US backs away from IT charter

Date: 18/09/1997

By Peter Chapman

TELECOMS Commissioner Martin Bangemann's call for an international industry-led charter to oversee the information society has been given a lukewarm reception by a top Internet policy aide to US President Bill Clinton.

James Johnson, who sits on the White House's global information infrastructure commission, says the Bangemann plan unveiled at a conference in Geneva last week is “not really achievable in one bid”.

Bangemann argues that an international charter should be drawn up to bring together the confusing mishmash of “isolated global rules” agreed in organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and standards bodies, as well as national policies on issues such as electronic signatures and encryption.

“Technological convergence means that increasingly there is a blurring of issues dealt with by different organisations. In the WTO, it is difficult to separate the transmission of multimedia content via satellite networks from laws governing broadcasting,” he said.

“Standardisation bodies may find it difficult to prevent intellectual property issues linked to standards being dealt with by WIPO. An international charter would provide a suitable answer.”

But Johnson told European Voice this week that it was “premature” to try to reach agreement on a global basis on all of these topics.

“The issues have not matured. Take cryptography for example. US industry is opposed to export controls on cryptography. This is one example of the debate that is still going on. Industry around the world would prefer the technology to be left to the market-place,” he insisted.

Johnson added that there were key differences in approach between the world's regions on vital policy areas and issues which would also hinder Bangemann's vision of an international accord.

“US industry always fights with the government over regulation. In Europe, it is more compliant. In telecoms there has always been government subsidy or ownership. The whole culture is linked to this and this needs to be brought out,” he said.

“Only recently, with companies like Deutsche Telekom fighting with the regulators over interconnection rates, are we seeing a change. This is a totally new phenomenon.”

The Clinton aide also cast doubts over Bangemann's calls for the international charter to cover pledges on the interoperability (mutual compatibility) of hi-tech equipment and networks across the world. “It is in the interests of industry to make things interoperable. That is something industry would prefer the market-place to resolve. If we start having political agreements that constrain technical developments, industry resists that,” he said.

Private citizens from different regions also have different views on issues such as data privacy which would hamper Bangemann's plan. “In the US, people are more fearful of governments getting information about them than they are fearful of industry. In Europe, the reverse is true,” said Johnson.

The US and EU have been at odds over a Union directive which could block exports of personal data by firms to the US because data protection laws there do not match EU standards.