ICT for development

Each week David Souter comments on an important issue for APC members and others concerned about the Information Society. This week’s blog is the first of two about the impact of ICTs on the environment. See part II here. Climate change, many feel, is the biggest challenge facing the planet. It’s also the central question of sustainable development: how do we enable economic prosperity and ...

Each week David Souter comments on an important issue for APC members and others concerned about the Information Society. This week’s blog is about how the possibility of privacy is changing in the digital age.   Privacy, say many people, is the human right most threatened by the Internet – and more generally by ICTs. I agree – so much so that I think we need to change the way we thi...

This is a submission to the Parliament of South Africa hearings on "The Cost to Communicate in South Africa" from APC, Research ICT Africa, the Freedom of Expression Institute of South Africa, Media Monitoring Africa, the Right To Know Campaign, the Internet Society (Gauteng Chapter), the Soweto Wireless User Group and Zenzeleni Networks. Providing affordable universal services and access to co...

Each week David Souter comments on an important issue for APC members and others concerned about the Information Society. This week’s blog is about our changing relationship with mobile phones. The way people use mobiles and other ICT devices is the most dramatic change in life and lifestyle in my lifetime. Mobility is at the heart of that. Fifty years back, you needed a big office to hold a ...

Each week, David Souter comments on an important issue for APC members and others concerned about the Information Society. This week’s blog is about building skills or capabilities for the digital age. Last week’s blog explored the impact that information technology’s having on the world of work. Some of us are enthusiastic about – or at least comfortable with – the disruptive impact ...

David Souter’s weekly blog for APC about the Information Society returns today from its summer/winter break. This week’s blog is about the impact of ICTs on the world of work. More attention’s being paid of late to the impact that ICTs are having on the world of work. Not before time, I’d say. After all, the work we do is central to most of our lives. It plays a big part in deciding how...

Each week, David Souter comments on an important issue for APC members and others concerned about the Information Society. This week’s blog looks at the impact of ICTs and the Internet on economic, social and cultural rights. Debates about rights and the Internet have focused mostly on civil and political rights, especially privacy and freedom of expression. But, as I wrote in last week’s b...

Responding to reports by the special rapporteurs on migrants and extreme poverty at the 32nd session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, the government of Botswana had something interesting to say. It said that although it did not recognise the covenant on economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs) “in any legal sense”, it subscribed to its objectives. In line with this it was do...