[MyData & Open Data] The Real Privacy Problem

[Erik Josefsson]

Thanks Pierre!

On the topic "day-to-day practice and defense of democracy" I urge you
to remind EP President Schulz to commission the legal study on the EP's
obligations under Rule 103 with regard to Free Software and Open
Standards, i.e. to execute the decision of two consecutive plenary
majorities and deliver accordingly:

    48. Requests for the second time, after the first request relating
    to the discharge procedure was made in 2010, a full report on how
    Parliament's Free Software projects have developed with regard to
    use and users in Parliament, citizen interaction and procurement
    activities; *invites for the second time to investigate, in a full
    study, Parliament's obligations under Rule 103 of its Rules of
    Procedure with regard to Free Software and Open Standards*; regrets
    that Free Software and Open Source solutions are not more widely
    used in the Parliament's IT infrastructure;
    http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&reference=P7-TA-2013-0124&language=EN&ring=A7-2013-0063

Thanks for taking immediate action.

The Greens/EFA has already reminded President Schulz:

    /We believe that if, as the opinion suggests, these recommendations
    were to follow from the Rules of Procedure, it would serve the
    Parliament well to develop them.//
    ///http://epfsug.eu/wws/arc/epfsug/2013-11/msg00079/Letter-President-Schulz_Free-Software-28.11.13.pdf

But is seems that that reminder is not enough.

Here's the conclusion of the opinion by Mitopics referred to above:

    *Further recommendations**
    *Since the letter by Mr. Schultz indicates that no analysis of the
    Parliament's transparency obligations under Rule 103 of its Rules of
    Procedure vis-à-vis its ICT-policies have taken place, it is
    recommended that such a study be completed and should at least
    answer following questions:

    Given that Rule 103 of the Rules of Procedure touch upon the vital
    role of the Parliament's records and proceedings in both democratic
    participation in its legislative process as well as its legitimacy,
    the logical[1] conclusion is that the following principles of good
    electronic government and governance apply to the Parliament's
    citizen interactions, records keeping of its proceedings and
    legislative history:

        1. Authenticity: the ability to prove the provenance of
        Parliamentary information;
        2. Integrity: the ability to ascertain that Parliamentary
        information has not been changed in the meantime;
        3. Irrefutability: the ability to use a Parliamentary record as
        irrefutable proof;
        4. Transparency: the ability to detect and analyses changes in
        the Parliamentary record's contents;
        5. Availability: the availability and accessibility of a document;
        6. Flexibility: the extent to which technology can be adapted to
        future requirements and can avoid obsolescence;
        7. Confidentiality: the extent to which Parliamentary records
        can be kept confidential if warranted.

    In light of this, any study to the application of Rule 103 to the
    Parliament's ICT-infrastructure would require a mapping of all
    processes that touch upon citizen interactions and the Parliament's
    proceedings and legislative process and would analyse the current
    information flows, the means and software used for them and the
    digital formats used to process, store and share them. Furthermore,
    such a study would apply the above principles to these information
    flows, the software and formats used for them and result in
    recommendations to what extent the use of FOSS and open standards is
    critical to adhere to these principles as a whole.

Here's a link to Rule 103:

    Rule 103  : Transparency of Parliament's activities
    *1. Parliament shall ensure that its activities are conducted with
    the utmost transparency, in accordance with the second paragraph of
    Article 1 of the Treaty on European Union, Article 15 of the Treaty
    on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 42 of the
    Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.**
    *http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+RULES-EP+20130701+RULE-103+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN&navigationBar=YES


Best regards.

//Erik


On 12/21/2013 02:27 AM, Pierre Chrzanowski wrote:
> I just read this Morozov's article on privacy and democracy in the MIT
> Tech Review
> http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/520426/the-real-privacy-problem/ 
>
> It is dated october but I did not find any previous mention of it on
> this list ... but I may be wrong. And I thought it would be a good
> piece to add to the debate.
>
> Morozov raises very pertinent and thoughtful points about the fact
> that we may be wrong in considering privacy's right as an end in
> itself and not in the context of what is even more important, the
> society as whole. He argues then that it is the day-to-day practice
> and defense of democracy in the digital age that should drive us
> towards the right balance.
>
> He calls then for the right to experimentations, for the need to think
> ahead on subjects such as the intersection of technology and public
> policy design and eventually for the necessity to civic reaction which
> is the expression of democracy because, beyond the rules, right to
> privacy only exists when someone invokes it.
>
>
> <http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/520426/the-real-privacy-problem/>-- 
> *Pierre Chrzanowski*
> *Open Knowledge Foundation France*
>
> Mail : pierre.chrzanowski at gmail.com <mailto:pierre.chrzanowski at gmail.com>
> Skype : pierre.chrzanowski | Twitter : @pzwsk
>
>
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