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The Zhan

Freedom of information vital for promoting cultural diversity - 1 views

www.un.org/...story.asp

1.8_globalization_cultural_diversity 1.6_digital_div_equ_access 2.6_pol_gov

shared by The Zhan on 13 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • “Free speech and media freedom are an inseparable part of the United Nations’ mission for peace, human development and a better world,” Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kiyo Akasaka told a global seminar on linguistic diversity, globalization and development in Alexandria, Egypt, on Sunday.
  • “But around the world, we see Governments and those who wield power use many different ways to obstruct it. The Internet and digital media are becoming a new battleground for information.”
  • He cited the impressive pace of innovation and growth in new information and communications technologies (ICTs): by the end of 2010, there will be an estimated 5.3 billion mobile cell phone users; access to mobile networks is now available to 90 per cent of the world population and 80 per cent of people living in rural areas. Moreover, the total number of text messages sent globally has tripled in the past three years, from 1.8 trillion to a staggering 6.1 trillion, that is 200,000 text messages sent every second, and the number of Internet users has doubled between 2005 and 2010, when it will surpass the 2 billion mark, of which 1.2 billion will be in developing countries.
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  • But the digital divide remains, he warned, with 71 per cent of the population of developed countries online, compared to only 21 per cent in developing countries, and by the end of this year, Internet users in Africa will reach 9.6 per cent, far behind the world average of 30 per cent. For millions of people in poorer countries, downloading a high-quality movie can take one-and-a-half days compared to five minutes somewhere else.
  • All this increased connectivity and the role media and institutions can play in protecting and promoting cultural and linguistic diversity and ensuring its use for the greater good require two elements, Mr. Akasaka stressed.
  • “First, is the need to find ways to provide information to all people,” he said. “And second, is the need to ensure that the information that is conveyed – the substance – is diverse, pluralistic, and tolerant. Member States, the private sector, UNESCO and the United Nations are all working to bring information and communication assets and services to communities around the world.
  • The Zhan on 13 Dec 10
     
    Statements of a UN official stressing the importance of the freedom of information for globalisation.
The Zhan

World Internet Usage Statistics - 1 views

www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

1.8_globalization_cultural_diversity 3.4_internet

shared by The Zhan on 13 Dec 10 - Cached
  • The Zhan on 13 Dec 10
     
    Statistics on global population vs internet users
The Zhan

Globalization and the Internet - Probe Ministries - 0 views

www.probe.org/...alization_and_the_Internet.htm

1.8_globalization_cultural_diversity 1.6_digital_div_equ_access

shared by The Zhan on 13 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • The Internet has provided an opportunity to build a global information infrastructure that would link together the world's telecommunications and computer networks. But futurists and governmental leaders also believed that this interconnectedness would also bring friendship and cooperation, and that goal seems elusive.
  • Maybe peace and harmony are just over the horizon because of the Internet, but I have my doubts. The information superhighway certainly has connected the world together into one large global network, but highways don't bring peace. Highways connected the various countries in Europe for centuries, yet war was common and peace was not. An information superhighway connects us with countries all over the world, but global cooperation hasn't been the result, at least not yet
  • The information superhighway also has some dark back alleys. At the top of the list is pornography. The Internet has made the distribution of pornography much easier. It used to be that someone wanting to view this material had to leave their home and go to the other side of town. The Internet has become the ultimate brown wrapper. Hard core images that used to be difficult to obtain are now only a mouse click away. Children see pornography at a much younger age than just a decade ago. The average age of first Internet exposure to pornography is eleven years old.{3} Sometimes this exposure is intentional, usually it is accidental. Schools, libraries, and homes using filters often are one step behind those trying to expose more and more people to pornography.
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  • All of these concerns lead to the obvious question: Who will regulate the Internet? In the early day of the Internet, proponents saw it as the cyber-frontier that would be self-regulating. The Internet was to liberate us forever from government, borders, and even our physical selves. One writer said we should "look without illusion upon the present possibilities for building, in the on-line spaces of this world, societies more decent and free than those mapped onto dirt and concrete and capital."
  • Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu, in their book, Who Controls the Internet?, describe the various ways foreign governments have exercised their authority.{6} • France requires Yahoo to block Internet surfers from France so they cannot purchase Nazi memorabilia.{7} • The People's Republic of China requires Yahoo to filter materials that might be harmful or threatening to Party rule. Yahoo is essentially an Internet censor for the Communist party.{8} • The Chinese version of Google is much slower than the American version because the company cooperates with the Chinese government by blocking search words the Party finds offensive (words like Tibet or democracy). Even more disturbing is the revelation that Yahoo provided information to the Chinese government that led to the imprisonment of Chinese journalists and pro-democracy leaders. Reporters Without Borders found that Yahoo has been implicated in the cases of most of the people they were defending.
  • All of this censorship and cooperation with foreign governments is disturbing, but it also underscores an important point. For years, proponents of the Internet have argued that we can't (or shouldn't) block Internet pornography or that we can't regulate what pedophiles do on the Internet. These recent revelations about Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft show that they can and do block information.
  • In previous articles we have addressed the issue of globalization and have recognized that technology (including the Internet) has made it much easier to move information around the world. There is no doubt that the Internet has accelerated the speed of transmission and thus made the world smaller. It is much easier for people around the world to access information and share it with others in this global information infrastructure
  • it diminishes the relevance of borders, territorial governments, and geography. Thomas Friedman believes that the Internet and other technologies are flattening the world "without regard to geography, distance, or, in the near future, even language."
  • There is still a legitimate function for government (Romans 13:1-7) even in this new world of cyberspace. Contrary to the perceived assumption that the Internet will shape governments and move us quickly toward globalization, there is good evidence to suggest that governments will in many ways shape the Internet.
  • The Zhan on 13 Dec 10
     
    An explanation on the implications of the information highways internet provides, censorship and governments.
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