New ALAI publication: "The system's down." The Information Society in tangles To mark the occasion of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), whose first phase will take place in Geneva, Switzerland from 10-12 December, the Latin American Information Agency (ALAI - Spanish acronym) has published the book "Se cayó el sistema" enredos de la Sociedad de la Información. ("The system's down." The Information Society in tangles, available in Spanish only) This Summit, convened by the United Nations and organized by the International Telecommunications Union, ITU, will tackle a full agenda relating to the basic orientations which will shape the world of communication and new information and communication technologies in the current century. Delegations representing governments, the private sector and civil society will participate in the global event. In this publication, the authors (Sally Burch, Osvaldo León and Eduardo Tamayo) outline alternative proposals that have been developed by civil society during preparations for WSIS, and which cover the most controversial points relating to public control and private interests, intellectual property rights, the right to communication, control of the Internet and costs, amongst others. Similarly, the authors track fundamental precedents which mark processes and struggles aimed at overcoming imbalances and achieving progress in the democratisation of communication across the world. >From the outset, the publication questions the concept of "information society", which is rapidly taking centre stage, more for its impact than for is conceptual quality; and which given the discredit of "globalisation", seems destined to become the brand of our times and the future. Similarly it criticizes the purely commercial and technology-centred focus that is being imposed at the Summit, which has been presented as a meeting "for engineers, cybernetic experts and dominant business groups". The book also emphasises civil society's stake in societies-in plural-of the future, that respect cultural, ethnic, regional and linguistic diversities; with human rights and sustainable development as central pillars; and based on principles of transparency, diversity, participation and social justice. Given the over-emphasis that the organisers of the WSIS have given to technologies, it's probable that fundamental themes will not be dealt with at the Summit, this book sustains. However, that spaces for interchange, reflection, and to formulate consensus on proposals have been established at the civil society level, is a positive and necessary step towards transcending the summit, in order to open the debate to society as a whole. The digital version of the book (230 pages, in Spanish) is available to the public on the following website: http://alainet.org/publica/cmsi/