From robin at ipjustice.org Wed Nov 1 01:00:14 2006 From: robin at ipjustice.org (Robin Gross) Date: Wed Nov 1 00:58:08 2006 Subject: [Wsis-pct] Internet Coalition to Promote Access to Knowledge and Online Free Speech Message-ID: <4547E38E.4040606@ipjustice.org> IP Justice Media Release 31 October 2006 Media Contacts: Robin Gross, IP Justice Executive Director Greek telephone: (+30) 697 9851074 Email: robin@ipjustice.org James Love, CPTech Director Greek telephone: (+30) 697 9605013 Email: james.love@cptech.org Internet Coalition to Promote Access to Knowledge and Online Free Speech Press Conference on Wednesday 1 November at 11:00 am to Announce Project (Athens) A broad range of companies, civil society organizations, and governments have joined together to form a ?dynamic coalition? to promote online freedom of expression and access to knowledge at the inaugural meeting of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum IGF) in Athens. One of the main ?deliverables? of the IGF meeting is the creation of dynamic coalitions, or multi-stakeholder groups working together over a multi-year process to provide recommendations for ?best practices? on particular issues that deal with online activity. On Wednesday, November 1st at 11:00 am (in Athens), a number of the organizers of the IGF workshop on freedom of expression and access to knowledge will hold a press conference to announce the creation of a dynamic coalition. The coalition will work towards promoting the Internet as a tool of development, education and freedom, and will focus on the proper balance for intellectual property rights in a digital world. Among others, founding members of the IGF dynamic coalition include IP Justice, Google, Council of Europe, CPTech, Sun Microsystems, Yale Law School Information Society Project, Free Software Foundation Europe, Franklin Pierce Law School, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the IP Academy of Singapore. The coalition will report back at the 2007 IGF in Rio de Janeiro on its progress. The press conference will be held in the IGF Media Room at 11:00 am on Wednesday, and the related workshop will take place on Thursday at 1:30pm at IGF in the Aphrodite Room. Details on the workshop and press conference speakers are below. IGF Workshop on Free Expression and A2k: ?Harnessing the Power of the Internet to Provide Access to Knowledge & Free Flow of Information?: A workshop to explore significant opportunities and barriers to harnessing the power of the Internet to provide access to knowledge and encourage freedom of expression and the free flow of information. In particular, the workshop will focus on the appropriate balance for intellectual property rights on the Internet and their impact on free speech and access to knowledge. Workshop Speakers: * Susan Struble from IT Standardization and Strategy at Sun Microsystems will address challenges to technical interoperability and the free flow of information on the Internet from software patents. * Dr. Magdy Nagi from Egypt?s Library of Alexandria (Bibliotheca Alexandrina) will discuss the needs of online libraries to provide access to information and encourage development. * Dirk Voorhoof from the Council of Europe will discuss international human rights conventions and their relationship to intellectual property law, access to knowledge, and freedom of expression. * Mary Wong, a Professor of Law at Franklin Pierce Law Center and the IP Academy of Singapore will address special online challenges to freedom of expression and access to knowledge from ?digital locks?. * Cristiano Berbert from the government of Brazil will discuss efforts in the developing countries to provide access to knowledge and promote free expression. * Andrew McLaughlin, Head of Global Public Policy at Google will address the barriers Google faces in providing access to knowledge from unbalanced copyright law. * Robin Gross, Executive Director of IP Justice will Chair the session. Webpage for workshop: http://ipjustice.org/wp/campaigns/internet-governance/igf/382/ Workshop Sponsors: Association for Progressive Computing (APC) Egypt?s Library of Alexandria (Bibliotheca Alexandrina) Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility - Peru Consumer Project on Technology (CPTech) Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL) Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) Google International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) IP Justice (IPJ) South Centre Innovation, Access to Knowledge and Intellectual Property Programme (IAIPP) Sun Microsystems Third World Network (TWN) From muguet at mdpi.net Wed Nov 8 02:03:36 2006 From: muguet at mdpi.net (Dr. Francis MUGUET) Date: Wed Nov 8 01:48:19 2006 Subject: [Wsis-pct] Parody site Message-ID: <45512CE8.8050406@mdpi.net> Hello ! Before analyzing the IGF outcomes, have some fun by going to http://www.msfirefox.com :-) ! Excerpts : As a monopoly, and as individuals, we value integrity, honesty, openness, personal excellence, constructive self-criticism, continual self-improvement, and mutual respect. We are committed to our customers and partners and have a passion for technology. We take on big challenges such as anti-trust lawsuits, and pride ourselves on seeing them through successfully. We hold ourselves accountable to all our customers, shareholders, partners, and employees by honoring our commitments, providing results, and striving for the highest quality. We are leading innovators of next generation of web browser software "LOL, Microsoft Firefox is the merging of unsurpassed technologies, and will effectively trash all its competitors, LMAO!" - Walt Mossberg, Wall Street Journal We provide tools for developing Microsoft standards content * Microsoft offers the best implementation of its web standards. Period. * By acquiring competitors left, right and center, we offer to to roll a plethora of core technologies into one - removing unnecessary compatibility issues and risks. * We utilize scare tactics such as filing lawsuits against companies who we deem as second rate or are providing low-key products to our more deserving users. Such techniques has effectively stabilized core security kernels within technologies such as Microsoft Windows. We are a slightly open source community * We continue to be a leader and partner in slightly open source development, providing low cost*and alternative choices for technology. With millions of users already, we are one of the world's largest distributors of slightly open source software. * Our software development processes all take place in the public eye*. We have nothing to hide. * Official US Civil Antitrust Complaint required Want More Information? Information about the Microsoft Foundation is available on the Microsoft Foundation page. -- ------------------------------------------------------ Francis F. MUGUET Ph.D MDPI Foundation Open Access Journals Associate Publisher http://www.mdpi.org http://www.mdpi.net muguet@mdpi.org muguet@mdpi.net ENSTA Paris, France KNIS lab. Director "Knowledge Networks & Information Society" (KNIS) muguet@ensta.fr http://www.ensta.fr/~muguet World Summit On the Information Society (WSIS) Civil Society Working Groups Scientific Information : http://www.wsis-si.org chair Patents & Copyrights : http://www.wsis-pct.org co-chair Financing Mechanismns : http://www.wsis-finance.org web UNMSP project : http://www.unmsp.org WTIS initiative: http://www.wtis.org ------------------------------------------------------