FC: European security group plans Net conference for spring 2004

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

---

Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 18:21:45 +0100
From: Karin Spaink <kspaink () xs4all nl>
Organization: Marcab Inc.
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Subject: OSCE, Freedom of the Media and Internet

Dear Declan

The OSCE - the Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe, which has 56 member states, not only most European
countries but also many former Russian states, the Vatican,
Canada and the USA - is one of the few supranational bodies
which has a mandate to intervene. Their office for Freedom
of the Media (OSCE-FOM), led by Freimut Duve, monitors
journalistic freedom in the region and has the right to
issues warnings to governments who fail to uphold that
freedom, and even to intervene.

For the first time, OSCE-FOM is considering how it should
deal with freedom on the internet. A special article for
their 2001-2002 Yearbook was written by me and co-authored
by one of the senior advisors of OSCE-FOM (published in
August 2002), attempting to give an overview of the European
situation. The full yearbook is available at
    http://www.osce.org/fom/documents/books/files/yb2001_2002.pdf
(667 Kb)and that ine particular article is also available at
    http://www.spaink.net/english/osce-fom.pdf


Currently, OSCE-FOM is working on a conference for all its
members, to be held in late spring 2004. In preparation of
that, a workshop was held in Vienna where international
experts convened. The topics debated during the workshop,
which was held on 30 November, included:

* universal access to Cyberspace ­ Strategies of the "Inter-
  governmental Council of the Information for All" Programme
  (IFAP) run by UNESCO;
* Council of Europe activities regarding new information and
  communication technologies;
* the diminishing importance of constitutional rights in the
  Internet age;
* the importance of the public domain for creativity,
  innovation, and culture;
* the effects of September 11th on the Internet; and
* censorship and intellectual property rights in an inter-
  national context.

A full press release is available at
    http://www.osce.org/news/generate.php3?news_id=2923 .
A brochure containing the vatrious contributions to the Nov.
30 Vienna workshop will be published before the Spring
conference.


regards,

- K -

--

"Conformity or rebellion?"
"Neither one. Both ways are simple-minded - they are only
for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity."
  - Neil Stephenson: The Diamond Age




-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/
Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?qÞclan
-------------------------------------------------------------------------