Confederation of European Computer User Associations

This Bill of Rights for the Citizen in the Global Information Society has been produced as a direct result of the Conclusions of the Conference "The Citizen in the Global Information Society held in Brussels in April 1998.

A major finding of this conference was that above all, the Citizen lacks trust and feels vulnerable in the information society, and that current legislation does not give the citizen sufficient security, privacy and protection when using the Internet for leisure or commercial purposes.

In his opening address to the Conference Dr Martin Bangemann put to the conference that new instruments of legislation were required if governments were to be able to retain control over the use of technology. The current methods for making new laws were far too slow in controlling a technology which was changing at an ever increasing rate, and was usually out of date before it became law.

The Conference decided to explore protecting Citizens' Rights by formulating this draft set of Articles. A wide consensus on in the hope that t these basic Rights will would reduce the need for specific technically oriented legislation. This second Draft of the Bill of Rights is the result of considerable electronic discussion as well as two meetings of CECUA and its partners in Brussels, supported and hosted by both ISPO and DG XIII. Throughout the period since the Conference, CECUA wishes to acknowledge the valuable active support from members of ISPO and DG XIII.

We very much appreciate your comments on these proposals before the 15th June 1999. Please submit your comments and they will be posted below the articles they relate to. We will keep you informed about further development of this important issue affecting all of us. Thank you for your participation. Disclaimer: CECUA reserves the right to review the comments received and to edit them for clarity, and to reject those which are not to the point, or use offensive or abusive language.