Patrik Fältström, Business [introduction, summary from workshop 1]

Maria Häll, Swedish Government / European Presidency

Heijo Ruijsenaars, EBU [Future of Copyright]

Marisa Jimenez, EPC Global [Future of RFID]

The future is uncertain. Many ideas have been and can be discussed, but actually we
do not know how the Internet looks like in 2010. However, it is clear that it will
change, many aspects are going to be different, new views on services, on public
services, on access, on copyright, on what IT policies are and should be will be
spread out.
The discussions can be crystallized around 6 topics:
 

(1) From a technological point of view, we will see an increase in “things
communicating with things” (not only “humans with services”); therefore,
communications networks will become more dense. There is also a confusion
that Internet of Things is the same thing as RFID enabled technologies. “Things”
is already now much more than RFID enabled ones.
 

(2) Looking from a business angle, the question must be tackled how innovation
can be promoted (with new regulatory incentives, a new copyright regime, new
competition law provisions); better guidelines need to be work out for future
policymakers.
 

(3) The EU Commission is aware of the forthcoming challenges and has issued
several documents:
- ICT Policy Agenda 2015, Green Knowledge Society (Sept. 14, 2009);
- Communication (Action Plan) on the Internet of Things (June 18, 2009);
- Recommendation on RFID (May 12, 2009).
These initiatives merit attention, but doubts exist that they do encompass all
needs of the coming information society and the Internet 2020.
 

(4) A key topic concerns trust and awareness in the context of the Internet 2020,
discussed in relation to the copyright regime and privacy/data protection:
 

(i) As far as copyright is concerned, the younger generation does not believe in
the regulatory regime anymore. It is also questionable whether a regime
can "survive" if it is not accepted in the society (social "consciousness").
Some copyright protection, however, seems to be unavoidable whereas the
system of collective licensing may well prove to be the most suitable. The
future approach, taking into account open access requirements, needs to be
addressed in further discourses.
 

(ii) In respect of privacy and data protection, many questions are unsettled,
such as who owns my profile or who may collect data. The upcoming
developments with the Internet of Things will cause further concerns in
respect of data security, data integrity and data control. The EU approach
refers to privately established frameworks that have to be submitted for
review in accordance with Art. 29 of the EU Data Protection Directive. Apart
from this regional approach, an international framework improving the
data protection regime would be desirable.
Specifically for RFIDs, the recommendation is that privacy and data
protection impact assessments (PIAs) will be developed by operators
following an RFID PIA framework to be drafted by industry in collaboration
with stakeholders and endorsed by Art. 29.
 

(5) Public service media are a special concern. Most likely, public service media will
loose market shares in distribution; therefore, they have to adapt their activities
and make contents available. Interest from recipients to be able to get hold of
national/regional contents even if being abroad will increase. This might
require changes in traditional management of specifically public services,
including licensing of rights to distribution mentioned above. Furthermore,
social networks should increase the potential participation in public service
media, and both “radio” and “TV” will be blurred even more in the future.
 

(6) Social networks will gain importance; a development from Facebook to a
"faceroom" seems to be possible, and creation of such virtual environments
where “friends meet and spend time together” will set even higher pressure on
legislation and rules to be technology neutral and modern. Twitter-like services
might become more prominent; peer filtering and peer reviewing might start to
play a more important role. In order to avoid the risk that civil society is going
to loose confidence in the new technological possibilities, however, a stable
legal framework, addressing privacy, human rights etc. must be implemented.
Summing up, major efforts are necessary to tackle the various issues of the Internet
2020. Not only IT Policy has to change. That said, IT policies as such need to be
redefined and only a multistakeholder approach, encompassing the ideas of all
concerned "parties", would be suitable to lead to adequate results, optimizing the
Internet 2020 environment.