Eighthly IT, as a tool, must serve the ends of humanity, namely the promotion of democracy, protection of the individual and the creation of a civil society.
The government must accept that in a new era, where the more people have access to information and to networks, the richer will be the information society, there must be an open and democratic form of government.
There must be a preparedness to change from a top-down to a bottom-up form of polity where the information society can enrich democratic life by giving citizens new spaces for free expression and discussion. This must be reflected not only in the manner in which the government formulates new legislations, policies and practices which should involve public consultation and participation right from the beginning of all stages of the formulation of the ideas, but also the removal of laws which restrict the free exchange of information.
The Official Secrets Act should be repealed and replaced by a Freedom of Information and Privacy Act. In the Information Society, as a general rule, government information should be accessible by the people because it belongs to the people. This requires a change from the traditional philosophy under which the government�s information was regarded by the government (and often by the people) as the government�s property and none of the people�s business.
The government holds this information on behalf of the people and should take due care to ensure the quality, integrity and authenticity of government information.
Access to government-held information is a prerequisite to the proper functioning of a democratic society. Without information, people cannot exercise their rights and responsibilities or make informed choices. Information is necessary for government accountability. A general shift in focus is therefore required - from one of not disclosing information unless absolutely required, to one of disclosing unless there is a very good reason not to, such as defence or security considerations.
Protection of privacy through data protection legislation is necessary in an information society because of the vast flows of all kinds of personal information through the telecommunications networks, eg. credit card information, transaction processing and health information.