---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Edoardo Bellando <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 15/11/2007 14:39 Subject: Internet Governance Forum closing press briefing To:
*1:15 closing press briefing, 15 November* *The speakers were IGF Chairman Sérgio Rezende, Brazil's Minister of Science and Technology and the Chair of the meeting; Nitin Desai, the UN Secretary-General's Special Advisor on Internet Governance; Hadil da Rocha Vianna, Co-Chairman of the IGF Advisory Group and** **Director for Scientific and Technological Affairs in Brazil's Ministry of External Relations; and Augusto César Gadelha Vieira, Coorditaror of Brazil's Internet Managing Committee. * *The press briefing went straight into question, and repliyng to a question Mr. Desai said Forum organizers had been "by large very happy." The impression from participants was the meeting have been very valuable. Participants wanted more attention on the way sessions were organized. Suppliers had been well represented, but the Forum had not yet captured the interest of users – such as government departments and NGOs involved in Internet services – and the next meeting of the IGF Advisory Group would have to address these questions.* *Replying to another question, Mr Desai said the Forum's messages had come from the workshops, were more substantive work had been carried out, such as those on child protection and freedom of expression. The reports from the workshops would constitute the meeting's messages.* *Mr. Gadelha Vieira added that there was "a sense of accomplishment." The Forum must be maintained as a forum for discussing general themes of Internet governance. * *Mr. da Rocha Vianna said at the morning session on the way ahead there had been requests for more balanced representation in terms of gender, industry and members of parliament. The message from Rio was that the world was very much interested in keeping to discuss the issue, and the Forum meeting had been "a very important step" in an ongoing process . The range of issues had expanded since the first meeting, and discussion had taken place "in a very good atmosphere", without moments of confrontation.* *Mr. Kummer added "there are many balances we will have to strike. We did not have enough young people and women on the panels, and we will have to address that." Participants had appreciated the new elements that had been introduced, such as the best practices forums and the open forums. One criticism was that there had been "too much of it" -- a sort of indigestion of events.* *One theme that had emerged strongly in the discussion on diversity was the need to make the Net accessible to persons with disabilities. "Diversity is not just linguistic" he said. One positive comment had come from Vinton Cerf, who had said he was leaving Rio with very conctere projects and with work to do.* *Responding to a question, Mr. Desai said one question was what difference the meeting had made for users. There had been many initiatives on child protection and much discussion on free access to knowledge -- for instance to access to government databases. It had been recognized that censorship and keeping the Web open was not just an issue for governments but for corporations as well.* *Responding to a question, Mr. Desai said the conference had not per se contributed to narrowing the digital divide because that was not its topic. But areas such as access and divesity related to the digital divide, which also affected persons with disabilities. "Not being able to have access if you have a disability is also a digital divide", he said. Making content available in more languages, as requested at the Forum, would also help to narrow the divide.* *A journalist asked why there had been much emphasis on Internet child pornography, which respresented only 5 per cent of child pornography. Mr. Desai replied that the Internet allowed people to evade jurisdiction, as shown by a .br website that had just been moved to another Latin American country. That problem did not affect just child protection. Also, children were less able than adults to protect themselves.* -- Nossa demagogia da igualdade social é uma forma de mascarar desigualdades na aplicação das leis, ou simplesmente privilégios. Entre o que pode e o que não pode, nos esmeramos em encontrar um jeito... de burlar as leis. – Roberto DaMatta "Se você não concordar, não posso me desculpar..."
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