CI Global Meeting on A2K

1. CI Global Meeting on A2K Consumers International 21-22 April 2010Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Promoting Human Rights in Information Society Khalilur Rahman Sajal Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) E-mail: cab@citech.net, krsajal@yahoo.com Website: www.consumerbd.org

2. Introduction Human rights is the “Rights essential for human beings to live a humane life”. Every Individual is born with and entitled to the inherent and inalienable rights, and  most nations around the world have laws to guarantee their people human rights. In particular, fundamental freedoms and rights described in the national constitution. Information society is not a separate world from what we live in now. Human rights in the information society means the human rights described in the UDHR and in the related international laws.

3. Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 19 Freedom of opinion and express Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interferences and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. In order to protect societies against possible abuses of the right to freedom of speech, international human rights law also provided for a series of limitations on this freedom. Article 27 Sharing benefits from the development of technology The right to access to technology is provided in Article 27.1 of the UDHR where it is stated that ` Everyone has the right freely to ... share in scientific advancement and its benefits.’ This right is inspired by the basic moral principle of equality and the notion that science and technology belong to the common heritage of humankind. Article 28 Social and international order Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

4. Key Actors in Information Society Key Actors

5. Dimensions and Human Rights provisions for the Information Society

6. Dimensions and Human Rights provisions for the Information Society

7. Dimensions and Human Rights provisions for the Information Society

8. Dimensions and Human Rights provisions for the Information Society

9. Causes of access to information inequality

10. Digital Divide Right to access information, knowledge is a constitutional right of every individuals But many individuals are being deprived of such rights because of disparity in opportunity, which is termed as Digital Divide Priority must be given to those who today are excluded from the information society

11. Digital Divide Access to and the ability to effectively use ICTs to obtain accurate, sufficient and timely information and services are becoming increasingly important to fully participate in Information Society. In order to get benefits from the information society, we require to have more knowledge and money, which leads to the digital divide Digital Divide can be best described by the disparity in access and use of information caused by inability to access computers and the internet due to economic reasons, educational backgrounds, disability, age and regions.

12. Indicators of Human Development Index

13. Indicators of ICT Development Index ICT Access- Fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants, mobile telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, International Internet bandwidth per Internet user, proportion of households with a computer, proportion of households with Internet access at home ICT Use- Internet users per 100 inhabitants, fixed broadband Internet subscribers per 100 inhabitants, mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants ICT Skills-Adult literacy rate, secondary gross enrolment ratio, tertiary gross enrolment ratio

14. HDI & IDI Source: UN Human Development Index 2009 & International Telecommunication Union, Measuring the Information Society 2010

15. HDI & IDI Developed countries have much higher levels of ICT access, use and skills but developing countries have made larger improvements on ICT access over the five year period and are therefore likely to catch up slowly with developed countries on ICT access.

16. Obligatory international funding mechanism Innovative and binding international funding mechanism (fund, subsidies) for the development of infrastructure and skills at the international, regional and national levels aimed at the least developed and developing countries.

17. Links between traditional media and new information technologies Develop links between traditional & new information technology and promote community access to information and communication. Community media support as a means to meet the needs of specific population and other groups and stimulate the production of appropriate content/messages.

18. ICT in private and public administration Authentic tripartite structures e.g. government, civil society and private sector in all international regulatory bodies linked to the information society, notably in the framework of WTO, ITU, WIPO and others Enhance transparency, access to information and democratic participation. Special emphasis on implementation of policies and tools facilitating participation by under-privileged regions and communities at local, regional and national policies.

19. Transfer of knowledge Encourage transfer of knowledge in local language corresponding to their needs and reflecting their aspirations Invest in the development of skills specially for women and marginalized section of the community through training program in order to increase their political, cultural and social participation

20. Use of Open source software The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale. The program must include source code and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form. Must be the preferred form in which a programmer would modify the program.

21. Use of Open source software Deliberately complicated source code is not allowed. Intermediate forms such as the output of a preprocessor or translator are not allowed. The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons. No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface.

22. Freedom from license restrictions on primary software code Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. They are essential, not just for the individual users' sake, but for society as a whole because they promote social solidarity Users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software, improved reproducibility of experimental results, quicker detection of errors, accelerated scientific progress, and faster adoption of machine learning methods in other disciplines and in the industry ultimately lead to highly usable, flexible and scalable software whole community in accelerating research.

23. Conclusion Global Information Society is composed of relationships between ICT networks and non-ICT firms, governments, NGOs, consumers etc., each of which participates in a variety of roles; so it is also a multilayered and complex system. Only responsible behavior of key actors can promote human rights in the information society. It is very important to identify “responsible” & “irresponsible” behavior by key actors, and also to develop and follow guidelines to promote “responsible” behavior by key actors.

24. Conclusion In order to meet the challenges, a new multilayered, multi-stakeholder dynamic concept of responsibility is necessary. Individual stakeholders and the sector as a whole must engage in effective, collaborative ways, balancing the benefits of inclusiveness and consultation on one side and effectiveness in directing and enforcement on the other.

25. Thank You.