8_______________________

PANEL ON EDUCATION/TRAINING RELATED TO NIT AND GII

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY POLICY ISSUES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

A. Neelameghan

Consultant to UNESCO
Bangalore, 560055 India
ndrtc@isibang.ernet.in
ikr@isibang.ernet.in

General Policy Statement on Information Technology

In national information policy formulations, the substance of a statement relating to information technology (IT) may appear in the following form: The national policy will be to support experimentation; to stimulate the optimal use of emering information technologies for the handling of data and information in all forms and formats with a view to improving the quality, reliability, accessibility, com-prehensiveness, timely delivery, and, in general, the management of information systems and services in the country; and to ensure adequate consideration and resolution of problems that may arise as a result of the application of such tech-nologies.

Implications for Implementation of Policy

Periodical reviewing of policy issues and strategies relating to the application of IT (computers, telecommunications, electro-optics, image processing, audio-visuals, reprography, printing, and other related technologies) and recommending appropriate changes so as to facilitate access to, use, and the exchange of infor-mation are needed when implementing policy.

Examining, as and when needed, all aspects of the application of IT, including franchising commercial communication services, issues relating to costs, pricing and related economics of data and facsimile transmission, matters relating to the introduction of videotex, copyright legislation for machine-readable records, databases and software, transborder data flow, the storage and accessing of sen-sitive data in machine-readable form, and related questions of confidentiality, corporate and individual privacy, and so on, and recommending appropriate action are also important to policy implementation.

Another significant issue is the participation of the private sector, including transnational corporations, particularly those that are involved in the production and distribution of hardware and software systems and services as well as the provision of expertise in the country.

In this context, other such issues as freedom of access to information, so-vereignty, conflicts of interests, intellectual property and business laws, econo-mic and political vulnerability due to the country's heavy dependence on external information sources and services, trade in information, and information products and services need to be taken into consideration.

With the increasingly global nature of electronic information networks, sovereignty can be viewed no longer as simply a matter of physical borders and political allegiances, but also as including considerations of access to, control over, and a degree of reliance on external information sources.

It is important to prevent the erosion of the country's laws and policies, and thus national sovereignty, by information and communication technologies and transborder data flow, especially now that IT has become an important and deci-sive issue in intercountry interactions and cooperation, whether through bilateral or multilateral arrangements and regional alliances of nations.

In some countries, there is a separate policy relating to each of the areas of library and documentation, informatics, and telecommunications, whereas other countries are attempting to formulate comprehensive policies integrating all these domains. It should be noted that the government ministry, department, or bureau concerned with libraries and documentation, informatics, and telecommunica-tions is distinct in most of the countries. Because several of the facets and in-fluencing factors are equally applicable to library and documentation activities as well as to informatics, one may find elements of policy common to both domains but enumerated in separate sets of policy statements. It will help implementation of information systems and services if at the policy formulation stage the relevant functions, interests, and so on, of the different departments or parties concerned with libraries and documentation, the information industry, telecommunications, trade, customs, duties and taxation, and so on, are taken into account.

Formulating and implementing criteria for supporting experiments for the testing, application, and adaptation of information technology for improving the information systems and services in the country is required.

Some features of IT cause concern to developing countries. These include:

• problems relating to accessibility at affordable cost of the accelerating inno-vations in IT

• lack of an adequate local and national infrastructure and an information industry

• lack of expertise to effectively and efficiently manage and utilize IT

• effect of IT on aggregate employment and related social and political issues

• possible control and censorship of information by national governments or other entities

• issues relating to freedom of access and publication of information

• assault on privacy and confidentiality of information, whether it relates to an individual or to corporate entities, including the government

• data security

• sovereignty and conflicts vis-à-vis nation states

• intellectual property and business law related matters

• legislation regarding software production, distribution, and use

• copyright legislation for machine-readable databases and for computer pro-grams and software

• transborder data flow and trade in information across national boundaries

• costs and pricing of data and facsimile transmission

• too little buffer time for national authorities and managements to under-stand, assimilate, and assess their likely impact on the social, political, economic, and technological fabric of the country due to the pace of deve-lopments in IT.

In this connection, a developing country needs to take into consideration addi-tional policy issues such as the following: • Does the country have adequate access to external information sources; is there an undue dependence of the country on external sources and, if so, how can it be corrected?

• How can the economic value of external information be weighed against imbalances and other national concerns?

• How should economic efficiency arising from effective information service be balanced against national concerns such as maintenance of national juris-diction and reduction or vulnerability caused by imbalances in the country's information trade?

• Do international arrangements (e.g. those of OECD, GATT) provide an appropriate environment for growth of national information systems and services?

• Are the controls on the ownership of the country's information industry adequate and appropriate?

• Should the import/export of certain types of data and information and infor-mation products be regulated?

• How can the integrity of IT-based systems be safeguarded against illegal and unauthorized use?

In brief then the national policy on information should focus on two major aspects, namely: • to prevent the erosion of the country's economy, laws, and policies (and thus national sovereignty) by new information and communication techno-logies and transborder data flow;

• to determine the extent of economic and political vulnerability caused by the country's heavy reliance on external information and information pro-ducts and to take steps to reduce such dependence if necessary.

Many developing countries are trying to cope with major social and economic problems of illiteracy, population growth, health, nutrition, inadequacy of resour-ces for development programs, weak infrastructure, management capacity, and so on.

Libraries and information services in many developing countries have not been able to convincingly demonstrate the value of information and information products in finding solutions to these problems faced by decision makers, deve-lopment planners and executives. Also, IT tends to disturb conventional institu-tional structures, information flow patterns, and interactions among individuals and institutions.

IT calls for new perspectives and change in attitudes as well as strategies and balanced approaches to derive optimal benefit from its applications in develop-mental efforts. For many a developing economy such changes at the higher levels of decision and policymaking will take some time. In the meantime, IT continues and the negative aspects of IT continue to loom large.

The level of use of information and data partly depends on the level of resear-ch and development activities, planning exercises, industrial and business activi-ties, and so on. Hence, even though it may be possible to access more informa-tion sources in developing country, they may still be underutilized due to the low level of research and development and other activities mentioned. Again, availa-ble information may be underutilized because users may not be adequately aware of its availability or because of an inadequacy in their familiarity with, or in their ability to use, IT-based systems. This calls for effective measures for informa-tion use promotion, marketing of information products and services, and user sensitization and orientation.

In science and technology fields, much of the information required by resear-chers and other specialists in developing countries is produced, documented, and disseminated in the technologically advanced countries. The acquisition of such information sources, databases, or access to them requires a substantial amount of hard currency and foreign exchange facility, both of which are serious handicaps in most developing countries. Except in the newly industrializing economies, there is little that a developing country can offer in exchange for information.