Choosing Tunisia for the 2nd phase of the ITU World Summit on the Information Society … good move? or not?

Well, you can argue that since the other side of the digital divide definitely lives in Tunis, among other places, it’s good principle to hold the summit there. There is, however, one slight disadvantage. Tunisia has a less-than-optimal record on Human Rights . In particular the government engages in internet filtering (like China) (apparently they use SmartFilter ) and has a terrible record on free expression .

Whether or not that means WSIS is a waste of time or a negative thing I’m not sure. The first WSIS was most interesting as a struggle for the civil society to claw their way into place amongst the governments and organizations. Now the 2nd one might wind up being dominated by the theme of a free internet. That might not necessarily be a bad thing.