INFOETHICS 2000 CONGRESS ON THE
RIGHT TO UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO INFORMATION
Paris, November 10 (No.2000-114)
- The Third International Congress on Ethical, Legal and Societal Challenges of
Cyberspace, INFOethics 2000 - on the “Right to Universal Access to Information
in the 21st Century” - will be held at UNESCO Headquarters from November 13 to
15.
The Congress, the third in a
series of conferences organised by UNESCO, will bring together some 450
participants from a large number of countries representing
the widest range of educational, scientific, cultural and social environments.
They will include governmental representatives - including ministers and other
high-level officials - non-governmental organisation representatives, academics,
journalists and private sector executives who will seek to further the debate,
and ultimately reach consensus, on the ethical, legal and societal principles
applicable in cyberspace.
UNESCO’s INFOethics
congresses seek to meet the growing need for guidelines to be developed so as to
ensure equitable and affordable access to information technologies, bridge the
digital divide, address the problems posed by misuse of the Internet, and
protect users’ rights. Such guidelines should cover all aspects of the global
information networks: technological and economic issues as well as contents.
The forthcoming Congress will
focus on three major themes which will be discussed in separate roundtables. The
debate on “The role of public authorities in access to information”
will seek to define concrete actions that UNESCO should undertake to facilitate
broader and fairer access to information, particularly information in the public
domain. It will also examine the economic obstacles to access, and how to
improve the use of information and communication technologies in education,
science and culture. The debate will be moderated by Elizabeth Longworth, of
Longworth Associates Ltd. (New Zealand) and Christine Maxwell, Vice Chairman for
Communications, Internet Society (ISOC, USA).
“Fair use” will be
another central theme of debate during the meeting which will seek to elaborate
common principles that could guide Member States in formulating rules within the
framework of their national legislation for the free use of copyrighted material
for educational and scholarly purposes, currently under strong pressure. At
stake is the need to find a balance between the need to defend and harmonise
intellectual property rights, and the need to provide free access to
information. Special attention will be paid to the possibility of applying legal
exemptions to copyright legislation to facilitate developing countries’ access
to information. The debate will be moderated by Yves Poullet, Professor, Faculty
of Law, University of Namur (Belgium), and Mireille Buydens, Law Professor,
Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium).
“Protecting
human dignity in the digital age”, the third theme to be tackled by
INFOethics 2000 will look at “best practices” to serve as examples
for governments, business and civil society in ensuring security, privacy
protection and freedom of expression on global information networks.
Participants will seek to formulate proposals for the definition and use of
codes of conduct ensuring the reliability and security of information, including
private information, on global networks and self regulation principles to
establish a reasonable balance between the users’ rights for freedom of
expression and their rights for privacy. The debate will be moderated by Marc
Rotenberg, Director, Electronic Privacy Information Center (USA).
The Congress will be opened by
the former President of Iceland, Vigdís Finnbogadottir, Chairperson of
the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST);
Alain Modoux, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Communication
and Information; and David Konzevik, Economist, President and Chief Executive
Officer of Konzevik y Asociados (Mexico) who will give a keynote address.
The proposals of the Congress
will serve to finalise an international instrument on universal access and on
the promotion and use of multilingualism in cyberspace which will be submitted
for adoption as a draft recommendation to the next session of UNESCO’s General
Conference, the Organization’s supreme ruling body, in November 2001. They
will also be submitted for possible inclusion on the agenda of the World Summit
on the Information Society that is being planned by the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) in close collaboration with interested United
Nations agencies, including UNESCO, with a view to developing “a common vision
and understanding of the information society and to draw a strategic plan of
action for its concerted development.”
****
For more information: http://webworld.unesco.org/infoethics2000/index.html
