PTS
Swedish Post & Telecom Agency
Johan Martin-Löf
GSM +46 730 665733
25 February 2004
PM
1(3)
ITU follow-up of WSIS-1, Swedish suggestions
The purpose of this memo is to present a few observations from WSIS-1 of a
conceptual nature and make a few brief suggestions for the direction of future ITU
work in the WSIS process.
1
ITU’s basic philosophy
Fundamental technological changes have altered the conditions for the world’s
telecommunications. The old technology was analogue and the principal service was
voice communication. Thanks to international cooperation in the ITU, national
telephone networks have been interconnected into a global infrastructure.
Digital technology has transformed telecommunications and facilitated the construction of digital networks. They can carry a mix of many services requiring different
capacity in a flexible manner. Internet Protocols have been developed and applied
globally, so that data can be transported in a standardised manner. A number of
applications have also been developed so that information can be exchanged on a
global scale.
These new applications are potentially useful for all, but the deployment of digital
technology over the world is uneven. So, the concept “the digital divide” signifies
that the use of ICTs and the resulting benefits are very unevenly distributed over the
world. There are large “digital gaps” between “haves” and “have-nots” in the world.
ITU has consequently made it one of its tasks to help bridging this digital divide.
2
The WSIS process
The WSIS negotiation towards formulating a Declaration of Principles and a Plan of
Action was long and arduous. One reason is that the range of issues has been
widened considerably during the process. Another reason is that some of the issues
have proven to be controversial in nature.
The fact that WSIS is a UN summit meeting at the highest political level has
prompted the inclusion of most of the major topics which are on the global agenda,
with few exceptions. Little analysis has been made of their link to the digital divide in
a narrow sense.
The scope has thus become broad and some ten major areas are covered in the WSIS
documents. One consequence of this broad scope is that the individual areas can
only be addressed in limited detail, even if the texts are rather long. Another
consequence is that the WSIS process may run the risk of duplicating efforts already
under way in other international organisations. Double work is not efficient and
should preferably be avoided.
3
The role of ITU
In its contribution to WSIS, ITU concentrated on three main topics: infrastructure
development, practical benefits and trust/security. The underlying logic was simple.
Infrastructure is necessary for transport of data and information. The resulting
benefits are major arguments for ICT (Information and Communication
Technologies) investments. Trust and security are necessary in order to safeguard the
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PTS
Swedish Post & Telecom Agency
Johan Martin-Löf
GSM +46 730 665733
25 February 2004
PM
2(3)
transport. All the three topics are clearly linked to bridging the digital divide and to
ITU’s activities.
A conclusion by the Swedish administration from WSIS-1 is that these three areas
prove to be highly relevant also for the future. We thus consider that future ITU
efforts in these areas should be pursued in the coming work towards WSIS-2, to be
held in Tunisia in November 2005.
3.1 The “digital divide” and infrastructure development
A first observation from WSIS is that the concept “digital divide” has been used by
some actors as a much wider general umbrella concept than originally conceived.
One telling example is the UN Secretary General’s opening address to WSIS-1. He
stated: “The so called digital divide is actually several gaps in one” and then went on
enumerating “a technological divide”, “a content divide”, “a gender divide”, “a
commercial divide” as well as “social, economic and other disparities”.
The Swedish administration agrees with the UN Secretary General that there are
many gaps in the world, but we do not agree to the idea of bringing them all together
under the term “digital divide”. Our argument is twofold; one should

Avoid misunderstandings regarding the issue, and

Not be misleading when it comes to potential solutions
People in general still tend to understand the digital divide as a gap in the use of
ICTs, so the widened meaning could lead to misunderstanding. The widened
meaning might also give the false impression that bridging the gap in the use of ICTs
would in itself cure most other gaps in the world and thus be misleading.
So, our suggestion is that the ITU in its future work in WSIS process should not
extend the use of the concept “digital divide” to a general codeword for all
conceivable gaps in the world. ITU should be true to the original concept “digital
divide” as used in the early ITU contributions to the WSIS process.
Infrastructure development should therefore in our opinion continue to be a key
issue for ITU’s work on bridging the digital divide.
3.2 The “global knowledge society” and its benefits
Another observation from the WSIS process is that many speakers present the image
that Internet permits instant sharing of knowledge between people on a global basis,
thus paving the way for a “global knowledge society”. This optimistic picture might
lead to gross oversimplifications and unrealistic expectations on the results. Caution
is warranted and two aspects need to be high-lighted in this respect:

Conversion is performed between data and information in various forms
(sound, text, images etc.) in terminals at both ends of a communication. This
requires agreement on standards for protocols, alphabets, coding etc.

Information is fed to users and their applications for conversion into
knowledge. Relevance of the information is a necessary condition for any
effective transformation to knowledge.
Thus, the global transfer of knowledge is possible only if specific conditions are
realised. The transfer of knowledge is confined to groups, united by common
features such as language and culture. Benefits can then be considerable.
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PTS
Swedish Post & Telecom Agency
Johan Martin-Löf
GSM +46 730 665733
25 February 2004
PM
3(3)
In our opinion ITU should continue its efforts in this area, demonstrating the
potential benefits of the introduction and use of ICTs. But at the same time we must
keep in mind that real benefits depend on an effective mechanism for transforming
information into knowledge. There is no single “global knowledge society”, but a
multiple set of knowledge societies.
The concepts “digital society”, “information society” and “knowledge society” are
not necessarily equivalent and confusion should be avoided. They may also be global,
regional, national or sub-national in nature.
3.3 The “information pollution” vs. trust and security
A third observation from WSIS-1 is that cyberspace is rapidly encountering its own
particular environmental problems. Spam was high-lighted as a major issue.
Unwanted messages are invading our email systems. Indications are that as much as
half of the total traffic is unwanted. The latter may contain outright criminal or
fraudulent messages, abusive messages, sheer nonsense or well-intended messages
which come as avalanches after other incidents. Many people have for example
received non-delivery notices of spurious messages that they have never intended to
send.
Other problems are malicious attacks intended to disrupt or invade our information
systems with various intentions in mind.
This “information pollution” repeatedly causes considerable damage, disruptions and
delays and there are staggering estimates for the costs of recovery. Benefits from the
use of ICTs are put in serious jeopardy. Trust and security in the use of ICTs are at
risk.
So, in our opinion work in ITU’s third priority area trust and security does indeed
need to be pursued. There are no simple remedies at hand and the problems are
global in reach, so international cooperation is needed.
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