“The World Summit on the Information Society is supposed to
formulate plans to end the ‘digital divide’ and make the internet
accessible to everyone on Earth. The negotiations were completed in
November, so the big official meeting in Geneva last week was more
of a trade show and conference than a real summit meeting.“The summit procedures were designed so that non-governmental
organizations (mainly those that promote human rights and equality,
and work to reduce poverty) could attend, see the discussions, and
comment. However, the actual declaration paid little attention to
the comments and recommendations that these organizations made. In
effect, civil society was offered the chance to speak to a dead
mike…”