The WSIS is over, but digitally-developing nations have yet to bridge the divide, reports Hicham Safieddine In his keynote speech at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunisia United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the international gathering that the "summit must be a summit of solutions". But despite some creative and innovative solutions for bridging the technological and information gap between rich and poor nations there was little evidence that the weekend summit, with its meagre funding and absence of any consensus on the steps needed to tackle the digital divide, would meet Annan's criterion. Instead, controversy over who should control and run the Internet dominated much of the discussion and made headlines across the globe. Disagreement over freedom of speech via the web was also a bone of contention. In terms of size the summit was unprecedented. Close to 17,000 participants representing governments, civil society, human rights groups and the private sector from more than 170 countries gathered in the Tunisian capital for what was billed the UN's biggest summit ever. The conference was touted as the first step towards implementing the resolutions adopted at the first WSIS held in Geneva in 2003. That wrangling over Internet control stole the agenda was reflected in the summit's recommendations, which include the decision to form a new Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to oversee web content. The decision to set up the IGF was a compromise, since it stipulates that the US-based International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) will remain in charge of technically managing the net. While some countries' representatives, including those of China and the host country Tunisia, spoke of the dangers of unmonitored exchange of information in cyberspace, human rights groups warned against the confiscation of peoples' right to produce, post, and share information via the web by state filters and persecution. The freedom of expression watchdog Reporters without Borders (RSF) organised a protest during the conference to highlight violations committed by 15 countries it brands as "enemies of the Internet". These violations range from blocking thousands of sites through net filters to hunting down and imprisoning those posting material of which the state disapproves. In an apparent bid to reprimand RSF for including Tunisia on its list the group's president was barred from entering the country. The tug of war over who manages and runs the Internet did not completely steal the limelight from the promising technology projects showcased at the summit. The prototype of an affordable laptop, dubbed "the Green Machine", was introduced by MIT professor Negroponte as a way for children in developing countries to access and process information. Priced at $100 and expected to hit the market within a year, the crank-powered device can be used as a conventional computer, an electronic book or a TV. Several governments, including Brazil and Thailand, expressed interest in mass purchasing the laptop to modernise their education apparatus. Negroponte showcased the green machine as an example of how collaboration between producer companies and consumer countries can be a win-win situation, something stressed by officials at the summit, including Yoshio Utsumi, secretary-general of the organising agency the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). "If we are able to create a new generation of digitally-literate consumers in the developing world it will be to the benefit of information- producing countries. And if developing countries themselves are able to become creators of information then consumers in the developed world will benefit," said Utsumi. Utsumi acknowledged that in the pursuit of digital equality two critical elements needed to be addressed -- "the development of basic infrastructure and the provision of training and education to make the best use of it". Statistics suggest this is unlikely to happen any time soon. According to ITU one billion people worldwide have no connection to any kind of information and communication technology. In another telling statistic, there are more than eight times as many Internet users in the US than on the entire African continent. Back in Tunisia participants pledged to meet in a few years' time to re-assess the progress of their projects. Whether that evaluation is positive or negative will depend in no small measure on whether Utsumi's two critical elements have been addressed.
