Why Civil Society should lobby and protect our right to use the Internet ISPA Internet Week, Thursday 12 September The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) African ICT Policy Monitor

Who is the APC? –International network that supports organisations’ use of ICTs, especially Internet, in strategic ways –Policy and practice 2002 Action areas: 1. Internet Rights for Civil Society Communications and Information Policy Programme 2. Building APC Information Communities Action Apps 3. Mobilizing Participation WSIS

World Summit on the Information Society What is WSIS? Why should African Civil Society Organisations become involved? How does the process work? How have African Civil Society Organisations been involved? How is the APC getting involved? How can you get involved?

Action Apps Features: Collaborative open source web publishing system Fully online service Moderation tools Content Pooling Classify articles using built-in categories Search engine included Multilingual support: English and Spanish included (easy to add new languages) Open source Training: Mid-November, Johannesburg More info:

Africa Policy Monitor Project Features: Website ( Newsletter (“Chakula”) Checklists and guidelines Training Network support WSIS mobilisation

Why should CSOs become involved in ICT policy issues? CSOs are essential Need these tools to be effective Environment: Internet regulators moved from social norms and architecture to laws and markets (Lessig) Usage: The Internet is the most important medium of expression in a new age and provides opportunities for dialogue, debate, participation and action

The APC Internet Rights Charter 1.The Right to Communicate 2.Freedom of expression and information exchange 3.Diversity of content, ownership and control, and the protection of user rights 4.The licensing and control of Intellectual property 5.Privacy 6.Global, regional and national governance of the Internet 7.Rights awareness and realisation of rights

Thank you.