News

LONDON (Russell Southwood for APC) -

As other African countries along the SAT-3 submarine internet cable struggle with the high costs of monopolised international bandwidth, Mauritius has encouraged a lowering of prices through price-setting. But Mauritius Telecom had lowered its rates even before the government scale came into effect. The Cyber Island has seen a significant increase in its call centre and outsourcing sectors. Can Mauritius provide lessons to countries that are looking to boost their economies? This study written by Russell Southwood for APC in May, and now available for the first time in French and Portuguese, examines the relationship between international bandwidth prices in Mauritius and the impact of its Cyber Island strategy.

SAXONWOLD (Lisa Thornton for APCNews) -

Africa faces two serious challenges regarding internet connectivity – high prices and unreliable connections. The SAT-3/WASC cable, a submarine cable that runs from Portugal to South Africa, has the potential to help alleviate some of the connectivity challenges however, a study released by the APC in May 2008 and now in French and Portuguese written by Abiodun Jagun, reveals that the cable remains largely under-utilised. APCNews talks to Abi Jagun about her findings.

LONDON (Computer Aid) -

APC member Computer Aid has recently caught the BBC’s attention with its adaptive technologies in Kenya. The BBC’s Click covered Computer Aid’s new focus on making computers and their programmes available to everyone, including people who cannot see. You can see the video clip online or read a related BBC article which examines how Computer Aid is helping Kenyans change their lives, and the challenges involved.

LONDON (Computer Aid) -

APC member Computer Aid is urging the UK government to take action against the illegal dumping of e-waste (computers, hard drives, cd roms, etc.) in countries such as Ghana, Nigeria and China. It is calling on the government to provide adequate funding for the Environment Agency to effectively police and prevent e-waste from being exported to the developing world. The campaign also targets commercial traders that are abusing re-use and recycling initiatives and computer manufacturers that are turning a blind eye to their equipment being dumped in these countries.

NEW YORK (Social Watch for ITeM) -

The recent release of the 2008 Basic Capabilities Index (BCI) results, an alternative poverty estimate produced by Social Watch, revealed that the current rate of progress is moving at a snail’s pace. Out of 176 countries where a BCI figure is being measured, only 21 have made noticeable progress over the past 8 years. As such, the international poverty reduction goals for 2015 will not be met; in fact in certain areas such as sub-Saharan Africa, an entire century would be needed. Social Watch is an initiative of the Third World Institute (ITeM), member of APC in Uruguay.

MONTREAL (Frédéric Dubois for Alternatives) -

Africans pay five to ten times more than Canadians do to access the internet. It is even more costly in rural settings, where a connection is often hard to find. However, what is even more scandalous is the fact that the consumers have no say. A walk on the dark side of the internet.

BUDAPEST (Pavel P Antonov for APCNews) -

Smelled like a revolutionary spirit around Popinci, central Bulgaria, when residents and activists raised barricades around their village. They believed that a planned gold mining project in the nearby hills would harm the environment and their health. They demanded it to be cancelled. The villagers’ impulsive action has put the project on hold for the last three years. But this, or any other community, might not have been as successful in attaining a concrete outcome, had it chosen to fight for access to high speed internet. And the reason is simple. Unlike the environment, internet is not widely perceived by authorities, legislators and policy makers as an essential common good.

CAPE TOWN (Jennifer Radloff for GenARDIS) -

The Gender, Agriculture and Rural Development in the Information Society (GenARDIS) Small Grants Fund is delighted to announce that twenty projects have been short-listed as possible GenARDIS grantees. The short-listed proposals come from sixteen countries in Africa and the Caribbean, ranging from the Dominican Republic and St. Vincent on over the Atlantic Ocean to rock-skip throughout western Africa in Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Congo. Eastern Africa and Southern Africa also have their share of representation with projects from Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Read the entire announcement

MONTRÉAL (FD for APCNews) -

APC members identified seven areas of strategic importance that APC should prioritise for the next five years during the APC council meeting held in Rio de Janeiro in November 2007. Some of these areas build on work we have been doing since 2000, such as internet rights, for example; others are new. Two of the seven priorities relate specifically to strengthening the capacity and sustainability of APC. We offer you an overview of APC’s strategic priorities for 2008-2012.

PRAGUE (Various for GenderIT.org) -

This month, APC women’s GenderIT bulletin investigates online crime, cyberstalking, and asks how women are being affected. In “Finding a difficult balance – Human rights, law enforcement and cyber violence against women” Mavic Cabrera-Balleza speaks to activists from South Africa and the USA. Wieting Xu looks at cybercrime in India. Argentinian lawyer Carlos Gregorio argues that “Cybercrime laws are not enough, there is also a need for education”. And Ramata Soré discovers that in Burkina Faso women are the perpetrators as well as the victims of internet fraud.

BUWAMA (Francis Mwathi for UgaBYTES) -

On the 6th of August 2008, Dafne Plou, an APC facilitator on the Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM) with telecentres, visited Uganda on a mission of evaluating how ICTs impact the community within gender lines.

PRAGUE (Lenka Simerska for APC WNSP) -

Taking control of technology for women’s advocacy took a different tack in the Czech Republic, where APC WNSP Europe introduced the project “Women into IT” to challenge stereotypes around women and ICTs and attract more women into the IT field.

YAOUNDE (Avis Momeni for APCNews) -

PROTEGE QV will join the rest of the world over to celebrate the Software Freedom Day 2008 taking place on September 20 2008. The innovation in this year’s free and open source software activities in Yaounde, Cameroon, is that they will be help in an open air setting.

LONDON (APC for APCNews) -

“Access to the internet is a thousand times cheaper in Scandinavian countries than in my village,” says Nigerian activist John Dada, who specialises in information and communications technologies (ICTs) for development. In order to contribute to the discussion on what can make access to the internet real for people, specially the poor and marginalised, APC is launching a series on equitable access that includes papers and commentaries on the themes of business models, policy and regulation, tools and technologies and people, networks and capabilities. We ask for your comments.

BUDAPEST (maxigas for APCNews) -

A European Union directive on data retention is set to be implemented in all member states from 2009, requiring all telecom providers to hold on to your email’s destination, the subject line and the sending time. European internet service providers are requested to retain not only email, but any metadata of communication originating from their network. But isn’t that a violation of the fundamental right to privacy, as defined by our 60-year old Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Isn’t it in direct defiance of APC’s Internet Rights Charter? Groups associated with the APC community, academics and radical technology collectives converge onto Budapest in September to seek a way out of Fortress Europe 2.0.

SAPPORO (Andrew Garton for APCNews) -

Click here to watch the Identifying the Information Commons sampler from Day 01 and that of Day 02 of the iCommons iSummit. The excerpt was produced and put together by APC.au’s Andrew Garton. APC’s Australian member ison the ground in Japan to offer the world a glimpse of what the iSummit 08 is about and to produce the joint APC and iCommons micro-documentary, Nailing the Commons. The composer, producer and media artist participated in the do-it-yourself video and Asia Commons tracks in Sapporo and along with and BlueLink’s Pavel Antonov, interviewed a cross-section of participants. Here is a selection of report backs on the Asia Commons…

JOHANNESBURG (Alan Finlay for APCNews) -

Privatisation without regulation does not necessarily improve service delivery, and may even decrease access to information and communication technology for the poor. This is the view of US-based academic and ICT policy analyst Robert Horwitz, who was speaking at a one-week research workshop held in Johannesburg in July 2008. Horwitz is no newcomer to South Africa, or to the politics behind antennas, cables and wires.

SAPPORO (FD for APCNews) -

On July 29, free thinkers and open culture activists from around the world gathered on Hokkaidō island, Japan. What is so free and open about this venue, traditionally inhabited by the Ainu People? The fourth edition of the global ICommons ISummit, reply those converging on the island’s city, Sapporo. The summit is set to “grow the commons” until August 1 and beyond, as participants – among them APC members and staff – will advocate for open content, open education, do-it-yourself video, and academic research on free culture.
>>Read Natalie Brown’s blog post on linguistic diversity at iSummit 08
>>Watch Andrew Garton’s in-the-field video, asking the question, what is the commons?

LIMA (FD for APCNews) -

As part of the TRICALCAR project a set of seven new training modules, which the WILAC network is pleased to share with its African counterpart, has been made available. The modules range from WiMax to energy for telecommunications systems, visiting VoIP, long distance wireless links and community, gender and technology on the way. There are even sustainability strategies and network planning modules.