[Greennet-l] INVITE: Internet Governance, Rights and Development

[karen banks]

Dear all,

I hope some of you will come and join us for an 
informal gathering of Greennet, APC and LSE 
friends and colleagues on Saturday July 1st. Let 
me know offlist if you'd like to attend.

regards
karen banks (karenb at gn.apc.org)
=========================

The London School of Economics Department of 
Information Systems and the Association For Progressive Communications
invite you to a forum on:

Internet Governance Workshop on Rights and Development

Saturday July 1st, 2pm to 5pm
Old Theatre, London School of Economics and Political Science, WC2A 2AE

In October 2006, over 1000 people - from 
Government, Industry, Civil Society, the 
'technical community, United Nations Agencies and 
international organisations - will come together 
in Athens for the first 'Internet Governance 
Forum'. Agreement by 190 governments to establish 
an annual Internet Governance Forum was one of 
the most concrete outcomes of the World Summit on the Information

Society which concluded with the Tunis Summit, November 2005.

The overall theme of the Athens IGF meeting will 
be 'Internet Governance and Development' and will 
address global public policy issues such as 
'Openness, Security, Diversity and Access' in 
relation to governance of the internet. It will 
prioritise 'capacity building' in all of it's 
work and aims to incorporate a human rights based approach to it's work.

Two of the most controversial human rights issues 
that are likely to be addressed by the IGF are 
freedom of expression and privacy. We are 
organising this meeting to feed into this new process.

The London School of Economics (LSE) Department 
of Information Systems and the Association For 
Progressive Communications will host a public 
forum in preparation for the IGF, to address questions such as:

• rights, development and internet governance: 
are rights integral to the 'development' process 
or a by-product? Can we codify human rights which 
are applicable to the Internet?

• privacy: can the renewed emphasis on security 
emerging from the anti-terrorism and cybercrime 
agendas be resolved with privacy rights? Can 
privacy be built into security requirements?

• freedom of expression: is it possible to 
establish constructive dialogue with industry, 
activists and governments on rights and 
responsibilities that will ensure an 'irrepressible' internet?

• your right to be involved: how can civil 
society organisations engage in formal governance 
processes and what knowledge can they bring to 
the tables? The Aarhus Convention grants public 
rights and imposes on Parties and public 
authorities obligations regarding access to 
information and public participation and access 
to justice - can we develop a mechanism like this 
for internet governance? http://www.unece.org/env/pp/welcome.html

Guest speakers will include:

* Markus Kummer; Coordinator of the IGF Secretariat

* Michael Stanley-Jones; Environmental 
Information Management Officer with the United 
Nations Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva 
and principal officer of the Aarhus Convention 
Task Force on Electronic Information Tools and 
the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers

* Jerry Fishenden, National Technology Officer, Microsoft UK

* A representative from Amnesty UK, Irrepressible Campaign (to be confirmed)

* Simon Davies, Visiting Fellow at the LSE and 
Director of Privacy International

The forum format will be a series of lively 
discussions with lots of opportunity for audience participation.

Please RSVP to karenb at gn.apc.org if you'd like to attend.

For directions to the LSE, please go 
to  <http://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/mapsAndDirections/Default.htm>