Scientific and technological aspects of the new information and communications technologies
Report (1)
Doc. 7832
23 May 1997
Rapporteur: Mr Claude FREY, Switzerland, Liberal, Democratic and Reformers Group
Summary
The impact of the rapid development of information and communications technologies on society is already making itself felt and will become ever more apparent. A proper understanding of the scientific and technological aspects of their development is essential to a clear view of any other problems that might accompany them.
Economic growth will depend in future on access to information on one side and on the skills developed to exploit that information on the other side. Coherent political measures, on a continental scale, are necessary to ensure that Europe remains one of the lead players in the information society which is developing very swiftly. This report proposes measures and policy strategies concerning scientific and technological development in this field to be supported by the governments of Council of Europe member states.
I. Draft recommendation
1.The Parliamentary Assembly, aware of the challenge posed to society by the extremely rapid development of the new information and communication technologies, has addressed various aspects of this matter on numerous occasions. It realises that changes in this field succeed one other at a phenomenal rate and that any ad hoc approach may well therefore become obsolete before its effects are even felt.
2.It considers that the changes brought about by the new information and communication technologies will affect almost all areas of society and will have social, economic, cultural, ethical, legal and other consequences. The main fields of application of the new information and communication technologies include education and training, health and the ageing population, public authorities, the environment and transport.
3.It recalls Recommendation 1324 (1997) on its contribution to the Second Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe, which asks the Summit to decide that the Council of Europe's legal instruments be reviewed and that, where appropriate, new legal instruments (conventions) be drafted in the light of the development of the new information and communication technologies and their consequences for European society.
4.It considers that finding answers to the scientific and technological questions covered in the present recommendation would be a necessary step towards solving other problems posed by the new information and communication technologies.
5.To help bridge the gap between the extent of development of the new information and communication technologies and society's readiness for them, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
analyse its work programme, taking into account the changes brought about by the new information and communication technologies in all fields of its activity;
support and reinforce the work of the European Ministerial Conference on Mass Media Policy, which is to hold its 5th meeting in Thessaloniki on 11-12 December 1997, in particular with regard to the new information and communication technologies, human rights and democratic values, as well as efforts to harmonise the relevant legislation in Europe and at international level;
invite governments of Council of Europe member states and the European Union to pursue, in cooperation with private companies, research institutes and non-governmental organisations, their scientific and technological efforts by implementing inter alia the following measures:
developing and adapting technologies to facilitate the development of teleworking, including for senior citizens and people with disabilities;
developing computerised medical systems and telemedicine systems;
developing technological solutions that give the general public and companies electronic access to public services;
developing telematic systems for the monitoring and analysis of environmental data;
developing advanced telematic systems for the field of transport;
facilitating the installation of the hardware necessary to use the new information and communications technologies in all education and training institutions;
encouraging the development of multimedia applications and new teaching methods based on simulation and virtual reality at all levels of the education and training system, including aspects relating to cultural and linguistic diversity;
facilitating general access to all services created by the new information and communication technologies, for example by fiscal measures, and encouraging in particular the development of interactive multimedia services;
fostering interoperability between networks by stepping up international cooperation in the field of standardisation and in particular encouraging the International Telecommunications Union to continue its work in this area;
encouraging and investing in the development of digital technologies and broad band networks and in new direct transcontinental links, particularly to the United States;
assisting the siting of hardware and software manufacturing companies in all European countries and especially in countries in transition - which have a highly skilled workforce available at competitive rates - while supporting the digitisation of communication infrastructures in these countries;
encouraging more intensive research in information cryptography in order to provide a satisfactory level of security for data transmitted on the network, which will encourage the development of electronic trade and the security of all other personal information;
promoting the key technologies of the information society, which include communication and network technologies, software and system technologies, mobile communication technologies including the use of satellites, interfaces using different means of expression (for example, voice) and microelectronics;
gearing the development of generic technologies and basic research towards real-time, large-scale simulation and visualisation technologies, virtual presence technologies, technologies for the creation of very high-performance computers and super-intelligent networks, and the creation of advanced broad band networks for research;
supporting the development of filtering technologies which, combined with the adaptation of current legislation for conventional communication systems, will encourage self-regulation of network operators at international level;
maintaining or setting up - and funding - national research centres for communication and information systems, especially as liberalisation is likely to reduce the efforts devoted to research by telecommunications operators, and paying particular attention to compliance with standards set by the scientific patents system;
encouraging through every possible means - including financial - the creation of virtual centres of scientific research providing electronic access to sophisticated and expensive research equipment;
monitoring in particular the implementation of their scientific and technological policies so that these policies do not harm democratic values in Europe, but consolidate their development.
II. Explanatory memorandum by Mr Claude FREY
Table of content
I.Towards an information society
II.Brief background and definitions
III.Communications systems: present and future
IV.Scientific and technological objectives
V.The new information and communications technologies and society
i) The new information and communications technologies and education and training systems
ii) Man and the challenge of networks: social issues
iii) A few ethical and legal aspects of the new information and communications technologies
"Today's reality is yesterday's utopia".
(Le Corbusier).
I. Towards an information society
1.The revolution in information and communications technologies continues apace, having ongoing, rapid and sometimes surprising effects on society. The impact of the new information and communications technologies extends to all spheres of society and takes tangible form in economic, social, ethical, epistemological and other changes.
2.The number of homes connected to information networks is expected to triple by the year 2000, reaching 100 million - 30 million of them in Europe. The world turnover for telecommunications services has already passed the 600 billion dollar mark. The likelihood of World Wide Web access for a billion users by the turn of the century will certainly prompt changes in professions, working conditions, job requirements and the number of jobs. Political, social, cultural, economic, legal and ethical issues are at stake, and aspects touching on education and training, as well as scientific research and technological development, are taking on new dimensions.
3. Fundamental questions arise as to the funding of the infrastructures, exactly what information will be disseminated and the future of mankind in the information society. There are still doubts as to the proportion of advantages and disadvantages generated by the revolution in information and communications tools, both for the present and for the future; it is claimed by some that it will mean the destruction of the economy, the environment and even society as we know it. But we must beware of Manichaean thinking. Our path to the society of the future - a society based on information - must not be left to chance; it must be traced out now. Properly controlled, new information and communications technologies can give Europe new tools with which to develop technology, industry and services while respecting the continent's cultural and linguistic diversity.
4.To gain a clearer idea of what these new communications media hold for the future, the Committee on Science and Technology organised the Colloquy on "Information highways: between dream and reality" in Neuch�tel at the beginning of April 1997. The colloquy focused on four themes:
Internet and multimedia: the virtual universe of the new information and communications technologies;
Free access: myth and fact;
Man and the challenge of networks: social issues;
Ethics in the cyberspace age.(2)
5.The Rapporteur would like to thank all the participants (parliamentarians, experts, representatives of industry and trade unions, representatives of international organisations), whose contributions formed the basis of this report. I would also like to thank STOA (Scientific and Technological Options Assessment) of the European Parliament, whose excellent work on new information and communications technologies was a further source of valuable information.
6.Given the specific concerns of the Committee on Science and Technology on the one hand and the structure of the aforementioned colloquy on the other hand, I have chosen to focus on the scientific and technological challenges raised by the new information and communications technologies while viewing them as part of the general social context.
II. Brief background and definitions
7.The generic term "information and communications technologies" covers all the technologies used to collect, store, process and transmit information(3). The information itself may be presented in text, sound, graphic or animated form. The Internet and the World Wide Web are the best known aspects of the new information and communication technologies but there are others too: micro-electronics, opto-electronics and all the associated technologies.
8. The Internet is a communications network structure capable of linking computers(4) of different design, configured as a web on which any two points can be linked, with the information travelling along one strand or another of that web. The concept dates from 1969 and belongs to the ARPA (Advanced Research Project Agency - United States). Communication between computers is based on packet switching, ie the segmentation of a message into packets which are then transported by the network. Each packet is capable of finding an available pathway to its destination, even if the network is damaged for some reason, because the packets carry their own individual destination addresses.
9.In 1970, four Californian universities were linked up by the first decentralised packet-switching network. By 1971, the number of connections had risen to 23. In 1972, the first International Conference on Computer Communications set up a node with 40 connected terminals and decided that it was necessary to develop a common protocol(5) for communication between all computers and all networks. In 1974, the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), including the future Internet Protocol (IP), was written.
10.In 1980, the TCP/IP protocols were no longer considered as "military secrets" and were moved into the public domain; seven years later, over ten thousand computers were interconnected in the United States. From 1988 onwards, interest in the Internet reached beyond the frontiers of the USA. According to the estimates of Microsoft (the world's largest software company) there were 48 million Internet users world-wide in 1996. About 75% of those users were in the United States and 11% in Europe.
11.In 1989, the World Wide Web was invented at CERN (European Laboratory for Particle Physics) in Geneva. The Web is a hypermedia(6) system based on the concept of hypertext documents, which incorporate links to other documents. The Web brings together the various Internet services (E-mail, remote work sessions, file transfers, access to discussion groups) and incorporates global document search engines.
12.E-mail is a cross between conventional mail, telephone and fax. It transports messages of perfect quality almost instantaneously and at minimum cost. Remote work sessions are made possible by a protocol facilitating the connection of computers in a given location or computers in very remote locations. At almost no cost, an experienced computer scientist can connect his terminal to databases run by the super-computers of scientific research centres, for example, and benefit from their computing power. File transfer is a process whereby two remote machines can be connected and data up- and downloaded between them. As for discussion groups, there are some 20,000 theme-related groups operating as virtual communities on the Usenet.
13.Under the common umbrella of the Web, these services have become extremely user-friendly. Users simply click with their mouse on the hyperlinks in hypertext documents.
III. Communications systems: present and future
14.If similarities are to be sought, the overall communications infrastructure is comparable not to a set of "information highways" but rather a set of "information routes", including narrow country lanes, single and dual-lane roads and motorways. Some of them may be used only by certain categories of vehicles; some routes, even if they lead to the same destination, levy tolls which differ greatly for the same points of passage. The main differences are that the communications infrastructure is used not by vehicles but by data and the journey time required by this data bears no relation in principle to physical distance, tending instead towards zero.
15.The world of information processing today still comprises three principal spheres today: firstly radio and television, then telecommunications (geared mainly to the voice) and finally information technology, which transports data. These three spheres are becoming less and less independent as the dividing lines become increasingly blurred, and they have begun to overlap. It is likely that the "computer interconnection" industry will have a predominating influence on networks in the future. It seems clear from the battle raging in the United States at present between the different media, that computer technology will win the day. The conversion of any kind of information (image, text etc) into digital data is at the origin of this development.
16.At present, the communications system consists of: signal processing and audiovisual compression; mobile communications; telecommunications networks and services; multimedia and Internet applications; virtual reality. As far as the future of communications and information systems is concerned, a number of topics need to be considered. As far as multimedia services on the Internet are concerned, the process of standardisation is evolving in a manner that allows us to see the television set of tomorrow as a multipurpose personal computer. The World Wide Web - invented, it must always be remembered, in the European Laboratory of Particle Physics (CERN) but marketed in the United States! - has now been nicknamed the World Wide Wait, because it is so congested. Mobility, which is enjoying about the same degree of success in Europe as the United States, faces the problem of a limited range of available frequencies. Universal broadband access has had new prospects opened up for it by the rapid evolution of technology: high-flowrate modems on switched telephone networks, modems for remote networks, local high-speed, asymmetrical links, mixed architectures (fibre optics, coaxial cable, symmetrical pairs). The information search situation may be summed up as follows: there are enormous quantities of on-line data and a tremendous volume of new information being produced, which offer the potential for a worldwide digital library, but the search motors, numerous and relatively backward, are seriously lagging behind. The key problem is becoming one of sorting, indexing and locating useful information. With one or two exceptions, the price of traffic on the Internet is calculated on a flat-rate basis of the kind "all you can use for a fixed monthly rate", as opposed to telecommunications traffic, which is evaluated according to the time of use, distance and quantity of information involved. As the two spheres have no other precisely fixed parameters, a convergence of the two is beginning to make itself felt but that convergence is not nearly as rapid as the disappearance of the parameters.
17.More specifically as regards the price of Internet access, it should be noted that, although decentralised, payment follows a pattern, varying from one case to another: a number of networks decide how they are to be interconnected and fund that arrangement; a corporation might pay for their connection to a regional network, for example, and that network would in turn pay a national access provider.
18.One of the acts of the European Union on 1 January 1998 will be to introduce deregulation in the telecommunications sector. The likely consequences of this step are: a leap in the usual rate of traffic increase, at least in an initial phase; a cut in the price of telecommunications (already made by some operators, such as France T�l�com); staff cutbacks by national operators; the arrival of new operators taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the new system. However, it will be a few years before there is genuine competition.
IV. Scientific and technological objectives
19.The transition to the information society calls for fundamental industrial and social changes. Its implementation will permit the development of new activities, by both individuals and companies, in the areas of trade, work, transport, education, health and culture. The technologies linked to the information society will find their way into all industrial activity and all levels of society, and their social and economic impact will reach not only equipment manufacturers and information and communications services but far beyond.
20.The very origins of the revolution in information and communications technologies lie in fundamental research, namely in the scientific community's vital need for an instant and flexible means of communication. From the point of view of scientific research, the world has now become a "global village", made up of elements such as immediate database access, co-operation in real time through the exchange of messages, and the publication and dissemination of research results.
21.Political responsibilities as regards the future of scientific research at global level entail providing the scientific networks, at both national and international level, with an adequate infrastructure on the one hand, and creating a favourable environment for the development of an open and productive scientific system, capable of strengthening the contribution of science and technology to economic growth and social development in all European countries on the other hand.
22.As far as deregulation is concerned, Europe is in a position to learn from what has happened in the United States. The splitting up of AT&T caused the break-up of Bell Labs and the new protagonists invested little in research. It is for this reason that a new research structure was set up, receiving funding from several sources such as the NSF (National Science Foundation) and industry. National research centres have been set up for the telecommunications and multimedia sectors. In Europe, liberalisation is likely to lead to a reduction in research efforts on the part of telecommunications operators. That is why centres with expertise in communications and information systems should be maintained or, in some cases, set up and funded.
23.In the United States, the transfer of know-how between universities and industry is easy, smooth and free of pitfalls. There are venture-capital structures and large corporations which generate spin-offs. On the whole, there is a pool of wealthy individuals prepared to take risks, generated by the high-tech field. European projects on the other hand involve a great deal of effort and only modest industrial spin-offs. Finance comes mainly from more conventional sectors. Obviously, the opening up of competition will breathe life into the market - for both services and equipment - and Europe must not miss the right moment to create start-up funding in the field of communications and information systems.
24.Europe is well ahead of the United States in the field of cellular telephony. The successful development of GSM (Global System Mobile), thanks to co-operation between the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy, is now facilitating the introduction of digital technology; based on this technology, it has already helped sales of digital systems to the detriment of analog systems.
25.The technologies of the information society must satisfy users' expectations and needs and give them access to high-quality services at low cost. On the level of the general public, the areas likely to benefit are education and training, health, public authorities, the environment and transport.
26.As far as education and training are concerned, the emphasis will have to be on multimedia applications and new teaching methods based on simulation and virtual reality, as well as the development of applications using broadband communications. As regards health and the ageing population, the priority must be to modernise computerised medical systems, to install high-capacity health care networks and to use interfaces and remote systems to integrate elderly or disabled people into life in society. It will be possible to make public services more accessible through specific applications. As for environmental protection, telematics(7) systems will handle monitoring and data analysis. Transport will benefit greatly from the development of telematics systems, which hold the key to the management and future of remote services.
27.The impact of the new information and communications technologies on the international banking system is not to be overlooked. The very functioning of society relies on the proper functioning of this system, which handles transactions between individuals, companies, branches of business, States and international finance organisations.
28."Electronic money" seems to have been taken on board thanks to the new information and communications technologies. Technological progress will certainly guarantee it a rosy future. Opinions on the security of electronic transactions vary from one type of operation to another; there are some forms of electronic transaction whose security is a serious cause for concern in certain circles. The use of the bank card has become widespread, as has confidence in its reliability. Technological improvements such as the switch from magnetic strips to chips - thanks to a French invention - already make it possible to use one's bank card for many banking transactions which, until recently, required us to go to a counter. The prospects for development foreseen by the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) were presented in detail at the colloquy organised by the Committee on Science and Technology.
29.Telesales remains a controversial issue. In the United States, sales through Internet amounted to 900 million dollars in 1996: according to European Commission documents on the 5th Framework programme for R&D, one third of the world's bank transactions could be performed electronically by the year 2005; by the year 2000, nearly 40% of business transactions will take place in this way. Fraud is certainly possible, even though the relative risk is low (the electronic transmission of confidential financial information would be far less safe), but it must not be forgotten that it is the volume of transactions via Internet, and not via the telephone, that is expanding. Technology and commerce have stolen a march on the legislators in this field. These staggered rates of development risk leaving a worrying void, open to abuse, fraud and all kinds of crime.
30.It is necessary, therefore, to consider establishing an adequate legal framework to obviate bank fraud and counterfeiting in the sphere of electronic money. States, which are already taking steps to prevent money-laundering, must without doubt address this highly topical issue too. International norms should be laid down for the proper development of the commerce of the future.
31.Network security does not only concern trade but also has implications for national security and defence. In June 1996, the director of the CIA, John Deutch, regarded "cyber-war" as one of the greatest threats to the security of the United States.
32.It is feared that the computers used to control air traffic, financial transfers, telephone systems, electric power stations and defence systems could be seriously affected by sabotage either by "pirates" or terrorists. In 1995, for example, there were 250,000 attempts to gain entry to the computers of the Pentagon, 160,000 of which were successful. A study covering 40 large corporations estimates that they could have lost up to 800 million dollars in 1996 as a result of the theft or illegal manipulation of data.
33.An electronic "attack" is difficult - and in some cases impossible - to pinpoint. Even if launched in the same country, an attack could transit via a whole series of computers abroad before striking its target in that country.
34.Current regulations on cryptography consider coding algorithms as part of the defence industry and their use is often prohibited. This represents an obstacle to the development of the different Internet services; effective encoding is vital to ensure the security of information wherever it is required.
35.The Neuch�tel colloquy confirmed that the vast majority of information circulating on the Internet is in English, even though about half of Europe's Internet users are not native English speakers. It was stressed that cultural and linguistic diversity on a continental scale had to be one of the concerns linked to the future of new information and communications technologies and form part of the basis for cultural, education and audiovisual policies. Creativity, together with use of the full scope of multimedia, will be of key importance in both putting the information society into practice and fostering linguistic and cultural diversity. The main thrust of action must be aimed at the development of innovative forms within the scope of multimedia and at tools designed to structure and process those forms. As the information process is becoming interactive, the new methods of managing information are making it possible to fragment that information and even give it special functions and/or customise it. Advanced technologies for accessing, filtering and analysing information will make it possible to control its dramatic expansion and facilitate its use. In other words, each user will be able to compile his own television news or daily newspaper, drawing information from the areas of interest to him. That is why the development of interactive multimedia services must be encouraged in Europe, while ensuring that the fragmentation of information strikes the necessary balance between the demands of the present (being obliged to assimilate an enormous quantity of data to be able to find the information sought) and the tendency for the future (assimilating only the information sought and ignoring the rest).
36.The world market for information society technologies is the fastest growing of all business sectors. It grew by 11% between 1994 and 1995. These technologies account for an impressive share of the price of high-tech goods in fields apparently far divorced from information technology as such: hardware and software account for nearly half of the price of a plane; and over 15% of the price of a car. The key technologies of the information society must be promoted in Europe, their implementation must be faster and their scope extended. Those technologies include: communications and network technologies (the latter including architecture, protocols and methodologies); software and systems technologies; mobile communications technologies, particularly satellite services; interfaces using several human actions; peripherals (flat screens, microsystems); micro-electronics, including the technologies and equipment required to design circuits and develop applications. The multimedia industries of the European Union already employ some 2 million full-time staff; this figure is expected to rise to 3 million in ten years' time. The annual turnover of the European Union represents 150 billion ECUs.
37.All European efforts to develop generic technologies and fundamental research in the field of new information and communications technologies must target the following technologies for representing, creating and managing knowledge; technologies for simulation and visualisation in real time and on a large scale, as well as virtual reality technologies; technologies serving to build very high-performance computers and super-intelligent networks, as well as advanced networks with high flowrates for research purposes.
38.The countries of Central and Eastern Europe where, in most cases, communications use analog technologies on a large scale, will be obliged to invest substantially in the digitisation of networks in order to meet the demands of the information age. In view of the considerable efforts required and the specific financial circumstances of most of these countries, possible assistance and co-operation projects launched within the programmes run by the European Union, the EBRD and/or major communications companies must be encouraged. Projects such as this would help the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to take some "short cuts" on the road to the information society, which could enjoy the same level of development throughout the continent.
V. The new information and communications technologies and society
39.In addition to different scientific and technological aspects of the new information and communications technologies, the Neuch�tel Colloquy on "Information highways: between dream and reality" also delivered some most interesting information on various factors linked to their use in different sectors and covering a large number of functions. The Rapporteur thought it useful to reiterate some of these points, which could guide discussion of the new information and communications technologies and how they affect our society - even if this takes us somewhat beyond strict scientific and technological analysis - in terms of its priorities and related investment. This section contains a few thoughts, therefore, on education and training, social issues and ethical and legal aspects connected with the new information and communications technologies.
i) The new information and communications technologies and education and training systems
40.There are two points to be made concerning the future of education and training as regards new information and communications technologies. Firstly, it is a fact that the notion of education itself is becoming dependent on mastery of these technologies. Until just recently, access to knowledge hinged on the ability to read. Today, knowledge is gained more easily through a grasp of the new information and communications technologies. In the future, knowledge might be impossible to acquire without the use of these technologies, in their various forms. That is why education and training systems, from the most basic level upwards, must also teach people how to use them.
41.The second point concerns knowledge per se. For decades, radio and television have been fulfilling the role previously attributed to "paper". More recently, the Open University system has made it possible to study in real time, without any physical presence required, through a computer. The new technologies (particularly the Internet and CD-ROM) harbour potential for a higher quality of education with many advantages over conventional means: the possibility of tailor-made teaching, taking account of the differing abilities of students; reduced learning time; a more user-friendly approach to subjects; direct contact with the notion of ongoing technological development; the possibility of remote personal development, particularly useful in providing access to education for the disabled, for learning foreign languages etc, not to mention the considerable progress made in simulation in all fields (medicine, piloting, tests etc).
42.Europe's backwardness compared with the United States is also reflected in the statistics on the number of computers in schools: 60% of US schools have Internet access, compared with less than 10% in Europe.
43.That is why efforts must be geared to quickening the process of integrating the new information and communications technologies into the European education system and vice versa. Teaching practices using multimedia and the creation of educational multimedia products must be encouraged. In concrete terms, support is required for the interconnection of schools networks, incentives to develop and disseminate programmes of European interest, the fostering of training for teachers in new information and communications technologies, and access for all to the educational opportunities opened up by multimedia. The European Union estimates that the education and training market for "the fifteen" represents 10 billion ECUs in the coming decade.
ii) Man and the challenge of networks: social issues
44.New information and communications technologies are increasingly an important and even essential factor in the development of social relations. From the 19th century onwards, those relations were based on a very clear distinction (because it was easy to make) between different human activities. Today, the conventional boundaries between workplace, home, places of education, recreation, consumption and so on are becoming blurred under the impact of the new information and communications technologies. Work is becoming fun for "technophiles", making it difficult to define work in the proper sense of the word, in relation to other activities.
45.The organisation of companies and social relations, both firmly founded, until now, on clear distinctions in terms of place and time, are now seriously called into question. A new system, described by some as "post-modernist", is becoming established. It is characterised by the diversity of products, shorter product life-cycles, shorter lead-times for the marketing of new products, greater flexibility, flatter organisational hierarchies, interactive and co-operative working relations, and fiercer competition in terms of quality.
46.Virtual companies might well emerge. As distance ceases to be an obstacle to contact and co-operation between companies and individuals, people in different parts of the world will be able to work together on the same projects. The development of the new information and communications technologies is opening up surprising possibilities in areas of work traditionally dependent on physical contact, such as telemedicine, for example, which makes remote diagnosis possible through the exchange of information and images in real time. This field represents a market of some 15 billion ECUs for the coming decade in the European Union alone.
47.Telecommuting can have beneficial effects on the balance of the family unit. One of the spouses can choose to pursue a given line of work while remaining at home to look after the children.
48.In fact, new labour legislation, taking account of new social relations (or "social cyber-relations") should be drawn up. It must be based on new arrangements for work-sharing, new concepts of working hours, new systems of remuneration etc. The subject has already amply dealt with in the report by Mr Beaufays on new technologies and employment, discussed by the Assembly in January 1997 (Doc. 7713, Recommendation 1314 (1997)).
49.As far as social cohesion is concerned, there are fears that the new information and communications technologies are helping to exacerbate rather than reduce existing inequalities. A two-speed information society of "haves" and "have-nots" is not to be excluded. Although the equipment needed for network access is increasingly broadly available and less and less expensive, there are individuals who, because of their personal make-up, culture or other reasons, reject the services offered by the information society: these are the "technopaths" who feel excluded not because products and services are poorly suited to them but because they believe that they are "too old", "lacking in training", "not bright enough", "not abstract-minded enough" or "not quick enough". Measures are necessary to ensure that tools of communication do not become tools of social exclusion.
50.Disconnection and social exclusion are not the only worrying factors. Another related problem is isolation. "The screen and chair culture" can result in withdrawal from the social sphere and a tendency for contact between individuals to take place increasingly via digital media, reflecting a reality that has lost its material form.
51.Another problem concerns the ease of access to individuals, which has increased dramatically with faxes, mobile telephones and E-mail. This ease of access can quickly become invasive and have unexpected effects on social life. Steps must be taken to ensure that individuals' right to isolate themselves, ie their right to privacy, is respected.
52.It must be ensured that a balance is always maintained between technological and social innovations. On the one hand, the system must be designed so that it does not encourage uncontrollable upheavals in the social system and, on the other hand, the proper means of adapting to change must be made available to society, which is increasingly subject to "technology push" from the new information and communications technologies.
iii) A few ethical and legal aspects of the new information and communications technologies
53.Racism, violence, pornography and antisemitism are some of the dangers increasingly evoked as an integral part of the Internet and sometimes weighed against its benefits.
54.Everything can be found on the Internet: information on science, arts, tourism, music, media, literature, sport, commerce and so on. Licentious topics are also covered. The control of sites openly disseminating this kind of information raises many legal and ethical problems. Firstly, the very question as to whether censorship is desirable is far from being resolved. And who would exercise such censorship? States have differing legislation and above all geographic obstacles to overcome. The purveyors of licentious information are difficult to identify, in which case it is the service providers which are responsible, yet they have no criminal liability for the sites to which they give access. Adequate legislation must be introduced, extending regulations governing decency, applicable to conventional communications systems, to new systems such as the Internet. Legislation of this kind is likely to engender "self-regulation" among operators at international level, who will themselves sift the information made available.
55.It should be noted that filtering systems exist at individual level. "Cyberpatrol" software, for example, enables users to select their desired level of protection, blocking access to sites or discussion groups containing certain information (in the form of text, images etc). Given their present state of development, filtering systems of this type are far from perfect and therefore inoperable on a general scale. Such a programme blocked access to the White House server, for example, because the text of the anti-pornography law contained the word..."pornography".
56.Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights enshrines the right to respect for private life and correspondence. But there is a wavy line between correspondence, as private communication, and public communication, as computers provide access to both types of communication. Obviously, there is a legal basis guaranteeing the confidential nature of correspondence but it must be amended to take account explicitely of the new information and communications technologies. The Rapporteur welcomes the work carried out in this sector inter alia by the European Ministerial Conference on Mass Media Policy and the Council of Europe's Steering Committee on the Mass Media (CDMM).
57.Privacy is already subject to many kinds of intrusion made possible by the new information and communications technologies. The mere use of a bank card, for example, provides information concerning the user's private life: the shop where the goods were purchased, the time of purchase, the quantity and quality bought, the regularity of purchases, the amounts spent each month on a given category of purchases etc. This information is considered confidential but finds its way at least into the shop's computer system and, as we have already seen, even the Pentagon's computers offer no effective data protection. On that basis, it might well be imagined that an insurance company might one day refuse life insurance, for example, to a person identified as a heavy consumer of alcohol and tobacco by pirate checks of his purchases.
58.It is the job of the public authorities to define public interest within the new dimensions given to society by the explosive development of the new information and communications technologies. Indepth knowledge of the scientific and technological factors behind that development is vital to an informed response, so that society can fully benefit from it.
59.The transition to an economy based on know-how implies the need for co-ordinated political measures, at both national and international level, in which political decision-makers have not only to take account of existing developments but also to identify the directions which the new information and communications technologies are likely to take in the short and medium term. It is only then that we will be able to sketch out guidelines ensuring that the legislative system will be up to its task in the Europe of tomorrow as a lead player in the information society.
60.Finally, the Council of Europe must revise its work programme to fully cater for the impact of new information and communications technologies on all the sectors of our society. This process could begin with a new initiative taken by the Heads of State and Government at the second Council of Europe Summit, as proposed by the Assembly in its Recommendation 1324 (1997).
Reporting committee: Committee on Science and Technology.
Budgetary implications for the Assembly: none.
Reference to committee: Doc. 7547 and Reference No. 2136 of 7 November 1996.
Draft recommendation unanimously adopted by the committee on 16 May 1997.
Members of the committee: MM. Melnikov (Chairman), Tiuri, Mrs Terborg, Mr Birraux (Vice-Chairpersons), MM. About, Bartodziej, Bauer, Beaufays, Berceanu, Mrs Biga-Friganovic, MM. Bog�r, Brunhart, Caccia, Cherep, Cherribi, Chornovil (Alternate: Yablonsky), Cioni, Connolly, Cunliffe, Fernandez Aguilar, Frey, Galley, Hadjidemetriou, Janecek, Johansson, Karlsson, K�lahli, Lambergs, Leers, Lekberg, Lenzer, Liiv, Lorenzi, Maass, Melc�k, Mozgan, Mme Nistad, MM. Niza, Olrich, Onaindia, Pawlak (Alternate: Rewaj), Petersen, Prokes, Prusi, Raskinis, Rokos, Roseta, Ryabov, Steolea, Szalay, Theis, Sir Donald Thompson, Jack Thompson (Alternate: Lord Newall), Toshev, Turini, Vella, Weyts, Y�r�r, Mrs Zissi.
N.B. The names of those members who took part in the vote are printed in italics.
Secretaries of the committee: Mr Lervik, Mr Torc�toriu.
Note: 1 by the Committee on Science and Technology
Note: 2 Cyberspace: term invented by the novelist William Gibson, to describe the virtual worlds formed by global computer networks.
Note: 3 Information: in information technology terms, written data, facts, notions or instructions which can be processed wholly or partly by machine.
Note: 4 Computer: universal calculator comprising a variable number of specialised units controlled by the same recorded program and making it possible to perform complex sets of arithmetic and logic operations without human intervention in the process.
Note: 5 Protocol: set of rules enabling a user to connect to a network or allowing different parts of a network to communicate.
Note: 6 Hypermedia: documents containing multimedia elements (text, graphics, sound, fixed or moving images).
Note: 7 Telematics: set of techniques and services exploiting both information technology and telecommunications applications.