a2k

Consumers International, the Centre for Internet and Society, India, and Center for Technology and Society of the Getulio Vargas Foundation, Brazil, are presenting a workshop at this year's Internet Governance Forum on its opening day, 14 September, titled "Freedom of expression or access to knowledge: are we taking the necessary steps towards an open and inclusive Internet?"

As the peak body of the global consumer movement, Consumers International believes that a knowledge society can be developed only when there is access to information on all fronts. Such a society is sustainable when access to knowledge is unhampered and inclusive, promoting co-operative forms of knowledge production as the basis for innovation and creativity.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke in Washington today about the Obama administration's  commitment to promoting online rights and freedoms, including freedom of expression and access to knowledge - and, as a necessary precondition, access to the Internet itself.  In her speech she said:

Consumers International and the African Copyright and A2Kⁱ Project (ACA2K) this week held a successful workshop looking at the Global State of Copyright and Access to Knowledge at the 2009 meeting of the multi-stakeholder United Nations Internet Governance Forum in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. The session was moderated by Dr Bassem Awad from ACA2K, who is also Chief Judge at the Egyptian Ministry of Justice.

Responding to the pressures of the culture industry lobby, a huge international coalition has come together to urge respect for the civil rights of citizens and artists in the digital era.

Today we are disseminating throughout the world the Charter of the Culture Forum of Barcelona for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge.

The Consumers International Global Meeting on A2K 2010 is to be held at the Holiday Villa hotel in Subang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 21 and 22 April 2010.

by Jeremy Malcolm

Introduction

Access to information and knowledge is a governance domain involving a broad range of stakeholders at different levels.  As will be apparent from the thematic reports earlier in this volume, this results from the diversity of the issues it subsumes, including intellectual property rights, access to public information, open standards, broader communications rights such as freedom of expression, and issues around ownership of and participation in public media.

Consumer groups from around the Asia-Pacific region are currently meeting in Chiang Rai, Thailand for a conference on The Next Wave of ASEAN Consumer Protection in Telecommunications, at which I presented today on the relationship between consumer protection and Access to Knowledge (A2Kⁱ). As promised to conference delegates, I am posting the slides from that presentation below, in two open formats.