ECOPOL

Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Governmental Public Domain Information: One of the ultimate goals of any society is the empowerment of all its citizens through access to and use of information and knowledge, as a corollary to the basic rights of freedom of expression and of participation in the cultural life and scientific progress. In support of this goal, more and more governmental information is being produced and made available through the Internet and the World Wide Web. Some of this information has restrictions on public access and use because of intellectual property (IP) protection, national security, privacy, confidentiality, and other considerations. A great deal of it, however, can be openly disseminated through the Internet, libraries, and other means to citizens and to a broad range of development actors such businesses and schools. Whereas the focus of most policy analyses and law-making is typically on the protection of proprietary information, the role and value of public domain information, especially of information produced by the public sector, is not widely enough addressed and is generally poorly understood. The purpose of these Policy Guidelines is to help develop and promote information in the public domain at the government level, with particular attention to such information in digital form.