Progress on Neutrality, Privacy Content Called Key for WSIS
GENEVA -- “Parliaments need to be particularly vigilant about protecting net neutrality,” said Jane Bornick Griffith, senior adviser at the Global Center for Information and Communications Technology in Parliament, at a forum on carrying out the results of the World Summit on the Information Society. Also crucial is balancing national security, filtering of inappropriate content and information exchange, she said.
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Cybercrime doesn’t call for a new law because activities like fraud are already illegal, said Nitin Desai, special adviser for Internet governance to the U.N. secretary- general. “The problem is jurisdictions,” Desai said. The villain is in one country, the victim is in a second, and the money is received in a third, Desai said.
“Without adequate [privacy] protection, people will not take full advantage” of e-business, e-health or e-government services, Griffith said. New international cooperation efforts are needed as additional data is exchanged globally, Griffith said.
The U.N. is far from a systemwide, coherent coordination of summit follow-up, said Charles Geiger, special adviser to the Commission on Science and Technology for Development in the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development.
National parliaments are pivotal players in achieving summit goals, Griffith said. Parliaments must promote technologies to increase transparency, boost access to government information and improve communication with citizens, Griffith said. Passing laws on freedom of expression, privacy and security, overseeing follow-through on regulations and attracting investment can help, Griffith said.
Measuring the information society is an essential ingredient in the development debate, said Susan Teltscher, chief of the Information and Communications Technology Policy and Analysis Unit at the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development. Developing countries are seriously lagging in collecting data that could be used for policy decisions, Teltscher said. A global partnership on measuring data and communication for development aims for comparable data, Teltscher said. A global and regional report and related statistics will be released May 27.
Meanwhile, more than 100 national legislatures responded to a survey from the Global Center for Information and Communications Technology in Parliament on how they're using technology. Results were recently published in the World e- Parliament Report 2008, said Gherardo Casini, executive coordinator of the Global Center for Information and Communications Technology in Parliament. The center aims to increase lawmakers’ promotion of the information society, including through legislation, and to help parliaments use electronic tools to promote democracy, Casini said. The center emerged from WSIS, he said. The center has suggested national debates and public reports on the state of the information society, Casini said.