Do you have trust in digital life?
Tags: ICT, security
The Internet and other modern information and communication technologies are transforming Europe's economy and society on a scale never seen before, offering opportunities for new forms of social interaction and innovative personalised services, and providing huge potential for economic growth. But can we trust them?
Europe is faring well in key areas of the Information Society. An increasingly dense web of broadband infrastructures is expanding rapidly to cover all European regions, with some EU countries being world leaders in broadband penetration rates. The European ICT industry is world-class in mobile technologies, electronic communications services, transactional banking, medical equipment, and content and services, to name a few specific examples.
These achievements have been made through an open, free and democratic society with strong respect for fundamental human values, including the right to privacy. These values are reflected in Europe's legislative environment, for instance in Europe's exemplary privacy and data protection regulations. Europe has cultivated security and trust, which, together with the effective rule of law, are fundamental for freedom, creativity, economic investment and prosperity.
It is trustworthy ICT solutions based on Europe's societal values and technological strengths that will spur further growth and prosperity in Europe and beyond. But that can only happen if we mobilise our social expertise and related assets to bring accountability, transparency, security and the rule of law generally into the electronic realm.
Technology companies, governments, citizens, and other stakeholders can work together to develop these trustworthy ICT solutions, and on 11 May 2009 in Prague, during the Future of the Internet conference, a big start was made when industry partners Gemalto, Microsoft, Nokia and Philips announced the formation of the Trust in Digital Life initiative. Over the course of two years, Trust in Digital Life will seek to set out a vision for trustworthy ICT solutions, to translate this vision into an agenda for research and innovation and, in doing so, to coordinate with other European initiatives in this field and to engage in a broad dialogue with public and private stakeholders.
“It is essential to safeguard the European social ‘acquis' in a future world where many human and business activities are critically dependent on complex technology infrastructures and digital services,” says Mario Campolargo, director Emerging Technologies & Infrastructures at the European Commission.
The goal is to provide developers and system engineers with a reference for designing, developing and reviewing specific technologies, for instance on certification and identity management.
The members of Trust in Digital Life are identifying what needs to be done in terms of a roadmap that defines the research, technologies and policies that support the vision articulated in the partnership's Memorandum of Understanding. First, the partners want to identify and define criteria and characteristics of trustworthiness, and see how societal values such as privacy are reflected in these.
So, the task is not only to identify the technological needs and map these to the state-of-the-art in technology, but also to address the relevant jurisdiction and regulation with trustworthy ICT solutions. These solutions and tools would support, within a given jurisdiction, the assessment and auditing of activities as well as data and content usage – all the time complying not only with regulatory requirements but also with whatever privacy policies the users agree on. In this way, the tools would enable enforcement of the rules and law, and raise the alarm about any misbehaviour.
The initiative has built in the concept of flexibility in the solutions it envisions, so the system addresses and notifies its users about changing policies. For all of these jobs standards and reference architectures have to be defined and proposed.
An important aspect, is European- wide coordination with initiatives in this field, such as the Trustworthy ICT theme in the Seventh Framework Programme and the European Technology Platforms, preventing fragmentation and promoting coherence across research and policies already under way.
Trust in Digital Life also engages in broad, multi-stakeholder dialogue, aiming to raise the general awareness and understanding of trustworthiness that is essential if public policy and citizens' acceptance of the ICT solutions are to be developed. The wider dialogue should span EU Member States, industrial and service sectors and representatives of citizens to foster a shared vision and ultimately place Europe at the forefront of innovation in trustworthy ICT.
The Trust in Digital Life initiative offers members an opportunity to proactively participate in shaping an evolving ecosystem in which people enjoy justified trust. The partnership gives participants a vehicle for developing a positive vision and speaking with one voice regarding trustworthy ICT, and the Trust in Digital Life members invite others to join this effort.”