Media Policy and Globalization - Blogs Unpad

THE INFORMATION SOCIETY 141
Table 5.4 Information Society policy statements of the Okinawa Charter
and WSIS Declaration of Principles compared
WSIS DECLARATION OF
OKINAWA CHARTER 1998 PRINCIPLES 2003
Its revolutionary impact affects the
way people live, learn and work
and the way government interacts
with civil society. IT is fast
becoming a vital engine of growth
for the world economy. (1)*
[Foster] appropriate policy and
regulatory environment to
stimulate competition and
innovation, ensure economic and
financial stability, advance
stakeholder collaboration to
optimise global networks, fight
abuses that undermine the
integrity of the network, bridge
the digital divide, invest in people,
and promote global access and
participation. (4)
Development of human resources
capable of responding to the
demands of the information age
through education and lifelong
learning and addressing the rising
demand for IT professionals in
many sectors of our economy (6d)
Development of effective and
meaningful privacy protection for
consumers, as well as protection
of privacy in processing personal
data, while safeguarding the free
flow of information (7)
It has restructured the way the
world conducts economic and
business practices, runs
governments and engages
politically.
Policies that create a favourable
climate for stability, predictability
and fair competition at all levels
should be developed and
implemented in a manner that not
only attracts more private
investment for ICT infrastructure
development but also enables
universal service obligations to
be met in areas where traditional
market conditions fail to work.
(23)
Continuous and adult education,
retraining, life-long learning,
distance-learning and other
special services, such as
telemedicine, can make an
essential contribution to
employability and help people
benefit from the new
opportunities offered by ICTs for
traditional jobs, self-employment
and new professions. (31)
Within this global culture of
cyber-security, it is important to
enhance security and to ensure
the protection of data and
privacy, while enhancing access
and trade. (35)
*refers to paragraph
Despite their multifaceted roles, civil society actors seem to be less able to
direct or shape the agenda of negotiations, at least at the level of WSIS, as
the dominant institutional actors – nation-states and transnational corporations.
The first WSIS phase of negotiation led to a largely technocratic
focus on a single issue: the question of Internet Governance. This has