A STRATEGY FOR INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY

A global information society has developed. It is essential that infor mation principles and policies are adopted that protect economic and s ocial advancement and cultural differences for all nations. Strategies to guide the development of policies at the international level could take a three-tiered approach. The top tier would include overarching global principles that govern accessibility and sharing of information ; interconnected telecommunications; and applicability and transferabi lity of research in information sciences, education and training. The second tier would address many of these concerns at the regional (i.e. , European (EC), Asian (ASEAN) level. The third tier would consist of national policies governing information activities within borders, and their relationships with those of other nations. A large number of is sues will need to be addressed before workable policies can be put int o place. These include information technology development and use, tra nsborder data flow, privacy and data protection, intellectual property , trade and the information industry, government and private sector re lationships, database access, libraries, scientific and technical info rmation, telecommunications, standards, and education and training. Ma ny of these issues carry with them legal concerns which, though necess ary, may be more difficult in the international context. Policies call ed for here will be impacted by differences in economics, politics and culture in the various regions of the world: the developed and develo ping nations in North America and Europe, the Far East and Pacific Rim , and the lesser developed nations around the world.