INFORMATION POLICY
January 2000
"Intellectual freedom is the only guarantee of a
scientific-democratic approach to politics, economic development,
and culture." -- Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989).
"The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy; the best weapon of a
democracy is openness." -- Edvard Teller (1908- ).
"Existing libraries, in their very being, seem to question the authority
of those in power." -- Alberto Manguel. (1948- )
"The public is the most dangerous place in town." -- John
Ciardi (1916-86).
"If your library is not 'unsafe', it probably isn't doing its job." --
John Berry III. from Library Journal, Oct. 1999.
Guiding Questions for Discussion
Information Policy definition. the set of rules, formal and
informal, that directly restrict, encourage, or otherwise shape flows of
information. Information policy includes:
- literacy
- privatization and distribution of government information
- freedom of information access
- protection of personal privacy
- intellectual property rights
- ...
Public policy issue: a fundamental enduring conflict among and
between objectives, goals, customs, plans, activities and stakeholders,
not likely to be resolved completely in favor of any polar position in
that conflict, but changes in environment may require striking a fresh
balance among conflicting forces from time to time.
Government Roles
and Responsibilities for information.
- To provide information
- to produce and maintain information that meets specific information
needs
- to protect the privacy of personal data
- to make decisions about which information to disseminate and how to
dissiminate it effectively
- to regulate communication systems
- to support libraries and schools
- to classify information related to national security
- to clarify interrelationships among stakeholders in information
sector, e.g., the extent to which information is:
- a social good - Society depends on members sharing a common
base of information
- a commodity - a property which can have economic value and can be
owned, bought and sold
- a capital investment leading to increased productivity
- an instrument of government -- necessary for such functions, as the
census, collecting taxes, catching and prosecuting criminals, protecting
public health, distributing social benefits, issueing licenses, etc.
A recent article discusses the current legislative environment
in the U.S. Federal government as it influences the flow of
information resources. Please read:
Fletcher, Patricia D. and Lisa K. Westerback,
"Catching a Ride on the NII: The Federal Policy Vehicles Paving
the Information Highway." Journal of the American society for
Information Science, 50 (4 - April 1,
1999): 299-304.
The authors discuss the development of a National Information
Infrastructure (NII) and examine three key pieces of legislature
and an Executive Order (The Government Performance and Results Act
of 1993, the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Clinger-Cohen
Act [Information Technology] Act of 1996 and Executive Order
No. 13011 which integrates provisions of the three acts and
creates three interagency bodies).
The same issue has another useful article:
Mcclure, Charles R., William E. Moen, and John Carlo
Bertot, "Descriptive Assessment of Information Policy
Initiatives: The Government Information Locator Service (GILS) as
an Example," Journal of the American society for Information
Science, 50 (4 - April 1, 1999): 314-330.
The emphasis is on the technques used for information policy
analysis.
Digitization of Information and Internet Development. Computers,
networks, and information complement one another. Investment and use of
one leverages demand for the others (Kahin).
Some of the changes wrought by information technology include:
- modern digital telephony -- new opportunities for technological
surveillance and wiretapping (cordless phones, cellular phones, digital
encoding, computer-based switches, use of internet for phone service
- computer file matching -- for ex., for credit checking, in which
information collected and stored in one Federal data system is matched
with that in other
- computer based trading on stock market
- electronic funds transfer (EFT) and electronic data interchange
(EDI)
- trans-border data flow
- office automation and nature of work -- employment and training
issues
Information Issues:
- Public Access - includes many sub-issues:
- degree of bibliographic control over types and formats
- impact of pricing policies & user fees
- impact of distribution based on dissemination mechanisms
- equity of access related to ability to pay
- priorities for info dissemination
- role of depository libraries, GPO, NTIS, etc.
- Confidentiality or Privacy of Information: the right of people in
institution to control what information is known about them and who knows
it
- individual's "natural right" to privacy
- corporation's right to protect proprietary information
- Intellectual property rights
- Freedom of speech
Some value conflicts: - privacy vs collection of personal data,
- information
markets vs. government dissemination of information
- information as a public resource vs. need for secrecy
Further Information about Information Policy