Electronic democracy[1]
Doc. 7462
18 January 1996
OPINION[2]
Rapporteur: Mr RODEGHIERO, Italy, Liberal, Democratic and Reformers' Group
I. INTRODUCTION
1 As the year 2000 approaches, the linking up of new communication technologies, based on computer, telephone, cable and satellite television networks, in the rapidly expanding "information superhighways", heralds a new technological revolution.
2. Coupled with deregulation and the advent of global markets, the process will eventually lead to significant economic, cultural and social upheaval. The information superhighways will make their mark on the political scene and the technologies concerned will substantially alter the democratic landscape.
3. The Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations held a seminar on "electronic democracy" on 23-24 March 1995 in Paris. Those taking part soon realised that electronic democracy represented an economic and cultural opportunity and a major challenge for Europe, but might also pose all sorts of threats to democracy and freedom if the new technology was applied without regard to or in violation of human rights[3].
4. The Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations summarised the conclusions in a report on "electronic democracy" (Doc 7359) and adopted a draft resolution and recommendation in June 1995. Four Committees - Economic Affairs and Development, Culture and Education, Science and Technology, Legal Affairs and Human Rights - were invited to contribute to this initial debate.
5. The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights congratulates the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations and its Rapporteur for taking the initiative in bringing the issue before the Assembly. The report clearly highlights the need for a thorough examination of the political, social, educational, cultural, legal and ethical implications of modern information and communication technologies.
6. Nevertheless, although the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is convinced that the Assembly can contribute significantly to a better understanding of the phenomenon, it is also duty bound to make some additions to the report submitted to it for an opinion and to emphasise particularly the necessary respect of human rights.
II.GENERAL COMMENTS ON THE DRAFT REPORT
7. The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights wishes to make a number of comments on the report submitted by the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations which it hopes are constructive.
8. The report is rich in ideas and suggestions, calculated to stimulate fruitful debate. Regrettably, though, it does not provide a clear summary of the preparatory documents for and the discussions at the Paris meeting or cast light on all aspects of the problem.
9. In setting out to be comprehensive and to classify every aspect of the phenomenon, the report risks straying from the central issue, that of electronic democracy. Instead, it mainly confines itself to general observations on modern information technologies, and only looks in passing at their consequences for human rights and representative democracy. Admittedly, the wide range of implications and the difficulty of providing an adequate account of all the existing legal rules and national and local developments makes this a tricky area to cover.
10. Secondly, the report could usefully lay greater stress on these new technologies' great potential for developing human understanding, for citizens' freedom of expression and their direct participation in political consultation and decision-making processes and for allowing direct access to public information.
11. Instead, the report is far too general and not very constructive. It deliberately emphasises the dangers posed by the development of the information superhighways. While it is true that the digital age entails risks, it is equally true that it is up to those directly involved and to decision-makers to avoid a new totalitarianism or a dehumanisation of society and to turn the potential of this development to account.
12. The opportunities offered by the new world of communications naturally arouse fears, given the risks inherent in all activities of this kind and their global character; however the information superhighways are not yet streets of crime and networks are not necessarily all destined for chaos and anarchy.
13. The report also reveals outright mistrust of the main participants in the new communications world, the industrialists, financial groups and operators - "the tyranny of big business" - who must therefore be bound by "service and public interest obligations ... set out in schedules of conditions" and a "code of conduct", and supervised by an "independent supreme authority".
14. Finally, while the report sets out to identify the problems and potential risks, its proposals for reinforcing the protection of rights and freedoms must be assessed carefully. In this respect, one must underline the importance of an adequate protection of private life. After all, provisions to this end already exist, at both the national and European levels.
15. In the face of technological developments the individual can, of course, be protected by international measures even more stringent than those already applied by the Council of Europe, but it must be quite clear that the responsibility of each State in the matter cannot be disregarded.
16. This committee believes that, since it is fundamental in this field to affirm the principle of free access to information, access to and use of these new means of communication cannot be governed by strict rules, but must entail a measure of self-regulation at the national level.
17. The establishment of an "independent supreme authority", based on the French Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert�s (the national body concerned with monitoring the use of personal data) or the European Patent Office, with responsibility for registering Europe-wide computer files, accordingly offers interesting possibilities.
18. In this context, an ad hoc European convention may be seen as a positive step, but it is necessary to have a clear idea of the purpose to be achieved by such a convention, taking particular account of existing conventions and recommendations already adopted by the Council of Europe.
19. What we are witnessing is a clash between two different approaches. Some see a clear need for further legislation and conventions, particularly in the fields of protection of private life, data protection and ownership or the creation of monopolies, whereas others believe that the problems raised are not confined to these new technologies and that existing national legislation should be sufficient to ensure that people's rights are respected.
III.ISSUES REQUIRING FURTHER CONSIDERATION
A.The concept of electronic democracy: a new approach to media problems and new technologies
20. It needs to be emphasised at the outset that this report is fully consistent with the Council of Europe's traditional approach to the media and individual freedom. Since its inception, the organisation has been deeply concerned with such topics as media concentration and pluralism, copyright law and neighbouring rights, sound and audiovisual piracy, media transparency, freedom of expression, the right to information and data protection. Its activities in this field are particularly governed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Court's associated case-law[4].
21. The Council of Europe has been continuously engaged in this field over the last twenty years. Its work is mainly the responsibility of the Steering Committee on the Mass Media (CDMM), whose terms of reference are very broad, and various subordinate groups, including the Project Group "Equality of Opportunity in the Building of a European Audiovisual Area" (MM-EC)[5], the Committee of Experts on Media Concentrations and Pluralism (MM-CM), the Committee of Legal Experts in the Media Field (MM-JU), the Project Group "Human Rights and Genuine Democracy" (CAHDD) and the Group of Specialists on access to official information (MM-S-AC).
22. A Group of Specialists "on the impact of new communications technologies on human rights and democratic values" (MM-S-NT) was set up in November 1994 "to analyse the consequences which new means of production, distribution and dissemination of texts, images and sounds [...] used by the mass media [...] may have on the protection of human rights".
23. The Group's activities will take on a special importance in 1996, in the context of the preparations for the 5th European Ministerial Conference on Mass Media Policy (1997), the theme of which ("the information society: a challenge for Europe") will entail a wide-ranging review of the impact of the information revolution on human rights and democracy[6]. A Parliamentary Assembly contribution to this debate would be very desirable.
24. The Council of Europe's activities have given rise to a number of legal instruments: the European Convention on transfrontier television (1989 - ETS n�132, which came into force on 1 May 1993), the European Convention relating to questions on copyright law and neighbouring rights in the framework of transfrontier broadcasting by satellite (1994 - ETS n�153)[7] and several resolutions and recommendations[8].
25. The Parliamentary Assembly has itself debated a number of related issues and adopted various texts:
- Resolution 428 and Recommendation 582 (1970) "containing a declaration on mass communication media and human rights",
- Recommendation 926 (1981) "on questions raised by cable and television and by direct satellite broadcasts",
- Recommendation 996 (1984) "on Council of Europe work relating to the media",
- Recommendation 1037 (1986) "on data protection and freedom of information",
- Recommendation 1098 (1989) "on East-West audiovisual co-operation",
- Resolution 937 (1990) "on telecommunications: the implications for Europe",
- Resolution 956 (1991) "on transfer of technology to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe",
- Recommendation 1228 (1994) "on cable networks and local television stations: their importance for Greater Europe".
26. A fresh approach to these issues is now needed. Indeed the implications of technological progress are no longer confined to individuals' fundamental rights but also extend to the future of representative democracy itself. The notion of electronic democracy must therefore be carefully delineated and defined, and distinguished from other, more frequently explored, aspects of the mass media.
27. The concept of electronic democracy is, in itself, very recent: it implies the use of new technologies to improve the functioning of democratic institutions, "to bridge the gap between citizens and their elected representatives" (see appendix to doc. 7359), and "the result will be a redefinition of the role of the citizen and the sovereignty of the people". It can therefore only be a specific concept, concerned with the impact of new communication technologies on the functioning of democratic institutions and political life.
B.Modern communication technologies and freedom of information: an opportunity to seize, with undoubted benefits
28. These new technologies offer undeniable benefits. In particular, they hold out the prospect of much greater direct citizen participation in local and national political life, by means of electronic forums, opinion polls, votes and referendums, and of greater access to public services and political and administrative information, via data banks, archives, administrative documents and libraries. They should also help to establish a dialogue between citizens and elected representatives and interactive communications between government and the governed, using electronic mail, debates on matters of public concern and so on. The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights warmly welcomes these promising developments.
29. It is worth pointing out that certain countries - the United States and Canada and, in Europe, Sweden, Italy and the Netherlands - already serve as test-beds for such technological applications to politics, particularly at the local level.
C.Disadvantages still largely hypothetical
30. Although some of the disadvantages described in the report have not yet become everyday concerns and are still mainly in the future, trends must be anticipated and immediate answers sought. The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights thinks that the potential or recognised risks associated with these disadvantages ought to be more methodically researched, especially the dangers of information manipulation, obstacles to free access to information and interference with private life.
31. For example, more attention could have been paid to:
- problems concerned with changes in political behaviour (citizens' behaving in a mechanical fashion and the standardisation of programmes) and the use of electronic opinion polls and referendums (the dangers of plebiscites or their use for lobbying purposes);
- legal problems connected with free access to information, avoiding media concentration, dangers of information manipulation, the protection of date, of private life, and of copyright (the risk of pirating) (the protection of all these is complicated by the globalisation of networks);
- cultural and educational issues, linked to the exclusion of certain citizens or countries from technological innovations, which is a particular problem for the countries of central and eastern Europe where the influx of new technology may turn out to be incompatible with their emerging democracy;
- economic and commercial problems, particularly associated with free trade and media concentration, with the attendant risk of gigantic information monopolies;
- ethical problems, and the implications for morality and public order if these new means of communication are used for anti-democratic, terrorist, racist, xenophobic or pornographic purposes.
32. The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights supports any proposals to prevent or reduce these risks: projects to facilitate citizens' freedom of access to new technology, particularly the establishment of local networks; education and training programmes to encourage the use of new information technologies; international co-operation and technical, logistical and financial assistance programmes to encourage equal technological development in Europe. The committee believes priority should be given to ensuring that the new technologies do not lead to the exclusion of the most disadvantaged members of society or countries that have not reached an advanced state of development.
IV. CONCLUSION
33. Do these developments constitute real progress towards direct democracy or a threat to representative democracy? The issues raised in the report submitted by the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations are critical for the future of Europe's democratic institutions. We must give this matter our fullest consideration.
34. The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights wants a thorough examination of the implications of these modern communication technologies for representative democracy, political life, political and administrative institutions and individuals' fundamental rights. The committee is also concerned about the potential risks involved, from the standpoints of training citizens in these technologies, equal opportunities in the establishment of a European communications area, information manipulation and the creation of monopolies.
35. The committee considers that the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations should continue its work, assess the current situation in Europe and the prospects for the balanced development of the new media and draw up any necessary proposals for Council of Europe action.
36. The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights therefore considers that the texts submitted to it for an opinion may be supplemented by analyses of the problems outlined in this opinion, with particular attention being paid to the potential impact of electronic democracy on human rights and the exercise of representative democracy, and proposes that they be referred back to the committee.
Reporting committee: Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations (Doc. 7359)
Committee for opinion: Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Reference to committee: Doc 7288 and Reference No. 2010 of 22 May 1995
Opinion approved by the committee on 11 January 1996
Secretaries to the committee: Mr Plate, Ms Chatzivassiliou and Ms Kleinsorge
[1]. See Doc 7359.
[2]. By the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.
[3]. The Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations had previously looked at how democracy could apply modern technological resources and the prospects for increasing citizens' participation in political life at an interparliamentary conference held in Paris from 16-18 September 1993 entitled "citizens, representative democracy and European construction".
[4]. See the Committee of Ministers' Declaration on the Freedom of Expression and Information of 29 April 1982.
[5]. The Group, which completed its task in 1994, proposed various measures to promote equal access for the different European countries and regions and different strata of the population, to the new communication technologies.
[6]. The conference's first sub-theme will be "the impact of new communication technologies on human rights and democratic values".
[7]. See also Article 11 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
[8]. Resolutions (73) 22 and (74) 29 on the protection of the privacy of individuals vis-�-vis electronic data banks in the private sector; Recommendations R (81) 19 on access to information held by public authorities; R (84) 22 on the use of satellite capacity for television and sound radio; R (86) 2 on principles relating to copyright law questions in the field of television by satellite and cable; R (88) 1 on sound and audiovisual private copying; R (88) 2 on measures to combat piracy in the field of copyright and neighbouring rights; R (92) 15 concerning teaching, research and training in the field of law and information technology; R (94) 13 on measures to promote media transparency; R (94) 3 on the promotion of education and awareness in the area of copyright and neighbouring rights concerning creativity; R (95) 1 on measures against sound and audiovisual piracy; R (95) 4 on the protection of personal data in the area of telecommunication services, with particular reference to telephone services; R (95) 13 on problems of criminal procedural law connected with information technology.