United Nations University-MERIT experts yesterday in Geneva urged parliamentarians to support open source software and information technologies as a way to let citizens participate meaningfully in the information society.

UNU-MERIT researcher Rishab Aiyer Ghosh urged policymakers to consider information and communications technologies from a social rather than technical viewpoint. He said access to the information society must be provided to all citizens, without requiring them to first become customers of particular proprietary companies.

"Participation in, not just access to, the information society is important" Ghosh told the UN event, attended by members of parliament from over 40 countries. "Open source software gives people fishing rods, not just fish."

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