World Bank Tries Teleconferencing
Maybe it's a little ironic that a conference on poverty is about to take place on the Internet, home of the "digital divide." Still, the World Bank is about to give it a go, proclaiming that the interactive format will make the event "more inclusive," since armchair economists will be able to participate via e-mail. Whether the event will also be more inclusive for hacktivists remains to be seen.
Why did the World Bank flee from Barcelona to the Net? "Protesters from Spain and France had planned a parallel meeting, including a mock trial of the World Bank, and organizers feared the event might turn violent," said the AP. If you're reading MSNBC, "threats of violence ... forced the organization to relocate to cyberspace." The BBC said "thousands of activists were threatening to turn up and disrupt the event," and ZDNet UK referred simply to "an attempt to avoid demonstrations." These variations are typical of media coverage of anti-globalization protests, which seem to range from peaceful to apocalyptic, depending on the journalist.
Anyway, "it is thought to be the first time a major conference has been held over the Internet specifically to avoid physical demonstrations," said ZDNet UK. Time wondered if it wouldn't be the last, declaring that "The World Bank's decision doesn't exactly bode well for next month's summit of G8 leaders in the Italian city of Genoa." A World Bank spokesperson denied that the G8 meeting could possibly be moved to cyberspace, reported MSNBC. "Online discussion is not a substitute for real-world meetings," he said, it's just that the size of the expected protests was ridiculous compared with the size of the meeting.
Few journalists expected the online dodge to work. "Somebody ought to tell the bankers that their anti-capitalist nemeses may find it even easier to crash the virtual barricades of cyberspace than to break through lines of riot policemen," said Time's Tony Karon. "The Net-based conference is likely to draw the attention of computer-savvy activists and could encourage far more people to join the protests than could make it to Barcelona in person," predicted the BBC, especially since the Web site hosting the conference runs "the Microsoft IIS web server that has many widely publicized security holes."
Indeed, protesters have already threatened to crash the online party, reported the Guardian under the headline "Cyber war declared on World Bank." The Register's John Leyden complained that "nothing in the piece really justifies such a strident headline." We wonder what he thinks of Time's headline, "Anarchists 1, International Institutions 0."
The BBC said groups that had planned street activism are now encouraging protesters to register for the online event and ask difficult questions. If that's all that activists do to give the bank a hard time - and if conference attendees actually answer the queries - maybe they should hold that G8 summit online after all. - Jen Muehlbauer
Protest fears force World Bank conference online <http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,s2089495,00.html>
World Bank uses Net to duck protesters (AP) <http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=993074603911&call_page=TS_World&call_pageid=968332188854&call_pagepath=News/World&col=968350060724.>
Anarchists 1, International Institutions 0 <http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,131555,00.html>
World Bank summit in cyberspace <http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/business_story.html?in_review_id=402099&in_review_text_id=350063>
World Bank to hold meeting online <http://www.msnbc.com/news/589658.asp>
Cyber war declared on World Bank <http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,7369,509698,00.html>
World Bank risks attack from net protesters <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1398000/1398485.stm>
World Bank faces online sit-in <http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/8/19853.html>