On 12 December 2003, the last day of the 3-day World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Geneva, Switzerland, the Civil Society Plenary released a statement condemning the undemocratic actions of the Swiss authorities and the Summit organisers in quashing dissenting and alternative voices at the WSIS.

On the eve of phase one of Word Summit on Information Society (WSIS), police raided the Polymedia Lab, an open public space in downtown Geneva set up by independent media practitioners as a venue for skill-sharing and experimenting with communication technologies. WSIS is the first international multi-stakeholder meeting that aims to ensure people's access to information and communication.

A host of alternative events are being organised in conjunction with the first phase of the WSIS to be held in Geneva, Switzerland this December. These events are being offered as an additional platform of communication for the various stakeholders and provide a unique opportunity for networking among the participants.

Even as they declared their partial withdrawal from the multi-stakeholder process of the WSIS at a press conference held on 14 November 2003, the last day of the PrepCom3A, civil society organisations (CSOs) released a document that shall serve as a yardstick against which the summit outcomes will be assessed.

The suspended Third Preparatory Committee (PrepCom3) resumed its meeting on 10 November 2003, with delegates hoping to agree on a final version of the summit declaration and a refined plan of action on the last day, 14 November.

The WSIS is all set for its first phase in December.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) are severely disappointed with draft documents produced during the past preparatory conferences and have doubted whether the Summit will have any real impact. Nonetheless, many CSOs, like the member organisations of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), still believe that CSOs' involvement in the WSIS process is vital.