Consumer access to knowledge is vital for Africa's development

Dieunedort Wandji of Consumers International explains why consumer protection in the digital age is so important to Africa and developing countries. 

Although consumer protection is weak in many developing countries, consumers across the Global South will make a giant leap in claiming their rights by effectively benchmarking international advocacy on digital consumer rights issues.

This was the impression I was left with after attending Consumers International’s Access to Knowldge (A2K) meeting (Consumers in the Information Society: Access, Fairness and Representation, 8-9 March, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).  The diversity of participants and far-reaching content captured the varied and versatile challenges of consumers in the digital age. Many of which are crucial to the developing world. 


As I sat through all these inspiring presentations about consumer protection in the information society and tried to make sense of them from an African perspective, it began to dawn on me that the developing world’s stake in this battle is a double-fold one.

African consumers in particular are poised to benefit more than anyone else from CI’s vanguard approach in the protection of consumers in the information society, as laid out at Kuala Lumpur meeting.

As he plays his games on my laptop, my five-year-old son is still suspicious about my story that, growing up in Africa, it was not until I became a university student that I was able to first set eyes on a computer. I presume the African digital consumer of tomorrow is likely to be unaware of a lot that has come before. While enjoying doing creative work, tomorrow’s African consumer might not realise just how much RMC (Rights Management Corporations) had twisted laws to invade privacy or abused technology to pervert ownership rights. 


I look forward to the time in Africa when the digital consumer will have no knowledge of today’s limitations and frustrations.  This unawareness of past battles will however depend on how quickly and efficiently African consumer rights groups pick up the pace of international advocacy trends today. More precisely, this will depend on their ability to build on CI’s A2K momentum so as to tackle the twin issues currently affecting the African consumer in fast changing digital markets: access and protection.

As any advance in digital technology nowadays carries a global impact, it is of critical importance that the efforts of the consumer movement in the developing world be inversely proportional to the number of actual users of digital products and services.

There are challenges lying ahead for consumer organisations in the developing world. Apart from the necessity for African countries to emulate the policies and regulations of European countries, there is the need to prevent developing countries from becoming retreat bases for failed RMC abuse attempts. In fact, as has been the case with tobacco regulations, there is concern that vulnerable copyright regulatory frameworks can be taken advantage of, to implement abusive policies that could not be pushed through in the developed world. For instance, it has now become illegal in India to share a joke over the internet, without appropriately quoting your sources!

Yet again, as much as the digital consumer needs protection in Africa, campaigning for access remains equally important. The latest CI Global Consumer Survey on Broadband (pdf)  for instance suggests that access to broadband technology is becoming a “prerequisite for consumers’ full participation in civic and cultural life”. At the same time, many experts report that less than 5% of Africans having access to new technologies such as computers, smart phones and other devices that support access to broadband. 

The digital divide seems to be widening and taking on various forms. Instead of being commensurate to local income levels, IT products turn out to be more expensive on African markets. Just as we are revolted by the mere thought that public libraries in their present form would never have existed, had current copyright laws preceded them, it is equally unacceptable that access to collective knowledge in Africa should be hampered through abusive regulations, unfair pricing and contrived technological barriers.

Is it time to look again at consumer rights?

On the 50^th anniversary of JFK’s seminal statement on consumer rights, CI Director General Helen McCallum looks at whether these principles are relevant today, and what challenges consumers face in the future.

On 15 March 1962 US President John F. Kennedy became the first ever serving world leader to directly address the issue of consumer rights. In a statement to the US Congress, President Kennedy said:

“Consumers by definition, include us all. They are the largest economic group, affecting and affected by almost every public and private economic decision. Yet they are the only important group... whose views are often not heard.”

He outlined a set of consumer rights which have, over time, developed into eight principles that inspire much of the work consumer rights groups do today: the right to safety… to be informed… to choose… to be heard… to redress… to consumer education… to a healthy environment…  and the right to the satisfaction of basic needs.

Every year our movement marks Kennedy’s address on 15 March as World Consumer Rights Day. Consumer groups around the world will be doing so again this year; and many will be joining together with Consumer International to call for ‘real choice’ for consumers of financial services

Many consumer rights advocates will also be reflecting on those eight consumer rights inspired by President Kennedy’s 1962 address. One can rightfully ask 50 years on, are these rights still enough in this globalised, digitised world? What do these rights mean for the future?

With the failure of the banking industry affecting so many lives, should we, for instance, demand a consumer right to corporate responsibility? Or, as some commentators have suggested in light of the current debate around the digitisation of our private lives, can we call for a consumer right to privacy?

The digital era has created a new landscape, one in which intellectual property and copyright are suddenly consumer rights issues. Consumers in several countries have been sued millions of dollars for downloading music and film, or using creative content without permission. What consumer rights do we need to defend this? Perhaps a right of access to knowledge?

As well as being a challenge to consumer rights, the internet and social media have also created a whole new mode of expression which is working as a powerful new catalyst for action.

The same technology that has helped the Arab spring create a new reality for millions, is allowing consumers to share opinions and purchasing decisions through user generated content, Facebook ‘likes’ and Twitter trends. 

New media is also creating new forms of consumer activism that can be global, instant and incredibly powerful. Just look at Which?’s Big Switch campaign  which has secured nearly 200,000 online signatures from consumers wishing to be part of their collective purchasing initiative to get lower energy prices;  or how consumer campaigns like Defend Your Dollars, and MuevetePorTuDinero are utilising social media.

When the number of people using Facebook is bigger than the population of the United States, and the number of Twitter users rivals the population of Brazil – you can understand the power of the tools. Consumer rights and consumer rights organisations have a duty to adopt them.

In other areas, nanotechnologies offer huge advantages to consumers – such as self cleaning clothes and self washing windows – but there are other uses which can get into people’s blood streams through cosmetics or toothpaste and we want to see proper research and testing done before these products are launched into the market place.

Equally there are new challenges arising from new discoveries – the mapping of the human genome and the increasing capacity to identify likelihood of inherited disease has the potential to radically change the way insurance works. Unless consumer organisations think through these issues and represent the consumer perspective the resulting products may seriously disadvantage many people.

Climate change is probably the biggest challenge of 21^st century – yet its causes and affects are unequal. Those with the smallest carbon foot print are often those most likely to suffer the consequences, while those who are already consuming too much have the resources to mitigate the worst affects of a warming planet.

It is also crucial to find a balance in how we tackle the environmental impact of consumption versus the rights of developing economies to strive for a better standard of living. The international consumer rights movement has a major role in getting this delicate balance right, and we will be doing just that at the forthcoming Rio Earth Summit in June.

As a planet, we are currently consuming the bio capacity of 1.5 planets each year –This means it now takes the Earth one year and six months to regenerate what we use in a year. The UN predicts this will be 2 planets by the 2030’s if current consumption trends continue. Not being part of the solution here is not an option for consumer rights organisations.

Much has changed since President Kennedy first outlined his vision of consumer rights, yet in many ways the challenges we face are the same. We still want safe products and services; to be informed of the facts before we purchase; to have a meaningful choice; and to have our voice listened to as consumers.

The future will still need a consumer rights movement that stands up for these principles: they are as relevant today as they ever have been.

Happy World Consumer Rights Day.

Real consumer choice is about holding businesses to account

CI's Head of Campaigns, Justin Macmullan, on why the right to choose is at the heart of this year's theme for World Consumer Rights Day.

In a world sometimes dominated by too much choice, ‘the right to choose’ doesn’t always feel like a right worth fighting for. But maybe the importance of choice should not be measured by the number of different shampoos in a modern hypermarket, but by our ability to hold otherwise unaccountable corporations to account.

After all the right to choose is our right to say ‘no thanks’ when a company lets us down, increases it’s charges or does something that we don’t want to be associated with.

And where could this by more important than in relation to the banks and other financial service providers that look after our money?

Yet in this crucial sector, choice is not working well.

Despite a long list of consumer complaints including high fees and charges, poor service, miss-selling of financial products and contracts that are weighted in favour of the banks (not to mention some banks involvement in the massive financial crisis of 2008) most of us are still wary of moving our money to another provider.

So this World Consumer Rights Day, CI members are campaigning to give consumers a ‘real choice’ in financial services by promoting competition in a sector that too often takes its customers for granted.

Of course the first step is to empower consumers with clear and reliable information so that they understand the choice available to them.

So in Brazil, IDEC is campaigning with the union represents bank staff to ensure that the advice that consumers are given is fair and accurate. And in Germany regional financial advice centres are providing consumers with the advice they need for free.

These two examples and many more are featured on our WCRD activity map, which is now showing well over 40 activities that will be taking place around the world on 15 March.

Take a look at the map to see how consumer groups from Europe to New Zealand will be highlighting the benefits of switching bank accounts. All are making the case that consumers can benefit from moving their money.

But it’s not just in mainstream banking that a lack of competition is a problem. As our map shows in India, Lebanon and the United States CI members are highlighting the high charges facing migrants who want to send money back home to their families.

In many other countries around the world there will be awareness raising events, roundtables and media stories.

Fifty years ago President John F. Kennedy, in an address to the US congress, set out four consumer rights that, together with four more that were added by the consumer movement, have formed the backbone of CI’s work ever since. It is one of these rights – the right to choose - that CI members will be highlighting on 15 March.

CI hopes this WCRD will spark new efforts around the world that will give consumers a genuine choice in financial services and make it easier for consumers to move their money. 

50 years on, the consumer voice still needs to be heard loud and clear

A message from Consumers International’s president, Jim Guest, ahead of World Consumer Rights Day.

Every year the global consumer rights movement celebrates World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) on 15 March. Consumer rights groups across the world come together, often around a common campaign theme, to ensure that consumer rights are not ignored when decisions that affect us all are being made. 

This year, CI and many of its members will be campaigning for real consumer choice in financial services on what is a particularly special WCRD. 

This 15 March marks 50 years since US President John F. Kennedy became the first ever serving world leader to directly address the issue of consumer rights. In his statement to the US Congress in 1962, President Kennedy said:

“Consumers by definition, include us all. They are the largest economic group, affecting and affected by almost every public and private economic decision. Yet they are the only important group... whose views are often not heard.”

Kennedy went on to outline a set of consumer rights which have, over time, developed into eight principles that inspire much of the work consumer rights groups do today: the right to safety… to be informed… to be heard… to redress… to consumer education… to a healthy environment… to the satisfaction of basic needs... and, the right to choose.

All of these rights are just as important today as they were 50 years ago. Yet, it is this final right, the right to choose, that will stand out most on 15 March 2012. 

Consumer groups around the world are calling for consumers to have a real choice when it comes to financial services. Too often markets for financial services are dominated by a small number of providers meaning there isn’t any real competition. Even when consumers spot a better deal they find it, costly, confusing, or downright impossible to change accounts or services. As a result dissatisfied consumers are putting up with poor services and banks have no reason to improve.

This is a problem for consumers across the world; whether it concerns changing current accounts, swapping insurance providers, trying to send money overseas, or getting access to basic financial services in the first place – the consumer right to meaningful choice must be at the heart of these services. 

When President Kennedy first set out the meaning of consumer rights the world was a very different place. And yet, consumers continue to affect and be affected by almost every economic decision. As consumers, we are at the heart of many of the challenges and opportunities faced by the modern world. But, while our money speaks, our voice is still often not heard. 

Spurred on by the words of JFK, the consumer rights movement is fighting to ensure that the rights of consumers are never ignored. 

Happy World Consumer Rights Day

Jim Guest

Consumers International President

You paid to download it, so do you own it?

Paul Sweazey on the crucial difference between owning copyrighted material and licensing it. 

Paul will be presenting on this at Consumers International's global conference Consumers in the Information Society: Access, Fairness and Representation, 8-9 March, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Is Resale the key to Consumer Ownership?

If you can't resell it, you don't own it; if you can, then you do. That seems to be the message from US Federal Court Rulings over the past two years in a case called "Vernor v. Autodesk". 

After an initial ruling and an appeal that overturned it, the implication was that buying to own required three things: 

(1) only pay once

(2) possession doesn't expire, and

(3) the license doesn't forbid resale. 

This was just one case in one jurisdiction (the US), but it is clear that legal minds are grappling with the difference between licensing and owning, and with the equivalence of ownership and the right to resell.

Consumer voice should help define ownership

If consumers are to have the right to own the movies, music, books, and games that they buy and download, then shouldn't consumer advocates be involved in defining ownership, drafting the boilerplate license agreements, and specifying the attributes of digital personal property? Should you be waiting for Hollywood, or the music labels, or book publishers to do these things without you?

A2K conference

I'm going to be speaking at the upcoming global conference, Consumers in the Information Society: Access, Fairness and Representation organised by the A2K Network. I'll speak about a technological middle ground called the IEEE P1817 Standard for Consumer-ownable Digital Personal Property. The standard will define the technology by which a movie, song, book, or game can be made both copyright-respectful and consumer-ownable. During the talk I will describe the concerns of groups such as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) over P1817, but I hope you won't be disappointed when I fail to demonise either side. 

There are certain baselines that neither side should compromise, and those baselines are strictly honored by the Digital Personal Property (DPP) standard:

• Suppliers (copyright holders) will never stop defending their right to control public distribution (the essence of IP ownership).
• Consumers will never stop claiming their right to unfettered and unmonitored private usage, sharing, customisation, and exchange of what they buy (the essence of personal ownership).
• Both will defend their baseline rights whether the product is physical (shippable) or downloadable (electronically deliverable).

If your goal is to find a peace that nurtures both global commerce and individual freedom, then you should pay close attention to what you'll hear at the conference. We will discuss some revolutionary ideas — ideas so new that almost no one has heard of them, and ideas so obvious that it took a digital revolution to make us forget them.

Ownership an illusion

We are all witnessing a trend toward online services and away from the sale of digital content. This trend raises critical questions: Is it in the interest of consumers that their only choice for digital products is to subscribe to a service? Is it no longer important for consumers to have the option of full privacy and autonomy in their access to copyrighted works? Is it right for IP ownership to be enduring and consumer ownership to be an illusion? If you don't want this state to solidify as the future norm, then you had better define what consumer ownership is, and you had better provide the legal and technological means for it to exist. Let's discuss how.

I look forward to a lively discussion in Kuala Lumpur.

Paul Sweazey is Chair of the IEEE's standards committee for Digital Personal Property.

Access to basic services is a life and death struggle for Yemen’s consumers

CI’s Sonia Ramachandran on the tough fight for consumer rights in Yemen

As the streaks of dawn light the morning sky, 10-year-old Mohamed stirs in his bed as pangs of hunger strike his small body, due to yet another night without food. His throat feeling like sawdust, he takes a sip from the nearest bottle, already half-empty. Longing to gulp the water down in one go, he knows that luxury is beyond him. For if he does, he will go without water the rest of the day.

 

Water has become a highly priced commodity for Mohamed's family and for most families in Yemen. Although water is available in the city, it is a necessity only available for the very rich. The Yemen Association for Consumer Protection, a member of Consumers International, says those in the private sector have wells which supply water through tanks mounted on vehicles – a privilege only the very rich can afford. For the poor, it is a different story. Their water is sourced from mosques or through the generosity of philanthropists.

For families like Mohamed's, getting water means carrying water on their backs or on donkeys for distances of up to two kilometres.

Things are even more difficult for Mohamed as his father, Saif, is unemployed. Saif is among many workers who have been laid off from the construction sector as construction work has drawn to a halt. Thirty-five per cent of Yemen's population is now jobless. Factories have laid off workers. Most workshops, laboratories and small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) have all closed down, adding on to the unemployment problem. With no employment, there is no money and with no money, there is no food.

The cost of main food commodities has risen by 46% since January 2011. Bread costs 50% more in Sana’a than it did six months ago while water prices have risen between three and sevenfold.

A third of Yemen's population now sleep without dinner. Without work and an income, many are finding it increasingly difficult to feed their families in this war-torn state.

With prices soaring, counterfeit, smuggled and expired food and medicine are flooding the market. Tens of thousands are already unable to buy food because of the current crisis.

The Yemen Association for Consumer Protection says 60 per cent live below the poverty line. Yemen is the poorest Arab nation and has one of the world’s highest malnutrition rates. A nutrition study in the Abyan governorate in Southern Yemen found a Global Acute Malnutrition rate among 18.6 per cent of children. The emergency threshold number is considered 15 per cent.  With the security situation in the country deteriorating and food prices skyrocketing, the future does not bode well for children here.

Electricity for families like Mohamed's seem a thing of the past, with power off for 22 hours at a time.

Shops, hospitals and homes that can afford them use generators for electricity while the rest are shrouded in darkness. Television, lights and cooking gas have now been replaced by candles, firewood and oil lamps in most Yemen homes. With no electricity, refrigerators can't work. With no refrigerators, food cannot be kept for long.

An article in the Yemen Times states that a Ministry of Electricity and Power report cited repeated attacks on power stations to be the reason for the power disruptions with at least 64 attacks on different power stations between April and October 2011. Yet with this limited power supply of merely a couple of hours a day, consumers are receiving exorbitant bills of up USD90 a month.

Consumers have also had to cut down on cooking meals due to the increasing price of gas canisters. The price of a canister has increased from YR 900 (USD 4) at the start of the year to YR 2,500 (USD 10) today.

Yemen is also running out of its small deposits of oil. Sales of oil finance 90% of its imports of staple foods. In a country that imports most of its food, importers are now struggling to get letters of credit, with suppliers demanding upfront payments in full.

People have been camping on the streets of the capital demanding a better life. This has been the situation since the uprising to bring down Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime began in February, and the situation has been rapidly deteriorating. Although Saleh recently transferred most of his power to Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, he will remain president until an election scheduled for February 2012.

The unrest in Yemen has cost the nation more than USD8 billlion.

 

Yemeni civil society organisations are calling for a comprehensive approach to the country's current challenges. The Yemen Association for Consumer Protection has asked their neighbouring consumer groups to stand by them in their hour of need and to ensure that the Yemeni people are provided with at least the basic necessities of food, water and electricity.

Fadhl Mansour, the Association's chairman, said they had appealed to the Prime Minister, the vice-president and the relevant ministries and heads of departments to address their concerns but to no avail. The Association had also requested a meeting of the Supreme Committee for Consumer Protection,  the body encompassing all relevant bodies of consumer protection, but no meetings have yet been held. Mansour said they had also used the media to request help from the government but failed to elicit any response.

 “The situation here is very difficult. We had contacted all the ministries including those involved in the enforcement of food control and electricity. We have asked our government to respond to our needs and to protect consumers as per the laws of the country but the government has failed to respond to our cries for help. We have no choice but to seek help beyond our borders,” said Mansour.

However, change may be on the horizon for Yemen. The official Saba news agency reported that the new national unity Yemen government sworn in in December last year pledged their priority would be to end violence and restore basic services to the country. The report stated that the cabinet discussed plans to end shortages of water, electricity, cooking gas and fuel during its first meeting. It added that Prime Minister Mohamed Salem Basindwah will seek support from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to end the country’s shortages when he visits the countries.

Reports have also suggested Saudi Arabia will supply Yemen with urgently needed goods, including whatever oil products it requires.

The United Nations World Food Programme has also allocated $213 million towards providing food aid for Yemenis in 2012.

Mansour said that although the fighting had stopped, the situation in the country was still the same with no services available for consumers. He said they had already written to the national unity government asking them to address urgent consumers issues including the price of food and medicine, price and supply of electricity, counterfeit drugs and the urgent need for the establishment of a regulating body for food and drugs in the country.

Consumers International has already contacted its members in the Middle East, highlighting the situation in Yemen and asking them to consider joining CI in expressing solidarity with Yemen’s fledgling consumer movement.