In this world of open access to enormous amounts of data via the ever expanding connectivity through the Internet, it is becoming more and more difficult to decide where to draw the line between what could be considered protection and what is considered accessibility issue; what are proprietary rights and what is public domain; what are security rights and what are access rights. These issues are ethical, cultural and legal, hence discussed as such in this paper along with the Jordanian experience in establishing the National Information System, a national intranet, and the manner in which these issue are addressed.

The current and future changes and trends in the world economy, together with the challenges presented by globalization and the information revolution, concern all countries. A good understanding of the emerging market place and its capacity to create investment opportunities, as well as its creativity in the use of information technology, form the basis for active participation in the global economy.

Communities that utilize information and information technologies to affect the necessary changes in the way we live and work are coming to be known as Smart Communities. This is the environment in which communities around the world will be doing business and interacting. However, technology alone will not create a smart community. It is the dedicated smart human being that remains the driving force. I dare say that there will come a time when actual reality is considered an illusion created by lack of virtual reality.

Global competitiveness would be the norm in the next century. National and local economies will have to shift towards one global economy. This in itself poses a great challenge for small economies to initiate the process of integration into the global scene. It is no longer enough to take the decision to participate in the globalization activities, but one should have something to participate with, namely, information and knowledge, and some sort of a competitive edge.

In a recent publication by the EU Commission, namely, the "green paper on the convergence of the telecommunication, media and information technology sectors and the implications for regulation", it was emphasized that Europe should quickly embrace the changes implied by the convergence, and that continuing support should be given to research and development activities in these areas. Otherwise, it was stated that Europe will be left behind travelling in the slow lane of the global information highway.

I ask you, if the advanced developed countries of Europe realise the impact and the challenges ahead in a cyber-economy environment, what about the developing countries where do we stand? What are the future prospects?

The Internet phenomenon is no longer looked at as a connectivity tool for e-mailing your colleagues or exchanging business information, it is now becoming a force effecting a major change in the way we live. Harvard President Neil Rudenstein asked in his opening remarks at the Second International Conference on Internet and Society last May: "What does the Net mean for the future of how we conduct business, how we govern ourselves, how we think about personal privacy, and how different nations and cultures relate to one another. Will the Internet make us a more inclusive and perhaps more equitable society or is it more likely to widen the gap between society’s haves and have nots".

We all know that there is gap. But how big? Let me give just three indicators: the Total GDP of all the Arab countries including the oil rich countries is well below that of Spain. Just one European country. The average telephone lines penetration rate in Europe is approaching 50 per 100 inhabitants, while in the Arab countries it is less that six. PCs penetration rate in Europe is close to 30 per 100 inhabitants, in the Arab countries it is less than One. To me this means that if Europe is marching ahead with its development, then we in developing countries should run just to maintain the gap, let alone reducing it. Some think that the Internet could enable developing countries to leapfrog into the information age.

Yet, the fact remains that there is an urgent basic need to assist those developing countries to enhance their capacity building, their infrastructure, their information base so as to have the capability to embrace and utilise the new technologies and their implications, and hence participate in the cyber-economy of the 21 country. And as President Nelson Mandela once said that knowledge sharing is crucial and we need to see others as partners and not adversaries.

No one really knows how the Internet and related technologies will evolve in the future. There are unlimited possibilities. However, we all realise that what ever happens there are responsibilities and obligations that we owe our children especially in –so-far as social equity, privacy and global community are concerned.

I would like to address few issues that fall within the ethical, cultural and legal frameworks of protection and accessibility on the inter and Intranet.

When is protection a valid and viable resolve and when does it become an infringement on personal freedom or on the democratic process? By protecting your child from obscenity on the Internet are you violating his personal freedom? By protecting your community form extremism and fundamentalism of any kind, are you violating the people’s democratic right to know? Where do one draw the line? Who decides? especially when we consider the different value structures within different societies around the globe. What could be seen as obscene in, say, an Arab society might be seen as normal practice in, say, a western society. The same goes for extremism and fundamentalism. This poses the question: whose values are being promoted by the Internet? And are these values in-line with our society’s values or in contradiction. Does it affect our culture and our harmony? Do we need protection measures? And how do we go about it.

According to the Internet society over 80% of all web sites on the Net are in English, and two-thirds of Internet users live in the U.S. This implies American Dominance. Obviously, the U.S. is a great democracy, but one must appreciate that there are different value systems in the world. Hence, society should find a balance between what should be considered as a protection measure and what should be considered as freedom of expression, without neglecting the fact that exploiting the wealth of information which is made available on the Internet, is essential for socio-economic development and information exchange promotes understanding and cultural harmony. Protection must not be a smothering tool in any society.

In all countries and in both the public and private sectors there are types or categories of information that are considered private and proprietary, and others that are considered public domain. Now-a-days it is becoming more and more difficult to draw the line between the two. The public right to know is becoming the default rule. However, there still remains the question of industrial secrets, business transactions, personal data, national security and others that should not be open to public accessibility for obvious reasons. But when information, which is considered public good, is not made accessible to the public for a variety of reasons, then rules and regulations even legislation should enable the public to have access to it. However, there is no excuse for unlawful entry, hacking, of protected data. Committing computer crimes should be punishable by law. This issue is still not fully addressed by the legislative process in most societies and totally neglected in many. Unlawful access to private databases is not yet seen as a crime in many countries. The right of an individual or an organization to protect his/its private information should be upheld.

The fact that there are technologies that could help protecting ones data and secure its transferability across the Net should be encouraged and made available to those that need it.

Encryption software comes to mind. Do we allow the wide use and easy dissemination of such technologies? or maintain the restrictive nature of such activities for security reasons. The race between hackers and technology enterprises is and will remain a continuous process. The battle of the wits for various non-ethical or harmless reasons. A global mechanism is needed to monitor those activities within a framework of a global information infrastructure, rather than having each country devise its own set of rules and regulations that could affect the rights of the individual.

Self-regulation is another issue that is becoming a major theme in the information industry, especially where content is concerned. Again, this is subject to the ethics and value systems of those that have the access and the technology. Who are those people? In a recent article by Jon Katz in the December issues of Wired , entitled The Digital Citizen, he analyzed the results of a survey conducted by Frank Luntz, a pollster and strategist in Arlington, Virginia. The survey which was done on behalf of Merrill Lynch Forum and Wired Magazine. This survey revealed that those millions of people on the Net are by-and – large knowledgeable, tolerant, civic minded, committed to change, optimistic , participatory, culture proud and passionate about freedom.

I ask you, with such profound virtues how can we go wrong with this community of enlightened futurists? But then, where does the obscenity on the Net comes from? Cyber-crime? Maliciousness ? Indeed, the majority of people on the Net might possess those virtues, but the few that don’t could inflict a great deal of damage to the global community. Hence, protection measure are necessary and in-so-far as the developing countries are concerned, it is essential. Those countries that are still finding their way into cyberspace are easy targets and should be protected. Self regulation is a necessary option, but should also be coupled with legislation that would ensure its proper implementation.

Turning to Jordan, we have embarked on a national effort to establish a comprehensive information base in Jordan, in an attempt to elevate the utilization of information as a main resource in the development process. This effort is manifested in the establishment of A National Information System.

The National Information System, (NIS), aims at developing information sources at the national level and setting up distributed sectoral networks linking information generating and collecting centres, thus ensuring the flow of information to decision makers, planners and researchers in both the public and private sectors in the Jordanian community. One could look at NIS as the Jordanian Intranet operating at the national level.

This co-operative effort is co-ordinated and managed by the National Information Centre (NIC) which was established in 1993.

In its role as a catalyst, organizer and co-ordinator NIC is entrusted with tasks ranging from the development of information sources in co-operation with concerned national institutions, setting-up unified procedures and standards, providing access to timely information, networking related information sources, manpower development, thus, promoting the development of the information sector in Jordan so as to achieve the goal of establishing NIS.

Within the framework of NIS several issues pertaining to privacy, confidentiality and data security are of concern. This is emphasized in the National Information Policy Framework, which was prepared by NIC, together with other statements as prepared by national committees, namely, Information Security and Privacy Guidelines.

Although Jordan is an active participant in cyberspace, yet so far there are no official actions taken to ensure protection of data or to formalise ethical and cultural issues of concern to the Jordanian community. However, these issues are of concern and have been addressed in several forums within the framework of NIS and its Information Policies. The main highlights pertaining to those issues could be summarized as follows:

1. Access to public information is the right of every citizen. But personal and private information should be protected against public access.
2. Intellectual property rights of individuals and institutions should by upheld. Legislation governing IPR have already been passed by parliament.
3. Preservation of culture is being handled through the publication of Jordanian information on the Net and in the Arabic Language on NIS
4. Accessibility to the Net is open to the public without any restrictions. However, awareness campaigns are being conducted to draw attention to undesired information which is available on the Net. So-far-no legislation has been enforced at the national level to catre for that.
5. Guidelines on data security and privacy that should be considered have been prepared and distributed to all public organization. However, it is still left to each organization to setup its own mechanizm and regulations to protect their private data. Firewalls are being employed at various institutions to control accessibility. But no encryption technologies are yet being used in the public and private sectors.