• Promote private-sector investment through appropriate tax and regulatory policies.

• Extend the ''universal service" concept to ensure that information resources are available to all at affordable prices.

• Act as catalyst to promote technological innovation and new applications.

• Promote seamless, interactive, user-driven operation of the NII.

• Ensure information security and network reliability.

• Improve management of the radio frequency spectrum, an increasingly critical source.

• Protect intellectual property rights.

• Coordinate with other levels of government and with other nations.

• Provide access to government information and improve government procurement.

SOURCE: Information Infrastructure Task Force (NTIA). 1993. The National Information Infrastructure: Agenda for Action. NTIA, U.S. Department of Commerce, September 15.

• Universal access — In our information age, everyone has a right to affordable news, education and government information. Information that is essential to the functioning of citizens in a democracy should be free.

• Freedom to communicate — Information is a two-way street. The design of the new networks should aid two-way audio and video communication from anyone to any individual, group or network.

• Vital civic sector — The new networks should allow all groups and individuals to freely express their ideas and opinions. The new networks should include a way for us to build communities.

• Diverse and competitive marketplace — No one should ever control both the wire or wires into our home and the content of the programs that go over those wires.

• Equitable workplace — Workers must be valued and protected in the new electronic workplace. Nondiscriminatory practices must form the core of the new information marketplace.

• Privacy protection — Privacy should be carefully protected and extended.

• Democratic policy making — Every American deserves to be heard on this complex set of issues.

SOURCE: Telecommunications Policy Roundtable. 1993. New Coalition Unveils Public Interest Blueprint for America's 21st Century Telecommunications Highway. Center for Media Education, Washington, D.C., via electronic mail news release October 26.

Electronic Frontier Foundation on Principles

• Diversity of Information Sources: Promote a fully interactive infrastructure in which the First Amendment flourishes, allowing the greatest possible diversity of view points;

• Universal Service: Ensure a minimum level of affordable information and communication service for all Americans;

• Free Speech and Common Carriage: Guarantee infrastructure access regardless of the content of the message that the user is sending;

• Privacy: Protect the security and privacy of all communications carried over the infrastructure, and safeguard the Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights of all who use the information infrastructure;

• Development of Public Interest Applications and Services: Ensure that public interest applications and services which are not produced by the commercial market are widely available and affordable.

SOURCE: Electronic Frontier Foundation. 1993. New EFF Infrastructure Policy Statement: The Open Platform Campaign. Electronic Frontier Foundation, Cambridge, Mass., November 3, via electronic mail from Daniel J. Weitzner, Senior Staff Counsel.

• Universal access. All people should have affordable access to the information infrastructure.

• Freedom to communicate. The information infrastructure should enable all people to effectively exercise their fundamental right to communicate.

• Vital civic sector. The information infrastructure must have a vital civic sector at its core.

• Diverse and competitive marketplace. The information infrastructure should ensure competition among ideas and information providers.

• Equitable workplace. New technologies should be used to enhance the quality of work and to promote equity in the workplace.

• Privacy. Privacy should be carefully protected and extended.

• Democratic policy-making. The public should be fully involved in policy-making for the information infrastructure.

• Functional integrity. The functions provided by the NII must be powerful, versatile, well-documented, stable, reliable, and extensible.

SOURCE: Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR). 1993. Serving the Community: A Public Interest Vision of the National Information Infrastructure. CPSR, Palo Alto, Calif.

Principles for Providing and Using Personal Information

Preamble

The United States is committed to building a National Information Infrastructure (NII) to meet the information needs of its citizens. This infrastructure, essentially created by advances in technology, is expanding the level of interactivity, enhancing communication, and allowing easier access to services. As a result, many more users are discovering new, previously unimagined uses for personal information. In this environment, we are challenged to develop new principles to guide participants in the NII in the fair use of personal information.

Traditional fair information practices, developed in the age of paper records, must be adapted to this new environment where information and communications are sent and received over networks on which users have very different capabilities, objectives and perspectives. Specifically, new principles must acknowledge that all members of our society (government, industry, and individual citizens) share responsibility for ensuring the fair treatment of individuals in the use of personal information, whether in paper or electronic form. Moreover, the principles should recognize that the interactive nature of the NII will empower individuals to participate in protecting information about themselves. The new principles should also make it clear that this is an active responsibility requiring openness about the process, a commitment to fairness and accountability, and continued attention to security. Finally, principles must recognize the need to educate all participants about the new information infrastructure and how it will affect their lives.

These "Principles for Providing and Using Personal Information" recognize the changing roles of government and industry in information collection and use. Thus they are intended to be equally applicable to public and private entities that collect and use personal information. However, these Principles are not intended to address all information uses and protection concerns for each segment of the economy or function of government. Rather, they should provide the framework from which specialized principles can be developed.

I. General Principles for the National Information Infrastructure

A. Information Privacy Principle

1. Individuals are entitled to a reasonable expectation of information privacy.

B. Information Integrity Principles

Participants in the NII rely upon the integrity of the information it contains. It is therefore the responsibility of all participants to ensure that integrity. In particular, participants in the NII should, to the extent reasonable:

1. Ensure that information is secure, using whatever means are appropriate;

2. Ensure that information is accurate, timely, complete, and relevant for the purpose for which it is given.

II. Principle for Information Collectors (i.e. entities that collect personal information directly from the individual)

A. Collection Principle

Before individuals make a decision to provide personal information, they need to know how it is intended to be used, how it will be protected, and what will happen if they provide or withhold the information. Therefore, collectors of this information should:

1. Tell the individual why they are collecting the information, what they expect it will be used for, what steps they will take to protect its confidentiality and integrity, the consequences of providing or withholding information, and any rights of redress.

III. Principles for Information Users (i.e. Information Collectors and entities that obtain, process, send or store personal information)

A. Acquisition and Use Principles

Users of personal information must recognize and respect the stake individuals have in the use of personal information. Therefore, users of personal information should:

1. Assess the impact on personal privacy of current or planned activities before obtaining or using personal information;

2. Obtain and keep only information that could reasonably be expected to support current or planned activities and use the information only for those or compatible purposes;

3. Assure that personal information is as accurate, timely, complete and relevant as necessary for the intended use.

B. Protection Principle

Users of personal information must take reasonable steps to prevent the information they have from being disclosed or altered improperly. Such users should:

1. Use appropriate managerial and technical controls to protect the confidentiality and integrity of personal information.

C. Education Principle

The full effect of the NII on both data use and personal privacy is not readily apparent, and individuals may not recognize how their lives can be affected by networked information. Therefore, information users should:

1. Educate themselves, their employees, and the public about how personal information is obtained, sent, stored, and protected, and how these activities affect others.

D. Fairness Principles

Because information is used to make decisions that affect individuals, those decisions should be fair. Information users should, as appropriate:

1. Provide individuals a reasonable means to obtain, review, and correct their own information;

2. Inform individuals about any final actions taken against them and provide individuals with means to redress harm resulting from improper use of personal information;

3. Allow individuals to limit the use of their personal information if the intended use is incompatible with the original purpose for which it was collected, unless that use is authorized by law.

IV. Principles for Individuals who Provide Personal Information A. Awareness Principles

While information collectors have a responsibility to tell individuals why they want information about them, individuals also have a responsibility to understand the consequences of providing personal information to others. Therefore, individuals should obtain adequate, relevant information about:

1. Planned primary and secondary uses of the information;

2. Any efforts that will be made to protect the confidentiality and integrity of the information;

3. Consequences for the individual of providing or withholding information;

4. Any rights of redress the individual has if harmed by improper use of the information.

B. Redress Principles

Individuals should be protected from harm resulting from inaccurate or improperly used personal information. Therefore, individuals should, as appropriate:

1. Be given means to obtain their information and be provided the opportunity to correct inaccurate information that could harm them;

2. Be informed of any final actions taken against them and what information was used as a basis for the decision;

3. Have a means of redress if harmed by an improper use of their personal information.

SOURCE: National Information Infrastructure Task Force, Information Policy Committee, Working Group on Privacy in the NII. 1994. "Request for Comments on the Draft Principles for Providing and Using Personal Information and Their Commentary." Washington, D.C., May 4. The draft Principles for Providing and Using Personal Information and the associated Commentary are the first work product of the Information Infrastructure Task Force's Work Group on Privacy. They are intended to update the Code of Fair Information Practices that was developed in the early 1970s. While many of the Code's principles are still valid, the Code itself was developed in an era when paper records were the norm.