Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) 2009 is the third in a series of yearly reports critically covering the state of the information society
2009 2009 Global Information from the perspectives of civil society organisations across the world.
GISWatch has three interrelated goals: Society Watch 2009
Watch • Surveying the state of the field of information and communications Watch technology (ICT) policy at the local and global levels Focus on access to online information and knowledge
ety ety – advancing human rights and democracy i • Encouraging critical debate i
• Strengthening networking and advocacy for a just, inclusive information Soc society. Soc on on i i Each year the report focuses on a particular theme. GISWatch 2009 focuses on access to online information and knowledge – advancing human rights and democracy. It includes several thematic reports dealing with key issues in the field, as well as an institutional overview and a reflection on indicators that track access to information and knowledge. There is also an innovative section on visual mapping of global rights and political crises.
In addition, 48 country reports analyse the status of access to online information and knowledge in countries as diverse as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Global Informat Global Informat Mexico, Switzerland and Kazakhstan, while six regional overviews offer a bird’s eye perspective on regional trends.
GISWatch is a joint initiative of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and the Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (Hivos).
Global Information Society Watch 2009 Report www.GISWatch.org
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (Hivos)
Tapa GISW2009.indd 1 21/10/09 04:25 PM Global Information Society Watch 2009 Global Information Society Watch 2009 Global Information Society Watch 2009
Steering committee Anriette Esterhuysen (APC) Paul Maassen (Hivos) Loe Schout (Hivos)
Coordinating committee Monique Doppert (Hivos) Karen Higgs (APC) Natasha Primo (APC)
Project coordinator Natasha Primo
Editor Alan Finlay
Assistant editor Lori Nordstrom
Publication production Karen Higgs
Graphic design monocromo [email protected] Phone: +598 (2) 400 1685
Cover illustration Matias Bervejillo
Translation coordinator Analía Lavin
Proofreading Valerie Dee, Lori Nordstrom
Financial partners Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (Hivos) Swedish International Cooperation Agency (Sida) Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
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Printed in Uruguay
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Global Information Society Watch Published by APC and Hivos 2009
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Preface ...... 9 Colombia ...... 106
Introduction: Access to online information Congo, Democratic Republic of (DRC) ...... 109 and knowledge – advancing human rights Congo, Republic of ...... 111 and democracy ...... 11 Costa Rica ...... 114 Croatia ...... 117 THEMATIC REPORTS Egypt ...... 120 Intellectual property rights...... 17 Ethiopia ...... 123 Information and democracy: Accessing the law...... 19 India ...... 127 Information and livelihoods...... 21 Iraq ...... 131 Knowledge rights ...... 24 Jamaica ...... 135 Access to libraries ...... 27 Japan ...... 139 Access to educational materials ...... 29 Jordan ...... 142 Open standards ...... 31 Kazakhstan ...... 144 Open culture ...... 33 Kenya ...... 147 INSTITUTIONAL OVERVIEW Korea, Republic of ...... 150 Institutional overview...... 37 Kyrgyzstan ...... 153 Mexico ...... 156 MEASURING PROGRESS Morocco ...... 159 Measuring progress ...... 43 Namibia ...... 161
MAPPING DEMOCRACY Netherlands ...... 164 Conducting social research with the web ...... 49 Nigeria ...... 168 Occupied Palestinian Territory ...... 171 REGIONAL AND COUNTRY REPORTS Pakistan ...... 174 Introduction ...... 61 Paraguay ...... 177 Regional reports Peru ...... 179 North America...... 63 Philippines ...... 183 Latin America and the Caribbean ...... 67 Romania ...... 187 Africa ...... 70 Rwanda ...... 191 Middle East and North Africa ...... 73 Saudi Arabia ...... 194 Europe ...... 75 South Africa ...... 197 South Asia ...... 80 Spain ...... 201 Country reports Switzerland ...... 204 Algeria ...... 83 Syria ...... 207 Argentina ...... 86 Tajikistan ...... 210 Bangladesh ...... 89 Tunisia ...... 213 Bosnia and Herzegovina ...... 92 Uganda ...... 216 Brazil ...... 95 Uruguay ...... 220 Bulgaria ...... 98 Uzbekistan ...... 223 Cameroon ...... 101 Zambia ...... 226 Chile ...... 104 Zimbabwe ...... 229
Preface
Freedom of expression and the free flow of GISWatch 2009 is dedicated to Amy K. Mahan. information and knowledge are essential to Amy was part of GISWatch since its conception democratic societies. Therefore the focus and, as a special contributor, wrote the section of this year’s Global Information Society called “Measuring progress” for GISWatch 2007 Watch (GISWatch) report is “access to online and GISWatch 2008. If not for her untimely death information and knowledge – advancing human on 5 March 2009, she would have undoubtedly rights and democracy”. been part of GISWatch 2009. Amy touched all who worked with her, leaving a legacy of activist GISWatch aims to be a leading platform for work that aspires to combine intellectual rigour civil society perspectives on the state of the and concrete outcomes that make a difference in information society. Through encouraging the lives of people who lack access to resources individuals and organisations to contribute, it and power. also aims to strengthen and support networking platforms, and build capacity in research, analysis We are pleased to present to you the third and writing. edition of the report. We truly believe this critical contribution to building a people-centred The rationale for this annual process of stocktaking information society will eventually have its impact – resulting in a print and online report – is that on policy development processes across the it helps to give focus and context to the policy world. n development process, and to civil society networking and advocacy at the local, regional and Anriette Esterhuysen global levels. Director, Association for Progressive Communications (APC) GISWatch wants to help overcome disparities Manuela Monteiro in access to ICTs while also advocating for Director, Humanist Institute for Cooperation human rights, promoting education and public with Developing Countries (Hivos) access to information, women’s empowerment and economic prosperity. This can only be accomplished – according to the Tunis Commitment – through the involvement, cooperation and partnership of governments, the private sector, civil society and international organisations.
Preface / 9
Introduction: Access to online information and knowledge – advancing human rights and democracy
Achal Prabhala incarnation is a relatively new frame of reference compared African Copyright and Access to Knowledge Project to the right to information, which has been demanded for a www.aca2k.org longer period of time. But it is worth bearing in mind that the underlying theme has always existed and even been ex- pressed, most notably in the hope and anxiety surrounding Information and knowledge are crucial factors in human every disruptive technological shift, from the printing press development. We are reminded of this constantly, from to the internet. the “knowledge economy” we live in, to the emotional The most frequently misunderstood term in this troika and financial power that information and communications is, perhaps, “access”. The common interpretation of the technologies (ICTs) have over our lives. In the words of term is its strict dictionary meaning, which is to use, to philosopher Francis Bacon, “Scientia potentia est” – knowl- consume, to be allowed entry into or contact with. In rela- edge itself is power. Present-day movements for access to tion to information and knowledge, however, and especially knowledge and the right to information have their origins in since the advent of the internet, access is just as much about this simple and arguably ancient idea. Despite a rich history production as it is about consumption. Knowledge is not and wide intellectual acceptance, the right to know is not something that Northern countries produce and Southern universally granted, and the right to know on the internet countries consume; it is a vast and porous domain that con- is a particularly bitter struggle in many parts of the world.1 sists of formal and as yet unrecognised realms, all of which Information, knowledge and access are terms with a are growing and evolving. To read is a necessary precondi- multiplicity of meaning. Even as they constitute an ambi- tion to being able to write; access, by analogy, implies entry tious goal that disparate global actors work towards, it is not just into the world of knowledge consumption but also worth considering how these terms are construed in relation knowledge creation. to each other.2 “Information” in this context usually refers to gov- ernment and institutionally held records. Legislation that mandates greater transparency is critical. The earliest exam- Access to ple of this kind of legislation was implemented in Sweden knowledge as far back as the late 18th century, while countries such as Access to South Africa and India have had theirs enacted as recently as information 2000 and 2005 respectively. Freedom of information and the resulting power to make informed decisions are bedrocks of liberal democracy, essential tools for active citizen participa- CONSUMPTION/USE tion – and the foundation of dominant ideas of the better life, such as that of an open society. PRODUCTION/CREATION “Knowledge” in its most instrumental sense usually refers to the elements of learning; to scholarly and artistic Freedom of work and its tools. The access to knowledge movement,3 for expression instance, works on copyright law reform and the promul- Proliferation of gation of open access. Access to knowledge in its present expression
1 For one understanding of the right to know, see Stiglitz, J. (2009) On Liberty, the Right to Know, and Public Discourse: The Role of Transparency in One manifestation of this fusion is Wikipedia, the ency- Public Life, Oxford Amnesty Lecture, Oxford, UK, 27 January. siteresources. worldbank.org/NEWS/Resources/oxford-amnesty.pdf clopaedia that is collaboratively produced online. Granted, For an understanding of how countries restrict access to the full potential of many more people read Wikipedia than edit it. Nevertheless, the internet, see Reporters Without Borders’ list of “Internet Enemies”: www. for a growing global volunteer base, it is simultaneously a rsf.org/List-of-the-13-Internet-enemies.html place to read and consume as well as edit and produce. In 2 Naturally, all three words offer a wide scope of understanding. The descriptions that follow are only an attempt at clarifying a functional definition, not at fixing a similar vein, it is access to information that propels people definitive meaning. around the world to intervene in public processes and change 3 The movement for access to knowledge (sometimes abbreviated as A2K) refers laws; without the information, there could be no change. to a loose grouping of individuals and institutions who work locally as well as on a potential international treaty on access to knowledge; an early draft is With regards to government information, it is important available at: www.cptech.org/a2k/a2k_treaty_may9.pdf that not only are there mechanisms put in place that facilitate
Introduction / 11 access to it, but also that these mechanisms work. The his- user was found to have committed an act of piracy, the tory of events leading up to the enactment of the Right to copyright holder in question was entitled to warn the user Information Act in India provides valuable lessons as to what through HADOPI. No details as to the exact nature of the the scope of government information should be, in how pu- copyright violation were required to be provided other than nitive measures can be implemented to guarantee that the that a violation had occurred. After three such warnings, in- process works, and, above all, as to how marginalised citi- ternet service providers (ISPs) in France would be mandated zens can gain the space and the means to use the law to their under HADOPI to bar the user from being allowed access to advantage.4 To a large extent, the rich genealogy of the right the internet for a period of up to one year. to information has naturalised it as an obvious, just and ur- The prospect of HADOPI had people up in arms. A broad gent issue. Furthermore, it is an umbrella concern, covering coalition of internet users, consumers and their allies quickly as much as specific local contexts demand. assembled in France and elsewhere in the world. To users in In contrast, the movement for access to knowledge France, it represented an immediate threat; to users else- works primarily on one crucial barrier, namely, intellectual where in the world, it represented the extent to which their property. For some, this focus is problematic. If, for instance, online freedoms could be restricted in the future. Apart from knowledge is imparted by education, then isn’t access just as the draconian nature of the punishment meted out by this much hampered by the lack of skilled teachers as restrictive bill, users were outraged that every kind of misdemeanour – intellectual property laws? This is certainly true, and yet, there whether deliberate, inadvertent, supposed or even mistaken are at least three good reasons why this narrow focus makes – would be treated the same, with the benefit of doubt given strategic sense. One: education is a long-standing priority of to the copyright holder.6 societies and governments the world over, and there is an Throughout 2009, the bill faced several setbacks, includ- inestimably large group of individuals and institutions who ing a complete rejection by the French National Assembly. work in the area. However, relatively few people are aware of But its backers pushed on, eventually winning approval after the impact of intellectual property on access to educational modifications; until 10 June 2009, when the Constitutional material, and even fewer research it. Two: the advent of the in- Council of France struck down HADOPI on the grounds that ternet has created hitherto unprecedented opportunities in the it was inconsistent with the country’s Constitution – for go- knowledge domain, opportunities that could turn into unreal- ing against freedom of expression and the presumption of ised potential if the application of intellectual property online innocence. is decided by copyright industries alone. Three: knowledge To involve infrastructure providers (ISPs) in enforcing is more than just formal education, and the internet provides private copyright disputes and suspend user privileges in the limitless ways in which it can be redefined and multiplied. The wake of alleged copyright violations, as HADOPI wished to overzealous application of intellectual property significantly do, was admittedly an extreme step. But there are other, less limits the manner in which knowledge operates online. visibly harmful ways by which access to online information A chain of events that unfolded in France over the last and knowledge is threatened and thwarted, and the prob- two years dramatically illustrates the level of threat faced by lem is that some of these ways appear innocuous – though those seeking information and knowledge online. In 2008, in fact any investigation of them would provide cause for at the insistence of the domestic recording industry, the serious alarm. Of the many concerns that exist, at least a French government began considering the enactment of few deserve our immediate attention: (a) Digital Rights a law designed to thwart online piracy. As industry forces Management (DRM) and Technological Protection Meas- pressed on and Nicholas Sarkozy added his support, the ef- ures (TPMs); (b) copyright law provisions that affect online fort culminated in a bill that would be popularly known as education, whether by distance or in a physical classroom HADOPI5 after the enforcement agency it intended to create. setting, or in a library; (c) the lack of provisions that would HADOPI employed the three strikes principle. If an internet meaningfully allow disabled learners and users (particularly the visually disabled) to access information and knowledge
4 For an understanding of the concerns of a key Indian social movement, the online; and (d) the extent to which users can usefully inte- Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), in the years leading up to the grate online copyrighted material into their lives in a manner enactment of India’s Right to Information Act, see Sampat, P. and Dey, N. (2005) Bare Acts and Collective Explorations, in Narula, M. et al. (eds.) Sarai that would be considered fair. Reader 05: Bare Acts, Sarai, New Delhi. www.sarai.net/publications/readers/05- bare-acts/02_preeti.pdf 5 HADOPI: Haute Autorité pour la Diffusion des Œuvres et la Protection 6 For one account of the story of HADOPI, see O’Brien, D. (2008) The Struggles des Droits sur Internet (High Authority for the Diffusion of Works and the of France’s Three Strikes Law, Electronic Frontier Foundation. www.eff.org/ Protection of Rights on the Internet). deeplinks/2008/05/struggles-frances-three-strikes-law
12 / Global Information Society Watch A primary anxiety around copyrighted material in the their laws to imply so8 because of bilateral persuasion, online environment has been, on the part of copyright in- often from the US or the European Union, without a clear dustries, how to regulate the flow of exchange. Previous to understanding of how this can stunt the potential of the the advent of mass use of the internet, a song or a book was internet within their borders. limited in its capacity for exchange by the physical, tangible It must be noted that copyright law in general – in most form it came in. With the proliferation of digital material and countries around the world9 – generally does not do enough peer-to-peer systems, however, the possibility for exchange for access to knowledge. To the extent that the majority of is virtually boundless, and this makes content industries the world learns not online but from the printed and spo- nervous – for it signals the end of an already outdated busi- ken word, copyright law in its general application matters ness model and the beginning of another. In return, industry tremendously. When considering the potentially limiting retaliation has consisted of a strategy of lockdown. The tools aspects of copyright regulation online, one must keep in of this strategy are DRM and TPMs – software that regulates mind that many countries around the world do not have the what one can do with a digital file, or rather cannot do – and kind of provisions that could be limited by new regulation the vehicles by which these are legislated and proliferated of online material. In fact, most countries do not expressly around the world are a set of World Intellectual Property facilitate distance learning, nor make all the provisions they Organization (WIPO) agreements collectively known as the can for access for the visually disabled, or freedom of in- WIPO Internet Treaties.7 formation, or even education in general.10 In part, this is DRM is oblivious of the specific circumstances of the because ever since the globalisation of intellectual property user, and is therefore unaware of both the user’s individu- rights, including as recently as the founding of the World al needs as well as her rights – for example, the nuances Trade Organization (WTO) in 1996 and the instituting of its of copyright law in the country of the user’s residence. It Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property doesn’t matter therefore that a user may be blind, or work for Rights (TRIPS),11 there has been a distinct shift away from a public library, and that national copyright law in the coun- the minimum copyright protection demanded by this trade try might specifically extend provisions to visually disabled rule to a maximally protectionist approach. people and libraries (for instance, by enabling permission- In the majority of national circumstances today, copy- free format changes and reproductions for research). DRM right law is what is referred to as TRIPS-plus, which is to will still operate on a one-size-fits-all model that supersedes say, excessively protective of copyright-holders’ interests. national law. In some countries, fair dealing – or fair use The excess is overwhelmingly in favour of copyright indus- – might allow for ways of personal consumption of copy- tries and at the expense of users of copyrighted material. righted material that the DRM withdraws, resulting in a In such a situation, when copyright as it applies offline is situation where the whims of a multinational industry render already imbalanced, it is even harder to demand a balanced national law meaningless. interpretation of copyright in the online space. DRM is software that can be hacked – up to an extent. Finally, it hardly needs repeating that without a strong In this way, it is still possible for users to legitimately sovereign commitment to freedom of speech and informa- exercise their rights with and upon DRM-protected ma- tion – in effect, a guarantee against censorship – any gains terial. Yet, following the model of the Digital Millennium made in access rights stand to be nullified. And this com- Copyright Act (DMCA) – the United States’ (US) inter- mitment, worryingly, is by no means universally evident. n pretation of the WIPO Internet Treaties – many countries have legislated that such circumvention constitutes a copyright violation. In some cases this renders sections 8 For instance, in a recent eight-country study in Africa, it was found that of their own copyright law redundant, and in effect, casts Morocco, Kenya and Egypt all have anti-circumvention provisions enacted into law. See the ACA2K Briefing Paper for the WIPO Development Agenda an unnecessarily heavy shroud over certain copyrighted meetings, April 2009: www.aca2k.org/attachments/180_ACA2K%20 material merely because it happens to be online. More Briefing%20Paper1_WIPODevtAgenda-042009.pdf worryingly, the WIPO Internet Treaties themselves do not 9 Among several country studies, regional and international reports, one recent survey that confirms this finding is the Consumers International IP Watch List ask of countries that anti-circumvention provisions apply report for 2009, in which it is reported that in relation to access to knowledge, even when a user is exercising a legitimate right such as “no countries adequately took account of consumers’ interests.” See: a2knetwork.org/sites/default/files/ip-watchlist09.pdf fair use, and yet countries around the world have allowed 10 Ibid. 11 TRIPs is currently the overarching international trade rule that governs the 7 The WIPO Internet Treaties consist of the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and global sovereign application of intellectual property; for the full text of the the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT). TRIPs agreement, see: www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/trips_e.htm
Introduction / 13
Thematic reports 16 / Global Information Society Watch Intellectual property rights
Jeremy de Beer to allegations of copyright infringement made against their University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law subscribers, beginning with stern warnings but escalating to www.jeremydebeer.ca termination of the accused persons’ internet access. This development has serious, disturbing implications for access to information. Indeed, France’s Conseil constitu- Introduction tionnel censored the new law and held – based on the 1769 The issues of access to information and intellectual property Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen – that (IP) rights are fundamentally intertwined. A properly cali- only judges may order internet access denied to alleged in- brated IP system is one of several factors that can facilitate fringers following due process of law. access to information by protecting incentives to create and Despite the recognition of access to the internet as a fun- disseminate content while simultaneously safeguarding the damental human right that cannot be completely disregarded human rights of freedom of expression, communication and in IP enforcement efforts, around the world we are witness- cultural participation. Equilibrium in IP law, policy and prac- ing increased pressure on internet intermediaries to stop their tice is affected by a number of key issues and institutions. own subscribers and other internet users from infringing cop- This report examines two emerging trends in the global yright. Legislative reforms similar to France’s were enacted in governance of IP that most seriously impact on access to South Korea, and very nearly passed in New Zealand as well. information. These are the changing role of intermediaries in And pressure is not only coming through newly created online copyright enforcement and the prospective harmoni- laws or administrative agencies empowered to potentially cut sation of minimum limitations and exceptions to copyright. off alleged infringers’ internet access. It is also reflected in ju- Such developments have arguably supplanted digital rights dicial decisions from various jurisdictions and even in privately management (DRM) systems as the most important current negotiated agreements between copyright holders and online IP issues affecting access to information in 2009. intermediaries. In countries like the US, the United Kingdom and Ireland service providers have voluntarily agreed to more Intermediaries’ changing role in online aggressively deter allegedly copyright-infringing activities. copyright enforcement Furthermore, it is not only traditional internet service Around the end of the 20th century many countries were providers that are playing a greater role in online copyright introducing legal reforms to clarify the obligations of inter- enforcement. In exchange for immunity from copyright li- mediaries concerning copyright-infringing content on the ability for their users’ activities, new content distributors like internet. The most common approach was to immunise inter- YouTube and DailyMotion, and social networking sites such mediaries that act passively in hosting or transmitting online as Facebook and MySpace, are settling for “best practices” materials; only if they become aware of alleged infringements, that often require automated content fingerprinting and fil- usually through notification from copyright holders, do active tering. Those technologies may contribute to solving some obligations ensue. Those obligations include most notably a copyright enforcement challenges, but are ill suited to ad- requirement to remove or disable access to the allegedly in- dress the nuances of flexibilities including fair use/dealing, fringing content. The United States’ (US) Digital Millennium or to protect access to the public domain. Copyright Act is a paradigmatic example of a “passive-reac- tive” immunity scheme for online service providers, though Harmonising minimum limitations and exceptions similar principles are embedded in many national laws in de- In the face of threats to freedom of expression and com- veloped and developing countries around the globe. munication that would undermine the balance between IP Recent developments demonstrate a worldwide trend to- protection and access to information, efforts are underway ward a more “active-preventative” role for internet and mobile to harmonise minimum limitations and exceptions to copy- communications intermediaries in copyright enforcement.1 By right around the world. As international IP law stands now, far the most publicly discussed example is the French “three- only maximum limitations and exceptions are specified. This strikes” law establishing HADOPI, a high-level authority for is done through a three-step test, which requires provisions the diffusion and protection of works on the internet. A new to be limited to certain special cases that do not conflict with government entity in France will have the power to order in- copyright holders’ normal exploitation of works or unrea- ternet service providers to implement a graduated response sonably prejudice their legitimate expectations. Harmonising minimum limitations and exceptions in- 1 See de Beer, J. and Clemmer, C.D. (2009) Global Trends in Online Copyright Enforcement: The Role of Internet Intermediaries, Jurimetrics 49 (4) stead of just minimum standards of protection would be a (forthcoming), which explains in detail all of the trends described in this section. remarkable reform to international IP law, policy and practice.
Thematic reports / 17 Rights-based justifications for standardising protections can of the developed world, such as the US and European Union. be just as compelling when it comes to protecting the right of But when the Standing Committee on Copyrights and Re- access to information. And proponents of minimum protec- lated Rights met again in May 2009, the issue of limitations tion standards have for a long time pointed to the benefits and exceptions was still on the table. of standardisation, which ostensibly include greater predict- The most recent reform proposal was more specific than ability and more cross-border trade. If these justifications hold previous ideas had been. In particular, the World Blind Union true for minimum standards of protection, they equally apply was working closely with several civil society organisations to establishing minimum limitations and exceptions. Without and delegates of WIPO member states to prepare draft text a harmonised baseline for limitations and exceptions, copy- for a treaty on limitations and exceptions.5 Though this pro- right holders might not know whether and how their content posal was also not received enthusiastically by all member may be used without permission or payment of royalties. states, WIPO seems to be treating the issue seriously. A me- Likewise, copyright users cannot predict the scope of rights dia release following the committee meeting explained that and obligations from one territory to another. work on limitations and exceptions for the reading-impaired, The current unstable situation adversely impacts indi- as well as educational exemptions more broadly, would be vidual consumers; students, teachers, libraries, archives expedited. Details will be dealt with during a November 2009 and educational institutions; the sensory and other disabled WIPO meeting; the lead up to that meeting will undoubtedly persons; and of course innovative entrepreneurs and com- be a pivotal period for copyright stakeholders worldwide. mercial entities experimenting with new kinds of business models. Imbalance compounded by uncertainty jeopardises Implications and outcomes the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire global system Not long ago, concerns over the use of DRM systems and of copyright protection, to the detriment of all stakeholders. related prohibitions against picking digital locks preoccupied Consequently, support has been growing for some kind of the minds of many international copyright law and policy worldwide consensus on the issue of minimum limitations and observers. Some criticisms of DRM in general were misdi- exceptions to copyright protection. Serious momentum was rected; DRM systems are simply tools that might enable or generated following a report by two respected academics call- restrict access to information. The Creative Commons, for ing for a “soft law” approach to this problem, perhaps as a joint example, is an access-enabling method of managing digital initiative between the World Intellectual Property Organization rights through privacy-respecting rights management infor- (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).2 Others are mation systems and consumer-friendly end-user licensing advocating in favour of formal treaties, in the specific context agreements. The problematic part of DRM strategies is the of education, for example, as a means of implementing WIPO’s use of technological protection measures to unilaterally rec- Development Agenda.3 And it is now becoming clear that alibrate copyright laws’ delicate balance between private and empirical evidence based on rigorous, large-scale research public rights. Fortunately, however, market forces seem to supports the idea of a more flexible system of copyright that be moving away from technological protection measures takes into account the realities of everyday life in countries as a tool to lock down content. These issues are still sim- across Africa and, presumably, elsewhere in the world.4 mering, but their priority has been downgraded as more At a 2008 meeting of WIPO’s copyright committee, Chile, pressing matters have emerged in the short term. joined by Brazil, Nicaragua and Uruguay, presented a pro- As this report argues, there are two matters deserving the posal for further study and eventual reform of international most urgent attention at the moment. One is the trend toward and national laws regarding limitations and exceptions. That active-preventative copyright enforcement efforts by online proposal struggled to gain acceptance from some segments intermediaries to either filter out allegedly infringing content from their networks or, worse, block alleged infringers from ac- cessing information on the internet altogether. The other is a 2 Hugenholtz, B. and Okediji, R. (2008) Conceiving an International Instrument on Limitations and Exceptions to Copyright. www.ivir.nl/publicaties/hugenholtz/ path-breaking development at WIPO, where for the first time it finalreport2008.pdf seems plausible that some agreement on copyright limitations 3 Rens, A. (2009) Implementing WIPO’s Development Agenda: Treaty Provisions and exceptions will be seriously discussed as a strategy to fa- on Minimum Exceptions and Limitations for Education, in de Beer, J. (ed.) Implementing the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Development cilitate access to information. n Agenda, WLUP-CIGI-IDRC. www.idrc.ca/en/ev-139311-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html 4 African Copyright and Access to Knowledge (2009) Copyright & A2K in Africa: Research Findings on Limitations & Exceptions from an Eight-Country Study. 5 Proposal by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay, Relating to Limitations and www.aca2k.org/attachments/180_ACA2K%20Briefing%20Paper%202%20 Exceptions: Treaty Proposed by the World Blind Union. www.wipo.int/ -%20May%202009.pdf meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=122732
18 / Global Information Society Watch Information and democracy: Accessing the law
John Palfrey regimes, we believe that there is a direct connection between Harvard Law School having access to legal information and to the full and free blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey exercise of rights such as free expression, freedom of as- sembly, and freedom of association. We consider robust Not so long ago, to gain access to information about the law, debate about the law to be essential to the proper functioning one had to go to a specialised law library, to a courthouse, of the rule of law. In common law jurisdictions, we embrace or to a legislature. In many parts of Europe and the United the adversary system as a means of refining what the law in States (US), today, the primary law is published online. If fact means. We believe also that the rule of law is necessary you want to know about legislation recently passed in the US bedrock in a system of governance in which human rights Congress, the answer is a Google search away. The same is and democracies are to flourish. For each of these reasons, true of a new opinion handed down from the Supreme Court. it is essential that citizens can access the primary law that Publication tends to be prompt; access is nearly instantane- governs their behaviour. ous and free.1 And efforts such as the World Digital Library2 Our first step should be to envision what a global le- have sought to pull together key primary legal materials gal information ecosystem should look like over the next from jurisdictions around the world.3 But this general state decade. We need to describe a stable, open ecosystem that of affairs applies only to a very few places around the world. allows for widespread access to legal information at a low We remain a long way from achieving a vision of universal, cost. In designing this ecosystem, we ought to consider free, easy access to basic legal materials on a global basis. three essential attributes: the process of creation of legal In most countries, primary legal information is broadly materials; provision of access; and reliable preservation. accessible in one format or another, but it is rarely made Consider the process by which legal information comes accessible online in a stable and reliable format. Typically a into being. In most cases, a legislature drafts, considers and citizen cannot open a web browser, search for a topic, stat- passes a new law relating to any given topic. This rule takes ute, or judicial opinion, and access the current state of the its form in a digital format; it is born digital, as a document law. Even in places where the law is published online, it is on a computer somewhere. Most of the time, the law is also often too hard to find or navigate for average users and is published in hard copy format by a state’s official printer. provided out of context. In China, the law is published in a The same is true of many other forms of the basic law of variety of formats: it can be searched in online databases, a jurisdiction or of multiple jurisdictions: the decisions of but they are proprietary for which libraries and businesses courts, the treaties into which they enter, the directives that have to pay.4 From the perspective of an average citizen, they need to implement. the law is hard enough to understand when it is accessible One key switch that we ought to make is to commit to – and in an era of near-ubiquitous information, we should making the official version of primary law anywhere in the not be introducing additional roadblocks to the use of legal world to be the digital version, published online, and then information for democratic purposes by failing to render it mirrored in various secondary locations. The law should be accessible to non-specialists. made available directly by the body that created it in this The importance of ordinary citizens being able to access stable, open version – on which policy makers need to agree, the law that governs their behaviour is obvious. Practicality and if possible at a global level. Those of us in law schools will fairness are reasons for prioritising legal information as against continue to pay for access to these materials through propri- other forms of information. In many jurisdictions, including the etary systems which serve professionals and cater for their US, ignorance of the law is no excuse for wrongdoing. needs (such as Lexis and Westlaw). But the public would The theoretical reasons for making the law broadly have direct access through the internet to these free and accessible online are even more important. In democratic open repositories (which require no payment or special ex- pertise to navigate). The goal should be that basic legal materials are provid- 1 Even in the United States, though, the online version is not considered ed to everyone, regardless of class, gender, or other potential “official”. It can take years, through the printing process, for the official version dividing lines, online, for free and by the state. Those in the of US law to be published in its formal, hard copy format. 2 www.worlddigitallibrary.org private sector can then build applications (such as search 3 For a discussion of this effort in the context of the changing world of legal engines, social networks, and so forth) to sort and to ac- information, see Germain, C. (2007) Legal Information Management in a cess it. We should allow citizens to create the data about Global and Digital Age: Revolution and Tradition, International Journal of Legal Information 35 (1), p. 134-163. the data – metadata – that will help others to find particular 4 www.chinalaw.gov.cn things within this online commons when they search for the
Thematic reports / 19 information the next time through any search engine. We can citizens – of any race, gender, class, or relative power within together help to build links between laws, ideas, and works the system – might have equal access online to the set of of scholarship in ways that we never have before (think of a rules that govern their activities (not to mention the ability system by which we can work together to link a statute, the to comment on those rules publicly) may seem too radical case law, the article that critiques it, the treatise that com- to be embraced. Other states prefer systems of law that rely ments on it, the foreign law that copies it, the treaties that upon custom and norms which are not often translated into drive it). We discuss it in public, in the “talk” or “discuss” written form. modes we see in Wikipedia. We can show updates and share There are technical stumbling blocks to clear as well. As “playlists” together as laws change, as case law builds out, suggested, the data should also be made accessible in online and scholarship develops. formats that are standardised and which allow for others not In addition to making the data freely available online, the just to view them but also to build upon them. A common presumption should be that the data are publicly available, extensible markup language (XML) schema, for instance, subject to no intellectual property restrictions, and main- would allow for presentation and searching of basic legal tained by each state that publishes them. In some cases the materials on a wide range of devices, from personal com- intellectual property rules relating to primary law are clear. puters to mobile devices.8 The standards we adopt should In the US, for instance, the federal law itself is by statute not be open standards. subject to copyright.5 Other systems are not so clear, and This vision for what information citizens should be able should be, if we are to realise this vision of broadly acces- to access, such as the primary law in all jurisdictions, should sible primary legal material.6 be established in clear and normative terms. Information Several stumbling blocks stand between our current technologies today make possible a much more open sys- place and the accomplishment of this vision for universal tem of supporting the creation, access and preservation of access to legal information. The first is the opportunity cost legal information worldwide than we are realising. The ben- and literal financial costs: for many states, the up-front efits for human rights and democracy of realising this vision cost of setting up this publishing system for legal material would repay the upfront investment many times over. n – even in a simple, open format – may seem prohibitive. The process, however, of online publication of new laws in a standardised format should be no greater, and in fact may be less, than the current mode of publishing legal materials today in print formats, for those states that do so. Over the long term, this publishing method will be cheaper, not more expensive, than the print method for most states. A more fundamental problem is that the leaders of some states may not wish for their citizens to have greater access to legal information. The rule of law is not universal around the world, nor is the norm of publishing all relevant rules and decisions handed down by courts. Certain states take steps to obscure, rather than to render transparent, politi- cal and other information online.7 The issue relates to power relations: some states, such as Iran and Uzbekistan, fear the power that a more open information ecosystem may afford citizens as against the state. These states seem to fear the freedom of expression and collective action that networked technologies make cheap and easy. The notion that all
5 17 USC Section 105. 6 Consider the fight in Oregon state last year in the US, described by the Citizen Media Law Project at: www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2008/update-oregon- statutes-copyright-spat 7 See www.opennet.net for studies of internet filtering, whereby more than three dozen states censor the information that citizens can come to see on the 8 Examples of this sort of schema can be found at: www.it.ojp.gov/default.aspx? internet. area=implementationAssistance&page=1017
20 / Global Information Society Watch Information and livelihoods
Subbiah Arunachalam Development Research Centre (IDRC), was to look at how Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, India emerging information and communications technologies www.cis-india.org (ICTs) could be used to make a difference to these people’s lives. But the project managers took a holistic perspective Introduction and put people and their needs before technology: they went beyond merely providing online access to information We live in a divided world where far too many people live in through their internet-enabled Village Knowledge Centres abject poverty. To help these people get out of poverty is good (VKCs). They were concerned about fisherpeople losing their for the world as a whole, for great disparities in wealth will lead catches, nets, boats and even their lives on days when the to violence and terrorism and no one can live in peace and har- sea turned rough. Lives could be saved if only one could mony. None of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) can have advance knowledge of weather conditions. After some be achieved if we fail to address the problem of poverty and investigation, the MSSRF researchers found that United ensure livelihood security for the majority of the poor. States (US) Navy satellites were collecting weather and wave A vast majority of the poor live in the rural areas of height information for the Bay of Bengal, and the Navy web- developing countries and are dependent on agriculture or site released forecasts based on these data twice daily. The fishing for a living. They need information directly relevant to VKC volunteers started downloading this information and their livelihoods. Agriculture-related information is often one made it available to the fisherpeople in their local language of the most immediate needs, since small-scale agriculture through notice boards and a public address system. Ever is very important to household incomes in rural areas. Infor- since this service commenced not a single death in mid-sea mation on current crop prices, fertiliser and pesticide costs, has been reported from these villages. and the availability of improved seeds and low-cost improve- ments in farm technology can help farmers buy farm inputs The need for innovation and equipment of good quality at the right price, or help Suddenly, the US Navy stopped providing this information 1 them successfully obtain credit. Information on govern- and something needed to be done. MSSRF joined hands ment entitlements and training programmes, opportunities with Qualcomm, Tata Teleservices and Astute Systems for developing new products, and markets for environmental Technology,3 and these companies came up with an in- 2 goods is also useful. Without such information, poor fami- novative mobile application called Fisher Friend based on lies find it hard to take advantage of new opportunities for third-generation code division multiple access (3G CDMA) generating income and increasing their assets. technology. With Fisher Friend, the VKCs provide fisher- Many asset-less poor migrate to cities far and near and people with real-time information on things like fish prices are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to work in in different markets, weather, wave heights, satellite scan construction sites, ports, factories and wherever they can be data on the location of fish shoals, and news flashes while employed. They are often exploited and work in conditions they are at mid-sea. Access to these, as well as other in- far from satisfactory. They will be happy to have information formation such as relevant government schemes, has on where work is available and wages are good. improved market transparency and the earnings of smaller This report looks at a few examples of how access to fisherpeople. Qualcomm is working on incorporating glo- information helps improve the lives of people and how new bal positioning system (GPS) capability in the phones, so technologies are being used in getting information to those their exact location can be tracked. This would make rescue who need it. operations much easier. Small catch but big impact Timely access to relevant information can not only improve the standards of living of a community, but also save lives. About twelve years ago scientists at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) started working with fish- Real evidence, not just anecdotal ing communities in coastal villages of southern India. The Much of the evidence of the benefits of access to informa- major thrust of the project, funded by the International tion and the use of technology to facilitate access so far has been anecdotal. In a recent paper in the Quarterly Journal of 1 Chapman, R., Slaymaker, T. and Young, J. (2003) Livelihoods Approaches to Information and Communication in Support of Rural Poverty Elimination and Food Security, Overseas Development Institute, London. 3 Qualcomm is a US-based multinational that designs and make chips for telecom 2 Good examples of environmental goods are handicrafts made from locally equipment. Tata Teleservices is a leading mobile service provider, and Astute available material (plant or mineral-based material) and organic products. Systems Technology is a software company writing applications for the chips.
Thematic reports / 21 Economics Robert Jensen of Harvard University has quanti- Conclusion 4 fied the benefits. He showed that the adoption of mobile Today the “bottom” three-quarters of the world’s population phones by fisherpeople and wholesalers in Kerala in south- accounts for at least 50% of all people with internet access, ern India had led to a dramatic reduction in price dispersion says a Pew report.8 As Turner pointed out in 2007, investment (the mean coefficient of variation of price across markets in telecom, which facilitates easy access to information, is more over a stretch of 150 kilometres came down from 60%- productive than investment in other kinds of infrastructure.9 The 70% to less than 15%); the complete elimination of waste impact is particularly noticeable in developing nations. (from 5%-8% to virtually nil); and near perfect adherence ICTs are not a technical solution on their own but are 5 to the Law of One Price. In addition, fisherpeople’s profits enablers in a process of local prioritisation and problem increased by 8%, while consumer prices declined by 4% (di- solving. This report has highlighted initiatives that use rectly driving a 20 rupee/person/month consumer surplus, mobile technology. But mobile solutions are obviously not the equivalent of a 2% increase in per capita GDP from this the only useful ones. For instance, LabourNet in Bangalore one market alone). Sardine consumption increased by 6%. connects employers and casual labourers through an online The advent of mobile phones also led to a 6% increase in database that is updated constantly.10 Thanks to LabourNet, school enrolment and a 5% increase in the probability of workers, especially at construction sites, get decent pay, using healthcare when sick. All this with no government pro- training, insurance and safety measures at the workplace. 6 grammes, and no new funding requirements. However, the information supplied is more at the administra- Several other initiatives involve mobile technology. tive level than the grassroots level. Nokia recently launched Life Tools in India, a fee-based The success lies in embedding ICTs in a holistic ap- service, with a view to impacting on the daily lives of proach encompassing a diverse range of development people, especially farmers. Life Tools offers timely online initiatives. The trick is not to emphasise technology but to access to information that will be of great relevance to put people and their needs before technology. Sustainable farmers, students and the lay public. Nokia has partnered livelihood approaches need to be people-centred, recognis- with the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board ing the capital assets of the poor and the influence of policies (to gather commodity prices from 291 markets), Reuters and institutions on their livelihood strategies.11 7 Market Light, Syngenta and Skymet, among others. It has Also, the mere ability to access information cannot take plans to introduce Life Tools to other developing countries one far. What is important is what one can do with that infor- before the end of the year. mation. Often one would need to have additional skills and Online access to information through mobile phones capital to take advantage of the information. That is why ef- and through telecentres has also helped shop owners, trad- forts to provide improved access to information should go ers and the self-employed increase their earnings in many hand in hand with efforts to enhance skills through train- countries. The mobile phone is becoming the primary con- ing programmes, and efforts to enhance access to finance nectivity tool. With significant computing power, it will soon through microfinance and the formation of self-help groups. be the primary internet connection, providing information Rural livelihoods involve a wide range of strategies both in a portable, well-connected form at a relatively low price, within and outside the farming sector. Often farming com- pushing aside the personal computer. munities need to augment their income through non-farming enterprises, and here the women and youth could play a role in enhancing household income. It will be good to remember that a large number of ICT- 4 Jensen, R. (2007) The digital provide: Information (technology), market enabled development pilot projects have remained just that performance, and welfare in the South Indian fisheries sector, Quarterly n Journal of Economics, 122 (August), p. 879-924. – pilot projects that did not scale up. 5 An economic law which states that in an efficient market, all identical goods must have only one price. In other words, variations in fish prices caused by differences in demand and supply at different locations disappeared once both 8 Quitney Anderson, J. and Rainie, L. (2008) The Future of the Internet III, Pew buyers and sellers started using mobile phones. Internet and American Life Project, Washington. www.future-internet.eu/ fileadmin/documents/prague_documents/oc-meetings/PIP_FutureInternet3.pdf 6 Turner, B. (2007) Cellphones & Development — Evidence, not anecdotes. blogs.nmss.com/communications/2007/02/cellphones_deve.html 9 Turner (2007) op. cit. 7 Syngenta is a multinational company. One of its corporate goals is to help 10 LabourNet matches the skills sets of people available for work with the needs farmers maximise the potential of their resources. Towards this end it provides of those who use their services, similar to headhunters who match the skills technological solutions, as well as information relating to agronomy, land use, of executives and managers and place them in the right companies at the right etc. Skymet provides weather-related services that allow clients to adapt to a levels, only LabourNet deals with the poor. changing environment. 11 Chapman et al. (2003) op. cit.
22 / Global Information Society Watch References Chapman, R., Slaymaker, T. and Young, J. (2003) Livelihoods Jensen, R. (2007) The digital provide: Information (technology), Approaches to Information and Communication in Support market performance, and welfare in the South Indian fisheries of Rural Poverty Elimination and Food Security, Overseas sector, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122 (August), Development Institute, London. p. 879-924. Chapman, R. (2005) ICT enabled knowledge centres and learning in Quitney Anderson, J. and Rainie, L. (2008) The Future of the Internet the global village, in The Third MSSRF South-South Exchange III, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Washington. www. Travelling Workshop (MSSRF/PR/05/59), M S Swaminathan future-internet.eu/fileadmin/documents/prague_documents/oc- Research Foundation, Chennai. meetings/PIP_FutureInternet3.pdf
Thematic reports / 23 Knowledge rights
Eve Gray and Rebecca Kahn submitting an electronic copy of the final manuscripts of The OpeningScholarship Project, Centre For Educational Technology, their research papers into PubMed Central, a free digital ar- University of Cape Town chive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. www.cet.uct.ac.za/OpeningScholarship This follows the model established in 2006 by the Well- come Trust, the largest private biomedical research funder in Overall, 2008-2009 has seen a remarkable forward momen- the United Kingdom (UK). tum in the adoption of policies and interventions for access Moves by national governments to knowledge at all levels – among international agencies, national governments and institutions in the developed and In January of 2008, the European Research Council (ERC) developing world.1 became the first European Union (EU)-wide funding agency to adopt an open access mandate, which applies to data files Access to medical research as well as peer-reviewed articles. The ERC disburses about Some of the most important activity around access to EUR 7.5 billion per year, or 15% of the EU research budget knowledge in the last year has been seen in the public health for its research programme called FP7 (2007-2013).5 This sector, where an awareness of the importance of open ac- follows an increasing willingness of EU states to support ac- cess to taxpayer-funded research and the price paid in cess to knowledge policies, as witnessed by a vote of the 27 human lives as the result of high prices for proprietary sys- EU prime ministers. tems has driven the push towards more open approaches Twelve other public funding agencies in Europe and Can- to health information, particularly for developing countries. ada also adopted open access mandates in 2008. In Canada, In mid-2009, the World Health Organization (WHO), af- Ireland, Australia, France and Hong Kong, to name but a ter a long debate, adopted the Global Strategy and Plan of few, there were moves towards policies for access to pub- Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property2 licly funded research. Awareness and usage of open access which aims to “secure... an enhanced and sustainable basis mandates among private funders has also increased: Autism for needs-driven, essential health research and development Speaks, the MacArthur Foundation and the Moore Foundation relevant to diseases that disproportionately affect develop- have all adopted open access as their publishing model. ing countries, proposing clear objectives and priorities for These developments show an acceptance by the major research and development.” Among its provisions are the research-funding agencies that taxpayers underwrite billions use of open-source software, open access to research pub- of dollars of public research each year, and the widespread lications and data, voluntary provision of access to drug sharing of the results is an essential component of invest- leads,3 open licensing, and voluntary patent pools. ment in science. Faster and wider sharing of knowledge fuels Towards the end of 2007, the United States (US) Con- the advancement of science and, accordingly, the return of gress voted for the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) health, economic and social benefits back to the public.6 to adopt an open access mandate for NIH-funded research. While the twelve-month embargo applied by the NIH is less The NIH, which has a budget of USD 29.2 billion, is the than perfect, and the no-embargo policy used by the Well- world’s largest funder of non-classified research,4 and its come Trust and others would be more in the spirit of open research grants result in 80,000 peer-reviewed articles per access, the fact that essential information, like the NIH’s re- year. Under the new model, material is embargoed for up search, is being shared at all is an important step. to twelve months, but grantees are obliged to comply with Universities the open access mandate when publishing research results, The most high-profile and influential response to access to research, which created a stir in the university world and 1 Peter Suber’s annual review of open access developments in his January edition of the Open Access Newsletter was invaluable in providing information triggered copycat responses, was from Harvard’s Faculty for this overview. See: www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/01-02-09.htm of Arts and Sciences (FAS), which adopted an open access 2 apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/A61/A61_R21-en.pdf mandate in February 2008, at a time when there were already 3 When new drugs are being designed or discovered, drug leads refer to the twelve university-level open access mandates worldwide. chemical compounds whose chemical structures are used as a starting point for chemical modifications in order to improve potency, selectivity or pharmacokinetic parameters. Lead compounds are often found in high- 5 The Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) bundles all research-related EU throughput screenings (“hits”) or are secondary metabolites from natural initiatives together under a common programme. sources. 6 Terry, S. (2009) The public’s right to research, Open Access Scholarly 4 Non-classified, in this case, refers to research that can be shared, and is not Information Sourcebook, 8 June. www.openoasis.org/index.php?option=com_ embargoed. content&view=article&id=547&Itemid=265
24 / Global Information Society Watch Three months later, Harvard Law School voted unanimously is cited by peers. Papers in top journals are more likely to for its own open access mandate. In response to the Har- be cited, and so scientific life becomes geared to chasing vard mandate, the School of Education at Stanford accepted publication in elite journals with the highest impact factor, a proposal for a mandate and voted it through immediately. and high performances as measured by a complex array of Since Harvard’s announcement at the beginning of journal metrics. The so-called Journal Impact Factor is cal- 2008, thirteen more universities, including Southampton, culated by dividing the number of citations a journal receives the University of Glasgow, the University of Helsinki and in any particular year by the number of articles deemed to be the University of Tasmania have also announced open ac- citable in the previous two.9 cess mandates, more than the number of all previous years A knock-on consequence has been the consolidation combined. of the dominance of research from the global North, as a In South Africa, the University of Pretoria announced in result of the “core journal” principle that underpinned the early 2009 that it had adopted a mandate, voted unanimous- creation of the ISI (Information Sciences Institute) citation ly by its senate, for the open access deposit of publications index.10 This core journal principle meant that libraries were by all academics in its institutional repository. This makes it informed that they need only subscribe to a limited number the first African university to adopt such a mandate. of journals. Naturally these core journals were the ones These events are evidence of the fact that leading uni- that reflected the most powerful information communities versities all over the world are taking seriously the strategic – not the 80% of the world that the developing countries opportunities offered by open access communications. Un- constitute. The prestige system (outlined above) which de- derpinning this is recognition for a wider communications veloped, naturally entrenched this bias even further. In this mission than that offered by conventional scholarly publica- commercially dominated system, high subscription prices tion, not least the potential for the university to deliver on its and closed copyright models have restricted access to this public mission and not just its scholarly reputation. As Cath- knowledge, particularly in the countries in the global South. erine Candee, the executive director of Strategic Publishing However, in reaction to this, scholarly publishing has and Broadcast Initiatives at the University of California, put it: also seen enormous growth in the adoption of open access Publishing and communication enhance knowledge, in 2008: open access journals and repositories proliferated not just scholar-to-scholar but scholar-to-student as well faster than in any previous year. The Directory of Open Ac- as to the public. In the digital realm, there is no reason to cess Journals grew by 812 peer-reviewed journals, or 27%, plan to enhance scholar-to-scholar communication without in 2008. In 2007, it added 1.4 titles per day, but in 2008 the considering how to improve the knowledge… creation and rate jumped to 2.2 titles per day. scientific output of the university to the public. This is not A striking event was the purchase of the open access just for the individual public interest and good – universities journal publisher, Biomed Central, by Springer, an acknowl- must aim to meet the challenges of modern society. How edgement by a large commercial scholarly publisher of the better than to ensure that we have an adequate publication viability of running a profitable open access journal enterprise. and communication system?7 Open access publishing is also enhancing the poten- tial for regional South-South collaboration in open access Scholarly publishing journal development, which has taken a significant step for- Traditionally, scholarly publication has been dominated by ward with the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) a globalised commercial publishing industry that has con- in Brazil, a virtual library covering a selected collection of solidated control of research publishing in fewer and fewer Latin American scientific journals, joining in a venture with hands outside of universities, and which has control over the the Academy of Science of South Africa. South African open dominant evaluation system for scholarly excellence.8 access journals will be hosted on the SciELO platform us- The value of most of the scientific researchers in the ing the meta-tagging system developed by SciELO to track world is measured by the number of publications they pub- regional and national citation levels. lish in and how brilliant the publications are held to be as For scholarly books, 2008 was the year that open access measured by citations – the number of times academic work publishing moved to the mainstream: Amsterdam, Athabasca,
7 www.arl.org/sparc/meetings/ala08/index.shtml 9 Corbyn, Z. (2009) A threat to scientific communication, Times Higher 8 Guédon, J-C. (2007) Open Access and the Divide Between “Mainstream” Education, 13 August. www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode and “Peripheral” Science, in Ferreira, S. and Targino, M. (eds.) Como gerir e =26&storycode=407705&c=1 qualificar revistas cientificas. eprints.rclis.org/12156 10 Guédon (2007) op. cit.
Thematic reports / 25 Caltech, Columbia, the Universidad Católica Argentina, the Backlash American Veterinary Medical Association, the Forum for Pub- There has been some backlash against the open access lic Health in South Eastern Europe and the Institut français du movement, especially in the US. In September 2008, US Proche-Orient are just some of the presses to launch open Congressman John Conyers, supported by the publishing access imprints. India’s Goa1556 Press, launched in 2007, lobby, introduced a bill to overturn the open access mandate published its first open access books in 2008, along with a at the NIH, and bar all other federal agencies from adopt- number of university press consortia across the world. ing similar policies. The Fair Copyright in Research Works For a number of years, the Human Sciences Research Act suggests that the NIH policy violates copyright law. Council (HSRC) Press in South Africa has been a very success- The bill died without a vote at the end of the last session ful pioneer of open access dual stream book publishing and of Congress, but is expected to be re-introduced in the new now sees its books downloaded in every country in the world. session. Among the friends of open access who weighed It is telling that a leading UK trade publisher, Bloomsbury, the in against the bill were Rockefeller University Press, the publisher of the Harry Potter books, has now emulated this AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, seven major library as- model with the launch of Bloomsbury Academic, a signal that sociations, 46 law professors, and 33 US Nobel laureates in access to knowledge is indeed going mainstream. science. This was the third time since 2004 that 25 or more Finally, US President Barack Obama looks likely to sup- US Nobel laureates wrote a joint letter to Congress in sup- port a more open approach to access to knowledge, after a 12 port of the NIH policy. n powerful speech to the National Academies of Science11 and with open access supporters in key agency positions, as well as in the new President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The signs are good for a period of greater responsiveness to the rights of access to publicly funded knowledge in the world.
11 Revkin, A. (2009) Obama’s Call to Create, Not Just Consume, The New York Times, 27 April. dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/obamas-call-to- 12 Suber, P. (2009) SPARC Open Access Newsletter (129), 2 January. www. create-not-just-consume earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/01-02-09.htm
26 / Global Information Society Watch Access to libraries International policy influences on online access to information in public libraries
Stuart Hamilton Investment in internet access has slowly narrowed the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) digital divide across libraries worldwide since 2003.6 Sig- www.ifla.org nificant, hard-to-eradicate inequalities still exist, especially in developing countries; but success stories have emerged 7 With over one million libraries and nearly 700,000 librar- like the Biblioredes network in Chile or the Aotearoa Peo- 8 ians worldwide, the library sector is an established part of ple’s Network in New Zealand, which offer free access to the many people’s lives.1 Since large-scale roll-out of internet internet in libraries. Coordinated action undertaken by foun- access began in the 1990s, the way public libraries provide dations like Global Libraries has seen library public access information to their users has been revolutionised. Librar- programmes rolled out across countries such as Mexico, ians have changed their day-to-day work, and library users Latvia and Bulgaria, while governments in Brazil and Russia have migrated from print-only materials to a hybrid of print, have also begun to systematically equip public libraries with 9 electronic and online access to information via the internet. internet terminals. Both the public and private sectors are Today technologies continue to develop, and new methods realising that library networks are existing points of public of information delivery are constantly being implemented. access, and that telecentres and other access providers can Librarians have shown great ability to move with the benefit from partnerships with libraries. times, but the perception of libraries has sometimes been Librarians are also using emerging technologies to hard to change.2 During the World Summit on the Infor- provide new services. Social networking tools help libraries mation Society (WSIS), policy makers proved difficult to in Brazil and the United States (US) to connect with users, reach. The longstanding role that libraries have played in while African librarians have researched information transfer 10 offering public access to information in both developed via mobile phone. New technologies are found in existing and developing countries was not fully recognised during library premises, but also in newer, purpose-built librar- the WSIS process, and the Summit’s outcome documents ies from Seattle to Brasilia, where hundreds of computer downplayed established and functioning library networks terminals sit alongside bookshelves. Wi-Fi networks and by placing libraries’ public access credentials on the same remote query services extend beyond premises and opening level as health institutions, post offices and community hours and make the library a 24/7 institution. Increasingly centres.3 these new services are backed up with new skills for library 11 Post-WSIS, libraries are stepping up efforts to stake workers – being proficient in online search is not enough. 12 their rightful place in the information society and become Information literacy skills are now key to optimum user more engaged in the development of policies promoting service, and UNESCO and IFLA are providing training in this 13 public access to technology.4 The International Federation area. IFLA has also given policy guidance through its Inter- of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), for exam- net Manifesto, and related training workshops have reached ple, has strengthened existing alliances with international over 1,000 library staff worldwide. The Internet Manifesto is organisations such as the United Nations Educational, Sci- grounded in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human entific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and has started to work with new partners in the information and communi- 6 IFLA (2008) IFLA/FAIFE World Report 2007, IFLA, The Hague. www.ifla.org/ files/faife/ifla-faife_world_report_series_vii.pdf cations technology for development (ICT4D) community. A 7 APEC (2008) BiblioRedes: Abre tu Mundo Overview. www.apecdoc.org/ shared commitment to libraries as core providers of public alliance/chile/biblio_redes/overview access to online information has led to more coordinated 8 National Library of New Zealand (2008) Aotearoa People’s Network Impact advocacy and a new focus on libraries as the engines behind Evaluation 2008. www.peoplesnetworknz.org.nz/APN_Impact_Report.pdf 5 9 Murilo, J. (2009) Bibliotecas Públicas Digitais e Redes Sociais – uma proposta access to knowledge. para democratizar a informação (unpublished); Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (2009) Libraries. www.gatesfoundation.org/topics/Pages/libraries.aspx 10 Farkas, M. (2007) Social Software in Libraries: Building Collaboration, 1 OCLC (2003) Libraries: How They Stack Up, OCLC, Dublin. www5.oclc.org/ Communication, and Community Online, Medford, New Jersey. downloads/community/librariesstackup.pdf 11 Rich, M. (2009) In web age, library job gets an update, New York Times, 16 2 De Rosa, C. et al. (2005) Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources, February. www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/books/16libr.html OCLC, Dublin. www.oclc.org/reports/pdfs/Percept_all.pdf 12 Information literacy can be defined as a means to “empower people in all 3 WSIS (2003) Geneva Plan of Action. www.itu.int/wsis/outcome/booklet/ walks of life to seek, evaluate, use and create information effectively to achieve plan_action_C2.html their personal, social, occupational and educational goals.” IFLA/UNESCO 4 Havisto, T. and Mincio, M. (2007) Libraries and the WSIS Action Lines. www. (2005) Beacons of the Information Society: The Alexandria Proclamation on ifla.org/files/wsis/Documents/libraries-and-the-wsis-action-lines-en.pdf Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning. www.infolit.org/International_ 5 Tise, E., Raju, R. and Massango, C. (2009) Libraries Driving Access to Colloquium/alexproceng.doc Knowledge: A Discussion Paper, IFLA Journal, 34 (4), p. 341-346. 13 For more information on information literacy see: www.infolitglobal.info
Thematic reports / 27 Rights, and reminds librarians of their commitment to pro- position in ICT regulatory frameworks. The fallout from the vide freedom of access to information to all their users.14 events of 11 September 2001 has also contributed to this, However, newer services can bring problems too. In as librarians realised that user privacy could be sacrificed in developed countries, balancing user demand with supply pursuit of the war against terror.20 Everything being done by is difficult if computer terminals are overbooked and equip- libraries in terms of user training, provision of online serv- ment overused. All over the world librarians wrestle with the ices or information transfer through emerging technologies consequences of increased access to information: the use of needs to be protected by concerted advocacy work by the the internet by children and the installation of filtering soft- library community. ware on library computers is a very contentious issue, and Through the provision of guidelines and policy, organi- many different approaches to the problem are taken.15 In- sations such as IFLA can frame access in a human rights creased internet access in libraries demands strong policies context, but very often the best way to show the value of to guarantee users’ rights, but unfortunately decisions about libraries is to let them innovate. The Google Book Search general content filtering are often out of librarians’ hands. In project in particular is a massive moment in the history of li- this regard, many governments’ suspicion of free and equal braries. Google’s mass digitisation of in- and out-of-copyright internet access does little to benefit library users. books has the potential to provide unprecedented access If censorship is an age-old concern for libraries, then to an online library containing millions of titles, increasing copyright is not far behind. Copyright legislation in the access to information dramatically. However, the fact that digital age is outdated and obstructs libraries from fulfill- Google is likely the only organisation with enough resources ing core functions like the preservation of material. While to attempt such a feat means many in the library community the rights of copyright owners have been harmonised at an are worried that an absence of competition in the market international level, exceptions and limitations for institutions could compromise the libraries’ mission to provide equi- such as libraries have not.16 This leads to varying practices table access to information, user privacy and intellectual regarding digital information provision, with many countries freedom.21 The end result is not yet in sight, but through lacking legislation to protect libraries.17 The rights of mar- involvement in the Google project, and through other inno- ginalised groups, such as the visually impaired, are impeded vative projects like the giant online databases of Europeana22 and the full benefits of digital technologies are unable to be and the World Digital Library,23 libraries demonstrate their reaped.18 Libraries have stepped up lobbying and advocacy value as key providers of access to information through at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to technology, existing to serve all members of a community remedy the imbalance, but face great resistance to change whether they are physically in a library or thousands of miles 19 from developed countries. away on a laptop. n Overall, the move into the digital era has refocused li- brarians on their role as information providers. Engagement in the WSIS and Internet Governance Forum (IGF) process- es, or advocating at WIPO, has raised awareness of libraries’
14 IFLA (2002) The IFLA Internet Manifesto. www.ifla.org/publications/the-ifla- internet-manifesto 15 Hamilton, S. (2004) To What Extent Can Libraries Ensure Free, Equal and Unhampered Access to Internet Accessible Information Resources on a Global Scale? IFLA/FAIFE, Copenhagen. www.ifla.org.sg/faife/report/ StuartHamiltonPhD.pdf 16 IFLA, eIFL and LCA (2009) Statement of Principles on Copyright Exceptions and Limitations for Libraries and Archives. www.ifla.org/files/clm/statements/ StatementofPrinciplesSCCR20.pdf 17 Crews, K. (2008) Study on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries 20 Hamilton, S. (2008) Freedom of Information versus War on Terror, paper and Archives, WIPO, Geneva. www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/ presented at the European Social Forum in Malmö, Sweden, 18 September. sccr_17/sccr_17_2.pdf openesf.net/projects/librarians-for-informational-commons-and-another- europe/libraries-and-the-war-on-terror 18 Sullivan, J. (2007) WIPO Study on Copyright Exceptions and Limitations for the Visually Impaired, WIPO, Geneva. www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/ 21 Band, J. (2008) A Guide for the Perplexed: Libraries and the Google Book en/sccr_17/sccr_17_www_111453.pdf Settlement. wo.ala.org/gbs/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/a-guide-for-the- perplexed.pdf 19 Love, J. (2009) Obama joins group to block treaty for blind and other reading disabilities, Huffington Post, 28 May. www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/ 22 www.europeana.eu/portal obama-joins-group-to-bloc_b_208693.html 23 www.wdl.org/en
28 / Global Information Society Watch Access to educational materials
Steve Vosloo here to stay. When understood in the context of around one Shuttleworth Foundation billion people accessing the internet, the revolution becomes www.shuttleworthfoundation.org even more significant. What is m-learning? Introduction What does it mean for education and access to online edu- There are many factors affecting access to online educa- cational materials when it is claimed that for every personal tional materials, such as the cost of the materials, the cost computer (PC) there are four mobile phones?3 The emergent of access, restrictive copyright licences, language, and lo- field of mobile learning, or ‑m learning, has been trying to cal relevance of the content. These are broad and ongoing answer that question (even while struggling to define itself in issues, with gains slowly being made to allow more access a field that is constantly evolving). Initial definitions focused for more school and university students around the world. exclusively on the device itself, presenting m‑learning as any In developed countries, affordable broadband is creating a learning that happened through a personal digital assistant truly information-rich learning environment for students. It (PDA) or mobile phone. This view is problematic; it is the is possible to find information on most topics very easily equivalent of focussing on the physical object of a book, and and quickly. In this environment, skills such as informa- not the content it holds. Over the years, more mature defini- tion literacy, critical reading and problem solving become tions have emerged that focus on issues such as mobility, important. and on how “personal mobile and wireless devices can en- For too many students in the developing world, access hance, transform and extend learning, teaching, assessment remains limited. In the 21st century, where being net- and administration.”4 Added to that are opportunities for worked is essential to learning, working and playing in the creative expression, social networking and identity develop- information society, the lack of access directly undermines ment, to name but a few. the universal right to education. One emerging trend could M-learning offers characteristics of “ownership, infor- play a part in changing this: the rise of the mobile phone. mality, mobility, and context that will always be inaccessible Of course, the physical platform of access – the phone – to conventional tethered e-learning”.5 Clearly m‑learning is is only one piece of a complex puzzle, but it is of such a not just e‑learning that has gone for a walk, but something disruptive nature that it could significantly move access to rather different. Mobile phones are personal, part of our information a few steps closer to being a universally en- emotional lives and almost always with us. Through mobile joyed right. phones, access begins to be conceived in terms of “just- The mobile revolution in-time” and “just-for-me” learning. For this reason, Traxler posits that “it is entirely possible that the emergence of mo- The staggering uptake of mobile phones – in terms of speed bile learning in developing countries will take the evolution of of adoption and number of users – has surprised even the e‑learning along a trajectory that is very different from that in greatest of techno-optimists. While universally accepted fig- developed countries, where it has been predicated on mas- ures are difficult to obtain, it was reported that by the end sive, static, and stable resources”6 – an exciting prospect. of 2008, worldwide mobile cellular subscribers would reach the four billion mark.1 A full 1.3 billion of those subscribers Opportunities of m-learning would come from the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India Many opportunities exist for m‑learning to increase the and China), which were driving the bulk of the growth in reach and depth of access to online educational materials adoption. In the same year it was also reported that Africa – too many to cover here. Four key issues stand out and 2 was the world’s fastest growing mobile market. are worth mentioning: mobility, or being able to access and The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) cau- tions that these figures need to be “carefully interpreted” (which is outside the scope of this paper), but the overall gist 3 Ahonen, T. (2008) Mobile as 7th of the Mass Media: Cellphone, cameraphone, is understood: the mobile revolution has happened, and is iPhone, smartphone, Futuretext, London. 4 Roberts, C. (n.d.), cited in Traxler, J. and Sugden, D. (2007) Why Go Mobile? An Overview of Mobile and Wireless Learning. www.jisc.ac.uk/media/ 1 International Telecommunication Union (ITU) (2008) Worldwide mobile documents/programmes/elearninginnovation/session1_jtds_whygomobile.pdf cellular subscribers to reach 4 billion mark late 2008. www.itu.int/newsroom/ 5 Traxler, J. (2009) Current State of Mobile Learning, in Ally, M. (ed.) Mobile press_releases/2008/29.html Learning: Transforming the delivery of education and training, Athabasca 2 Reed, M. (2008) Africa, World’s Fastest Growing Mobile Market. allafrica.com/ University Press, Edmonton, p. 9-24. stories/200804280943.html 6 Ibid.
Thematic reports / 29 share information from anywhere (where there is coverage, device, it can empower users to generate and share local of course) and at any time; the pervasiveness of the device content. Furthermore, because phones are ideally suited to (for example, compared to the number of PCs in telecentres accessing locally relevant and timely information, the incen- or schools); the ability to access not only materials but peo- tive to generate this content – for content providers and local ple, fully exploiting the communication feature of phones in citizens – is increased. the service of education; and the potential of the phone as a device for content creation. Costs In addition to the texting that happens on phones, many Mobile tariffs are still too high in developing countries, espe- phones today have cameras that can take still images as well cially because most citizens pre-pay for their usage, which as video. Many phones can also play audio files and have is more expensive than contract rates. There is even some radio. Increasingly, even lower-end handsets have general research that suggests that “mobiles are doing more eco- packet radio service (GPRS) capability, allowing for internet nomic harm than good, and