Information policyIS10010 – Lecture 4

Agenda

What is an Information Society

Why are Information Policies needed

What is an Information Policy

Who has Information Policies

Information Policy in Ireland

What is an Information Society

A society where the creation, distribution, use, integration and manipulation of information area significant economic, political, and cultural activity.

Economic counterpart = Knowledge Economy

Successor to Industrial Society???

Theories of ‘Information Society’ : Sample Machlup – patents & research

Knowledge Industry, sectors

Drucker – materials based > knowledge based economy

Bell – no. of employee > in sector = indicator of informational character of society.

Other theorists include :

Porat

Touraine

Lyotard

Sonntag

Stehr

Toffler

Van Dijk

Castells – Network Society

The key social structures and activities are organized around electronically processed information networks.

Critique of ‘Information Society’

Importance

Lifecycle of information

Why are Information Policies needed

Sets boundaries

History of Information Policy

Image http://www.personal.psu.edu/glh10/ist110/topic_old/topic01/topic01_02.html

What is an Information Policy

Information policy is the set of all public laws, regulations

and policies that encourage, discourage, or regulate the

creation, use, storage, access, and communication and

dissemination of information.[1] It thus encompasses any other

decision-making practice with society-wide constitutive efforts

that involve the flow of information and how it is processed.[2]

[1]Weingarten, F.W. (1989) Federal Information Policy Development: The Congressional perspective. In C. McClure, P. Hernon and H. Relyea (eds), United States Government Information Policies: views and Perspectives (Ablex, Norwood, NJ).

[2]Braman, S. (2011). Defining information policy. Journal of Information Policy 1-5. http://jip.vmhost.psu.edu/ojs/index.php/jip/article/view/19/14.

Can be anything

1. How you manage your privacy settings on Social networks

2. Government strategy (Infrastructure, Policy, Law, Regulation)

3. Corporate plan

Elements of Information Policy

E-Inclusion

Life Long Learning

E-Business strategies

Infrasture – physical (broadband/e-fibre)

Infrastructure – political / Legal and regulatory Copyright, Intellectual Property, Data Protection, Freedom of

Information

Regulation of Domain Name Spaces ( .ie)

E-government

Intellectual Property

Image: http://carlowsolicitors.com/intellectual-property/

Copyright

Image: http://www.publicdomainday.org/sites/www.publicdomainday.eu/files/World_copyright-terms.jpg

Freedom of Information (FOI)

Image: http://wayne-newsyoudontsee.blogspot.ie/2011/04/what-freedom-of-information.html

Censorship

Is not a thing of the past.

Banned books week 2013 in the USA

Image http://blogs.furman.edu/com221sp10d/2010/04/07/12-months-of-censorship-in-china/

Data Protection

About your right to privacy

EU Directive 95/46

Principle: individuals should be in a position to control how data relating to them is used

ISSUES

Digital environment: intellectual property, economic regulations, freedom of expression, confidentiality or privacy of information, information security, access management, and regulating how the dissemination of public information occurs.

Internet Governance

Image http://akai.no/en/gnarl/?cat=30

Issue: Privacy

Habermas: Public and private sphere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4tLsTt9LxM

The NSA has huge

capabilities – and if it

wants in to your computer,

it's in.

• Explaining the latest NSA revelations – Q&A

Issue: Convergance

Issue: Security V FOI

Who has Information Policies

International EU, WIPO

National level Ireland, USA (Patriot Act)

Corporate (Microsoft, HP, Intel, LinkedIn)

LinkedIn privacy policy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIW5RI8K3Yg

Local Organizations

Informal (personal)

WIPO

Information Policy in Ireland

Government Roles and Responsibilities

Information Society Policy – Ireland: 1

Information Society Policy – Ireland: 2

Data Protection - Ireland

Data protection acts 1998 & 2003

Data protection commissioner

Data protection is about your fundamental right to privacy.

You can access and correct data about yourself.

Those who keep data about you have to comply with data protection principles

FOI – Ireland

Table from http://www.oic.gov.ie/en/Publications/Special-Reports/10th-Anniversary-Publication-Freedom-of-Information-The-First-Decade-/Freedom-of-Information-The-First-Decade.pdf

ComReg

Image: http://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/item/17640-net-neutrality-a-clash-of-o

Advantages of having an Information Policy

Get the best of web 2.0 (ie non-static web pages – interactivity)

Influence people paying attention to the social aspect of these socio-technical systems.

Secure the preservation of digital content

Bring about information production

Future needs

Needs to be flexible, and change to meet ever evolving circumstance as the ability to access, store and share information continues to grow.

DNA / Genetic information

Medical privacy

Next lecture

Global Digital Divide