eG8
Internet n'a pas à être "civilisé"
"A u e-G8, je me sens comme un Indien ou un Africain en train de regarder les puissances coloniales s' armer pour conquérir ma terre" . Ce tweet du journaliste américain Jeff Jarvis résume le clivage entre le monde de l'Internet et ceux qui cherchent à le "civiliser", au premier rang duquel figure désormais Nicolas Sarkozy . Opération de communication, l'e-G8 aura eu le mérite de souligner l'importance croissante du numérique, longtemps cantonné en France à un secrétariat d'Etat, de mettre en scène des rapports de domination et surtout de révéler le choc de conception en matière de gouvernance entre les Etats et Internet. Commande politique financée par des industriels et orchestrée par un groupe publicitaire, l'e-G8 aura finalement traduit une conception étroite du système international . Il n'est guère parvenu à saisir les dynamiques transnationales actuellement à l'œuvre. L'e-G8 a d'abord butté sur la question récurrente de la représentativité.
First, do no harm. That is the message I would like to bring to the e-G8 summit on the internet gathered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy this week in Paris. I am apprehensive about a meeting of government and industry that begins with the presumption that they wield authority over the internet, the people’s internet. Cory Doctorow decided not to attend, declaring it a “whitewash” for regimes that are at “war with the free, open net.” Perhaps that’s the right decision.
A Hippocratic oath for the internet « BuzzMachine
Fight back against Sarkozy's EG8 -- an exercise in censorship and control dressed up as a technology summit
Jeremie Zimmermann from La Quadrature du Net sez, The Internet is the place where we meet, speak, create, educate ourselves and organize. However, as we are at a turning point in early web history, it could either become a prime tool for improving our societies, knowledge and culture, or a totalitarian tool of surveillance and control. After 15 years of fighting the sharing of culture in the name of an obsolete copyright regime, governments of the World are uniting to control and censor the Internet. The black-out of the Egyptian Net, the US government's reaction to Wikileaks, the adoption of website blocking mechanisms in Europe, or the plans for 'Internet kill switches' are all major threats on our freedom of expression and communication. These threats come from corporations and politicians, unsettled by the advent of the Internet.
France attempts to "civilize" the Internet; Internet fights back
For some time, French Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy has talked about his dream of a “civilized” Internet, but this dream has long been a nightmare for those who worry that “civilization” is really a code for “regulations favorable to big business and the national security state.” To make his vision a reality, Sarkozy helped to create this week's e-G8 meeting currently underway in the Tuileries Gardens next door to the Louvre—and the critics are fuming. "I was invited to the e-G8 and declined," said author and activist Cory Doctorow recently.
Copyfight: EFF co-founder enters e-G8 "lion's den," rips into lions
"I just arrived at the Tuileries for the #eG8, already a hoot. Unfounded smugness to rival the World Economic Forum." John Perry Barlow—EFF co-founder, Grateful Dead lyricist, and, improbably, now a rancher—arrived in Paris and began tweeting up a storm from the e-G8 summit gathered there this week to discuss the future of the Internet. After listening to French President Nicolas Sarkozy call repeatedly for Internet regulation and more copyright protection, Barlow added, "You'd have thought from Sarkozy's talk he was addressing a convocation of Anonymous and the Pirate Party. He wasn't."36 NGOs are addressing their concerns about the way the eG8 has been organized and the issues that will be raised in a joint declaration published exclusively on Owni.eu. In the wake of the G8 Summit on the Internet, organized in Paris on May 24th and 25th, AccessNow, La Quadrature du Net. Attac, etc want to highlight the importance of online freedoms and the access to Internet and make sure the participants are reminded of their responsibilities towards civil society, especially with regards to the current mideast uprisings. Among these NGOs, only 2 were invited at the Summit (Reporters Without Borders and Electronic Frontier Foundation). In its latest report published mon March 11th, Reporters Without Borders listed France as a country “under surveillance” and according to their barometer, 125 are jailed worldwide because of their online activity.
NGOs release joint statement to EG8 Leaders & delegates
The G-8 leaders will urge the adoption of measures to protect children from online predators, to strengthen privacy rights and to crack down on digital copyright piracy, according to two people who have seen drafts of a communiqué the G-8 will issue at the end of a meeting this week in Deauville, France. At the same time, the document is expected to include a pledge to maintain openness and to support entrepreneurial, rather than government-led, development of the Internet. This balancing act was reflected Tuesday in a speech by Mr.