Title: Parliaments and the Evolving Information Society Jane Bortnick Griffith Senior Advisor Global Centre
1Parliaments and the Evolving Information
SocietyJane Bortnick GriffithSenior
AdvisorGlobal Centre for ICT in Parliament
Parliamentary Forum Shaping the Information
Society the role of Parliaments and
Legislators 14 15 May 2008 - Palais des
Nations, Geneva
2Framework
- Parliaments and the WSIS process
- Unique parliamentary roles
- Legislative mechanisms
- Information society policy issues
- International collaboration
3WSIS Goals
- build a people-centered, inclusive and
development-oriented Information Society, where
everyone can create, access, utilize and share
information and knowledge
4World e-Parliament Report 2008
- Parliaments must
- exercise strong leadership in deploying ICT
- develop a legal structure that fosters broad
access to information, whiles ensuring freedom of
expression, privacy and security
5Politics of E-Parliament
- Making information public and free
- Applying open standards to legislative material
- Adopting accessibility standards for websites
- Providing interactive communication channels for
citizens
6Unique Role of Parliaments
- Central institution representing the people in a
democracy - Critical role in advancing social and political
values that benefit all - Guarantors of the democratic values underpinning
the information society
7Parliamentary Responsibilities
- Foster political environment conducive to
equality and inclusiveness - Ensure all segments are represented
- Protect fundamental rights
8Challenges for Parliaments
- Not proactive institutions
- Committee structure not conducive to addressing
cross-cutting issues - Lack of resources
9Government
Programs
Policies
Regulations
Information Society
Information Society
Information Society
10Parliament
Legislation
Funding
Oversight
11Icelands Vision of the Information Society
12Parliamentary Committees
- Information, Computerisation and the Media
- Committee for the Future
- Communications and Informatics
- Research, Innovation and Technology
- Information Technology
- Justice
- Education and Science
- Industry, Science, and Technology
- Infrastructure
13Committee Mechanisms
- Hearings
- Exploratory
- Legislative
- Oversight
- Committee reports
14Overview of Information Society Policy Issues
- Broad spectrum of issues
- Provide snapshot of topics members need to
address - Many of same challenges
- Need to apply understanding of own environment
15(No Transcript)
16ICT Development
- Government programs and subsidies
- Incentives for private sector investment
- Foreign investment policies
- Focus on improving human resources capacity with
ICT skills - Public-private partnerships
17Competition and Regulation
- Increased competition yields
- greater efficiency
- improved services
- reduced consumer costs
- Transitioning monopolies to competition
- Ensuring competition in new services
- Creating independent regulatory bodies
- Facilitating licensing procedures
18Expanding Infrastructure and Connectivity
- Reaching underserved communities
- Universal service funds, loan guarantees, tax
credits - Extending broadband penetration
19Ensuring Equitable Access to ICT and Information
Resources
- Public Internet access points
- Support for schools and libraries
- Access to high quality information
- Making public sector information available
- Government more transparent, efficient
- Public access to results of government research
- Reuse of government information to build
information products and services industries
20Intellectual Property
- Maintain incentives for innovation and investment
in creative products - Ensure legitimate access to and use of digital
material - Ongoing challenges of new ICT capabilities
- Capitalize on value of broad online distribution
- New approaches (www.creativecommons.org)
21Guaranteeing Citizen Rights
- Freedom of expression in the Internet environment
- Maintaining net neutrality
- Governmental controls
- Commercial/ISP controls
- Filtering vs. openness
22Privacy
- Growing amount of personal data captured in
digital form - Increased access through networks
- Comprehensive data protection laws vs. sector
approach - Threats from new technologies, technology
convergence, global exchange
23Security
- ICT exploited for criminal activity
- Range of problems
- Spam
- Identity theft
- Denial of service
- Attacks on infrastructure
- Continually evolving threats
- Multiple stakeholders, international dimension
24International Collaboration Needed
- Global reach of Internet
- Harmonization of laws among countries
- Engagement with other parliaments, international
organizations - WSIS implementation
- Global Centre for ICT in Parliament