World Summit on the Information Society

This week in Athens, the first Internet Governance Forum is resuming to discuss issues concerning the global community. There will be many workshops on different topics such as privacy, domain name management, affordable and equitable access to communication technologies etc.

I was fortunate enough to have been a part of some of the burgeoning days of these efforts, from my days as founder of the Asia PAcific Policy and Legal Forum (APPLe) and as Secretary General of the Asia Pacific Internet Association back in the late 90s, as well as the Baha'i International Community Representative both at the WSIS Geneva 2003 and WSIS Tunis in 2005.

Both at Tunis and Geneva, as Baha'is we participated mainly in the Ethics and Values Caucus to help bring forward such principles into the Action Plan of the WSIS. It was very encouraging to see other spiritual and religious groups involved in these efforts.

We met many other Baha'is during these events, such as the Mona Foundation who were invited to showcase their projects at the Microsoft booth, Dr Danesh and his efforts in the Institute of Conflict Resolution, etc. I am sure there will be many Baha'is in Athens, and only wish I could have been there. Lack of funding and time has made me have to miss attending again this year.

It is ever so exciting to see the world collaborate to use communications technologies to bring the world together. This vision of a borderless world of communication is there in the Baha'i writings.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/30/igf_overview/