Hello everyone the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research has launched a public consultation on the fundamental principles of the net [1].
The text is rather progressive, and intends to be a sort of bill of rights of the internet [2]. Of course it arrives with quite some delay (the Italian government has not been particularly active on the topic; and when it was, it wasn't for the better. For example, an Italian law decree was the precursor of the infamous EU data retention directive). However, the process of creating the text was interesting. It was, if you like, a case of what Arne Hintz has called "policy hacking" - an academic/activist (me) was asked to write the text, which was then shared with a bunch of experts of open data, internet governance, open source. There is still room for improvement, and that's why the consultation was launched. The consultation is online, and crowd-based (we decided to use ideascale). The text includes 22 sections, divided in five major themes: I) general principles; II) digital citizenship; III) users and consumers of the net; IV) production and circulation of digital contents; V) security on the net. Unfortunately, at the moment the text is only available in Italian. Below I provide a rough overview of the main contents. The national newspaper La Repubblica praised it saying that is sounds like a North-European text and that "it should be read it all schools" [3]. Feel free to ask should you be curious, have some help/advice to offer, or want to share similar processes. Stefania The Citizen Lab, University of Toronto Advisor, Ministry of Education, University and Research (Italy) stefaniamilan.net [1] http://discussionepubblica.ideascale.com [2] http://bit.ly/QM5xDK [3] http://www.repubblica.it/tecnologia/2012/09/20/news/governance_internet-42905619/?ref=NRCT-42905619-2 ---- (Rough) overview of the Italian document on the "general principles of the internet" I) The general principles include: Internet as a global common good; Internet as an instrument for the development and exercise of human rights; Net neutrality and open architecture; Benefits of technology and of the net; Transparent decision-making and multi-stakeholder governance. II) The theme "digital citizenship" includes: Access to infrastructure regardless of the residence; Public access points; access to and re-use of public sector data (including data from publicly-funded research); An accessible internet as a tool for inclusion; Human rights and fundamental freedoms on the net and through the net; Self-organization and autonomy of individuals on the net III) Consumers and users of the net includes: Digital skills (intended broadly as education to the critical use of technology); Digital identity; Privacy; Access, storage and cancellation of personal data IV) Production and circulation of digital contents: Sharing of contents and knowledge on the net; Intellectual property in a digital environment V) Security: Infrastructure of national interest; Cybersecurity; Internet, crisis communication and rescue operations; Protection of vulnerable individuals. In my view the most interesting and progressive parts concerns the section on intellectual property; self-organization and autonomy of individuals and groups on the net; an emphasis on a critical approach to technology in education programs; an emphasis on disability and inclusion. -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
