Welcome to BASE21

The "Asia Internet Rights International Conference," the first such conference on Internet Rights (IR) issues in Asia, will be held from Nov. 8th to 10th in Seoul, South Korea. It is being jointly organized by Japan Computer Access (JCA-Net) and the Korean Progressive Network. These organizations are gathering professors, activists, and other experts from all over Asia to share and discuss information regarding Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and their relationship to social movements in Asia.

Seven IR issues will be addressed at the conference--free speech, the digital divide, privacy, the internet and social movements, internet governance, copyright, and public access. In addition, the creation of a rapid response system, or a mirror site, for urgent situations when websites have been shut down by the authorities, will be examined.

Among the numerous social and political struggles going on in Korea, several progressive groups are now continuing protest actions against censorship of the internet (main points of the issue can be found on www.freeonline.or.kr). The government enforced an internet contents rating system from last July. Many gay and lesbian, anti-military service, and other controversial websites were shut down or faced the immediate possibility of closure.

Events similar to the Napster case also happened in Korea. Soribada (www.sorbada.com) provides a P2P program. Netizens can use each other's files, such as MP3s, by using this program. The recording industry took legal action against the Soribada manager, claiming that the P2P technology violated their intellectual property rights. Recently, the prosecutory authorities indicted the Soribada manager. Incidents such as this show how netizens and ICT groups in Korea are struggling against an array of injustices related to government censorship and control of the internet, which the conference will address.

Base21 staff reporter PatchA met two representatives from JCA-Net. They discussed the status of Japanese ICTs and the role of the IR conference.

[Special Interview]

Toshimaru Ogura is a board member of JCA-Net (Japan Computer Access)
Base21 Staff Reporter, PatchA met Ogura from JCA-Net. They talked about the situation of Japanese ICTs and what's the role of this conference.

Yasuda Yukihiro, Chairman of JCA-net
Base21 met, Yasuda Yukihiro, Chairman of JCA-net in Japan, to hear about the situation of Japanese ICTs. We see the results Mr. Yukihiro hopes in the Asia Internet Rights International Conference through this interview.