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1.2. What is ICT Policy?
The Oxford English Dictionary defines
policy as “A course of action, adopted and pursued by a
government, party, ruler, statesman, etc.; any course of action
adopted as advantageous or expedient.” While this definition
suggests that policy is the realm of those in power – governments
or official institutions – a wider sense could include
the vision, goals, principles and plans that guide the activities
of many different actors.
ICT policy generally covers three main areas: telecommunications
(especially telephone communications), broadcasting (radio and
TV) and the internet. It may be national, regional or international.
Each level may have its own decision-making bodies, sometimes
making different and even contradictory policies.
| Sectoral policies “The
need for integrating national ICT strategies overlaps
with four well-established policy fields: technology,
industry, telecommunications and media. Sectoral
policies such as education, employment, health, welfare,
etc. are increasingly having to address issues relating
to ICTs and the growing interdependence between the
development of ICT policies and sectoral policies.
Experience to date has shown that, in the absence
of an existing national ICT policy, the tendency
is towards the creation of sector-dependent policy
that addresses only its own ICT needs. These policies
become firmly entrenched within the sector and later
attempts to integrate them into a broad all-encompassing
ICT policy become difficult.” 
Sectoral Policies
Source: Information Policy Handbook,
Chapter 1
http://www.apc.org/books/ictpolsa/ch1/ch1-1.htm
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Although policies are formally put
in place by governments, different stakeholders and in particular
the private sector make inputs into the policy process and affect
its out-comes. Thus, for example, in the International Telecommunications
Union, an intergovernmental body for governments to coordinate
rules and regulations in the field of telecommunications, the
influence of multinationals has grown enormously. Privatisation
of state-owned companies has meant that governments can rarely
control telecommunications directly. The privatised telecom companies,
often partly controlled by foreign shareholders, look after their
own interests. In the context of globalised markets, large and
rich corporations are often more powerful than developing countries’ governments,
allowing them to shape the policy-making process.
Two sets of issues in ICT policy are critical to civil society
at the moment: access and civil liberties. Access has to do with
making it possible for everyone to use the internet and other
media. In countries where only a minority have telephones, ensuring
affordable access to the internet is a huge challenge. Much of
the response would lie in social solutions such as community
or public access centres. In richer countries, basic access to
internet is available almost to all, and faster broadband connections
are fairly widespread. Access to traditional media is now a key
concern, as new technologies make community video, radio and
television more feasible than before.
The other set of issues, civil liberties, includes human rights
such as freedom of expression, the right to privacy, the right
to communicate, intellectual property rights, etc. These rights
as applied to broadcast media have been threatened in many countries,
and now the internet, which began as a space of freedom, is also
threatened by government legislation and emerging restrictions.
Some of the most blatant attacks on freedom of expression come
from developing countries such as China and Vietnam, but even
in countries which have a long tradition of freedom of expression,
such as the USA, there are new attempts to restrict internet
users’ privacy and to limit their right to choose. At the
same time, restrictions that are intended to limit media monopolies
are being weakened and pushed aside.
| Policy
is also influenced or even decided by companies
and institutions. When
Mexico was considering adopting free software
in its education system, Microsoft offered
money and free licences to the government,
which eventually dropped GNU/Linux and embraced
Windows completely.
According to the Wall Street
Journal, a group of companies and industry
organisations undertook a campaign to stifle
Internet- privacylegislation. Led by the Online
Privacy Alliance (http://www.privacyalliance.org/)
in Washington, the loosely organised campaign
attacked legislative proposals on three fronts:
identifying expensive regulatory burdens, raising
questions about how any US internet law would
apply to non-internet industries, and assuring
lawmakers that privacy is best guarded by new
technology, not new laws. Members of the Online
Privacy Allianceinclude Microsoft Corp (MSFT),
AOL Time Warner Inc, (AOL), International Business
Machines Corp (IBM), AT&T Corp (T), BellSouth
Corp (BLS), Sun Microsystems Inc (SUNW), the
Motion Picture Association of America and the
United States Chamber of Commerce. Sources: http://www.eff.org/Net_info/Tools/Ratings_filters_labelling/; http://www.infoworld.com/article/02/06/12/020612hnemexico_1.html; http://www.privacydigest.com/2001/03/13 |
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courts also decide policy
The
music industry has won at least 871 federal
subpoenas against computer users suspected
of illegally sharing music files on the Internet,
with roughly 75 new subpoenas being approved
each day, U.S. court officials said Friday.
The effort represents early steps in the music
industry’s contentious plan to file civil
lawsuits aimed at crippling online piracy.
Subpoenas reviewed by The Associated Press
show the industry compelling some of the largest
Internet providers, such as Verizon Communications
Inc. and Comcast Cable Communications Inc.,
and some universities to identify names and
mailing addresses for users on their networks
known online by nicknames such as “fox3j,” “soccerdog33,” “clover77” or “indepunk74.” The
Recording Industry Association of America has
said it expects to file at least several hundred
lawsuits seeking financial damages within the
next eight weeks. U.S. copyright laws allow
for damages of $750 to $150,000 for each song
offered illegally on a person’s computer,
but the RIAA has said it would be open to settlement
proposals from defendants.
The campaign comes just weeks after U.S. appeals
court rulings requiring Internet providers
to readily identify subscribers suspected of
illegally sharing music and movie files. The
1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act permits
music companies to force Internet providers
to turn over the names of suspected music pirates
upon subpoena from any U.S. District Court
clerk’s office, without a judge’s
signature required.
“http://clearstatic.org:2396/user/view/1”
Source:
Fox News, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,92351,00.html |
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