Charter for Internet Rights
The Charter for Internet Rights is an initiative by the Association for Progressive Communications and others to develop a charter that putlines the basic rights civil society needs to protect public interest and human rights in the new information society. It seeks to promote the adoption of Internet rights as an extention of traditional human rights. It also seeks to tackle the emerging inequalities of access and use of information and communications technologies (ICT).
Related resources:
»APC Internet Rights Charter: Internet for social justice and development
»UK Internet Rights Glossary

Churn
When a telephone service is disconnected due to non-payment.

Circuit switching
The traditional way of transporting information or electrical flow, where cutting the circuit means the end of the flow. Different from packet switching, where the information is divided up and sent in individual packets, which can find alternative routes to their destination if one route is blocked or cut.

Civil society organisations (CSOS)
Organisations - including movements, networks and other entities - which are autonomous from the State, are not intergovernmental and do not represent the private sector, and which in principle are non-profit-making, act locally, nationally and internationally, in defence and promotion of social, economic and cultural interests and for mutual benefit.
[WSIS Civil Society Caucus]

Competition
Competition is intended to create an environment of greater efficiencies and the development of new networks and technologies through pricing, unbundling, interconnection and licensing. one desired outcome is universal access and service at fair prices.

Competition policy
Management of mergers and acquisitions in the telecommunications sector to head off anti-competitive practices.

Connectivity
Connectivity is the ability to 'connect'. Connecting to the wider network of society involves the negotiation of many barriers. It involves social issues such as the digital divide. But connectivity also implies other technical factors such as the compatibility of computer systems, network connections and having the correct software.

Consumer protection
Defining consumer rights, drafting appropriate legislation, education and communication programs.

Convergence
Convergence enables computers, telecommunications devices and networks to work together locally, regionally and globally to share and exchange content or information. These technologies, taken together, are what we call ICTs. Refers to two different trends: - convergence between the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors. advances in technology make it possible to use different media (cable networks, terrestrial and satellite radio relay systems, computer terminals and television sets) to carry and process all kinds of information and services, including sound, images and data. this type of convergence is due to a revolution in technology (digitisation). it has economic and regulatory implications. - fixed/mobile convergence. increasingly similar technologies are used and services provided by fixed telephone and mobile telephone systems. this type of convergence opens up prospects for operators to propose the same services to all users, regardless of the technology or networks they use.

Convergence
Convergence is the principle that the various public media, such as radio, TV,the print media, CD players/stereos, video recorders, telephones and the Internet, are all coming together to form one information channel. This channel will seamlessly all the media, enabling connections between to be easily followed. The device that will present all these media to the user, which will effectively be a highly versatile multimedia computer, will be generically called an 'information appliance'. Convergence is significant because of the potential power it gives to those who control the information channels. But it will also redefine how civil society addresses itself through the media.

Cookies
A message given to a Web browser by a Web server. The browser stores the message in a text file. The message is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. The main purpose of cookies is to identify users and possibly prepare customised Web pages for them. Web sites use cookies for several different reasons: to collect demographic information about who is visiting the Web site, to personalise the user’s experience on the Web site, and to monitor advertisements. Any personal information that you give to a Web site, including credit card information, will most likely be stored in a cookie unless you have turned off the cookie feature in your browser.

Copyleft
The opposite of copyright, but it has a specific use in relation to Richard Stallman's GNU Public License. See open content for a fuller explanation.

Copyright
Copyright is an intellectual property right given to an artistic work. Copyright can be applied to written works, musical compositions, and video, film or multimedia productions. Copyright lasts seventy years after the death of the creator of the work. During the period of copyright no one may copy and circulate a copyrighted work without first obtaining permission and paying a license fee for doing so. In addition the originator of a copyrighted work has moral rights over the exploitation of the work.
Related resources:
»Internet Rights Glossary

Cross-subsidity
Cross-subsidization occurs when certain services subsidize the provision of other services, for example, when international and long-distance telephone services subsidize (i.e. cover a portion of the costs of) local services (urban and rural).

Cryptography
The art of protecting information by transforming it (encrypting it) into an unreadable format, called cipher text. Only those who possess a secret key can decipher (or decrypt) the message into plain text. As the internet and other forms of electronic communication become more prevalent, electronic security is becoming increasingly important. Cryptography is used to protect email messages, credit card information, and corporate data. Cryptography systems can be broadly classified into symmetric-key systems that use a single key that both the sender and recipient have, and public-key systems that use two keys, a public key known to everyone and a private key that only the recipient of messages uses.

Cybercrime
Cybercrime (or e-crime) refers to criminal offences which are committed with the aid of ICTs (e.g. internet, mobile phone). Cybercrime laws may encompass broad range of issues, including such activities as hacking, intellectual property violations, dissemination of 'harmful' content such as child pornography or racist and xenophobic materials. Some experts divide cybercrime into three major categories, those committed against persons (e.g. online harrasment or pornography distribution over internet), cybercrimes against property (e.g. illegal sharing of copyrighted movies and music in peer to peers networks or software piracy), and cybercrimes against government (e.g. cyber terrorism). In many countries, cybercrime bills focus merely on economic and state security threads, and fail to recognize cybercrimes against persons, including serious forms of crimes against women, such as cyberstalking or cyberharresment.
On international level, cybecrime is addressed in the Convention on Cybercrime that attempts to harmonize national laws, improving investigative techniques and increasing cooperation among nations. Human rights advocates criticize the fail of this treaty to protect privacy, freedom of expression and civil liberties.
[Source: Wikipedia.org; Computer Crime Research Center ]
Related resources:
»Computer Crime Research Center: " What Is Cybercrime?"

Cyberspace
A metaphor for describing the non-physical terrain created by computer systems. Online systems, for example, create a cyberspace within which people can communicate with one another (via email), do research, or simply window shop. Like physical space, cyberspace contains objects (files, mail messages, graphics, etc.) and different modes of transportation and delivery. Unlike real space, though, exploring cyberspace does not require any physical movement other than pressing keys on a keyboard or moving a mouse. The term was coined by author William Gibson in his sci-fi novel Neuromancer (1984).