The third OSCE Amsterdam Internet Conference was held on 17-18 June 2005. The conference focused on the situation of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the Southern Caucasus and Central Asian regions, with experts from this region delivering presentations on the situation in their countries. The debate showed that governmental over-regulation and content censorship are common in Central Asian countries and pose a serious danger to new media in the emerging Internet scene. "In countries where almost all information is tightly controlled, the Internet is already used, but it needs to be developed and more accessible to advocate free speech, access to information and a stronger foundation for democracy", Mark Skogen of Access and Training Program (IATP) in Kazakhstan stressed in his presentation.

The blog of Markus Beckedahl from EDRI-member Netzwerk Neue Medien has won an award as the best international blog promoting freedom of expression. The awards were organised by Reporters Without Borders. They selected around 60 blogs that, each in their own way, defend freedom of expression. The organisation then asked Internet-users to vote for the prize-winners - one in each geographical category.

Award winning blog
http://www.netzpolitik.org

All results of the blog contest
http://www.rsf.org/blog-awards-en.php3

The German administrative court of Düsseldorf has once more rejected complaints from internet access providers in the district of Nordrhein-Westfalen against the order to block access to 2 neo-nazi websites hosted in the US. The order was issued in 2002 against 80 different service providers in the region.

The providers already saw 8 legal attempts fail to lift the order. Only 1 attempt, on 31 October 2002 at the administrative court of Minden, was successful, in allowing suspension of execution of the order pending full proceedings. All courts have approved the blocking order within the framework of the federal conventions on media services and youth media protection. The Duesseldorf court rejected any problems with the effectivity of the blocking order and followed an approach similar to the French court (see article above).

On 13 May 2005 the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers adopted a declaration on human rights and Internet that was prepared by a special committee of academic experts and government representatives. According to the press release, "the declaration is the first international attempt to draw up a framework on the issue and breaks ground by up-dating the principles of the European Convention on Human Rights for the cyber-age."

Indeed the declaration contains a very reassuring confirmation of the fact that "all rights enshrined in the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) remain fully valid in the Information Age and should continue to be protected regardless of new technological developments" and a firm statement that "Both the content and traffic data of electronic communications fall under the scope of Article 8 of the ECHR and should not be submitted to restrictions other than those provided for in that provision."

From 17 to 19 May UNESCO organised a large conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, 'Between two phases of the World Summit on the Information Society'. The 450 participants from all over the world were invited to the luxurious Konstantinovsky Palace.

In her opening speech Françoise Rivière, the Assistant Director-General of UNESCO, described the context of St. Petersburg conference and the special involvement of UNESCO Paris head quarters with a session on cultural diversity.

Opening speech by Françoise Rivière

This session was the 4th of a series of thematic meetings held in 2005 in the Information for All programme. In February Paris head quarters hosted a conference on freedom of expression (see EDRI-gram 3.3), early in May the capital of Mali (Bamako) hosted a conference on multi linguism in cyberspace and on 10 May Paris head quarters debated about the use of ICT for capacity building. The Bamako conference produced as main result a clear recognition that the debate about the level of IT development must be changed and in stead of just counting internet usage equal attention should be given to lesser used languages, education and literacy programs. The third meeting in Paris was dedicated to effective use of new methods for learning, focussing on groups such as refugees, the visually impaired, rural areas and the urban poor.

URGENT PRESS RELEASE WHAT THE HACK (23.05.2005)

The organisers of 'What the Hack', the 2005 edition of a series of famous Dutch outdoor hacker conferences, were told that their conference will not receive the municipal permit needed for the event to happen. 'What the Hack" is planned to take place on a large event-campground in Liempde (The Netherlands), between the 28th and 31st of July 2005. About 3.000 participants from all over the world are expected. 'What The Hack' is appealing the decision.

What The Hack is scheduled to take place near Boxtel, a village near Den Bosch in the south of The Netherlands. The mayor of Boxtel, J.A.M. van Homelen, cites "fear of disturbances of law and order and danger to public safety". This is noteworthy because the previous editions of the event saw no incidents of any kind – neither at the event itself nor on the Internet.

The international federation of journalists (IFJ) and the UK civil liberties group Statewatch have launched a new report on 3 May 2005, World Press Freedom Day. The report examines how democratic states sacrifice civil liberties and free expression in the name of security and concludes: "The war on terrorism amounts to a devastating challenge to the global culture of human rights and civil liberties established almost 60 years ago."

According to the press release the report also concludes:

-Media and independent journalism suffer in a 'pervasive atmosphere of paranoia' which is leading to dangerous levels of self-censorship
-Dissent inside and outside media is being restricted
-Fundamental rights to a fair trial are routinely violated
-Governments are covertly creating massive databanks for surveillance of their citizens

Reporters Without Borders has opened an awards competition for blogs defending freedom of expression. The blog of Markus Beckedahl from EDRI-member Neue Medien Netzwerk, www.netzpolitik.org is nominated by RSF as best international blog promoting freedom of expression.

Until 1 June 2005 all Internet-users may vote online for award-winners from among 60 blogs defending freedom of expression. There are six categories: Africa and the Middle East, the Americas, Asia, Europe, Iran and International.

Voters registration
http://www.internet.rsf.org