CoR opinion: moving towards a global internet policy and governance
The internet as a global information area is an inseparable part of modern society and has become a public resource. Therefore its proper functioning is a matter of international public interest. In an opinion drafted by Odeta Žerlauskienė, Member of Skuodas District Municipal Council (LT/ALDE), the Committee of the Regions calls for the European Union to be actively involved in global internet governance, consolidating and strengthening European values, and thus increasing the EU's soft power.
The opinion, adopted on Thursday in the CoR plenary session, emphasises that the development of the internet as a technology-based area of human coexistence and data exchange is inseparable from the fundamental values of modern democracy. Therefore the EU must have a role in the future shaping of internet governance, and in doing so promote European values on international level.
The EU's position must be based on the principles of freedom, openness, tolerance, respect for human rights and multiculturalism. In addition, the internet of the future must remain open, neutral, and its function must be protected from political interference, which should enable free communication throughout the world.
With this opinion, the Committee expresses support for the ongoing transformation of the internet's governance from semi-public corporations to the global and comprehensive internet's governance structure. It also shows support for the EU's participation in the Global Internet Policy Observatory and for European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker i's declared objective to create a digital single market and a unified digital agenda.
Local and regional authorities are also key internet policy players, not only as developers of internet content, but also in efforts to improve internet access. They should be pioneers in building a secure internet, setting high standards for its responsible use and offering digital public services, while exploiting digital potential to increase the competitiveness of European regions. In this area the particularly important issues are that of protection of privacy, personal data and security, as well as the fight against abuse and cyber-crime. European local and regional authorities can play an important role in shaping the EU's response to these twenty-first century challenges.
Growth related to the internet economy is forecast at almost 11% in the EU, with the contribution to GDP expected to rise from 3.8% in 2010 to 5.7% in 2016. Small and medium-sized enterprises intensively using the internet grow almost twice as fast as others. This economic potential needs to be further exploited ensuring that individuals can access the content, goods and services they want, and control which personal data they want to share or not. Secure, stable and resilient networks form the basis of a trusted and flourishing internet economy. The creation of an open and free internet which maintains all rights and freedoms that people have offline facilitates social and democratic progress worldwide.
The opinion also focuses on technical and legal aspects of the functioning of internet - service provider's liability for the content of principle (internet service providers should not be held liable for content that they have not created themselves), the need to resolve conflicts of law, in relation to different national jurisdictions on current internet processes, taking into account recent trends, and calls upon the European Commission to investigate alleged abuses of dominant positions of major IT companies.