Information and communication technologies
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES
ICT plays an increasingly important role in every sphere of life. Their role in empowering the civil society and building open society is indispensable. In this area, the Partnership for Open Society is guided by the following principles:
• In the global information society, ICT is an important mechanism for exercising a fundamental human right - the right to seek, locate and share information (freedom of information);
• State policy in respect of information and communication has a profound impact on whether ICT achievements are accessible and available to the public at large and therefore - on whether the right to seek, locate and share information can be exercised;
• The rules regulating the field of information technologies shall not stop the development of the field, nor shall they restrict human and citizen rights. They ought to make up a balanced system of legal rules supportive of individual, societal and state benefits;
• The equal efficiency of regulation and self-regulation mechanisms, liberalization and legalization of the market, as well as favorable tax policies exercised towards the players in the sphere will guarantee development of information and telecommunication technology market.
With regard to ICT the Partnership for Open Society will direct its efforts at the following:
• Promotion of basic computer skills among public at large and application of information technologies in various spheres of societal life;
• Development of information resources of the state and local governments, open for public use to contribute to the transparency of governance;
• Acknowledgement and legitimization of a right to minimal ICT consumption in exercise of fundamental and constitutional right to seek, locate and share information and development of legislative mechanisms to make the global communication network services available throughout the territory of Armenia;
• Protection of privacy, including privacy of personal and family information, given the growing volume and flow of informational resources. This is to be accomplished by restricting collection, storage and usage of personal data in accordance with international and European standards;
• Development of legislation regulating the ICT field proceeding from international legal norms, such as the European Human Rights Convention, Declaration of the Council of Europe on Freedom of Communication in the World Wide Web, other international and European norms, regulating interactions in the sphere.