The delegation from USA and European Union have worked always together, and have leaded the group of conservatives. They haven't denied they've been defending the interests of North American big companies.

The main controversies of WSIS have been around the alternative of Free Software as an instrument to digital inclusion, incentive to innovation and technological development. In that point, the Brazilian delegation has been firm and leaded the discussion. That's because of the sum that we have in our country in this theme, like official support from Federal Government, Porto Alegre and Sao Paulo's City Halls, from the House of Representatives, through the Mixed Parliamentary Front (126 deputies and 35 senators), from entrepreneurs and the civil society through the free software community, articulated by Free Software Project Brazil.

A second controversy has been on the emphasis to deepen the intellectual property laws about digital stuff vs. the knowledge sharing as a mechanism to guarantee the permanent technological innovation and the digital inclusion. Brazil and India have leaded the group that understands that the emphasis to knowledge sharing among the people is more appropriate to the development of a democratic information society and it's the unique opportunity for the in growth and poor countries to overcome the technological delay.

Most governments of the rich countries, leaded by USA, have showed that they desire to preserve the selfish and absolute control over the technology, getting protected by deepening the intellectual property laws. Besides being a clearly protectionist politics, that position proposes an information society "without information" and shared knowledge. Actually a Disinformation Society. To us, it would just remain the role of technological consumers of "canned" products, made in the north of the planet, depriving our universities, research centers, private companies, governments and population of having domain and knowledge over the technology that is (or should be) being disseminated.

Another very relevant subject has been the discussion about the democratization of the Internet management. Our group, also leaded by Brazil, has defended that the control over the addresses and the Internet management should be made as a tripartite form (governments, civil society and private sector) and by a UN international body. The conservatives desire to preserve that control as an anti-democratic form, centralizing it in a North American institution.

The African countries and a resolution from "World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities", that took place one week before in Lyon, France, have also defended the creation of a fund of international solidarity to the digital inclusion. That proposal has been supported by Brazil and the group of in growth countries.

The people from the rich countries haven't wanted even talking about that fund. Not even if it was a volunteer fund, non-government. They've defended that the "market" should rule the digital inclusion, i.e., who has money to pay and buy from the monopolists big companies of the northern hemisphere has the chance to participate in the information society. The others must wait their turn in the long line of the digital excluded ones.

All of those points have had a dubious and contradictory ending, result from the tight diplomatic negotiations. We've gotten some advances in relation to the conservative original proposal and we've been protagonists in the international scenery. But the result of WSIS is far from reflecting and pointing to new elaborations to the information society or some kind of innovative thought. It's been a summit dominated by a thought of "conservative reaction" to the new possibilities caused by the digital revolution and the Internet.

The discussion continues, and till the second turn that will happen in 2005, in Tunis, we have much to do. We have to take that discussion off the trunk and turn public the position taken by the governments in front of the societies.

The representatives of the civil society presents in WSIS, not concordant with the result, have approved an alternative declaration that is in tune with the positions defended by our government and our international group. We've had a wide support from the international public opinion and we are in tune with the people's desires, being them from rich or poor countries.

*Porto Alegre's City Hall Free Software Project Brazil (www.softwarelivre.org) Official Representative of Brazilian Government Representative of Civil Society, representing Free Software Project Brazil

Translator by: Fernada Weiden and Marlon Dutra (Free Software Project Brazil)