ICTs and the Environment
September 30, 2013
The OECD has released a new publication titled "The Internet Economy on the Rise: Progress since the Seoul Declaration." This publication reviews progress made since the 2008 OECD Seoul Declaration for the Future of the Internet Economy and identifies areas for future work. Seven themes are addressed: high-speed infrastructure; digital content and green ICTs; the development of smarter applications; cybersecurity and privacy; consumer empowerment and protection; an open Internet economy; and global participation for development.
February 23, 2010
The 28th meeting of the Working Party on Information Security and Privacy (WPISP) will be held on 8-9 March, 2010. The meeting will address several important issues of interest to CSISAC members such as identity management, the protection of children online, the 30th Anniversary of the OECD privacy guidelines. The 59th meeting of the Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy meeting (ICCP) will be held on March 10-11, 2010. Topics to be discussed are ICT & green growth, ICT & innovation, internet intermediaries: policy implications, among other topics.
Marc Rotenberg, Anna Fielder, CSISAC Steering Committee Members, and Katitza Rodriguez, CSISAC Liaison will attend the meeting.
January 31, 2010
The OECD Secretariat has released the report "Smart Sensor Networks: Technologies and Applications for Green Growth." The report gives an overview of sensor technology and fields of application of sensors and sensor networks. It discusses in detail selected fields of application that have high potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reviews studies quantifying the environmental impact. For more information: OECD: ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change.
January 21, 2010
The CSISAC has submitted a series of recommendations to the OECD Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy (ICCP) and its working parties on a variety of Internet Policy issues.
ICT and the Environment: CSISAC stressed the importance of innovation and the adoption of ICT applications for the monitoring and management of environmental challenges, such as "smart" ICT applications. CSISAC urges the expansion of dialogue among all stakeholders regarding privacy implications of "smart" ICT. CSISAC also stressed the importance of data protection in every field of application of sensor networks, and any other tracking technology.
Internet Intermediaries: The document highlights civil society concerns on legal approaches to intermediary liability. As noted in the Seoul Declaration, OECD Member countries should "maintain a balanced framework for intellectual property protection that is least intrusive to personal privacy, least restrictive for the development of new technologies, and that promotes creativity, innovation, and learning."
Internet and the News: CSISAC believes that a strong and independent news industry can be an important contributor to robust democracy. CSISAC believes that any policy recommendations that are not based on common standards present in all OECD member countries' copyright and other related laws should be avoided. CSISAC believes that this will assist OECD member governments in thoughtful policy development which respects the important social role played by journalists and the news industry, while preserving opportunities for emerging new forms of citizen journalism and Internet innovation.
IPV6: CSISAC submitted comments on the co-existence of two incompatible Internet standards, IPv4 and IPv6. CSISAC encourages the OECD to consider undertaking more in-depth analysis on the economic and policy implications of an extended migration period in which IPv4 address scarcity is a continuing factor in the Internet supply industry. "There may or may not be cost burdens created by the transition, or negative impacts on competition, diversity and innovation on the Internet. But these problems have not been clearly documented and explained", the statement noted. CSISAC encourages a more direct consideration of policy alternatives to IPv6 in light of inadequate rates of IPv6 deployment and the realities the Internet community faces due to the lack of backwards compatibility between IPv6 and IPv4.
December 15, 2009
The OECD held a "virtual" side-event on the role of ICTs for climate change at COP15 (the UN Climate Change talks in Copenhagen, 7-18 December 2009). The discussion centred on the important role that ICTs have in tackling climate change and responding to environmental challenges. On the following links you will find news from the website of the OECD.
October 7, 2009
The Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will host a series of meeting from October 12-16, 2009 in Paris, France.
The 27th Meeting of the Working Party on Information Security and Privacy (WPISP) will be held in October 12-13. From Emerging Privacy issues to portability, competition, and innovation, the ICCP Technology Foresight Forum on Cloud Computing will be held on October 15. A briefing Paper on Cloud Computing and Public Policy prepared for the Forum has been released.
The 58th session of the Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy will be held at the OECD Headquarters in October 15-16, 2009.
The Civil Society Information Society Advisory Council will be represented by Gus Hosein from Privacy International, Gwen Hinze, International Policy Director Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and member of CSISAC Steering Committee, and Katitza Rodriguez, CSISAC Liaison, and International Privacy Director Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
August 11, 2009
On September 10-11, 2009 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Information for Development Program (infoDev) / World Bank are organizing a joint workshop on ICT for Development.
According to OECD's website: "Information communication technologies (ICTs)s are crucial to reducing poverty, improving access to health and education services and creating new sources of income and employment for the poor." (...) "But there are substantial discrepancies in access to ICTs between countries, particularly at the North-South level, but also within countries, depending on key factors such as gender, rural coverage, skills and educational levels."
This workshop aims to share best practices in:
* Access to ICTs and the Internet
* Broadband policy and development
* Access to ICT payment and remittance services
* Cross border co-operation and security
* ICTs and the environment
* ICTs for education
Karen Banks, Network Development Manager, Association for Progressive Communications (APC), CSISAC member, will speak at the "Access to ICTs and the Internet" panel.
The full information of the event is available online
June 14, 2009
"Using Sensor-based Networks to Address Global Issues: Policy Opportunities and Challenges" was the title of an experts conference that the OECD organized on June 8-9, 2009, which was hosted by Portugal and took place in Lisbon.
The goal of the Conference was to help policy makers:
- Understand Sensor-Based Networks and their potential contribution to economic and social welfare,
- Identify how to further stimulate innovation in this area and foster the development of these technologies where they are needed the most and are the most promising.
Andreas Krisch, President of European Digital Rights (EDRI), member of CSISAC attended the meeting, and wrote the following report about the meeting.
June 14, 2009
The Working Party on Internet Economy (WPIE) will be held on June 17-18 in Paris, France. This Committee focuses on digital content, ICT diffusion to business, ICT-enabled offshoring, ICT skills and employment, the publication of the OECD Information Technology Outlook, and ICTs and the Environment.
Some topics that this Committee addressed are:
- Economic impacts of broadband; Digital broadband content (public sector information, film and video, online advertising); Access and distribution to digital content, including user generated content; content protection, mobile commerce; RFID and other sensors.
Some issues that might be of interest of CSISAC members are:
- Balance Intellectual Property Policies, Digital Inclusion, Employment, ICT & The Environment, A2K, Privacy & Transparency, Pluralistic Media, Consumer Protection
June 3, 2009
On 27-28 May 2009 the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation hold an OECD Conference on how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can improve environmental performance and mitigate climate change in all sectors of the economy. The outcomes will be particularly relevant in the context of the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held on 7-18 December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark (COP15).
This high-level conference follows up on an OECD workshop in Copenhagen in May 2008 and the OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Internet Economy in Seoul in June 2008.
The conference gather civil society groups like Consumer Focus UK, Consumers International, Greenpeace, Conservation International, Global Connectivity, International Institute for Sustainable Development (Canada), and Association for Progressive Communications . The draft program is online. All the information about the event is here: http://www.green-ict.dk.
Contact:
For more information about civil society participation in this event, please contact katitza (at) epic (dot) org no later than Friday March 27, 2009
