[Discussioni]UN/ INFOSOC WORLD SUMMIT: THE TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY URGES UN TO WORK TOWARD AN OPEN AND ACCOUNTABLE INTERNET

[Marco Cappato]

UN/ INFOSOC WORLD SUMMIT: THE TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY URGES UN TO
WORK TOWARD AN OPEN AND ACCOUNTABLE INTERNET. 
Brussels, 4 June 2003
The Transnational Radical Party (TRP) participates in the preparation of
the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). At the end of May
the TRP presented a written contribution to the intersessional meeting
that will finalize the document that will be discussed in Geneva at the
end of the year
(http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-s/md/03/wsispc3/c/S03-WSISPC3-C-0045!!PD
F-E.pdf). The document draws the attention of UN delegate on the need to
guarantee an open and free Internet in order to ensure security and
democracy.
The main objective of the meeting, which will be held in Paris from 15
to 18 July 2003, will be the finalization of several working documents
for the Draft Declaration of Principles and the Draft Action Plan, to be
submitted for the approval of Heads of State attending the UN Summit in
December 2003.
The Transnational Radical Party attaches great importance to the
development of instruments that might improve the enjoyment of
fundamental rights, and sees great potentials in the opportunity
provided by the information society and the technological revolution as
a powerful means for the respect of the rule of law and consequently for
international peace and security. The TRP strongly believes that
building a free and secure Information Society should go hand in hand
with the development of an open and democratic Net. In its contribution,
the TRP stresses also that through the opportunities provided by the
technologies the digital as well as the democratic gap that
characterizes entire regions of the world can be finally filled..
Excerpts of the Recommendations prepared by the Transnational Radical
Party for the Paris Intersessional meeting of the WSIS:
- The closure of websites and/or the surveillance and/or persecution of
net-surfers and on-line activists should be considered a violation of
Art. 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR).
- International and national laws should be based on the principle of
"technological neutrality". This principle should not be interpreted
solely as requiring non-discrimination with regard to the use of one
type of technology as opposed to another, but also as preventing a given
activity from being criminalised merely because it involves the use of
such a technology.
- The obligation to regard as a criminal offence access "without right"
to information systems should not be extended to activities of little or
no consequence (which would not be punished if carried out "off line",
i.e. without the use of new technologies) or to activities that could be
regarded as a form of self-defence and/or affirmation of universal Human
Rights directed against systems being used to the detriment of the norms
contained in the ICCPR
- The UN and its Member States should promote the adoption of a series
of legislative measures to foster the right of every citizen to have
access, at any moment and through a variety of means of communication
including the Internet, to the proceedings of public institutions, as
well as meetings of the elective and competent bodies, and to obtain
public documents on and off line.
- The information provided online must be presented not only in graphic
form but also in textual mode, to enable people with sensory
difficulties to use it.
- It should also be possible for all the information to be accessed also
via user-friendly programs that are not dependent on proprietary
software and whose use is not governed by the need for a license, patent
or by any other commercial requirement. All information concerning
citizens' civil and political rights should be provided free of charge.
None of the information in possession of and/or produced by the public
sector should be governed by any form of copyright that would impose an
objective limit on its dissemination and re-use.
For further information:
Please contact, Gianluca Eramo, geramo a europarl.eu.int
www.radicalparty.org
 
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