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3/2020
Expanding
Public
Communication
Spaces
+plus Media viability gets a boost
Data as public good, and the public sector
Tensions between media censorship and regulation in Jamaica
Media Development is published quarterly by the
World Association for Christian Communication
308 Main Street
Toronto, Ontario M4C 4X7, Canada.
Join the World Tel: 416-691-1999
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Communication! Editor: Philip Lee
WACC is an international organization that pro- Editorial Consultants
motes communication as a basic human right, Embert Charles (Chairperson of the Msgr. Patrick
essential to people’s dignity and community. Root- Anthony Folk Research Centre (FRC) of Saint Lucia)
ed in Christian faith, WACC works with all those Clifford G. Christians (University of Illinois,
denied the right to communicate because of status, Urbana-Champaign, USA).
identity, or gender. It advocates full access to infor- Margaret Gallagher (Communications Consultant,
mation and communication, and promotes open United Kingdom).
and diverse media. WACC strengthens networks Cees J. Hamelink (University of Amsterdam,
of communicators to advance peace, understanding Netherlands).
and justice. Patricia A. Made ( Journalist and Media Trainer,
Harare, Zimbabwe).
Robert W. McChesney (University of Illinois,
MEMBERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES Urbana-Champaign, USA).
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network with people of similar interests and values, College, Chennai, India)
to learn about and support WACC’s work, and to Francis Nyamnjoh (CODESRIA, Dakar, Senegal).
exchange information about global and local ques- Rossana Reguillo (University of Guadalajara, Mexico).
tions of communication rights and the democrati- Clemencia Rodriguez (Temple University, USA).
zation of the media. Ubonrat Siriyuvasek (Chulalongkorn University,
Bangkok, Thailand)
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2 Media Development 3/2020
a
Vol. LXVI 3/2020
4 Editorial 20 Digital justice manifesto: A call
to own our digital future
5 COVID-19 pandemic and
biopolitics in Latin America 25 Manifeste pour une justice
Silvio Waisbord and María Soledad numérique : Appel à prendre
Segura en main notre avenir
numérique
8 SDGs: The challenge to
improve lives after the 31 Manifiesto por la justicia
COVID-19 crisis digital: Un llamado para que
Alexander Trepelkov
nuestro futuro digital nos
pertenezca
10 Sensibiliser sur le COVID-19 : 37 Data as public good, and the
Un travail complexe public sector
Mathilde Kpalla Parminder Jeet Singh
10 India and COVID-19: A 41 Media viability gets a boost
communication failure Lorenzo Vargas
Vincent Rajkumar
44 Tensions between media
12 La pandemia de COVID-19 y la censorship and regulation in
pulsión por la vigilancia estatal Jamaica
J. Carlos Lara Brittany Forsythe
15 The Girona Manifesto on 47 IAMCR anti-racism statements
Linguistic Rights
49 On the screen
16 European Charter for Regional
or Minority Languages (1998)
17 Charte européenne des
langues régionales ou
minoritaires (1998)
17 Promotion and use of
multilingualism and universal
access to cyberspace (2003)
3 Media Development 3/2020EDITORIAL goes out and myths are debunked;
* Reminding broadcasters of the steps they can
Mainstream media have produced extraordin- take to stay healthy;
ary and sustained coverage of the COVID-19 * Commending broadcasters and other jour-
pandemic, focusing on health, care-workers, and nalists for being on the front line and con-
government policies, as well as the impact on in- tinuing to work in these conditions.
dividuals and communities. The same cannot be Over the next year, many studies are like-
said for social media, which have been the source ly to be published reviewing lessons learned and
of misinformation and fake news, amplifying ru- planning for the next pandemic. This issue of
mour and stoking fear. Media Development merely scratches the surface
In times of crisis, information saves lives. of the various issues, one of which is the import-
Responding to COVID-19, it is vital to get ac- ance of local languages.
curate and trustworthy messages to people so
that they know what they need to do and where Language matters
they can get help. For many communities, how- Globalisation and cultural homogenisation
ever, particularly those most marginalized such mean that many of the world’s 7,117 different
as Indigenous peoples, refugees, and people liv- languages are in danger of vanishing. UNESCO
ing in rural poverty, lack of access to mainstream has identified 2,500 which, it claims, are at risk
media and sources of information in their own of extinction. A language becomes endangered
languages increases vulnerability. when its users begin to teach and speak a more
Consequently, during the COVID-19 dominant language to their children.
pandemic, many community media outlets took Endangered languages often have few
immediate action to provide up to date and ac- speakers left and it may be difficult to get infor-
curate information to listeners and viewers. One mation about them. One quarter of the world’s
example comes from Farm Radio International, languages are spoken by fewer than 1,000 people
(FRI) with its connections to 1,000 radio sta- and if these are not passed down to the next gen-
tions across 41 countries in Africa serving 250 eration, they will be gone forever. In 2010, the
million listeners. Aware of the critical import- Bo language – once spoken on the west central
ance of clear, accurate, informative broadcasts coast of North Andaman and on North Reef Is-
about COVID-19, FRI began: land of the Andaman Islands in India – vanished
* Actively distributing information and
resources, including scripts and back-
grounders, about how to plan and pro-
duce effective COVID-19 radio pro-
gramming;
* Creating or activating spaces, such as
WhatsApp groups, to give radio broad-
casters a place to learn from each other
about best practices in COVID-19
radio programming;
* Developing connections between
broadcasters and public health author-
ities in government, multilateral and
international organizations and civil
society to ensure accurate information
4 Media Development 3/2020when an 85-year-old woman of the Bo tribe died.
The first language used on the Internet COVID-19
was almost certainly English. By the mid 1990s
it was estimated that English made up 80% of pandemic and
the content. However, from once dominating
the web, English now represents just one among
biopolitics in
an online linguistic elite. English’s relative share
of cyberspace has shrunk to around 30%, while
Latin America
French, German, Spanish, and Chinese have all Silvio Waisbord and María Soledad
pushed into the top 10 languages online. Today Segura
that top 10 makes up 82% of the total content on
the Internet. Does the COVID-19 pandemic mark the
This technological silencing of other lan- birth of a new form of biopolitics? The
guages becomes all the more significant when
it comes to facing humanitarian crises such as
Latin American case shows important
those posed by COVID-19 or climate change. departures from Europe and the
Language profoundly affects a user’s experience United States, both in the adoption of
of the Internet and determines interactions on surveillance technologies and in the types
social media. It controls how much – if any – in- of biopolitical control enacted through
formation a user can access on Wikipedia and in
Google searches.
them.
A
On Twitter, although English is still the s the first pandemic in the datafied soci-
most common language, an estimated 49% of ety, the COVID-19 pandemic offers an
tweets are in other languages, with Japanese, opportunity to reassess debates about digital
Spanish, Portuguese, and Indonesian users most communication and governability. At the core
active. Behaviour analysis shows Twitter users of these debates is the interest in understanding
tend to confine their follows, tweets and retweets particular aspects of digital biopolitics – the am-
to those that speak the same language. Theor- bitious efforts by governments and corporations
etically it’s a platform for global conversations,
to maximize knowledge and control of popula-
but in reality these interactions are fragmented
tions for political and economic power, as well
and often limited by language.
as the vulnerability of democratic rights such as
Community media in local languages can
privacy and the right to know. In a recent arti-
overcome some of these barriers and help bring
cle, Stefan Ecks (2020) concludes “we have never
about greater resilience and adaptation. Digit-
seen biopolitics on such a scale. 2020 is the birth
al platforms are also language-friendly and can
year of radical biopolitics.”
be sources of trustworthy and useful informa-
tion. However, as the Just Net Coalition (whose Given our longstanding interest in the
“Digital Justice Manifesto” is reprinted in this datafied society in Latin America, we are inter-
issue of Media Development) points out, “Digital ested in assessing the applicability in the region
governance must aim at a complete break with of arguments about contemporary biopolitics in
the current vertically-integrated global digital Europe and the United States. Even if it is early
models... A new digital model must be shaped to draw categorical conclusions given that we are
that is local-to-global; that supports localness and in the middle of the pandemic and its evolution
furthers democratic self-determination, without and aftermath are unpredictable, there are indi-
compromising on the important benefits of the cations that the current situation in the region
globalness of the digital.” n does not match recent conclusions about the es-
5 Media Development 3/2020calation of biopolitics. systems traditionally underserved large swaths of
At the time of this writing [ June 3, 2020], the population and have been chronically under-
Latin America has become the new epicenter of funded and unequal. Also, they have lacked ef-
the pandemic with growing number of reported fective government administrative systems to
cases of infections and deaths. Various govern- set up, conduct, and maintain massive mon-
ments in Latin America (Peru, Argentina, Bo- itoring based on health and other personal data.
livia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia and Underreported health data is common; in some
Brazil) and the Inter-American Development countries such as Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela,
Bank have deployed digital technologies to con- health authorities have not bothered even to re-
trol the transmission of the virus and to support port basic epidemiological data. Underreporting
testing and tracing. They have collaborated with of cases is widely suspected.
private companies and universities in setting up It is hard to imagine that suddenly health
mobile applications for geolocalizing and con- systems in combination with other government
tact-tracing possibly infected people. Expected- agencies would be set up well-lubricated appar-
ly, these actions have raised concerns about the atuses. Take, for example, the decision by Brazil’s
negative impact of massive surveillance. President Jair Bolsonaro to terminate the agree-
ment between telecommunications companies
Technological and institutional obstacles and the Ministry of Science, Technology, In-
novation and Communication to provide infor-
However, while we recognize the legitimacy of
mation on mobile phones related to geograph-
these concerns, the problem in Latin America
ic location and mobilization. The decision was
takes different dimensions than in Europe, North
driven by Bolsonaro’s reckless pandemic policy
America, and East Asia. For the moment, the
than by concerns about data protection. His gov-
governments in the region have significant prob-
ernment has had an appalling performance since
lems to launch and maintain massive digital sur-
the beginning of the pandemic and it has flatly
veillance apparatuses. What stands in the way of
dismissed concerns raised by health experts (in-
pandemic-driven biopolitics is not a firm official
cluding his former Ministry of Health Nelson
commitment to protecting personal data or to
Teich) and the World Health Organization.
balancing public health objectives and democrat-
ic rights. The obstacles are rather technological Official disinterest in mobilizing digital
and institutional, namely, poor reach and limited technologies to control the pandemic pales in
effectiveness of digital and mobile technologies comparison to the way that police, military and
as well as deep-seated problems of state per- intelligence services in the region have historic-
formance in terms of governmentality and the ally approached communication and information
provision of health services in the region. technologies for securitization. Since the early
decades of the 20th century until recent military
Various factors shape biopolitics: govern-
dictatorships and contemporary democracies,
ment objectives, adequate bureaucratic systems
governments have developed surveillance tech-
to manage large-scale operations, accountability
nologies to control populations, often with fund-
and transparency of mechanisms and policies,
ing and technical support from foreign countries.
the reliability of digital platforms, and the cur-
Recently, governments in various countries,
rent conditions of epidemiological surveillance
including Colombia, Mexico, and Guatemala,
in each country. None of these aspects in Latin
have beefed up surveillance technologies to spy
America are comparable to the situation in most
on critics including human rights activists, polit-
countries in the global North.
icians and journalists. Nowhere in the region did
Most national health systems suffer from
national governments show comparable interest
chronic and severe deficits in the provision of ser-
in incorporating digital technologies to maxi-
vices and the monitoring of populations. Health
6 Media Development 3/2020Image courtesy of Datac-
tive.
mize biopolitics. The differences are quite telling Also, current health applications use con-
and show different priorities and approaches to siderable battery power and memory space, which
surveillance and population management. would reduce people’s willingness to use them.
Another difference is that digital technol- That is why Apple and Google, the two largest
ogies do not provide significant results without providers of operating systems for cell phones,
a high rate of adoption of contact tracing and joined forces to address this issue. Nonetheless, it
geo-localization applications via cell phones. is not clear yet whether digital corporations will
Their usefulness to contribute to control the pan- make certain applications available in older mo-
demic would be quite limited due to technologic- bile phones which are common in the region.
al limitations, namely, the restricted availability of Finally, application malfunctions during
high-end cell phone equipment with Bluetooth the somewhat chaotic launch of COVID-19 in
and GPS and the unequal infrastructure of cell several countries have discouraged people from
coverage in the region. Also, a well-functioning using them. Due to poor design, applications had
digital system would require relatively updated many vulnerabilities. This was the case in Argen-
mobile phones, which is not the case among tina in the province of San Luis, where nation-
vast numbers of people, as civil society organiz- al identity documents (including the processing
ation such as Derechos Digitales and Fundación code that is an authentication factor and the
Sadosky have observed. photo) were leaked, and in Buenos Aires where
According to 2010 data, between 65% and it is possible to access to the date of birth and
85% of households own mobile phones in Latin address of any citizen.
American countries, except for Cuba and Vene-
zuela where numbers are lower. Although a more Uncertain results prevail
recent survey shows that 89% of Latin Amer- In summary, the pandemic has prompted state-
icans have a cell phone and 47% a smartphone directed plans for monitoring COVID-19 preva-
are used with prepaid plans. In addition, mobile lence in partnerships with digital corporations
phone services in many countries, such as Mex- and universities, but their results are uncertain
ico, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela, at the moment. It is not clear that they would
are the targets of frequent complaints for poor achieve expected results. The obstacle is not a
quality, according to consumer rights protection strong culture of privacy and data protection, but
associations. rather, chronic problems in government agencies
7 Media Development 3/2020to ensure that health systems have ample and
quality coverage coupled with weak and uneven SDGs: The
commitment to addressing the pandemic.
In countries with serious infrastructure
challenge
problems and insufficient funding for health ser-
vices, it would have been surprising if govern-
to improve
ments had actively promoted data tracking to lives after the
COVID-19 crisis
inform healthcare research and policy and fix
intractable problems. Indeed, the spotty record
of health systems in the region in responding to
dengue, zika, Chagas and other infectious disease Alexander Trepelkov
outbreaks in recent years suggests that govern-
ment negligence and lethargy are not conducive The Sustainable Development Goals
to deploying massive digital-based monitoring (SDGs), with their universal scope,
and interventions. interlinked nature and focus on leaving
Knowing the scope of the disease implies no one behind will be more essential than
collecting massive amounts of data on popu-
lations, improving reporting systems, and de-
ever during and after this crisis.
T
ploying state-of-the-art technologies – all tasks he SDGs encourage investments in critic-
that demand the kind of government commit- al public goods like minimum levels of so-
ment that has been notoriously lacking in health cial protection and the provision of services like
systems in the region. Biopolitics assumes the health care, clean water and education which
willingness of states to know and roll out systems
help to build resilience and enhance the mech-
to track and control populations. On health mat-
anisms people have to cope with the immediate
ters, Latin American states have largely lacked
and longer-term impact of shocks.
the political will as well as human, economic and
technical resources to know and act. n The most recent estimates indicate that
some 3 billion people are without basic hand-
washing facilities at home and 4 billion people
Reprinted from Datactive under the Creative Com- lack any kind of social protection.
mons license Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Inter-
The SDGs are a commitment to leave no
national.
one behind, and this includes ensuring everyone
is able to take measures to reduce their exposure
Silvio Waisbord is a professor in the School of Media and Public
Affairs at the George Washington University, USA. to the disease and have the means to cope and
recover.
María Soledad Segura is the director of the research team
Sociedad civil y democratización de la comunicación y la cultura,
If anything, the SDGs will become more
Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina. important in the days and months ahead. The
goals and targets set in 2015 are precisely the
areas where progress needs to be made to build
resilience and guard against future crises and
where we will need to work to build back after
the immediate tragedy subsides.
Preliminary projections from the UN sys-
tem indicate that COVID-19 could lead to the
first increase in global extreme poverty in over 20
years, since the Asian financial crisis of 1981. It
8 Media Development 3/2020could push 40 to 60 million people into extreme encourage greater collaboration and knowledge
poverty and could double the incidence of food sharing for the public good.
insecurity in the world. There are also some surprising trends in
The challenge for improving people’s lives areas of the 2030 Agenda where progress has
after this crisis will be greater than ever, but the been slow. There is evidence that lockdown po-
SDGs will help guide the path forward to ease lices and the resulting reductions in economic
suffering. activity have seen CO2 emissions decline sub-
stantially.
Do any goals stand out at the moment as most The conditions of these declines have been
pressing? tragic and with loss of human lives and liveli-
Because the SDGs are all interconnected, inter- hoods. But there are questions now as to whether
ventions can be taken in ways that achieve one some of the shifts in human activity in response
goal while also leveraging positive synergies to COVID-19 government implemented guide-
among other goals to have a wider reach. The lines could open space for dialogue about behav-
UN’s Department of Economic and Social Af- iour changes that can support longer term cli-
fairs (DESA) launched the Global Sustainable mate action.
Development Report last September and a key So, we have the evidence needed to take
message there was that taking advantage of syn- action and possibly the space to make significant
ergies and addressing trade-offs among goals is policy changes. But to be successful, all stake-
the only way to achieve the 2030 Agenda. holders should be involved in dialogue and in-
Strengthening human well-being was iden- form the decision-making processes.
tified in the report as an entry point for maxi- Two annual events that DESA organizes
mizing progress across the Agenda and there are can provide a model for multi-stakeholder en-
examples that investing in education in science gagement and decision-making: the Science,
and technology can help build capacities for re- Technology and Innovation Forum (STI Forum)
sponding to pressing challenges like climate and the High Level Political Forum on Sustain-
change and also like the current pandemic. able Development (HLPF). n
The report also emphasizes the need for in-
creasing access to social protection as economies Source: Republished with permission from Inter
change and people need to cope with disasters, Press Service (IPS).
including health related; and the need for in-
creasing support for workers to transition to new Alexander Trepelkov is Officer-in-Charge of the Division for
types of work when livelihoods are dependent on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the UN’s Department
of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).
unsustainable sectors.
All of these are policy arenas that will be
at the forefront of decision-makers’ attention as
countries grapple with responses to COVID-19
and try to build stronger social and economic
systems to reduce future vulnerabilities.
Are they unrealistic? What about the 2030
deadline in light of the pandemic?
The science and knowledge needed to achieve the
2030 Agenda is well advanced and from a science
perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic may even
9 Media Development 3/2020Sensibiliser sur reste la radio, pour que le refus de certains de ne
pas respecter les règles ne mette en péril toute
le COVID-19 : Un la communauté. Il faut aussi pouvoir toucher le
maximum, et surtout les couches vulnérables en
travail complexe intensifiant les programmes en langues locales.
L’autre élément qui est pris en compte dans
Mathilde Kpalla les programmes est le travail de déconstruction à
faire par rapport aux multiples fausses informa-
Le Togo, comme la plupart des pays de tions qui circulent par Whatsapp et qui déroutent
l’Afrique subsahariens, est touché par les uns et les autres.
Alors pour y arriver, nous faisons intervenir
le COVID-19. Pour le moment (mars des pasteurs, de médecins, des psychosociologues.
2020) pas à une grande échelle. Ainsi le Car au-delà de la maladie elle-même, la psychose
Togo en est à 84 cas confirmés et 6 décès. reste un sérieux problème auquel les populations
font face.
T outefois, dans la crainte que l’épidémie ne
prenne une ampleur dramatique, dans un
pays avec un système sanitaire précaire, des dis-
Plus que jamais donc, cette sensibilisation
doit continuer pour que tous ait la même com-
préhension de la situation sanitaire, ce n’est que
positions sont prises au jour le jour pour prévenir comme cela que la lutte contre le COVID-19
la maladie. Et une des stratégies est la sensibili- sera efficace. Car un seul porteur du virus dans
sation afin que les populations aient le maximum un coin reculé suffit pour entrainer une contam-
d’informations qui leur permettent de se proté- ination en masse. n
ger de la maladie.
Alors les medias sont mis à contribution, Kpalla Mathilde. Directrice des Programmes de Radio Ephphatha,
tous les médias, officiels, séculaires, commun- la Voix du Presbytérien.
autaires. La radio, la télévision, la presse écrite, la
presse en ligne, tous sont engagés dans cette lutte
contre le Coronavirus. India and
Radio Ephphatha, la Voix du Presbytérien,
est une radio confessionnelle appartenant à l’Eg-
COVID-19: A
lise Evangélique Presbytérienne du Togo. Elle
est aussi sur le front dans cette sensibilisation. La
communication
tâche n’est pas aisée. En effet, les populations au
Togo, ont toujours su transcender leurs problèmes,
failure
souffrance et autres au travers de leur foi, par une As India grapples with COVID-19,
confiance en un Dieu qui peut tout. Et dans le confused and often disempowering
cas d’espèce, un Dieu qui peut les exempter de
communication has aggravated our
la maladie. Du coup pour certains, il n’est pas
question de respecter les mesures barrières pour present predicament.
prévenir la maladie, mais prier simplement.
Vincent Rajkumar
Alors nous essayons d’avoir des pro-
T
grammes qui expliquent aux auditeurs, qu’il faut he Indian Prime minister’s address to the na-
bien prier mais il faut aussi respecter les consignes tion managed to turn a state of public health
de sécurité. Il faut donc montrer la compatibilité crisis into a state of collective paranoia. For a
entre ces mesures et la Bible. Les Eglises étant consummate communicator like him, his address
fermées, le seul moyen de toucher les fidèles to the nation was a model of how not to com-
10 Media Development 3/2020municate during a health emergency. The Prime catch. It is a fact that fake news and deliberate
minister chose to give Indians barely a four-hour misleading of the public happens from the top,
notice. He did not share facts about the govern- and often through people who wield power. The
ment’s level of preparedness, nor did he comfort government doesn’t seem to realise that India’s
the public regarding the quality of our doctors people are more vulnerable to incorrect informa-
and medical researchers. He did not explain tion if the government and the media do not give
what would be permitted in this “curfew-like” them the right information first.
lockdown, resulting in a late night raid on mar- Within this ample framework of complex-
kets. Worse, he did not offer any assurance to ity, we are involved in research addressing media
the most vulnerable people that the government impact and its role during the COVID-19 pan-
would look after their food and other basic re- demic, in the following subtopics:
quirements, resulting in an exodus of thousands * Effective health communication for the
of poor migrants. adoption of sustainable preventive measures
During times of crisis, the government and curtailing misinformation;
has to over-communicate. It, however, chose to * Public health communication to increase
under-communicate. This lopsided communica- psychological resources and resilience in
tion has caused severe suffering among the poor, distinct age groups and socioeconomic con-
especially migrant workers, and has been un- ditions;
successful in the primary objective of enforcing * Effective strategies for helping individuals in
social distancing. Those in charge should realise dealing with social and physical distancing;
that poorly communicated or insufficient infor- * Reduction of stigma, prejudice, discrimina-
mation directly impacts disease control. It results tion, and inequalities.
in stigma, fear and poor health-seeking behav- As we engage in these aspects, we involve
iour, and increases vulnerability. It also causes in the relief activities that we undertake at this
lopsided reporting, theorising and fake news. moment with people of all faiths to look after
At the height of a national emergency, the the basic needs of the migrant workers who are
system is focused on Public Relations rather either on roads or in temporary sheds at vari-
than governance. The government should have ous places. Passing on information at this stage
begun a media engagement strategy, along with is a really difficult one but social media helps us
a multilingual, information campaign on every in coordinating our efforts and also in our com-
aspect of the crisis. The response should have munication. n
been communicated in painstaking detail to the
implementers, the media and the public. Instead Vincent Rajkumar is Director of the Christian Institute for the
the government went into an appeal to the Apex Study of Religion and Society, India.
court to restrain the media from reporting or
publishing “anything” without ascertaining the
factual position from the government.
This plea of the Indian government indi-
cates a democratic deficit in the executive in real-
ising the role of the media during a pandemic
and the necessity for a credible information eco-
system. While the apex court upheld the right to
free discussion about Covid-19, it also directed
the media to refer to and publish the official ver-
sion of the developments in order to avoid in-
accuracies and large-scale panic. Herein lies the
11 Media Development 3/2020La pandemia de tatal es la relativa al seguimiento de personas en
sus movimientos y en sus comunicaciones, con
COVID-19 y la las tecnologías de comunicación (y en particu-
lar, las digitales) como vía principal para la ob-
pulsión por la servación estatal. En un contexto donde resulta
conveniente hacer el seguimiento de personas
vigilancia estatal específicas o de grupos numerosos para trazar
rutas de contagio o medir situaciones de riesgo,
J. Carlos Lara aparecen estas tecnologías como un mecanismo
en apariencia idóneo. Varias medidas estatales
Incontables iniciativas estatales y reflejan esa intuición.
privadas pretenden proveer de soluciones La proliferación de aplicaciones móviles
a la expansión del COVID-19, incluso para la pandemia, especialmente a nivel guberna-
mental, son una muestra básica de esta pretensión.
en América Latina. A pesar de los En el caso de las de nuestra región, tanto el rast-
llamados a la cordura y al respeto por reo como la entrega de información para el auto-
los derechos fundamentales, persiste en diagnóstico de síntomas asociados a COVID-19
nuestra región un intento por usar la parecen objetivos de política pública razonables
vigilancia como solución, inclusive para para una crisis de salud. Sin embargo, un examen
apenas superficial permite encontrar incontables
problemas que van más allá de la salud puntos de duda: cómo se anonimizará y agregará
pública. ¿Sobreviviremos al brote de la información para no identificar individuos,
vigilancia? quién tiene acceso a la información, cómo será
utilizada (y en contraste con qué otros datos),
D esde hace semanas, hemos visto cómo
gobiernos mundiales, incluidos los de
América Latina, han comenzado a utilizar in-
por cuánto tiempo y bajo qué condiciones se al-
macenará, etcétera. Su utilidad en relación con
sus niveles de penetración, en tanto, son todavía
formación de teléfonos móviles y de aplicaciones un misterio.
para teléfonos móviles con el propósito de con- Como era de esperarse, una situación de
trolar la expansión de COVID-19 en sus países, crisis para los gobiernos constituye una enorme
fundamentalmente a través de aplicaciones para oportunidad para quienes quieren vender solu-
smartphones. Aunque muchos de los esfuerzos ciones. Esto es especialmente notorio en el caso
gubernamentales coinciden en carecer de sufi- de la tecnología, donde cada vendedor ajusta su
ciente legitimación y de resguardos de derechos oferta para convertirla en solución. Es el caso
fundamentales, el pánico aparente se convierte de NSO Group, compañía de tecnologías para
en el caldo de cultivo para medidas inidóneas y la vigilancia, que comenzó a ofrecer y a probar
abusivas. sus capacidades de vigilancia para hacer el se-
En un contexto de emergencia global, el guimiento de personas contagiadas y de las que
problema que surge no es una cuestión sola- por estar en contacto con ellas fueran susceptibles
mente del respeto a los derechos en una situación al contagio, a partir del cruce de información de
excepcional, sino también del riesgo que significa dispositivos y de redes de comunicación. Es decir,
mantener esa excepcionalidad para el ejercicio de convirtiendo en una situación deseable parte de
derechos fundamentales a lo largo del tiempo. la tecnología que ha sido usada incluso en nues-
tra región, para espiar a periodistas y activistas
en México. Además de la falta de credibilidad
El poder sanador de los datos personales de oferentes así, ¿cómo puede garantizarse que
Una tradicional expresión de la vigilancia es-
12 Media Development 3/2020la información no se usará con otros fines ni más ocupación de la sociedad civil a nivel regional y
allá de la emergencia actual? global por la necesidad de resguardos explícitos,
Fue en la Ciudad de México donde el anun- en un país donde todavía no existe siquiera una
cio de implementación de georreferenciación de ley de protección de datos personales, la medida
telefonía móvil para monitorear movimiento y de aparente carácter excepcional parece haber se-
contacto y controlar el aislamiento social. Como guido su curso, aun cuando Ecuador sigue siendo
señala R3D, otras autoridades estatales diri- uno de los países más afectados en número total
gen solicitudes de información a las empresas y proporcional de casos fatales en la región.
de telecomunicaciones, sin condición alguna de En el caso de Brasil, aun cuando por su
transparencia para medir su cumplimiento de los carácter federal han sido varios los estados que
estándares de derechos humanos y de la legis- han tomado medidas de prevención y de se-
lación nacional. guimiento, incluyendo mediante órdenes de
En sentido similar, hemos hecho mención aislamiento y del recurso a datos de empresas
al caso de Ecuador, donde se ha dispuesto el uso de telecomunicaciones, la ausencia de órdenes a
de “plataformas satelitales y de telefonía móvil” nivel nacional ha sido patente, y ha estado mar-
para el control de movimiento de la población cada por el liderazgo temerario del actual presi-
bajo aislamiento y cuarentena. A pesar de la pre- dente de la unión. Una situación particularmente
preocupante en atención a que Brasil mantiene
el número más alto de contagios en la región. A
Recent issues of la anticipada postergación de la entrada en vigor
de la Ley General de Datos Personales, se sumó
Media Development otra preocupación: hace semanas, se hizo público
el acuerdo entre empresas de telecomunicaciones
y el Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología, Innov-
2/2020 Traditional Knowledge and Climate ación y Comunicación, para facilitar informa-
Change: Bridging the Gap ción sobre teléfonos móviles relativas a ubicación
geográfica y movilización. Días después, tal ac-
1/2020 Realising Gender Equality: Progress
uerdo fue rescindido por el presidente Bolsonaro,
and Problems
no necesariamente por preocupaciones sobre los
4/2019 Communication Pirates of the Ca- datos personales, como por su actitud temeraria
ribbean frente a la pandemia. No obstante, los estados
conservan capacidad –y más importante, volun-
3/2019 MacBride+40: What Next for Media tad– para acordar tales usos, como ocurre con los
Democracy? populosos San Pablo y Río de Janeiro.
2/2019 Wanted: Sustainable Development Otras medidas son aun menos sofisticadas,
Goal 18 y pueden igualmente derivar en recolección de
información personal. Así, por ejemplo, aplica-
1/2019 Brave New Digital World ciones como el número de WhatsApp dispuesto
por el gobierno argentino para recibir consul-
tas facilitando el autoexamen, permiten a la vez
Media Development is provided free to identificar números telefónicos y por esa vía a las
WACC Individual and Institutional Members personas que buscan esa información.
and is also available by subscription. Sea que se trate de georeferenciación medi-
ante antenas de telefonía celular, mediante GPS,
For more information visit the WACC website: mediante señal de WiFi o mediante la entrega
www.waccglobal.org voluntaria de información del lugar de cuaren-
13 Media Development 3/2020tena, resulta al menos cuestionable su real efec- mediante WhatsApp, además de servirse de in-
tividad, en la medida en que no es tanto el ra- formación de telefonía móvil, y desde esta semana
streo como lo son el aislamiento y las medidas del uso de drones para seguir movimientos de
de contención las medidas mejor convocadas a la personas y dirigirse a ellas por altoparlante. En
prevención, como hemos señalado. Es necesaria tanto, en sentido similar, Argentina ha dispuesto
en cualquier caso una mayor precisión de la in- diversos mecanismos de denuncia, incluida una
formación generada –junto a todos los resguar- línea telefónica para denunciar infracciones del
dos latamente reiterados– para que ella tenga aislamiento social. Así, la irresponsabilidad de las
real capacidad preventiva e informativa en torno personas que insisten en romper situaciones de
a posibles focos de contagio. De lo contrario, la cuarentena pasa a ser una preocupación adicional
información agregada y anonimizada es la que de quienes sí la respetan, una fuente de descon-
mejor serviría a la toma de decisiones, también fianza social, y una motivación para el control
en tal caso bajo resguardos serios, y sin por ello mutuo.
ser por sí sola información suficiente. Otro nivel de control que toma como ex-
cusa a la pandemia es el realizado por el esta-
Síntomas de un problema mayor: el control do argentino, en el denominado ciberpatrullaje,
social consistente en la revisión de la discusión en re-
Al creciente listado de corona-apps presentes en des sociales “para la prevención de delitos pro-
América Latina se ha sumado más recientemente movidos según el ‘humor social’”. Si bien se trata
la anunciada aplicación CoronApp del gobierno a menudo de discusiones al alcance del público,
de Chile. Como otras, permite el autoexamen y esta acción de vigilancia estatal, de no ser trans-
la entrega de información, y permite asimismo parente y sujeta a protocolos de ejercicio y de
registrar el lugar de cuarentena, aun cuando no control, puede además de ser arbitraria impac-
entrega información de proximidad con personas tar negativamente en las personas, incitando a la
infectadas. Pero agrega una funcionalidad que autocensura. En ausencia de resguardos sobre su
varios estados de la región han convertido tam- procedencia y su supervisión, puede ser también
bién en una prioridad: la vigilancia mutua y el una forma de vigilancia masiva contraria a los
control social, más allá de los contagios. derechos humanos.
En el caso de la CoronApp chilena, existe
una funcionalidad específica para “informar y/o Contra los brotes de vigilancia en la región
denunciar conductas o eventos de alto riesgo”, Recolectar y procesar información sensible de
esto es, para acusar a la autoridad (en teoría, las personas, como es la relativa a su condición
el Ministerio de Salud) que se están presenci- de salud y a sus movimientos corporales, consti-
ando eventos de aglomeración de personas, in- tuye una acción intrínsecamente riesgosa para las
cumplimiento de las cuarentenas obligatorias, o titulares de esos datos. Pero en lo relativo a apli-
existencia de filas para servicios. Es fácil adivinar caciones, existen principios que pueden aplicarse
que esta función puede servir para actos de re- para prevenir buena parte de ese daño. Como
vancha o enemistad social, quizás empeorando relata Sursiendo, hay ya grupos de investigación
la distancia que ya se ha vuelto costumbre entre dedicados al desarrollo de aplicaciones y proto-
personas que comparten áreas con alta densidad colos de seguimiento respetuosos de la privaci-
demográfica, invocando tal vez innecesariamente dad, y cabe a los gobiernos tanto hacer eco de las
a autoridades ya sobreexigidas por una crisis sani- preocupaciones de la sociedad civil como recoger
taria global. y apoyar tales iniciativas. Los requerimientos de-
Tampoco se trata de una medida de con- lineados por el Chaos Computer Club para las
trol única. Así, Río de Janeiro controla aglom- aplicaciones son un punto de partida crucial para
eraciones mediante denuncias telefónicas y ese desarrollo.
14 Media Development 3/2020Por cierto, el desarrollo tecnológico por si
solo está condicionado por factores sociales, in- The Girona
cluyendo los normativos, que sirven como ga-
rantía al respeto a los derechos fundamentales. Manifesto on
Como hemos indicado, es también posible recur-
rir a legislación de emergencia no para facilitar
Linguistic Rights
la acción del estado vigilante, sino para asegurar
el pleno respeto de los derechos de las personas
afectados por la recolección y uso de su infor-
Sixty-one NGOs, 41 PEN Centres
mación personal. Además de ese rol protector, la and 40 experts in linguistic rights from
regulación puede así procurar la prevención de all over the world met in Barcelona,
que el estado de excepción se convierta en el de 6-8 June 1996. The convocation of
normalidad, y que la vigilancia pueda extenderse the World Conference on Linguistic
mucho más allá de la emergencia actual, incluso
con aprobación popular producto de una distor-
Rights (WCLR) was an initiative of
sionada percepción de la realidad. the Translations and Linguistic Rights
Pero además del deber de discutir apropia- Commission of PEN International and
damente cómo utilizar la tecnología que involu- the CIEMEN (Centre Internacional
cra vigilancia, es relevante discutir también el Escarré per a les Minories Ètniques i les
porqué. ¿Por qué es la vigilancia una posibilidad
Nacions) with the moral and technical
de acción percibida como “necesaria”, cuando
ni siquiera su carácter de conveniente es incon- support of UNESCO.
T
cuso? ¿Por qué justificar, y finalmente normal- he Assembly of Participants at the WCLR
izar, que bajo ciertas condiciones sea aceptable
approved the Universal Declaration of Lin-
monitorear nuestras expresiones, o llenar nues-
guistic Rights (UDLR) in a ceremony held in the
tros cuerpos, hogares y poblados con cámaras,
Auditorium of the University of Barcelona, pre-
georreferenciación, reconocimiento facial, de-
senting the signed document Mr. Andri Isaksson,
tección de calor, reportes voluntarios de salud, y
más? El no despliegue de la acción vigilante del official representative of the UNESCO Director
Estado es también una opción, especialmente de General.
cara a los riesgos involucrados y de la existen- Five years later, the Translation and Lin-
cia de medidas de salud pública con un impacto guistic Rights Committee developed the Girona
comprobadamente mayor. Insistir en soluciones Manifesto on Linguistic Rights in 2011 as a tool
tecnológicas puede llevarnos a eludir discusiones to aid the dissemination and implementation of
más profundas sobre fallas sistémicas que no son the UDLR. PEN Centres around the world have
causadas por virus o desastres naturales, sino por assisted in translating it into over 30 languages.
decisiones políticas sobre la organización de la The Translation and Linguistic Rights
economía y de la vida en sociedad. n Committee believes that translation is insepar-
able from linguistic rights and that the work of
Fuente: DerechosDigitales. 01 de mayo, 2020. CC translators is central to the promotion of the
BY-SA 3.0 CL right of all linguistic communities to be treated
as equal. PEN is committed to an understanding
Juan Carlos Lara es parte de Derechos Digitales desde 2008 of translation wherein all literatures, no matter
y actualmente coordina el equipo de investigación y políticas how they are defined, enrich one another.
públicas de la organización. Anteriormente se desempeñó como
investigador en temas vinculados a la propiedad intelectual, la The Girona Manifesto is a ten-point docu-
libertad de expresión, el acceso al conocimiento y la labor ment designed to be translated and disseminated
académica en el entorno digital.
widely as a tool to defend linguistic diversity
15 Media Development 3/2020around the world. At PEN International’s 77th
annual Congress the PEN General Assembly European Charter
approved the Manifesto.
PEN members have translated the Mani- for Regional
festo into various languages and encourage
others to translate it into their own and to con-
or Minority
tinue raising awareness about the need to protect
and promote linguistic diversity. The Manifesto
Languages (1998)
reads: This treaty aims to protect and promote
1. Linguistic diversity is a world heritage the historical regional or minority
that must be valued and protected.
languages of Europe. It was adopted,
2. Respect for all languages and cultures is
fundamental to the process of constructing and on the one hand, in order to maintain
maintaining dialogue and peace in the world. and to develop the Europe’s cultural
3. All individuals learn to speak in the heart traditions and heritage, and on the other,
of a community that gives them life, language, to respect an inalienable and commonly
culture and identity. recognised right to use a regional or
4. Different languages and different ways minority language in private and public
of speaking are not only means of communica-
tion; they are also the milieu in which humans
life.
F
grow and cultures are built. irst, it enunciates objectives and principles
5. Every linguistic community has the right that Parties undertake to apply to all the
for its language to be used as an official language regional or minority languages spoken within
in its territory. their territory: respect for the geographical area
6. School instruction must contribute to of each language; the need for promotion; the
the prestige of the language spoken by the lin- facilitation and/or encouragement of the use of
guistic community of the territory. regional or minority languages in speech and
7. It is desirable for citizens to have a gen- writing, in public and private life (by appropriate
eral knowledge of various languages, because it measures of teaching and study, by transnational
favours empathy and intellectual openness, and exchanges for languages used in identical or sim-
contributes to a deeper knowledge of one’s own ilar form in other States).
tongue.
Further, the Charter sets out a number of
8. The translation of texts, especially the
specific measures to promote the use of regional
great works of various cultures,
or minority languages in public life. These meas-
represents a very important element in the ures cover the following fields: education, justice,
necessary process of greater understanding and administrative authorities and public services,
respect among human beings. media, cultural activities and facilities, economic
9. The media is a privileged loudspeaker for and social activities and transfrontier exchanges.
making linguistic diversity work and for compe- Each Party undertakes to apply a minimum of
tently and rigorously increasing its prestige. thirty-five paragraphs or sub-paragraphs chosen
10. The right to use and protect one’s own from among these measures, including a num-
language must be recognized by the United Na- ber of compulsory measures chosen from a “hard
tions as one of the fundamental human rights. n core”. Moreover, each Party has to specify in its
instrument of ratification, acceptance or approv-
al, each regional or minority language, or official
16 Media Development 3/2020language which is less widely used in the whole langues régionales ou minoritaires dans la vie
or part of its territory, to which the paragraphs publique. Ces mesures couvrent les domaines
chosen shall apply. suivants : l’enseignement, la justice, les autor-
Enforcement of the Charter is under con- ités administratives et les services publics, les
trol of a committee of experts which periodically médias, les activités et équipements culturels, la
examines reports presented by the Parties. n vie économique et sociale et les échanges trans-
frontaliers. Chaque Partie s’engage à appliquer
au moins 35 paragraphes ou alinéas parmi ces
Charte mesures dont un certain nombre est à choisir
obligatoirement parmi un “noyau dur”. De plus,
européenne chaque Partie doit spécifier dans son instrument
des langues
de ratification chaque langue régionale ou min-
oritaire répandue sur l’ensemble ou une partie
régionales ou
de son territoire à laquelle s’appliquent les para-
graphes choisis.
minoritaires L’application de la Charte est contrôlée par
un Comité d’experts qui est chargé d’examiner
(1998) des rapports périodiques présentés par les Parties.
Ce traité prévoit la protection et la
promotion des langues régionales et Promotion
minoritaires historiques. Son élaboration and use of
est justifiée, d’une part, par le souci de
maintenir et de développer les traditions multilingualism
et le patrimoine culturels européens,
d’autre part, par le respect du droit
and universal
imprescriptible et universellement access to
reconnu de pratiquer une langue
régionale ou minoritaire dans la vie
cyberspace (2003)
privée et publique. The General Conference of UNESCO,
recognizing the importance of promoting
E lle contient d’abord des objectifs et principes
que les Parties s’engagent à respecter pour
toutes les langues régionales ou minoritaires
multilingualism and equitable access to
information and knowledge, especially in
existant sur leur territoire : respect de l’aire géo- the public domain, adopted the following
graphique de chacune de ces langues, nécessité Recommendation at its 32nd session (30
d’une promotion, facilité et/ou encouragement September – 17 October 2003).
de leur usage oral et écrit dans la vie publique et
privée (par des moyens adéquats d’enseignement
et d’étude, par des échanges transnationaux pour
ces langues qui sont pratiqués sous une forme
T hrough this Recommendation, which pro-
poses measures fostering universal access
to digital resources and services, and facilitating
identique ou proche dans d’autres Etats). the preservation of their cultural and language
Ensuite, la Charte énumère toute une série diversity, UNESCO is encouraging its Member
de mesures à prendre pour favoriser l’emploi des States to support equitable and affordable access
17 Media Development 3/2020to information and to promote the development 5. UNESCO, in cooperation with other
of a multicultural information society. international organizations, should establish
a collaborative online observatory on existing
Development of Multilingual Content and policies, regulations, technical recommendations,
Systems and best practices relating to multilingualism and
multilingual resources and applications, includ-
1. The public and private sectors and the civil so-
ing innovations in language computerization.
ciety at local, national, regional and
international levels should work to provide the
necessary resources and take the necessary Facilitating Access to Networks and Services
measures to alleviate language barriers and pro- 6. Member States and international organiz-
mote human interaction on the Internet by en- ations should recognize and support universal
couraging the creation and processing of, and access to the Internet as an instrument for pro-
access to, educational, cultural and scientific con- moting the realization of the human rights as
tent in digital form, so as to ensure that all cul- defined in Articles 19 and 27 of the Universal
tures can express themselves and have access to Declaration of Human Rights.
cyberspace in all languages, including indigen- 7. Member States and international organ-
ous ones. izations should promote access to the Internet as
2. Member States and international organ- a service of public interest through the adoption
izations should encourage and support capacity of appropriate policies in order to enhance the
building for the production of local and indigen- process of empowering citizenship and civil soci-
ous content on the Internet. ety, and by encouraging proper implementation
3. Member States should formulate appro- of, and support to, such policies in developing
priate national policies on the crucial issue of countries, with due consideration of the needs of
language survival in cyberspace, designed to pro- rural communities.
mote the teaching of languages, including moth- 8. In particular, Member States and inter-
er tongues, in cyberspace. International support national organizations should establish mech-
and assistance to developing countries should be anisms at the local, national, regional and inter-
strengthened and extended to facilitate the de- national levels to facilitate universal access to the
velopment of freely accessible materials on lan- Internet through affordable telecommunications
guage education in electronic form and to the and Internet costs with special consideration
enhancement of human capital skills in this area. given to the needs of public service and educa-
4. Member States, international organ- tional institutions, and of disadvantaged and dis-
izations and information and communication abled population groups. New incentives in this
technology industries should encourage collab- area should be designed towards this end includ-
orative participatory research and development ing public-private partnerships to encourage in-
on, and local adaptation of, operating systems, vestment and the lowering of financial barriers to
search engines and web browsers with extensive the use of ICT, such as taxes and customs duties
multilingual capabilities, online dictionaries and on informatics equipment, software and services.
terminologies. They should support international 9. Member States should encourage Inter-
cooperative efforts with regard to automated net service providers (ISPs) to consider provision
translation services accessible to all, as well as of concessionary rates for Internet access in pub-
intelligent linguistic systems such as those per- lic service institutions, such as schools, academic
forming multilingual information retrieval, sum- institutions, museums, archives and public librar-
marizing/abstracting and speech understanding, ies, as a transitional measure towards universal
while fully respecting the right of translation of access to cyberspace.
authors. 10. Member States should encourage the
18 Media Development 3/2020You can also read
