In addition to paving the way for companies to produce and commercialize nanoscale chemicals, EPA is actively contributing to the release of engineered nanomaterials in the environment.

In January, the agency announced a plan to clean up the Nease Chemical Superfund site in the state of Ohio by injecting "nanoscale zero-valent iron" (NZVI) into the groundwater.

(See http://www.epa.gov/Region5/sites/nease/background.htm)

"There is increasing evidence that at least some nanoparticles can be toxic in the environment and potentially unsafe for human exposure. Despite this, the EPA is experimenting with the release of iron nanoparticles in the groundwater to clean up a pesticide dump," notes Pat Mooney. It was just two years ago that the UK's Royal Society recommended unambiguously that "the use of free nanoparticles in environmental applications such as remediation of groundwater be prohibited."

ETC Group consulted with Dr. Mark Wiesner, a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University (North Carolina) who studies how nanoparticles move through soil and water, to see if scientific consensus had been reached on the safety of using iron nanoparticles for groundwater remediation since the time of the Royal Society report's publication. Dr. Wiesner explained that while iron is found naturally in groundwater environments, it was still too early to know all the environmental implications of NZVI: There is the possibility that iron as nanoparticles or conventional material could mobilize some metal or other substance in the groundwater that wasn't mobile before, for example - we don't know for certain what "the effects of the medicine" are. "What we are learning from this experience," Kathy Jo Wetter concludes, "is that the EPA doesn't understand the concept of consultation and is prepared to place its trust in the chemical industry rather than in its own experience with chemical pollution."

For more information:

Pat Mooney (Ottawa) tel: +1 (613) 241-2267etc@etcgroup.org

Kathy Jo Wetter (USA) tel: +1 (919) 960-5223kjo@etcgroup.org

ETC group has launched a competition for the design of a nano-hazard symbol.

Following initial vetting by a panel of eminent judges, the top 10 designs will be taken to the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya in January 2007 where Forum participants will be invited to vote on their favorite. The winning design will be submitted to national and international regulatory agencies. For further information see: http://www.etcgroup.org/nanohazard

vajra rimpoche

APC Internet Rights Charter Internet for social justice and sustainable development

The internet is a global public space that must be open, affordable and accessible to all. As more and more people gain access to this space, many remain excluded. Like the process of globalisation with which it has been closely intertwined, the spread of internet access takes place with uneven results and often exacerbates social and economic inequalities. However, the internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) can be a powerful tool for social mobilisation and development, resistance to injustices and expression of difference and creativity.

APC believes that the ability to share information and communicate freely using the internet is vital to the realisation of human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1976), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976) and the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, 1980).

The internet can only be a tool to empower the peoples of the world if the following rights are recognised, protected and respected.

Theme 1: Internet access for all
Theme 2: Freedom of expression and association
Theme 3: Access to knowledge
Theme 4: Shared learning and creation - free and open source software and technology development
Theme 5: Privacy, surveillance and encryption
Theme 6: Governance of the internet
Theme 7: Awareness, protection and realisation of rights

Theme 1: Internet access for all
Article 26, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR): Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

1.1 The impact of access on development and social justice. Affordable, fast and easy access to the internet can help create more egalitarian societies. It can strengthen educational and health services, local business, public participation, access to information, good governance and poverty eradication. But we should not assume that all technological innovation is automatically beneficial. Civil society organisations (CSOs), governments and regulatory agencies should be aware of the internet’s potential to reinforce existing inequality.

1.2 The right to access to infrastructure irrespective of where you live. The internet serves as a global public infrastructure. This infrastructure must be widely distributed and support sufficient bandwidth, which will enable people everywhere to utilise its potential for raising their voices, improving their lives and expressing their creativity. People have the right to well-distributed national internet backbone that is connected to the international network.

1.3 The right to the skills Knowledge and skills enable people to use and shape the internet to meet their needs. Local and national governments, international and community organisations and private sector entities must support and promote free or low-cost training opportunities, methodologies and materials related to using internet for social development.

1.4 The right to interfaces, content and applications accessible to all (“inclusive design”). Interfaces, content and applications must be designed to ensure accessibility for all, including people with physical, sensory or cognitive disabilities, people who are not literate and people who speak minority languages. The principle of inclusive design and the use of assistive technologies must be promoted and supported to allow persons with disabilities to benefit fully and on equal terms with non-disabled people.

1.5 The right to equal access for men and women. In many places women and men do not have equal access to learn about, define, access, use and shape the internet. Efforts to increase access must recognise and redress existing gender inequalities. There must be full participation of women in all areas related to internet development to ensure gender equity.

1.6 The right to affordable access Policy-makers and regulators must ensure that all citizens have affordable access to the internet. The development of telecommunications infrastructure, and the setting of rules, pricing, taxes and tariffs, should make access possible for all income groups.

1.7 The right to access in the workplace. For many people, the workplace is the primary or only site of internet access. Workers and employers must enable the use of internet access in the workplace, including for the purposes of worker education programmes and to protect workers' rights.

1.8 The right to public access. Many people will never enjoy private access to computers or the internet. Public access points such as telecentres, libraries, community centres, clinics and schools must be made available so that all people can have access within easy walking distance of where they live or work. This is particularly important for young people in countries where internet access is not yet readily available or affordable.

1.9 The right to access and create content that is culturally and linguistically diverse. Websites, online tools and software are dominated by the use of Latin script. This effects the development of local content in non-Latin languages and impedes the possibility of intercultural content exchange. Technical development must encourage linguistic diversity on the internet and simplify the exchange of information across language barriers.

Theme 2: Freedom of expression and association
Article 18, UDHR: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Article 19, UDHR: 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 regardless of frontiers. Article 20, UDHR: Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association

2.1 The right to freedom of expression. Freedom of expression should be protected from infringement by government and non-state actors. The internet is a medium for both public and private exchange of views and information across a variety of frontiers. Individuals must be able to express opinions and ideas, and share information freely when using the internet.

2.2 The right to freedom from censorship. The internet must be protected from all attempts to silence critical voices and to censor social and political content or debate.2.3 The right to engage in online protest Organisations, communities and individuals should be free to use the internet to organise and engage in protest.

Theme 3: Access to knowledge.
Article 27, UDHR: Everyone has the right to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits

3.1 The right to access to knowledge. Wide-spread access to knowledge and a healthy knowledge commons form the basis for sustainable human development. Because the internet enables knowledge-sharing and collaborative knowledge-creation to a previously unprecedented degree, it should be a focus for the development community.

3.2 The right to freedom of information. National and local government, and publicly-funded international organisations, must ensure transparency and accountability by placing publicly relevant information that they produce and manage in the public domain. They should ensure that this information is disseminated online using compatible and open formats and is accessible to people using older computers and slow internet connections.

3.3 The right to access to publicly-funded information. All information, including scientific and social research, that is produced with the support of public funds should be freely available to all.

Theme 4: Shared learning and creation - free and open source software and technology development
Article 27, UDHR: Everyone has the right to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

4.1 The right to share. The internet offers extraordinary opportunity for sharing information and knowledge, and for new forms of creating content, tools and applications. Providers of tools, internet services and content, should not prohibit people from utilising the internet for shared learning and content creation. Protection of the interests of creators must occur in a way consistent with open and free participation in scientific and cultural knowledge flows.

4.2 The right to free and open source software (FOSS). We support the use of FOSS. Working with FOSS is empowering, it builds skills, is more sustainable and it encourages local innovation. We encourage governments to make policies that encourage the use of FOSS, particularly in the public sector.

4.3 The right to open technological standards. Technical standards used on the internet must always be open to allow interoperability and innovation. New technology development must meet the needs of all sections of society, particularly those who face limitations and obstacles when they go online (such as communities who use non-Latin scripts or people with disabilities, older computers or lacking high-speed access).

4.4 The right to benefit from convergence and multi-media content. The internet is a multi-media platform. Access and regulation must build on its potential to be used to diversify the creation and ownership of online content in multiple formats e.g. community-owned and -driven radio and television.

Theme 5: Privacy, surveillance and encryption.
Article 12, UDHR: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation.

5.1 The right to data protection. Public or private organisations that require personal information from individuals must collect only the minimal data necessary and for the minimal period of time needed. They must only process data for the minimal stated purposes. Collection, use, disclosure and retention of this information must comply with a transparent privacy policy which allows people to find out what is collected about them and to correct inaccurate information. Data collected must be protected from unauthorised disclosure and security errors should be rectified without delay. Data must be deleted when it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected. The public must be warned about the potential for misuse of data supplied. Organisations have a responsibility to notify people when the information has been abused, lost, or stolen.

5.2 The right to freedom from surveillance. People should be able to communicate free of the threat of surveillance and interception.

5.3 The right to use encryption. People communicating on the internet must have the right to use tools which encode messages to ensure secure, private and anonymous communication.

Theme 6: Governance of the internet.
6.1 The right to multilateral democratic oversight of the internet Internet governance should be multilateral and democratic, with the full involvement of governments, the private sector, civil society and international organisations. No single government should have a pre-eminent role in relation to international internet governance.

6.2 The right to transparency and accessibility. All decision-making processes related to the governance and development of the internet should be open and accessible at global, regional and national levels.

6.3 The right to a decentralised, collaborative and interoperable internet. The technological development and core resource management of the internet must be decentralised and collaborative, and help to ensure that the network is interoperable, functional, stable, secure, efficient and scalable in the long run.

6.4 The right to open architecture. The internet as a ‘network of networks’ is made up of many interconnected networks, based on the key underlying technical idea of open architecture networking, in which any type of network anywhere can be included and made publicly available. Open architecture must be protected.

6.5 The right to open standards. Most of the protocols at the core of the internet are protocols based on open standards that are efficient, trusted, and open to global implementation with little or no licencing restrictions. The protocol specifications must remain available to anyone, at no cost, considerably reducing barriers to entry and enabling interoperability.

6.6 The right to internet neutrality and the end-to-end principle. The neutrality of the internet, chiefly concerned with the effective transportation of packets, enables its intelligence to reside largely in computers, applications, servers, mobile and other devices at the networks’ ends. This has enabled the development of a wide range of new internet activities, industries and services ‘at the ends,’ and turns the internet into an important tool within the wider context of economic and societal development. The internet derives much of its power and reach from the value of its network effect. The more people that have access to the internet, the greater its value as a means for information exchange and communication. The end-to-end principle and net neutrality must be defended from attempts to create a two-tier internet and centralise control.

6.7 The right to the internet as an integrated whole. This central interoperability is part of the internet’s value as a global public good and should not be fragmented by threats to create national intranets, the use of content filtering, unwarranted surveillance, invasion of privacy and curbs on freedom of expression.

Theme 7: Awareness, protection and realisation of rights.
7.1 The right to rights protection, awareness and education. The rights of people as users of the internet must be protected by international human rights declarations, law and policy practice. National, regional and global governing bodies must make information about rights and procedures related to the internet freely available. This involves public education to inform people of their rights when using the internet and mechanisms to address rights violations.

7.2 The right to recourse when rights are violated. People need free public access to effective and accountable mechanisms for addressing violations of rights. When human and internet rights are threatened by internet-based content, or by illegitimate surveillance, limitations on freedoms of expressions, and other rights, parties should have access to recourse mechanisms for taking action against such infringements.

About the Charter.
This Charter was first developed in 2001-2002 by APC members and partner organisations at “Internet Rights” workshops held in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. The themes and principles outlined express our community's views and goals concerning the rights of people and organisations to use the internet freely, particularly in their work for social, economic and environmental justice. We refer specifically to the internet; however, these principles are relevant to all other ICTs (including telephone, radio, and others). The Charter is not comprehensive. It highlights some of the specific issues that individuals, civil society organisations, community media, and policy makers and regulators, need to consider in their efforts to protect the right to communicate freely via the internet and realise its potential to create a better informed and more just world.The Charter was originally inspired by, and associated with the "People's Communications Charter" and the statement of "A Global Movement for People's Voices in Media and Communication in the 21st Century.” This revised version of the Charter aims mainly to take on board issues of internet governance raised during the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and captured in the Working Group on Internet Governance report and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society. It also takes into account the discussion of the internet as a global public good that took place in the deliberations of the WSIS as well as the UN ICT Task Force. The revision also draws on APC’s recommendations to WSIS on internet governance. Published by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), November 2006.

zero