Ministerial Regional Preparatory Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean for the World Summit on the Information Society Bavaro, Dominican Republic, January 29-31 2003 Panel on the study of characteristics of regulatory framework necessary for the development of the information society in Latin America and the Caribbean Presentation by Sally Burch* Campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) During this preparatory process for the World Summit on the Information Society, different visions of what the information society is have become evident. It is important to clarify these differences since depending on which vision one starts from, the goals one fixes will vary, and so too will the strategies with which to reach them. With the risk of having to simplify, I propose to briefly summarise two distinct visions which are present, and then to explore several of their implications for regulatory frameworks. The first approach to the information society makes reference to a new paradigm of development that assigns a causal role to technology within the social order, situating it as the motor of economic development. Under this concept, the information society is confined to the digital realm: anything that is not digitised remains outside of this new society. For developing countries this implies that the transition towards the information society is basically a question of time and the will to create the adequate conditions. Something similar occurs with excluded sectors of society which would need to be included through programs of universal access. By placing technology at the centre of this model, the telecommunications industry is called upon to lead its development, while the industries that produce digital services and content take on an unprecedented influence. Another vision understands the information society as a new stage of human development characterised by the predominance that information, communication and knowledge have acquired in the economy and within all human activities. From this approach, technology is the support that has accelerated this process. However it is not a neutral factor and its destiny is not predetermined, on the contrary, technological development is orientated by the interests at stake. From this vision, the information society is not solely concerned with the digital realm, rather it understands the digital realm as a new dimension of reality that permanently interacts with physical reality, while these two dimensions influence each other mutually. This approach supposes, depending on how technological development is orientated and how it is applied, that these new technologies could have great potential for strengthening democracy and citizen participation, as well as improving education, and promoting cultural creativity via diversity and exchange. But they can also just as easily be developed for authoritarian projects of control and surveillance or to concentrate the property of production and dissemination of content. What are the implications for regulatory frameworks? If our starting point is an approach centred on technology and limited to the digital realm, the priorities at the regulatory level will be given to aspects such as: * Minimum regulation of industries, to favour investment * Legal security of the actors * Intellectual property rights, protecting intermediary companies above individual creators * Universal access. However, if our starting point is a vision centred on social goals, the emphasis in regulatory terms will be different. It would imply among other aspects: * Approaching the digital divide not just from the perspective of universal access but also from an understanding of how information, communication and knowledge can contribute to the solution of social divides, and creating the necessary conditions. * Creating the conditions to guarantee greater levels of participation of society and communities in the control and management of technologies and information and communication resources, not only digital ones, but also other resources that have demonstrated their effectiveness such as community radio. *Creating mechanisms for promoting plurality and diversity of content and guaranteeing dissemination. Moreover, there are other considerations; when we consider the information society as related only to the digital realm we run the risk of oversimplification of the complex relationships between this realm and the physical dimension. To transplant information and activities from the physical world towards the digital space without taking account of the transformations that that implies in the former, could lead to costly errors. One manifestation of this is the fad of adding an 'e' for electronic on everything that is digitised, without distinguishing between those areas of activity that, being in essence information and communication, are susceptible to this transfer such as e-mail, and others where information and communication form only one component, such as government or health. I understand that many of the failures of so called e-commerce are due to such confusion. The WSIS has the responsibility of helping to clarify concepts, and not deepening confusion with the use of inadequate terminology. To consider the information society as a self-contained dimension of reality, which requires an exclusive legal and regulatory framework, could also be dangerous. Are we going to define a different citizenry that inhabits this other world? What would the democratic parameters be that would structure the debate, definition, control and vigilance of this legal framework? While it may be true that the particularities of cyberspace call for new mechanisms for the implementation of laws and regulations, we question the appropriateness of giving it a separate legal framework. What is needed, since these new technologies are leading to greater concentration of control over communication processes, are new guarantees and new rights of the citizenry, in particular with relation to the right to communicate and the protection of privacy. But these should not apply only in cyberspace but in society as a whole. With this concern in mind the CRIS Campaign (Communication Rights in the Information Society) was initiated, so as to put forward proposals concerning these issues in the framework of the Summit and of our respective societies. CRIS argues that we cannot speak of the information society, but of information societies, since there does not exist one unique model. What is important is to build information societies at the national and regional level that respond to our particular needs and realities. In fact, where there has been debate on the orientation of policies within the preparatory process of the summit, a consensus has predominated that the human and social dimension should orientate the development of the information society, and not technology, as though it were an end in itself; this is only common sense and we are encouraged to see it reflected in the different declarations of principles. But we will be vigilant as to how this vision is translated into the action plans. Implications for regulatory frameworks in Latin America. Developing information societies in Latin America implies adopting policies in conformity with our own realities and not dictated to us from outside. As we understanding it, this criterion implies promoting local industry orientated to the needs and characteristics of the region, whether in telecommunications, software or content, among other areas. The areas where a regulatory framework and public policy need to be developed included the following. *Measures to redirect part of the profits from a sector that has become highly speculative towards social initiatives. Such initiatives would include access to technology and information; but they would also include, for example, training activities in handling not just technology, but also information, which is one of the serious challenges of the information society. * Measures to encourage creativity, plurality and the expression of cultural diversity. Measures to ensure democratic control and geographic balance in regional bodies that govern the internet. * The establishment of common technical standards. Policies to encourage the use of open code, particularly in public and educational institutions. * Measures for development and protection of information in the public domain. * Promotion of media in the public domain; that is, media that are independent of political and economic powers, with citizen participation in their management and actions. * Protection of Internet users, especially with respect to privacy of communications, freedom from undesired mail, and from unauthorised monitoring of Internet navigation. * Democratic policies for assignment of the radio electric spectrum along with guarantees for the creation and operation of community radio. In as much as the development of the information society influences social development as a whole, and since the intent is to orientate the development of technologies towards the general wellbeing of society, we therefore need to launch a broad public debate at the national and regional levels about what information society we wish to build. But unfortunately we are not seeing this happen, either within our countries or in the media. Nor have we found in this Conference sufficient space for a broad range of actors to debate these issues. If the governments of the region really have the will to take advantage of new technologies to strengthen democracies and citizen participation, then the process of this World Summit will need to be much more open and inclusive. * Sally Burch is the Executive Director of the Latin American Information Agency (ALAI) and a member the steering committee of CRIS.