Dennmark, back

Preface

In late March 1994 the Danish Government appointed a two-member Committee on the "Information
Society by the year 2000" consisting of the undersigned. We were commissioned to draft a proposal for a
comprehensive project, which will tie public institutions and companies together by means of modern
information technology and create new possibilities for citizens.

The Draft Proposal should

line up the possibilities for the Danes in a future Information Society,
formulate an overall Danish policy for information technology, and
identify specific target areas for the next few years, and where necessary identify the needs for law
reforms.

The present report is our conception of such a Draft Proposal. It is not a report by traditional standards,
where no stone within the area has been left unturned.This was not the task assigned to us; rather, the aim
was to prepare an outline for a strategy and proposals for an agenda of future initiatives. To this end we
present a number of specific proposals, which should be ready for decision-taking and implementation.
However, within a number of areas there is a need for further investigation until a more precise course can
be decided for.

Apart from being a Draft Proposal for the Government the report is also intended as a contribution to a
further public debate.

The Danish version of the report is accompanied by a volume with appendices elaborating on a number of
proposals and the background in more detail. Apart from the appendices of the Committee the Danish
volume of appendices also contains a number of external contributions made on the request of the
Committee. The content of the the volume with appendices is shown in Appendix C. The volume with
appendices has not been translated to English.

An electronic version on disk is inserted at the back of this report. Furthermore there are two appendices at
the back of the report.

In our work we have been assisted by a Secretariat and a Support Group consisting of representatives from a
number of Ministries and organisations as well as a number of individual members. The composition of these
groups appear from Appendix A of the report.

Appendix B is an article by journalist Bjorn Kassoe Andersen: "Denmark in an International IT
Perspective: The Country of Many Possibilities". It has been included in this English version of the report
from the volume of appendices.

Furthermore we have been aided by a number of persons who participated in a conference at the end of the
preliminary phase of the work of the Committee as well as a number of workshops, where selected topics
were discussed. As a support to the Conference we asked various ministries, organisations, companies and
individuals to prepare background material for the Conference. In addition, a number of persons have
written to us with ideas and suggestions.

Without this enthusiastic support the report would never have gained its presents contents. We should
therefore like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who have contributed to the work of the
Committee in this way.

Immediately prior to the printing of the Danish report the jurisdiction over information technology was
subject to change as a result of the formation of the new Government; the Ministry of Research was
allocated the overall jurisdiction on the applications of information technology. In this process the
Government's IT policy was transferred from the Ministry of Finance, and the field of tele-communications
was transferred from the former Ministry of Communication and Tourism. The designations of Ministries in
this report are therefore adjusted according to the new purviews.

Lone Dybkj?r Soren Christensen

Summary

1. The Global Short-Circuit and the Explosion of Information

A revolution is in progress; a global short-circuit of time, space, people and processes. At the same time we
witness an explosion in the amount and exchange of information. The instrument is modern information
technology(IT), and the result is the profound change in work and communication processes throughout
society.

2. A Danish Strategy for the Information Society

Applied successfully, information technology is a source of economic development, improved quality of life
and better service, both public and private.

Therefore there is a need for a strategy that places Denmark in the forefront of the development towards an
Information Society.

The strategy must rely upon the extensive use of information technology, and it must be based upon values
such as openness, democracy and responsibility for all people in society in order to avoid a division among
Danes into an "A-team" and a "B-team" with regard to information technology.

The public sector shall be actively involved with the private one and be the leading force in the efficient use
of information technology. We need to define concrete objectives to be achieved within the next few years
and before the year 2000.

3. The Electronic Service Network of the Public Sector

Public administration at both central and local level (amt and kommune) must be connected by an electronic
service network, which should provide better service for both citizens and companies as well as more efficient
administration.

The establishment of such a service network means that information which has already been given to one
public institution by citizens or companies should not be requested by another agency. For citizens and
companies it should be possible to send letters and information to public authorities by electronic means -
and receive answers the same way.

The components of a service network include the following:

All citizens shall be offered an electronic Citizen's Card with picture and PIN code. Consequently a
number of other public identification papers, documents and certificates will become superfluous.
all public authorities shall establish an e-mail box to which all citizens and companies can send letters
and information by electronic means. A legislative overhaul shall ensure that requirements as to
substantiated documents in writing and other obstacles to paper-free communication are removed.
public authorities shall develop electronic self-service systems, which can be made available to users and
customers from computers and telephones at home or at the work-place.
Statens Information (The Danish State Information Service) shall set up an electronic guide for public
regulations and institutions.
the official promulgation of laws and other judicial precepts in the two newsletters: Lovtidende (Legal
Gazette) and Statstidende (Official Gazette) shall in future appear in electronic form.
Public sector communication with companies shall be simplified by means of a central register of
companies and an attached CVR code, similar to the CPR code for citizens.
Public institutions shall put an end to paper-based files and processing tasks will be based entirely on
electronic means. Legislation within the area of public administration will be adjusted accordingly.

4. Utilisation of Data and Protection of Personal Data

It is necessary to renew and simplify all legislation pertaining to registration so that registration, combination
and use of data for all legal and administrative purposes can take place without bureaucratic procedures.

The use of data in public files shall be optimized by being made available to both the private and the public
sector. However, the submission of personal and sensitive data to e.g. banks and insurance companies will
only be allowed to take place if accepted by the citizen through the use of his Citizens Card.

5. A Better Health Sector with more Efficient Treatment

The establishment of a nation-wide health network for electronic exchange of information between doctors,
hospitals, pharmacies and health authorities, and the introduction of electronic patient case files shall result in
better service for the patients, quicker treatment and shall save billions, which in turn may be used to reduce
waiting lists.

6. The "Global Village" of Research

Danish research must achieve maximum benefit from the worldwide electronic network for exchange of
information; therefore all Danish scientists shall be connected to the network. Within certain areas of
research access to "electronic highways" shall be obtained in the form of wide band services. Through a
cooperation between research institutions, research libraries and publishers the aim is to develop the "Danish
Electronic Research Library".

The development of strongholds within IT-relevant areas shall be given priority in the allocation of research
funds. Furthermore, Danish language and culture shall be secured by e.g. supporting research and the
development of language technology.

7. New Ways in the Educational System

With special regard to adult education and supplementary training there is a need to strengthen the
development of education supported by technology. To this end a comprehensive project will be set up,
including a centre and an Experimental Fund.

8. Children, IT and the Primary and Lower Secondary Education

The Danish Primary and Lower Secondary Education must prepare all children to master modern
information technology. As part of the move towards extended use of information technology in the Primary
and Lower Secondary Schools all teachers shall become personal users of computers. An IT network will be
established for all Danish schools enabling students and teachers to communicate with other students and
teachers at schools in Denmark and abroad. To support this process students shall be allowed to bring their
own computer to school, while the school will provide access to computers for the rest of the students.

9. Libraries in the Age of IT

The libraries' role and working conditions shall be re-evaluated in the light of a development, where
electronic publications gradually take over the role of magazines and books. The libraries shall act as
intermediaries and play a leading role in helping the users to navigate through an increasing flood of
information. These things in turn demand that solutions to precarious problems of copyright and the
copyright deposit of electronic publications must be found.

10. The Mass Media Through New Channels

During the next decade the technological development will change conditions for the mass media profoundly.
The coming legislative initiatives with regard to radio, TV and the tele-communication networks shall grant
freedom to new channels and suppliers, including nationwide, commercial radio channels. Furthermore, the
so-called public service channels need to be free to enter the borderland of new interactive services and
other commercial activities, also in joint-ventures with other distributers and producers.

11. Better Traffic with IT

With the specific aim to make road traffic more efficient and minimize environmental damage a number of
pilot and development projects shall be established.

12. The Companies' Network

All Danish companies shall be connected by an electronic network for the interchange of business documents
(EDI); the results are substantial gains in rationalisation and the possibility of promoting closer cooperation
between companies. Furthermore the public sector must play a leading role in the use of EDI for
procurements.

13. New and Cheaper Tele-Communication Services

The use of advanced information technology based on tele-communication in companies, public institutions
and private homes shall be facilitated through substantial price reductions on wide-band services,
liberalization of the hybrid networks and more extensive supply of "high-capacity connections". Furthermore
the Danish government shall take the initiative at EU level to lower prices on international
tele-communication traffic.

14. Open Network of Society

The computer and tele-communication networks shall be developed further in order to make up a coherent
"network of society", which appears as clear and accessible to ordinary citizens and companies as the
telephone system.

15. Everyday Life of the Danes: Life at Work - Life at Home

Social life in general, working life and personnel management policies shall adjust to the new possibilities and
freedoms which the computer gives the individual. Restraints caused by traditional concepts about working
life and consequent demands for working hours and physical presence must be removed.

For the large number of Danes who do not have the possibility of using a computer at work there must be
alternative opportunities to become familiar with this basic tool of the Information Society and have access to
its information network. In this respect adult education and the public libraries shall be the principal
instruments.

16. The Disabled Persons in the Information Society

Those new IT applications which permit disabled persons to become increasingly integrated into society must
be fully exploited. An action plan for the effective support and integration of disabled persons by means of
IT and electronic communication shall be worked out.

17. The Implementation of the Strategy

For a forceful strategy for the Information Society to succeed awareness-raising activities and a debate on
possibilities and problems must be launched in wider circles of society.

The Information Society shall be put on the top of the political agendas of the Danish Parliament and local
governments, and an action plan for future initiatives shall be elaborated.

1. The Global Short-Circuit and the Explosion of Information

A revolution is in progress; a worldwide short-circuit of time, space, people and processes.

It all started with the first man on the moon 25 years ago. On the TV screen millions of TV viewers all over
the globe could witness the very moment, when the first man set foot on the moon. The entire project was a
technological triumph, but in particular a triumph for information technology, and TV viewers were suddenly
inhabitants of a "global village". Since then this has become an everyday phenomenon of the mass media;
today we expect CNN and other TV channels to be on the spot and give the entire population of the globe
access to witness the most important events as they happen via satellite.

Within other areas the world has shrunk dramatically to become a village as well - or rather: a limited market
place. Transactions with currencies, shares etc. are now connected by a gigantic electronic network, where
you can follow the actions everywhere, and where enormous amounts of money can change hands in a
matter of seconds.

Your local shopkeeper or the manager of the supermarket short-circuit a number of processes, when the
order for new supplies of certain commodity groups is merely fed into a portable terminal or identified by a
bar code reader. This is just one link in a long food chain of information processes, which have been made
semi- or fully automatic by means of modern information technology , and which have replaced former
hand-written requisitions, procurement requests, invoices etc.

Scientists, computer freaks and business people are being connected with almost incredible speed through
the American Internet. More than 25 million users in more than 100 countries now use the networks for
electronic mail (e-mail), bulletin boards, fora for discussions, search and interchange of information etc. The
number of subscribers grows with more than 10 percent per month.

In these examples the common trend is that we are dealing with processes of information interchange, where
the speed of the process has changed from months, weeks, hours or minutes to seconds or fractions of
seconds! Waiting and geographical distance - even from one end of the globe to the other - are reduced to
nothing; hence the designation "short-circuit".

Sometimes it is also a short-circuit in the sense that there is a breakdown. This happened in for instance
1987, when the share prices at the Stock Exchange in New York went crazy; or in particular when the power
structures in Eastern Europe broke down, and telefax, telephones or satellite TV contributed to the
penetration of closed borders and the undermining of power and information monopolies.

Apart from the short-circuit there is a simultaneous explosion in information, where the amount and spread
of information grow stronger and stronger, and where there will appear yet unforeseen possibilities of
widespread and free access to both information and interchange of information. The explosion of
information exceeds the introduction of printing in the middle of the 15th century.

The change in communication and work processes - and not the technique and its possibilities in itself - makes
up the core of the revolution of information technology. It changes the conditions for exchange and
constitution of knowledge in a profound way.

For a society the consequences of a development towards the information society are the following:

An unprecedented openness, the free and uncontrolled access to information and communication. No
one can control the countless global networks with their debates, databases and scattering of
information - anarchy and purifying debate at the same time. Any person with a Personal Computer
and a modem attached to the telephone networks can participate and contribute with e.g. a database
from his own living room.

The products of the information industry with their high contents of knowledge take over traditional
commodity production as the driving economic force for the developed world.

Those countries that are first capable of exploiting modern information technology in the development
of products, management, production and marketing will create new jobs with the highest salaries.

Knowledge-based services will become an export commodity. So far services have had to be delivered
face-to-face. But now knowledge-based services can be delivered long-distance and across national
borders. We are already familiar with this through scientific results, journalistic work and other
text-based services. But by means of new multi-media techniques it will also become possible to
"export" e.g. the diagnosing of a doctor, and within a number of years it may also become possible to
carry out a surgical operation by the use of long-distance tele-communication networks.

Companies and organisations will be fragmented with regard to geography and production processes.
Production processes or parts of companies will become easier to place where the labour is. Simple
production can be placed in low-income countries, and knowledge-demanding management and
development in the more affluent and well-developed countries. Those days are gone where a company
needed to be situated at one specific location.

In extreme cases this means that companies may not produce what they sell: NIKE does not produce shoes,
nor does Honda produce cars. They sell the products and buy the production where it is less expensive and
where it can be achieved in the global competition.

We talk about the "virtual company": Independent companies, which each contribute with their competence
or part of the production process, are linked by an IT network in the joint effort to make a specific product.
In terms of management and production they act as though they were one company - when the job is done,
they can split up again. Companies can even join as integrated parts of quite different "virtual companies".

The information technology furthermore makes it easier for individuals with specific qualifications such as
e.g. consultants, designers, doctors, architects and artists to function without "assistant personnel" and
participate as component parts of a "virtual company".

Internal organisation in business enterprises and public institutions will become more open. The former
monopoly of the management on knowledge and coordination will vanish. IT instruments may give the
ordinary employee the same amount of insight - provided, of course, that the management draws the
organisational consequences of the information society.

Even if central surveillance is possible too, the main results will be decentralisation, a more competent
staff, fewer leaders at the medium level as well as the short-circuit and democratization of
organisational power structures, where the working processes will be rearranged according to the logic
of the information society.

The organisation will also become more open in the sense that the individual employee will get a job
with a wider content, and he can perform his duties any time and anywhere, at home or at customers.
In many jobs the work demands less and less physical presence at the work-place, and the distinction
between working hours and spare time is dissolved.

"The mobile tele-communication technique" paves the way for "the Mobile Human Being", which can be
reached by means of tele-communication all over the globe - and in the air. The possibilities for
communication by telephone, fax or electronic mail reach an extent that resembles telepathy: No
matter where you are, you can always send a thought or a request for another person - and get an
answer.

Large amounts of routine work will disappear. While there were great fears just a few years ago that
computers would lead in the direction of increasingly monotonous and wearing work, these new
realities turn out completely opposite: More and more monotonous work will vanish and be taken over
by computers and other IT-based machines. At the same time IT demands, and appeals more and
more to, creativity and an independent effort. A more challenging job - and a more demanding one as
well - will become the results.

There will be a tendency for the population to become divided into an A-team and a B-team in terms of
information technology. Through work and spare-time interests the A-team members become familiar
with information technology and learn to exploit its various possibilities. The B-team will not grasp the
technology and try to avoid it. The job options for the B-team will become increasingly narrow.

This is partly a question of a generation gap; an increasing number within the younger generation get
an even excellent grip of the technology. But even within the younger generation there will be many
who fail to keep up - unless a specific effort is made - simply because they do not have daily access to
use a computer.

Technological developments within the next 10 - 15 years will make these tendencies even stronger. We
will witness a widening gap between work-places and persons with a firm basis in technology, and the
persons not using the technology.

We probably already know most of the technology which is likely to break through within the next few years.
It is either available on the market already or at least it has been tested through pilot projects or laboratory
tests.

The most important tendencies will remain the drastic increases in the capacity of computers and
communication and falling prices. Moreover we can add the fusion of media: text, sound and pictures, which
is transmitted both through the computer - which can also become both telephone and TV - and the TV,
which can also become a computer(see the box on technological trends). While the computer will remain the
basic media at the work-place, it remains a question whether the new central IT link between the home and
the surrounding world will be the computer or a functionally elaborated TV set. Finally the aspect of mobile
communication will witness a complete breakthrough; particularly communication by satellites and other
radio communication will create the possibility of total mobility, where one is completely independent from
space and in most cases also the proximity to cable connections.

On top of this there are a number of special, advanced applications of IT as e.g. the "Intelligent House",
"The Intelligent Car", systems for management of energy and environment targeted for companies, and
further improved industrial robots and electronic systems of error finding and diagnosis, which have been
developed within the space and aircraft industries; these things will find new areas of application. Moreover,
there will be a further development of many well-known IT possibilities concerning diagnosing and treatment
of illnesses.



Technological trends

During the next 5-10 years we must expect the following main trends in the development of
information technology.

A Dramatic Increase in Capacity and Lowering of Prices
It seems almost a law of nature that the power of a micro chip is doubled every 18th month
without an increase in the price. It means that the capacity of the computer is increased
dramatically while the price remains the same or drops. It also provides a basis for the
development of increasingly complicated and powerful software.

A Dramatic Increase in Network Capacity and Lower Costs of Transmission
New technologies within fibre-optical cables and radio communication and increasingly
advanced techniques to "pack" the signals will bring about a dramatic rise in the capacity of
electronic networks - both globally, nationally and for internal processes within the
individual building - while prices are constantly lowered.

The Fusion of Various Media
A number of devices and functions, which were formerly separated, will now merge into
each other. The CD media will become vital for the storage of both text, sound and
pictures.

Apart from its present functions the PC will also become able to work as a telephone,
including video telephone, and/or as a radio and TV receiver. Furthermore we shall
experience a fusion of the printer, the telefax, the photo-copy machine and the scanner (for
the scanning of documents).

The TV will become "intelligent" and interactive by being used to "play with" as a computer
via the remote control or an attached computer keyboard: It can turn pages in programs or
carry out e.g. banking and shopping.

The combination of picture, sound and text in the new multi media programs will become
very common.

The prices on the combined media and the corresponding programs will be lowered
constantly. But within a number of areas they will probably not reach a price level which
paves the way for a breakthrough as a mass consumption commodity until after the year
2000.

In terms of application the developments will take place on very different levels of technology.

On the one hand "Virtual Reality" and "Cyberspace" will break through as the both fascinating and
scaring new possibilities. (See the boxes on "Virtual reality" and "Cyberspace"); now we can
explore our own, self-created universes. But "Virtual reality" can also help us tremendously with a
number of more practical tasks, including education and training.

On the other hand, from societies' point of view the most dramatic break-through - at least in the
years leading to the year 2000 - will appear in communication of mere text and figures. This is
where the short-circuit will be felt most dramatically, and this is where all can participate: The
electronic interchange of data that has just been registered once by electronic means, and the
completely unpredictable contacts between people across boundaries and cultures make up some
future consequences that can hardly be overestimated; even if it does not present itself as
inventive as "Virtual Reality" and other technically advanced solutions.



Virtual Reality

"Virtual Reality" can be translated as "artificial reality" or "experienced reality". It is a technique
which uses artificial three-dimensional space created by a computer. By using the technique it
becomes possible to move around in very lifelike artificial universes or in quite fantastic locations
- while in reality you sit in your armchair or in a model, e.g. the cockpit of an aircraft.

The routine that has been used for a number of years in e.g. training of pilots or shipmasters
makes use of TV or computer screens, and most often they construct a model of the cockpit or
the bridge of a ship with real instruments for use during training.

In a more recent form special stereo-optical glasses are used in order to achieve the impression of
three dimensions and thus reality. A sensor at the top of your head registers the position of the
head, another one registers the position of the eye, and subsequently the computer shows the
picture corresponding to the direction in which you look. Thus the sensation of moving in real
space is achieved. Furthermore special gloves ("data gloves") are often used to enable the user to
carry out actions by the movements of hands and fingers.

The areas of application for Virtual Reality are being expanded all the time. Among the areas
under present investigation are e.g. the following:

Entertainment: Is expected to become a very big market in the United States. The
technique is still under development with a gradual transition from the well-known
computer games with a three-dimensional effect on a flat screen, e.g. racer driving games for
the home computer, to the plans of the American Entertainment Industry to have Virtual
Reality parks with great machines, where you walk between dinosaurs or carry out gun
fights in the Wild West.

Process surveillance: Instead of looking at figures in tables or bar charts on a screen you
experience something that looks like physical phenomena in space. You may also imagine
that you operate a video robot (with hand movements), whose picture is broadcast to your
Virtual Reality glasses. In this way you may e.g. crawl into a threatened atomic installation,
walk around the bottom of the sea etc; this is called "tele-presence".

Surgery: A surgical specialist can operate on a patient, which is located somewhere else in
the world. The surgeon will be equipped with a Virtual Reality glove and Virtual Reality
glasses. The operation is carried out with a laser beam, which is operated by the surgeon
with his hand; this is called "tele-surgery".

Architecture and Design: An architect or a designer produce a Virtual Reality model of a
building or an object, and the product can be tested, i.e. you can walk around in the
building or perform actions with the object in space.

Training and Education: Pilots, shipmasters, engine drivers and drivers have been trained
with more or less advanced Virtual Reality systems for a number of years. They are now
used for ordinary training for drivers tests as well.

Research: Imagine a molecular scientist who is sitting in his chair wearing Virtual Reality
glasses and gloves. The moleculars are seen as balls floating in the air. The scientist can now
grab and place the balls to form new moleculars, whose characteristics become visible by
specific colours or other indications.

Role plays, therapy, psychology: Persons can select sex, appearance, dress etc. at their own
choice - and meet in the Virtual Reality space.

Database search: A traditional database is equipped with a Virtual Reality interface so the
user - instead of searching and retrieving information with keyboard commands or
"mouse-clicking" of fields - experiences the sensation of walking inside a building and search
for information on the various floors, through corridors and doors and in archives, drawers,
and files etc.

Virtual Reality is a new way to operate via the computer - a more visual and intuitive way of
operation than the conventional methods. At the same time it is a more sensuous way to receive
information. Some predict that Virtual Reality will pave the way for a "body-like computer
culture", where presentday computers are hidden for the users, which watch and listen in lifelike
space - and give commands by acting with their hands, their feet or their voice.



Cyberspace

Cyberspace, which can be understood as:"Controlled space", is where users on the computer
network meet each other or gather information. In physical terms Cyberspace can therefore be
both remote computers and disks - as well as your own harddisk or e.g. a CD with data.

The important point is that Cyberspace is perceived as an entirely different kind of space existing
independently from the physical behaviour of data signals. In Cyberspace societies are created,
i.e. human networks, struggles are fought, fortunes are made, ideas are created etc.

With the general development of information technology, where more and more information is
communicated in the form of data signals (digital communication) Cyberspace will be expanded
to further include all that is presently released on paper, but which will be obtainable in digital
form from a computer through the networks within a few years. Cyberspace is the new electronic
space which contains everything from personal conversations to doctor's visits, work, education
and entertainment.



Hot New Medium: Text

"We talk endlessly about new tech-arcana like video and virtual reality, but the conversation
orbits around the stuff on this page - text.

In fact, the written word doesn't just remain; it is flourishing like kudzu vines at the boundaries of
the digital revolution. The explosion of e-mail traffic on the Internet represents the largest boom
in letter writing since the 18th century. Today's cutting-edge infonauts are flooding cyberspace
with gigabyte upon gigabyte of ASCII musings"

Paul Saffo, research fellow at the Institute for the Future, Menlo Park, California. Excerpt of a
commentary in Wired Magazine, May-June 1993.

2. A Danish Strategy for the Information Society

The global short-circuit, the explosion of information and the technological developments are realities in the
international society that cannot be avoided. Just as we cannot withdraw from the international economy as a
nation, but are forced to adjust our economy and competitiveness, we also have to relate to the Information
Society.

A number of other countries have already launched forceful strategies to this end. In the United States the
Clinton-Gore initiative on "The National Information Infrastructure" - or the "Information Super Highway"
project, as it is sometimes referred to - envisages a large-scale effort, where federal authorities become the
leading force in the use of IT, legislation and special projects. In Asia Singapore is already working with the
realization of a far-reaching strategy for the "Intelligent Island".

In Europe the EU has indicated that IT will become a new, central issue in European cooperation in the
report from the so-called Bangemann group, which was evaluated at the summit meeting for Heads of State
or Governments at Corfu in June 1994. On this background the Commission has already drafted a proposal
for an action plan, which has just recently been dealt with at a first meeting of European ministers
responsible for information technology.

In Sweden the former government released a draft for a large-scale effort on IT titled: "Vingar at
manneskans formaga" ("Wings for Human Ability"), and in Norway a proposal for a national information
network has been elaborated.

The question is not, whether we want to become involved in the information society or not. As an open
society that plays an increasingly active role in international life, we are involved.

The questions are rather: How will we participate? With a deliberate and forceful strategy to achieve a
position in the front group - and consequently get the jobs, which are the side effect of being the first?
Furthermore: Are there any special values and aims, which we want to translate into practice by means of a
deliberate and forceful strategy? Even if market forces should not be allowed to take control of the strategy,
the strategy must take market forces into account. Most of the developments towards the Information
Society are controlled by market forces - internationally and in Denmark.



The Opinion of the Committee:

There shall be an overall strategy, which can bring Denmark in front of the development towards the
information society. Applied properly, information technology is a source for economic development and
enhanced quality of life through increased openness and interchange of information as well as better public
and private service.

The strategy shall be based on a Danish model, where market forces should not be the only forces involved.
The strategy must secure some special values:

IT shall secure free access to information and interchange of information.

IT shall support democracy and individual access to influence.

IT shall contribute to personal development, e.g. by supporting the individual at the work-place and in
the spare time.

IT shall open the Public Sector, make it more transparent and facilitate the delivery of better service.

IT shall be used to support the weak ones of society.

IT shall strengthen the international competitiveness of Danish companies as the basis for the Danish
welfare system.

By the deliberate focus on these values and by implementing the widest possible application of IT we will
achieve the best guarantee that the information society does not lead in the direction of a division of Danes
into an A-team and a B-team with regard to information technology.


The Approach of the Committee:

A Danish View on Information, Knowledge and Welfare

Information is nothing new; for thousands of years knowledge has been based on the treatment of
information. In a historical perspective information has often been "the scarcity factor". Human intelligence
was probably equally good in the days of Plato and Aristotle as it is today, but reliable information was short
in supply at that time; information was scarce and difficult to obtain.

Today the amount of information is overwhelming, and the demand for relevant information insatiable.
Information is also the principal "creator of values" in the developed countries (hence the name: Information
Society).

The technical possibilities to provide and systematize information are practically indefinite. The access to
even large amounts of information is not restricted to a small elite of scientists, but is spreading like rings in
the water to larger and larger groups within society - but not necessarily to all groups by itself.

The Committee considers it the main task to examine the effect of the information society on the individual,
the home, the school student, the scientist, and public administration, our welfare and affluence.

It is interesting, but not vital, for Denmark to exploit the information technology in the ways made possible
by the various providers on the market. It is also interesting to assess in which direction the demand on the
international market is likely to lead.

But the vital task is to assess the social aspects of the new situation we have been put in by the information
society: What are the effects of the information society on the individual, the company, on the ones without
resources, on the ones with resources, and on our democracy?

In the minds of most Danes Denmark is something special - not just because it is our country, but also
because the country is characterized by some basic - and often tacit - values. Our social consciousness
reaches far, we care for our welfare society and have a local system of democracy, which is quite unique in a
global perspective. The distribution of incomes and fortunes is not as uneven as in most other, comparable
countries; in no other country is the self-rule of local government as far-reaching and as well-founded. Our
access to the educational system is influenced by the idea that all should have the chance for an education
and personal development.

It has been the frame of reference for the Committee that a set of what may be labelled "special Danish
values" must be incorporated into the policy that will be laid down on the area of IT:

IT shall support the free access to information and interchange of information.

IT shall support democracy and the individual access to influence.

IT shall contribute to personal development, e.g. by supporting the individual at the work-place and in
the spare time.

IT shall open the public sector, make it more transparent and facilitate the delivery of better service.

IT shall be used to support the weak ones in society.

IT shall strengthen the international competitiveness of Danish companies as the basis for the Danish
welfare system.

Information is a link in the food chain which leads to knowledge. The exploitation of knowledge makes up
the source of prosperity and welfare. The Committee has considered it the task to point out development
possibilities and indicate guidelines as specific as possible, and the proposals for the initiatives shall be seen in
connection with a profound belief that the broadest possible application of IT is the best guarantee that
information technology not by itself will contribute to a division of the population into and A-team and a
B-team.

In the majority of cases the international market decides what IT products are supplied when and at what
prices, just as the market decides our conditions of competition.

The consumers on the Danish market decide whether they want to invest in new, advanced TV sets, if every
home shall have at least one computer etc.

As a result of our widespread interaction with the international society the strategy must have its point of
departure in Denmark's strengths and weaknesses measured by an international scale. Put briefly, these can
be described as follows:

It is a strength that we have a widespread user's knowledge about information technology:

85 percent of all office employees use a computer at work - compared to an average of 55
percent in the EU countries.
26 percent of all households have a computer - compared to 29 percent in the United States, 12
percent in United Kingdom, 10 percent in Germany and 7 percent in France (not including the
specific French "Minitel" terminal)
It is a strength that in general our labour force is well-educated and that our educational system
provides children and teenagers with the chance to develop curiosity, independence and initiative -
characteristics that are incredibly important in the use of IT.

It is a strength that we have a public sector which is remarkably coherent in terms of administration and
information technology when compared to other countries. Essential components are a number of basic
registers, which connect data across the limits of various public authorities. This is particularly the case
with the CPR code (cf. box on page), which combines personal data, as well as a number of coherent
registers within the areas of real property and geography. For companies a similar system of data
connection is under way with a central register for companies giving each company unique
identification in the shape of a CVR code (cf. box on page). But the potential is not even remotely
exploited to its full extent.

It is a strength that our tele-communication infrastructure is very extensive with a fibre-optical cable
network that reaches 265 out of the 275 kommuner (municipalities) in the country. Furthermore
Denmark is in the forefront with the implementation of the common European systems of mobile
communication. Generally, we have relatively low tele-communication prices. But it is a weakness that
in spite of the well-developed fibre-optical cable network we have not yet started using the broad band
services to any substantial degree.

It is a strength that we have a financial sector which provides unique solutions with a common Dankort
(Danish payment card), a V?rdipapircentral (Danish Securities Centre) and a very extensive electronic
system for payment service (e.g. PBS).

It is a strength that we have a number of strong environments within companies and knowledge of
tele-communication and software. But it is a weakness that these things are not based in any large-scale
IT industry.

It is a weakness that Denmark makes up a small market and a small language area, where costs are
high in the development and marketing of software compared to the number of sold units.

(See Appendix B: "Denmark in an International IT Perspective. The Country of Many Possibilities", by
Journalist Bjorn Kassoe Andersen)

If we shall attain optimum exploitation of the strongholds and minimize the adverse effects of some of the
weaknesses a strategy with the following contents is needed:



Strategy

The public sector must interact with the private sector on a forceful strategy for Denmark's development
towards the information society and take the lead in the efficient use of information technology.

For the next years the strategy shall have the following main components and strategic aims:

1) Before the year 2000 the public sector shall finish the work for a coherent electronic, public service network to
the benefit of citizens and companies.

Information that has already been submitted by citizens or companies to one public institution should not be
demanded from another agency. The service network should allow citizens and companies to communicate
with public authorities by electronic means and gain access to advanced self-service systems and information
registers etc. All citizens shall be offered an Electronic Citizen's Card with a PIN code, so a number of public
cards, certificates and documents can be nullified, and the citizen can gain easier access to better service.
Public registers with non-sensitive data shall be made accessible for citizens and companies.

On promising areas such as the Health Sector a particular effort must be made in order to attain
improvements in service and rationalisation gains by means of IT.

Such IT applications might also become an engine for renewal within large parts of the public sector.

In relevant areas legislation shall be adjusted in order to secure that the necessary conditions for advanced
IT applications throughout the Danish society are in place.

2) Before the year 2000 Danish companies shall have mutual electronic communication of business documents
and furthermore make an effort to get in the forefront with the integration of IT in their products.

Danish companies shall be connected into an electronic network with mutual interchange of business
documents such as procurement requests, invoices, payments etc. by EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)
based on the international Edifact standard. All Danish companies should establish electronic mail
connections before 1996.

Furthermore Danish companies must try to attain a leading position with respect to the adoption of IT in
products and services and with regard to more efficient use of IT in internal processes.

3) All Danes shall have access to the active use of IT in order avoid a division into an A-team and a B-team in
terms of information technology.

It shall be the aim to secure a broad educational basis for all to master information technology to the
necessary extent, first of all in the Primary and Lower Secondary Schools. Furthermore IT shall be used to
reach supplementary and further adult education. The many publicly available IT applications must become
part of an easily accessible network of society, where the public libraries retain the same central intermediate
function as they do with books and printed media.

4) For central Danish culture-bearing media areas a particular effort must be made to secure a Danish supply.

With regard to a number of culture-bearing media there is a risk that the information technology will flood
Denmark with productions which become increasingly difficult to compete with for Danish productions in
terms of economy. This is particularly the case for TV, film, educational programs and certain works of
reference etc. Within these areas a special effort shall be made to secure a Danish supply.

5) Based on Danish aims and values Denmark shall try to influence EU policies on the IT area and also try to
achieve maximum benefit from relevant EU programs.

By means of directive regulations and a number of specific programs EU will set the agenda with respect to a
number of areas for the introduction of information technology over the next few years and our interaction
with the surrounding world on the area of information technology. Denmark must try to influence the
formulation of policies as much as possible and benefit from the programs.

In the following a number of key areas relevant for the realization of the strategy will be reviewed. A
description of a number of specific target areas and proposals for action will be given in each area.

In the proposed concerted effort between the public and the private sector there will be a number of areas,
where we may reach that "critical mass" which is essential for new applications to get under way and become
sustainable with regard to the market.

Within a number of areas as e.g electronic communication by EDI there are obvious economic advantages
for the individual company - if only the rest follow along. It is analogous to the problem of selling the first
telephone!

Therefore it is essential for the total strategy to lay down a number of deadlines for the attainment of each
landmark. Similar to the realization of the internal market of EU it is the simultaneous number of initiatives
that bring about a mutually supporting effect of greatest importance.

Within a number of areas it is quite simply necessary to develop the standards for the interchange of
information and the coherence between IT systems.

Without closer investigations it is not possible to shed light on the economic consequences of the strategy; at
the moment the estimated total, annual public and private IT expenses in Denmark make up about 3 percent
of GNP corresponding to some 25 billion DKK, where about 20 billion pertain to the private sector and 5
billion to the public sector. These figures do not include the area of tele-communication, which in itself
covers almost 20 billion DKK.

For the private sector it is very difficult to say what the expenses might reach - principally this depends on
the intensity with which Danish companies will embark on innovations based on information technology -
and the extent to which consumers will follow the offers of the market.

Within the public sector the strategy implies that a number of investments should be advanced. Expenses
will, however, mostly remain within the existing budgetary limits, since we are dealing with investments that
can be earned back relatively fast and provide a steady income. However, within certain areas it will be
necessary with a special, temporary effort. It is estimated that the implementation of the strategy will demand
investments by the billions towards the year 2000, both advanced and increased ones.

However, the crucial criteria for the successfulness of the strategy do not relate to the expenses, but rather to
the applications and the results in the shape of increased efficiency and better service and welfare.

3. The Electronic Service Network of the Public Sector

Principle 1:

Public administration (central, county and municipal level) shall be connected into a comprehensive electronic
service network, which will give:

better service to the citizens

better service to the companies and support the companies' own use of IT

rationalisation gains and

more open decision-making processes

The following will outline a number of key target areas for such a strategy, which may become the driving
force for a number of innovative initiatives within the public administration.

Principle 2:

Information which has already been submitted by citizens and companies to a public institution, and which can
be transferred electronically, shall not be requested by another public institution again.

The individual citizen or company should not experience a public sector of separated authorities who do not
communicate, or who are unable to send information to each other. It can be annoying if information, which
has already been given to one authority, has to be submitted to another one shortly after. The same situation
occurs if one is asked for data which are already available from various files. It may be e.g. birth certificates,
marriage certificates, information on buildings or registration on deeds and mortgages.

At the same time the citizens shall be able to discern for what information about them is being used, and in
concrete cases the citizen must be apprised of the data that form the basis for the decisions.(see chapter 4:
Utilization of Data and Protection of Personal Data)

Initiative:

2.1.Data shall be requested only once

All ministries overhaul their legislation in order to assess the demand for information, which citizens and
companies must give. As regards information that has already been registered by another public institution
a plan will be elaborated as to how information is to be transferred electronically, and how the principle of
transparency is to be serviced.

The data shall be registered by the authority who can do so first and/or in the most appropriate way for the
citizen or company.

Compared to other countries Denmark is already in the forefront on this field. But there is still a long way to
go, especially with regard to companies' reports to the State.

Within certain areas simplifications can be implemented relatively easily and within a short time. In other
areas the realization of the principle will depend on the development of entirely new software or conceptual
standardizations of data definitions. Finally there may be cases where the costs of electronic transfer appear
too high compared to the benefits achieved.

Initiative:

2.2 Electronic Citizen's Card with a PIN code

All citizens will be offered an Electronic Citizen's Card with a PIN code and picture which can be used
for positive identification in contact with public authorities. This means that the Health Insurance Card
and a number of other public cards and certificates will become superfluous because the information
can be gathered from public data registers.

When the citizen is in contact with public authorities papers, certificates or written proof, e.g. the Health
Insurance Card, has to be presented in order to provide positive identification of the citizen and to
substantiate rights and other matters. These documents can successfully be replaced by one Citizen's Card,
where the inserted CPR code gives access to that information which is already available from public registers.
The present certificates and documents are really just a print-out from the registers, and while the data are
brought up-to-date on a regular basis, there is no guarantee that the written documentation is up-to-date as
well.



The National Population Register (CPR)

A national population register was established in the late sixties with the purpose of administering a new
system for tax deducted at source. The register contains basic data on all Danish residents. Each person is
identified by a ten digits figure (CPR code) which gives access to information on date of birth, address,
gender, marital status, children etc. This population register has become the general service system and the
source of basic personal data for all systems containing information on individuals in the Danish public
sector. To the extent that legal provisions permit, this is also the case for information systems in the private
sector.


The Card shall be an offer to the citizens. By means of the Card the citizens can obtain better service
through the more efficient use of public registers with person-related data. One example is where the citizen
shows up at a public authority without his papers or if he wants information from public registers transferred
for use outside the public sector, e.g. for banks, building societies or insurance companies. But citizens should
still have the opportunity to get service from public authorities without using the Card.

The Card shall replace e.g. birth certificates and marriage certificates, drivers licence (except when the holder
is driving abroad) or game licences. It will also be valid for identification instead of a passport when the
holder travels in EU countries.

Owing to the positive identification the Card can be used for electronic self-service to the extent that
electronic systems are being developed within the public sector (see initiative 3.3). But this should not imply
that the possibilities of personal service are impaired so that the citizen has no choice apart from self-service.

As a starting-point the electronic components of the Card should only include the most basic data such as
name, CPR code and possibly the address. There will be no technical problems involved in adding more
data, but the consequences might be an increasing demand for up-dating as the data in the registers change.

If e.g. the EU were to introduce a standard for an international health insurance card, with relevant
information in the case of emergency admission to a hospital, the Citizen's Card can be used to this end as
well.

The external appearance of the card should only reveal the picture, name and a simple serial number,
whereas further information, such as the CPR code and address, should only be registered electronically.
This will prevent abuse of lost cards and there would be no need - as it is now the case with the Health
Insurance Card - for an entirely new card when the holder changes address or doctor.

The Card is not intended to replace cards used in the private sector, e.g. payment cards. However it is
intended for simple identification vis-a-vis private companies, including banks and insurance companies, and
the postal services. Possibly it will become relevant to use the card as part of a general security system in
connection with PC-based communication through the tele-communication networks in order to free the
citizen from the obligation to show up at public institutions (see chapter 14: Open Network of Society).

Technically there are a number of possible solutions ranging from the magnetic stripe card (similar to the
present Health Insurance Card and the Dankort) to cards with processor (chip card).

However, taking data security and durability on capacity of equipment into consideration all speculations
point clearly in the direction of a chip card.

Advantages and disadvantages in connection with the introduction of the various forms of Citizen's Card and
"private cards" have been thoroughly investigated in a comprehensive work under the auspices of the Danish
Board of Technology, and a pilot project under the Ministry of the Interior is presently reviewing the
practical possibilities of the introduction of a Citizen's Card. In the light of these works the time now seems
ready for a decision regarding the introduction of a Citizen's Card to be implemented within a few years.

Principle 3:

Citizens and companies who wish to communicate electronically with public authorities should have this
possibility.

Such electronic communication creates far-reaching possibilities of improved service to citizens and
companies as well as possibilities for rationalisation for all involved.

Initiative:

3.1. E-mailboxes in all public institutions

As soon as possible, and no later than the end of 1995, all public institutions will establish an electronic
mailbox for the institution, which can be used by citizens and companies who wish to communicate by
electronic mail with the public authorities.

The principle shall be based on the belief that anyone wishing to address the State can do so by electronic
means and receive an electronic answer. In some cases, e.g. the issuing of certain certificates etc.,
supplementary paper documents must be forwarded.

Initiative:

3.2. Development of electronic communication

All ministries overhaul their legislation and administration and estimate the interchange of structured
information with the private sector with the aim to elaborate a plan as to enable those citizens and
companies who wish so to communicate by electronic means based on the Edifact standard. In this
connection possible legislative requirements with regard to the use of specific paper forms, demands for
written documentation or handwritten signatures will be assessed with the aim to remove obstacles to
paper-free communication.

In a number of cases the communication concerns issues of a special nature, e.g. contract agreements or
transfer of payments, which demand certain standards for security and authenticity. In this case pure
electronic communication presupposes a special kind of security in the form of encryption. If this is not
possible for one reason or the other one may imagine intermediate types, where forms are filled out
electronically and exchanged by mail in order to get a signature.

In order to ensure that electronic communication is as compatible as possible with the systems of the private
sector - and the systems of parties abroad - it is important to develop it according to the international Edifact
standard (see chapter 12: The Companies' Network). If within certain areas a fully specified Edifact standard
does not exist, the public institution in question should take the initiative to make sure that the necessary
specification takes place and secure the international acceptance of the solution.

Initiative:

3.3 Development of electronic self-service systems and bulletin boards.

With particular regard to their own area all ministries will elaborate a plan for the development of
electronic self-service systems and bulletin boards, which citizens and companies - in line with the
push-button telephones - can operate from their computer.

There are large perspectives in the development of electronic bulletin boards and self-service systems. Many
public institutions have already got a foretaste hereof with the push-button telephone systems, and a number
of municipalities and public institutions are preparing computer-based systems in connection with Diatel.(see
chapter 14: Open Network of Society).

Under the auspices of the central authorities a more systematic effort in the area is needed.

Initiative:

3.4. Electronic key to public schemes and institutions.

Before the 1st of January 1996 Statens Information (Danish State Information Service) will establish an
electronic key or guide informing about schemes and functions covered by the various public institutions,
and giving indications of how to get in contact with them (telephone and fax numbers, e-mail addresses
etc.)

The key will be based on the book: Samfundsnoglen ("The key to Society"), which Statens Information is
publishing at the moment, and furthermore on the information in the Hof- og Statskalenderen (Danish
Official Yearbook), the Phone Book of the Ministries and information material of the local governments.
The key will be made available on all those on-line systems that want it and on disk/CD-ROM. The database
at Statens Information may furthermore be used as a currently up-dated basic database for Hof og
Statskalenderen and the Phone Book of the Ministries, from which all interested parties can have data
extracted.

Initiative:

3.5.Electronic bulletin board with central government press releases etc.

As quickly as possible Statens Information will establish an electronic bulletin board with copies of all
press releases, newsletters, information newspapers etc. as well as a list of released publications from
Government institutions. As far as possible the publications themselves should be made electronically
available as well.

The bulletin board can be established on the basis of the present publication: "Status" (Progress Report) by
Statens Informationstjeneste supplemented by press releases etc. from government institutions.

Principle 4:

Official publications with public promulgations will change to electronic form.

Initiative:

4.1. Lovtidende (the Legal Gazette) and Statstidende (the Official Gazette) in Electronic form.

The official promulgation of laws and other judicial precepts in Lovtidende will from 1999 be made in
electronic form. The official promulgations in publications such as Ministerialtidende1 and Statstidende,
including Tingbladet and Registreringstidende (the Registration Gazette), will change to electronic form
from 1996, while the printed versions will be published in supplementary form only as long as the need
exists.

The publications are of primary interest to professional users such as lawyers, financial institutions etc. A
change to electronic promulgation may offer a number of advantages to these groups and - after an
appropriate period of adjustment - the traditional paper editions will partly become superfluous. Among the
advantages is the possibility of subscribing to information which is adjusted to the special needs of the
individual.

For non-professional users Lovtidende (the Legal Gazette) and other publications are only of limited interest,
but of course the free access to material that we have today, particularly the access to read copies free of
charge at the public libraries, must be maintained.

The transfer to electronic form will actually improve the citizens' access to the material, among other things -
apart from the Public Libraries - by giving access through terminals to the material on public places used
extensively by the public as for instance "Quick Desks" and information shops in municipalities as well as
various local government offices.

The transfer to electronic promulgation of laws does not imply lower priority to the additional information
activities carried out by public authorities in connection with new legislation. This additional information, in
the form of leaflets, "OBS" spots on TV, newspaper advertisements etc. plays a far more important role for
the possibilities of citizens and companies to achieve information on existing legislation in relevant areas than
the more formal promulgation which is prescribed by the constitution.

In practical terms the electronic promulgation of laws and other judicial precepts (which are today
promulgated through Lovtidende and Ministerialtidende) will be based upon a further development of the
present Retsinformationssystem (the legal information system). The debates of Parliament are also included in
Retsinformation (legal information), and it would be relevant to change this to an electronic medium together
with Lovtidende.

Today the contents of Statstidende (the Official Gazette) is very mixed and there is a need to clarify how the
change to electronic promulgation of the various types of announcements can be made in the most
appropriate way. In future the service, which is today offered by Registreringstidende (the Registration
Gazette), will be offered through an extension of the information system of the Danish Commerce &
Companies' Agency. In a similar way the system of registration on deeds and mortgages of the courts shall be
expanded to provide that service which is today offered by the printed Tingblad2.

Principle 5:

Public registers with information on persons, companies or geographical data should be more interrelated, and
double registration of information should be avoided.

Initiatives:

5.1.CVR code to be introduced by the 1st of January 1996.

The plans of a central, company register and an attached CVR code, parallel to the CPR code for citizens,
will be implemented so that the register and the code shall become realities from the 1st of January 1996.

5.2 Responsibility for cross-coordination.

As responsible for the basic databases on persons, companies and geographical data, the Ministry of the
Interior, the Ministry of Inland Revenue, and the Ministry of Housing and Building shall be responsible for
cross-coordination in order to ensure that data from these registers are put to optimum use in other public
registers.

5.3.General conditions and payment for the delivery of data.

The various schemes for the delivery and sale of public data for the use of other public authorities, private
companies or citizens shall be evaluated with the aim to secure conditions of access and rates that
promote the creation of surplus value for society through the use and re-use of data.

5.4. Advancement and further development of the electronic system for registration on deeds and
mortgages.

It will be attempted to advance the establishment of an electronic system for registration on deeds and
mortgages, which is planned to be completed by the end of the year 2000. At the same time experiments
will be initiated as fast as possible regarding the electronic transfer on data on deeds and mortgages from
informers such as building societies, lawyers etc. with the aim to incorporate these actors as much as
possible in the working process.



The National Business Register (CVR)

As a counterpart to the population register (CPR) containing data on all persons the national business
register containing data on all Danish companies and enterprises is planned to be introduced by the
beginning of 1996. The register will contain basic data of a general interest only (name, address, phone
numbers, line of business, number of staff etc.). Each company (the legal entity) is assigned an unambiguous
identification code (CVR code) and must identify itself by means of this number in all cases of contact with
public authorities. The register will make life easier for the private enterprises because their obligations to
inform public authorities will be minimized. As for the public authorities the business register should increase
efficiency considerably.

Within the presentday public sector there are registers with information about most units and relations in
society as e.g. persons, companies, real property, education etc. Denmark has a unique opportunity to take
advantage of this information on a broad scale in society, because the information is connected across
institutional boundaries by shared keys as e.g. the citizens CPR code and the similar codes for companies.

It is vital for the public service network with a further development of these registers, which are intended to
play the intermediate role of basic registers and suppliers of services to a larger extent.

However, a number of things constitute an obstacle to the use of these data. The users of data find it difficult
to get a clear picture of the possibilities of using data at different public authorities. Furthermore many
registers are not ready to function as broadly applicable sources of information.

There is a need for common principles and conditions that can contribute to the development of an open
and well-functioning "market" for public data. The various keys, registration units and data must be
well-defined, and it must be easy to get the information on the whereabouts of data as well as their quality
and how recent they are. There is also a need for precise rules regarding the transfer and value-adding of
data as well as principles for price fixing that can promote the utilisation of data.

Principle 6:

Pari passu with the replacement of IT systems public institutions must change gradually from paper-based
archives to electronic processing and filing over the next few years.

Initiative:

6.1. Electronic processing and filing in public institutions.

Pilot projects shall be carried out, whereby public institutions will introduce purely electronic processing
and filing. No later than the middle of 1995 the The National Archives shall lay down regulations that
make electronic filing possible, so that institutions that want to can abandon traditional paper archives
and adopt purely electronic filing from the 1st of January 1996. Furthermore efforts to develop general
demands for the future electronic filing system will be initiated. In this connection there is a need for a
review of practical possibilities to facilitate the easy access to case files and archives according to the Act
on Public Access to Documents in Administrative Files.

For the public institutions such a transfer to electronic processing and filing constitutes the prerequisites for a
successful entrance into the information society. It will create the vital coherence in the initiatives proposed
above.

Principle 7:

The establishment of the public service network should be used as the point of departure for a renewal in the
functioning and interplay between the involved institutions at central, county and local level. The performance of
tasks and the division of labour will be reviewed with the aim to create more efficient interplay with maximum
exploitation of those possibilities of rationalisation that are offered by the information technology (Business
Process Reengineering)

If the possibilities of more efficiency and rationalisation gains are to be realized in any substantial degree it
demands a very focused effort, which quite often will cut across traditional administrative structures and
institutional interests. Therefore an overall political effort in this area must be initiated.



4. Utilization of Data and Protection of Personal Data

Principle 8:

The protection of persons and data should be secured through modern legislation that makes it possible to
register, combine and use data for all legal and administrative purposes without bureaucratic procedures.

Initiative:

8.1. Revision of the Danish legislation on Registers.

A renewal and simplification of the Private Registers etc. Act and the Public Authorities' Registers Act shall
be carried out. The present legislation on registers shall be replaced by general legislation about protection
on personal information not based on the concept of registration. In the revision of the legislation on
registers the peripheries of the Act on Public Administration and the Act on Public Access to Documents
in Administrative Files shall also be involved, and in all areas the fully electronic systems for processing of
cases and filing will be taken into account in principle treating paper-based and electronic processes
equally.

During the last 15 years Denmark has had a legislation on registers. This has provided us with experiences
with regard to risks involved (or not involved) in relation to protection of personal data. As public
administration has become increasingly electronic, the legislation has seemed unnecessarily bureaucratic for
practical administration to an increasing extent. This is particularly the case with the demands for detailed
regulations for registration or the statutory reporting to Registertilsynet (the Data Surveillance Authority).
Transfer and combination of data and on-line access to public registers are furthermore obstructed to an
extent that is far from reasonably justified by considerations for the protection of personal data.

Furthermore there has been a gradual change in the very basis for the legislation; today the register is
outdated as a concept from a technological point of view, and the distinction between registers - which are
being regulated by the legislation on registers - and case files within the public sector, which are regulated by
the Act on Public Administration, cannot be maintained in times where case files appear in electronic form.
This results in problematic overlapping or legislative conflicts; are electronic case files to be erased as soon as
possible after the conclusion of the case in accordance with the principles of the legislation on registers about
erasure - as opposed to manual case files, which are traditionally stored for a longer period until they are
filed or discarded according to the Act on Archives?

For sensitive information such as information about race, religion and colour of skin, about political, sexual
or criminal matters, or about health there must of course be a firm regulation and a very high level of
protection. Therefore there must be very precise rules regarding who can be allowed to register such
information, and what it can be used for, including the limits for transfer.

It should as a rule of thumb be possible to collect and register non-sensitive information such as information
on change of address; it should be possible to use it more or less freely, as well as transfer it, provided that
due respect is paid to the principle of transparency so that the registered persons know who stores what
information about them, and what the information is generally used for.

Where a public authority, a building society, an insurance company etc. collect information from another
authority/company for the processing of an application, the principle of transparency can be duly served by
the registered person accepting the transfer of information. In other cases the principle can be secured by
informing the registered person, cf. e.g. the banks, which inform their customers of the transfer of
information to tax authorities.

The administration of the principle of transparency should not, however, be rigid or inflexible. In many cases
the principle can be duly fulfilled without consent or written notification: For instance by means of legislation
that clearly stipulates the access to use and transfer of information. This will be fully adequate in situations
where the information actually is supposed to be publicly accessible, or in situations where personal data are
collected and stored with the specific intention of transfer as e.g. CPR data (name and address etc.). In cases
where information is transferred for statistic use or similar cases, which have no legal consequences for the
registered person, there will not be any need for personal consent or written notification either.

On the other hand the technical security systems must ensure that no unauthorised person gains access to
information, and principles of the hearing of parties etc. must ensure that the registered person has access to
make complaints in cases where a decision that has legal consequences for the person in question is based on
registered information.

A review of the Danish legislation on registers must under all circumstances be carried through before long.
During the last four years there have been negotiations on an EU directive on the protection of personal
data. An adoption in principle of the directive draft - which among other things has been criticized in
Denmark for being much too bureaucratic - will probably take place in the near future.

Naturally Denmark must join the efforts to create an overall framework for the legislation on protection of
data in EU: That personal data exchanged between member countries must be secured by a uniform and
high level of protection in each country.

But alternatively one should not automatically accept the equation between a "high" level of protection and
bureaucratic procedures for the treatment of personal information - or accept that the principle of
subsidiarity is neglected by detailed instructions to the individual member country regarding the practical
ways of handling the concern for protection of the legitimate interests of the registered person.

In its present form the directive may obstruct IT application in the EU countries so much that Europe,
instead of achieving competitive advantages compared to other parts of the world (see the Bangemann
report), falls behind in the competition. For Denmark the point of departure must be that the harmonisation
of the protection of personal data which has been achieved through the Council of Europe Convention of
1981 is sufficient; this Convention created the necessary, common standards, while leaving room for national
regulation.

Principle 9:

Data in public registers should be utilised to the maximum by re-use in both the public and the private sector.
Where warranted by considerations for personal protection, the transfer of information can be made dependent
on the permission of the citizen in question, e.g. through the Citizen's Card.

Initiative:

9.1. Review of better utilization of data in public registers.

Starting in the public basic registers for personal data (CPR), companies (CVR) and data on real property
(registrers included under the CIS3 , including the coming electronic system for registration on deeds and
mortgages and electronic cards) a review of the possibilities of better general utilization of data in public
registers will be established in cooperation with the trade organisations, the Consumers Council etc. In the
area of real property data there is a need to estimate the extent to which supply companies and other
companies can assist in the up-dating of public registers.

The result of this makes up part of the basis for a revision on the legislation on registers. In connection with
this review proposals will be drafted that can advance a more open, transparent and well-functioning market
for non-sensitive personal data, including principles for pricing.

Within a number of areas it might be a big practical help for the citizen to get extended access to having
information transferred from public registers directly to private companies (on the basis of a request from the
citizen). This applies e.g. to data on real property or income for the use of loan applications in banks or
building societies. In such situations the citizen quite often finds it difficult to procure and copy the necessary
documentation. Inasmuch as it has to do with standard information, which is registered in public registers, it
will be a significant simplification if the citizen could have this information transferred automatically by
granting special permission - it would probably be the easiest way to use his Citizen's Card (see initiative 2.2).
The citizens should address a public authority or - even easier - the building society or the bank, with which
the citizen is already in contact.

5. A Better Health Sector with more Efficient Treatment

Principle 10:

It must be the aim to exploit the outstanding possibilities within the area of health for better service and more
efficient and quicker patient treatment by the use of IT for communication and registering of personal and
clinical data.

Initiatives:

10.1. A Nationwide Health Network for the Interchange of Information.

The systematic interchange of information between doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and health authorities
(references, excerpts of case records, prescriptions, charges etc.) will change to electronic communication by
means of a nationwide health network. Together with the counties the Ministry of Health will elaborate a
plan to the effect that all such communication will take place electronically before the year 2000.

10.2. The Interchange of Electronic Patient Case Files.

A national standard for electronic patient case files for the use of hospitals and G.P.s (General
Practitioners) etc. will be developed. Together with the counties the Ministry of Health will start a
development work with the aim that a fully developed concept for an electronic patient case file, which has
been put to use by all counties, is in place before the year 2000.

10.3. Development of Systems for Diagnosing and Clinical Treatment.

The Ministry of Health and the counties will initiate a common, nation-wide development work with
systems for the support of diagnosing and clinical treatment, including communication and distance
diagnosing (tele-diagnosing), image processing, and the development of equipment for juxtaposition of text,
pictures, test results etc.

The consistent use of IT in the health area may provide for much better service towards the patients and
substantial cost reductions, which can be used to reduce waiting lists and increase the effort with the essential
treatment of patients. Furthermore a frontline effort in this area may make Danish IT companies more
competitive on both the national and the international markets.



IT applications might reduce the extensive use of resources, which the Health sector has for registration,
communication and administration today. Furthermore, the duration of much treatment can be reduced
substantially, because now communication can be dealt with in seconds instead of hours or days.

An illustration of these perspectives is offered by an investigation from the County of Fyn, which shows that
about 30 percent of the total working effort on hospitals is used for registration and administration, while
direct patient treatment and care only takes 16 percent of the total amount of working hours. The remaining
54 percent is spent on planning, management, transport, stand-by arrangements etc.

The increased efficiency of IT-applications for "paper work" on registration and administration with just 10
percent will result in a nationwide release of about 1 billion a year for the increased effort for the patients. In
addition there will be increased efficiency gains for G.P.s, pharmacies etc.

Successful experiments with regard to electronic interchange of information have already been carried out
between G.P.s, hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies, and the pharmaceutical industries together with the health
insurance authorities and the social authorities, which together make up the Health Sector. These
development initiatives shall be expanded into a nationwide project with the ambition that all relevant forms
of communication will become electronic before the year 2000.

Apart from reduced costs in all links the result will be substantial improvements in service in the shape of
time reductions in duration of treatment and e.g. booking systems, with the aim that patients can make an
appointment at a specialist, an out-patient's clinic, a laboratory or a hospital from their G.P.

The project demands extensive work with standardization of messages, e.g. for the electronic prescription,
references and answers from laboratories. All communication of structured data should be carried out
according to the international Edifact Standard.(see chapter 12: The Companies' Network). However, within
a number of areas this standard has not yet been fully developed, and therefore Denmark will have the
opportunity to influence the standardization process decisively.

Similar to the on-going MedCom project, which develops electronic communication in certain key areas, the
proposed project demands the cooperation between a large number of parties as well as a substantial effort
in terms of coordination and development. Therefore there is a need for an overall, nationwide project,
where the Ministry of Health, the counties and other involved parties work together for a binding time
schedule.

Further substantial gains in service and efficiency can be achieved through electronic patient case files, which
can gather information across wards at each hospital, and with which information can be interchanged
between hospitals and with G.P.s. Thus patients might avoid double examinations, diagnoses may be given
more securely and free of mistakes, and the duration of treatments can be shortened. Furthermore there are
substantial rationalisation gains to be made on hospitals internally.

For these gains to be realized there is a demand for the development of general standards for electronic
patient case files, which can be used on very different wards of hospitals and at G.P.s etc. This framework
must be closely connected with the Edifact standards used in the health network.

Experimental projects and development projects with electronic patient case files are already in progress, but
the development of a general framework for a patient case file demands the cooperation of all parties.
Furthermore the experiences with the development of the patient case file and its general demands should be
evaluated and made available to relevant public institutions and potential private supply companies.

Together with the counties and other involved parties the Ministry of Health should establish a project to
this end with the aim to develop the concept for a general electronic patient case file before the year 2000,
and secure that it - in varying extent - is in use in all counties.

Naturally it applies to both the health network and the electronic patient case file that all security aspects
must be in order, so unforeseen access or abuse of personal data can be avoided.

There are other areas where IT systems for diagnoses and clinical treatment might be instrumental in
obtaining substantial improvements in patient treatment and rationalisations.

Databases containing examination results might strengthen systems to the support of diagnoses. Work with
projects for image transmission through the tele-communication networks, including ordinary telephone lines,
is in progress at various hospitals.

Consequently there may be a decentralisation in the treatment of illnesses which presently take place at the
larger, central hospitals. Diagnoses can be made without having the patient meet at the particular hospital,
specialists from larger hospitals can participate in the decisions on treatment, and decisions regarding the
necessity of transferring patients for other hospitals can be made more securely.

These experiments and development activities should be coordinated in a nationwide project, which should
be initiated by the Ministry of Health and the counties in cooperation. The project will collect and
communicate experiences and contribute to the end that the various initiatives support one another.

Based specifically on the administrative coherence of the Health System Denmark has a great opportunity to
become the leading force in the development of coherent electronic systems with maximum re-utilization and
transfer of data. Furthermore an increased effort will contribute to a competitive advantage for Danish IT
and medico-technical companies.

6. The "Global Village" of Research

Principle 11:

Danish research must achieve maximum benefit from the global electronic network for scientific interchange of
information.

Initiatives:

11.1 Connection to E-mail.

All Danish scientists and research institutions shall be connected to the global, electronic e-mail network.
The Ministry of Research will take the initiative to achieve this objective at the institutions in question.

11.2 Electronic Research Library.

As a supplement to the general paper-based publications there will be an investigation into the possibilities
to establish an electronic research library, where Danish scientists can publish their results; furthermore the
possibilities for new forms of cooperation with the publishing sector will be reviewed.

11.3 The Establishment of Broad Band Services.

The need for broad band services within the individual research areas of both the public and the private
sector will be assessed. Furthermore the possible need for the ear-marking of special research funds for the
purchase of such services will be estimated.

The "global village" of research is already a reality in the world of research. The short-circuit of time, space,
persons and processes happens daily in the ways many scientists cooperate with each other. Drafts for articles
are written in Copenhagen and sent by Internet, the global network, for a comment at a colleague in
California, who naturally answers the author through Internet. Test results made at international research
centres such as the European research centre CERN can quickly be transferred for further analysis at
institutes around the world through electronic networks.

The announcements of international symposiums and conferences are gradually appearing at electronical
bulletin boards exclusively, which may reduce the normal time for the arrangement of such an event with 50
percent: Enrolment, reservation of flights and hotels, practical information about the conference and the
conference program are all communicated by electronic means to all participants, just as questions for the
arrangement are asked electronically.

In Denmark the most intensive use of electronic communication and IT takes places within the research
environments of the natural sciences. But also the "soft" disciplines of the humanities and the social sciences
have caught up during the most recent years. The vast majority of the scientists have access to electronic
communication - and the majority use it as an integrated part of their communication with colleagues. But
there is still a number of scientists who are not connected to the network or who only use it to a minimal
extent.

The access to information from databases in other central computers plays an important role for the efficient
interchange of knowledge between scientists. Unpublished research reports and drafts for articles can be
obtained without having to await the publication in international magazines with production processes of
typically 6-12 months.

Therefore there is a need to review whether this process can be strengthened or possibly linked up to the
tendency of releasing publications electronically in order to obtain access to various databases through the
many channels of the network, which together might make up the "Electronic Research Library of
Denmark". It may become a supplementary or further elaboration of the so-called DANDOK Database,
which contains more than 80,000 descriptions of projects and publications from Danish research institutions.

The considerations within this area should also include a review of the possibilities for the further
cooperation between research institutes and the publishing sector, including the possibility of
"Publishing-on-Demand" on the basis of electronic publications (with regard to the research libraries, see also
chapter 9: "The Libraries in the Age of IT").

Latest developments within the multi-media technology have opened up for yet unknown possibilities which
will add a new dimension to the basically text-oriented electronic communication used by scientists today.
The new offers include interchange of pictures, sound and video sequences mixed with ordinary text.

Advanced and powerful computers - the so-called "super computers" - are increasingly being used today on
research within the areas of the natural sciences and the technical sciences, and together with international
research centres such as CERN and ESO they are contributing to the creation of an increasing traffic of
large quantities of data to be transported over long distances by the international electronic networks.

The multi-media technology and the increasing amount of data to be transported do even today create
bottlenecks in the international networks. With the explosive development in the use of multi media in the
next few years we can already predict an increasing demand for high-capacity networks.

Principle 12:

In the allocation of Danish research funds greater emphasis must be attached to the strongholds within
IT-relevant areas that relate to both technique and application. Furthermore we must emphasize and secure
Danish culture and language e.g. through language technology. The effort on these areas must also be
strengthened through participation in EU research programs.

The information technology is not only useful for research. In addition research in itself provides the vital basis
for the further development of information technology. While there has been substantial focus on the importance
of the technical aspects of research side through many years, there is an increasing need to promote research in
the application-oriented areas as well.

7. New Ways in the Educational System

The Society of Knowledge demands continuous up-dating and elaboration upon achieved knowledge and
education throughout life. This is evident from the increasing application of the newest technology within
almost all professions. The work-place of the future will become increasingly focused on the elaboration of
knowledge.

The new possibilities in the application of new technology to support education has as yet only been tested in
reduced scope, and in more respects it demands a break with tradition and the development of entirely new
pedagogical principles. Therefore it is decisive with development work in the next years on the areas of
Primary and Lower Secondary Schools, Upper Secondary Education, technical schools and vocational
training, and higher education in general. This will further influence the way of organising education, both at
the single institution and in the shape of increased cooperation and the increased division of labour between
institutions.

Adult Education

Principle 13:

The possibilities for technology-supported education shall be exploited fully with a specific focus on adult
education and supplementary professional and vocational training.

Initiative:

13.1 The establishment of a centre for technology-supported education.

The Ministry of Education will implement a project on technology-supported education (Distance
Learning) with the establishment of a development centre for technology-supported education and an
experimental fund.

The explosive development in the global division of labour, where more and more industrial work-places
move to areas of low wages means that companies in Denmark need flexible and dynamic employees with an
open mind for changes. Specialized knowledge and the continuous process of further education will become
indispensable demands for all employees.

The more intensive use of modern educational technology (electronic media such as TV and video,
tele-communication networks, IT etc.) will make it possible to diversify educational offers in terms of
geographical locations and hours of the day, so more people can follow courses locally and adjusted to their
own rhythm, instead of being forced to travel to one of the main educational cities.

There will be a need for short, target-effective and complete educations, which can be tailored for the
individual company by means of new technology; it should also become possible to follow the lessons at
either the educational institution or at the work-place. In this way it is possible to accommodate the demand
for education with a highly specialized professional contents, where the student-basis is small and the students
work all over in Denmark.

There will also be an increasing demand for educations with a duration of one or more years which typically
have a more concentrated contents of knowledge. Typical for such education is a low weekly amount of
lessons, which demand a combination of education and salaried work for the student. In this respect IT
opens for the possibility of smooth adjustment between education, work and family life - not least by
exploiting the increased extension of the electronic networks.

It is the vision to individualize education entirely with respect to the need and wishes of the "customer".


8. Children, IT and Primary and Lower Secondary School

Principle 14:

All children shall be prepared to master modern information technology. Therefore the organisation of Primary
and Lower Secondary education must ensure that IT becomes a natural part of teaching in the various subjects.
Thus the unique opportunities of information technology shall be used to secure that teaching is adjusted
according to the needs of the individual student, which is the explicit intention with the new legislation on
Primary and Lower Secondary Schools.

Initiatives:

14.1 General IT initiative for the Primary and Lower Secondary Schools.

In cooperation with the municipalities the Ministry of Education will take the general initiative to promote
the application of IT in the Primary and Lower Secondary Schools. A vital element of such a strategy is to
make all teachers personal users of IT, e.g. by making substantial parts of the supplementary training
consist of IT-based Distance Learning. Another element should be the general introduction of IT from the
earliest classes as expressed by the new legislation on Primary and Lower Secondary Schools. In order to
promote the application of IT there must be given general access to let students bring their own computer,
while the school provides computers for the rest of the students.

14.2. An IT network for all Primary and Lower Secondary Schools.

All Primary and Lower Secondary Schools in the country will be connected by an IT network with
relevant services, e.g. access to public software libraries and the possibility of communicating via
international networks, so students and teachers can communicate with other students and teachers at
schools in Denmark and abroad.

14.3 On the Agenda of the School Board

The introduction of IT will be put on the agendas of the individual School Board to encourage parents to
become involved in and influence the pace of IT development at the various schools.

14.4. Committee on Children, Media and Information Technology.

The Ministry of Education will appoint a Committee to investigate possible initiatives to prepare children
better for an overall orientation in the increasing flood of information and to use information technology
to search and to choose information with a critical mind.

For Denmark to do well in a future international information society it is essential that all children get the
opportunity to develop through childhood and school with IT as a natural part of the everyday life.

With the Primary and Lower Secondary school as the central element such an effort is vital if we want to
avoid that youngsters are not already divided in an A team and a B team in terms of information technology
even before they leave the educational system.

At the same time information technology carries a number of completely new opportunities, which in an
illustrative way can be compared to the change in pedagogical possibilities after the invention of the art of
printing.

IT gives each child the possibility to work with certain topics in its own rhythm and with the level of difficulty
that suits the child. This will release teaching resources which in turn can provide efficient support to those
students who need it. The teacher will get more and more into the role of consultant as supervisor and
support for the individual student according to the needs and demands of the individual instead of adjusting
the level according to a logic of "reaching as many as possible" - with the result that those with intellectual
resources get bored whereas the weak ones fall behind.

In spite of increasing application of new technology throughout society in general, information technology
has only scarcely had a breakthrough in Primary and Lower Secondary Schools. This is particularly
remarkable because Denmark is one of the countries that spends most resources on educating the younger
generation. The explanations may be e.g. the following:

Lacking possibilities for the teachers to use IT daily - and thus become personal IT users.

Insufficient development in the teacher's education at the teachers training colleges with the result that
a new generation of teachers lack the basic prerequisites for applying IT in all aspects of teaching.

Lacking supply of educational programs and accompanying IT-based educational material, including
access to information databases.

Insufficient pedagogical and professional development within the area of applied IT as an integral part
of the education.

A teaching staff which is unfamiliar with IT as a result of not growing up with IT as the younger
generation.

According to the most recent estimate by the Ministry of Education (1st of January 1993) there is e.g. an
average of 25 students per computer throughout the schools in the country with a spread on municipal level
between 11 and 90 pupils per computer work-place, when all new as well as old work-places are counted.
Therefore there will be a need for very substantial investments in computer equipment over the next years if
the intentions of the new legislation on Primary and Lower Secondary Schools are to be fulfilled.

In the light of the very substantial investments, which in any case must be expected for equipment, it is
essential that the available equipment can be fully exploited pedagogically. Furthermore there must be an
open mind towards new ways of providing equipment, including the possibility that equipment, which may be
in the student's private possession, can be brought and used in class - on the condition that the school can
provide equipment for the remaining pupils.

Naturally the procurement of equipment and the expenses will become the central questions in relation to IT
in the Primary and Lower Secondary Schools within the next few years. But it is vital that the qualifications
of the teachers and the necessary IT-based educational materials are secured together with the procurement
of new equipment - otherwise the money for equipment will be wasted.

The development of educational software with a sufficient quality is obviously also an important problem,
which in character reminds of "the hen and the egg": You cannot really get started until there is a supply of
good software, and the supply will not appear until there is a demand. Thus new ways should be tried here
as well; this may include e.g. the more intense exploitation of programs produced abroad as long as they are
adjusted to Danish conditions.

Experiments with "Schools of the Future" should also be established in order to test the new possibilities that
IT and electronic communication have to offer, including the development and testing of new pedagogical
principles with the "global village school" as a point of departure.

A new dimension in the application of IT is the possibility of different and direct contacts between students
and teachers within and outside Denmark. Today the Primary and Lower Secondary Schools have the
possibility of getting connected to the international network through the database service of the schools
(Skolernes Databaseservice) - called SkoDa. For instance there have been experiments with the worldwide,
American Kidlink, where it is possible to get in contact with children all over the world. Electronic
communication gives the possibility of quick interchange of ideas and points of view between children in
different countries on different continents thus enhancing international understanding at an early stage of the
children's life in school.

Electronic communication appeals to a different and exciting kind of contact between people, independent of
space and time. The development towards the global classroom in the global school across boundaries can
become a new and important dimension in the school of tomorrow. The access of students and teachers to
public knowledge databases should become a natural part of the work with the various subjects in school. To
an increasing extent the knowledge of the future will move from being paper-based to being electronic, and
here the network offers an outstanding opportunity to learn.

9. The Libraries in the Age of IT

Principle 15:

Even in the future - where electronic publications will be taking over the role of the magazines and the book -
the libraries must maintain a central, intermediate function as providers of all published information for all
citizens and in helping to navigate through an increasing flood of information.

Initiative:

15.1. Committee on the Future of Libraries.

The Ministry of Culture will initiate a thorough review and an evaluation of the functions and conditions
of the libraries in the light of the development of electronic publications and the new conditions that
consequently appear for the communication to all citizens of works with an informative and cultural value.
Under this heading the precarious problems of copyright and the copyright deposit of electronic
publications will be investigated as well.

An increasing number of books and magazines are now being published as electronic publications (CD-ROM
and on-line database access).

Initially it was mostly international magazines and works of reference. But it happens more and more
frequently with other types of publications as well, both fiction and non-fiction. Typically both a paper and
an electronic edition are released simultaneously. But within certain areas, especially international scientific
magazines, it is becoming evident that the electronic edition becomes "it" - first of all because of advantages
in terms of distribution and search. The new combinational forms with multi media - text, pictures and speech
- also pull in the direction of electronic editions. In important areas such as magazines and works of reference
one must expect that the "book" and the magazine will become electronic in the future.

One may also envisage new electronic intermediate forms, where books and articles are published locally
("Publishing-on-Demand") - possibly with advanced equipment that can make nice editions with e.g. colour
pictures. This form of publication will also be applicable for individual compositions of articles, chapters etc. -
or for the current up-date on information and editions etc.

Because of the apparent advantages of the paper and the book, e.g. when reading longer texts, there is no
reason to believe that the book or the paper will disappear; this would demand the development of new and
as yet unknown user-minded reading devices to take the place of the well-known computer screens.

But it might be difficult to predict the future allocation between traditional production and distribution of
books and the electronic publications, including the intermediate forms of "Publishing-on-Demand".

This development will change the basic conditions for public libraries, school libraries and research libraries
in important ways; an increasing amount of the libraries' users will find it possible to establish contact to
relevant bases and networks from their homes or work-places and thereby gain direct access to the
"electronic library" without the traditional libraries.

But a large part of the users of especially the public libraries will not have this possibility. For them the public
library will remain an important place to gather information - from now on not only on paper, but also
electronically. Compared to the commercial market the libraries secure the widespread access to all printed
Danish material - because of the copyright deposit - also when it is no longer available at the market.

Seen from a democratic point of view this intermediate function of the public library is very important, and
the public libraries have a central role in order to secure that the Danes will not become divided into an
A-team and a B-team in terms of information technology (see also chapter 3: The Electronic Service Network
of the Public Sector (about public information) and chapter 14: Open Network of Society).

The public access to electronic works implies a number of technical and practical problems with the
establishment of access to the various networks, the development of user interfaces, which are suitable for
the ordinary user of the library, and with the development of competence to navigate within the electronic
networks.

But first of all it raises questions of economy and copyright. The general library rules for copyright deposit,
authors' royalties, lending and copying cannot readily be applied to electronic documents.

The existing law on copyright contains a rule, which prohibits the lending of software in machine-readable
form without special permission. Since almost all electronic works contain software, which make it possible to
"record" the works on a computer, it would demand quite extensive agreement systems for the libraries to
give access to the lending of this kind of material, e.g. in the shape of a CD-ROM. Software in
machine-readable form is not allowed to be copied, not even for private use, and the present proposal for a
new law on copyright expands this prohibition to include all forms of works in digital form. Therefore
libraries would not be able to hand out copies in digital form of e.g. magazine articles.

It would also demand specific agreements with the owners of the copyrights if the libraries were to grant e.g.
home access to users to look up in dictonaries, encyclopedia or other works that the library has in electronic
form.

These problems are aggravated by the fact that electronic publications differ from traditional ones in that
they are easier to copy, that the copy is as good as the original and that in many cases - especially by on-line
access - it is difficult to maintain a clear distinction between "lending" and "handing out a copy".

If electronic publications are to be made accessible through libraries the same way as books it is thus
essential to secure the necessary agreements. The legislation lacks instruments for the simple and efficient
establishment and administration of those multitudes of individual agreements we are dealing with, and in a
similar way there is a need to establish a mutual understanding between libraries, publishers and owners of
copyrights regarding the handling of these problems the best possible way in the interest of all parties.

In Denmark there is a tradition for the so-called "collective licence agreements", but at the electronic area in
particular this may give rise to problems, e.g. in relation to the obligations within EU. Therefore there is a
need for a closer examination of what can be done in this country to facilitate the clearance of rights in
connection with the libraries' use of electronic publications.

The solutions to these problems, including the economic consequences, will decide the ways and the extent
to which the libraries can enter the age of IT in a successful way.

10. The Mass Media Through New Channels

During the next 10 years the technological development will change the conditions for the mass media
drastically.

The digitalization of transmission channels and the cheaper supply of broad band capacity entails the
technical possibility of a dramatic increase in the number of radio and TV channels.

The former technological justification for limiting the access to broadcast radio and TV and the tight
public regulation of radio and TV activities therefore disappears.

There will appear a technical basis for new interactive services, which are mixtures between traditional
TV and services through the tele-communication networks. This is particularly relevant for the so-called
"Pay-per-View" and "Video-on-Demand" (see box on Future Television).

The digitalization also means that those editions of programs and pieces of music that are received by
users will become exactly as good as the originals in a technical sense. By copying these broadcasts the
users can thus obtain a copy of e.g. a piece of music which has a quality equivalent to a CD.

Therefore questions of copyright and commercial questions will appear on the agenda in a completely
new perspective, and the conditions for ordinary radio and TV may very well change on important
areas.

The widespread use of ordinary PCs in companies and at home combined with the fact that nearly all
news of both the news agencies and the newspapers is now present in electronic form, open up for
entirely different news services based on the tele-communication networks, including ordinary
telephone lines. Similar distribution may also take place via an improved text-tv system, which will also
entail the possibility of showing high-quality pictures.


Future TV

Future TV can provide better technical quality, many new offers for the viewers and "pay-per-view".

Digital TV

The designation "digital TV" means: TV based on digital signals transmitted wireless or by cable; the TV of
today is based on analogue signals.

By means of a compression technique most digital signals can, so to speak, be "squeezed together", so they
fill less than similar analogue signals. This may save both time and storage capacity in connection with
transmission or storage of signals. The capacity demanded by one presentday analogue TV channel will
contain 3-12 channels with digital TV, depending on the desired quality.

Digital TV also offers possibilities for the so-called interactive TV, meaning that the viewer - as in a
computer game - can interfere with what happens on the screen. TV will get similar features as a computer
and can partly be used as such.

HDTV

Since the beginning of the 1980s the TV industry has been working with images of higher quality than the
ones we know today; a significant phenomenon is the so-called High Definition TV (HDTV), where the
quality of the image is as good as in cinema films. This is achieved by using four times as many lines and
consequently four times as many dots on the screen as now.

So far the industry has not succeeded in creating HDTV receivers at a competitive price, and it is a question
whether this form of TV will ever have a breakthrough.

The 16:9 format

Apart from digital TV and HDTV there is also work in progress for the introduction of a new TV screen
size, the so-called 16:9 format. The screen of the presentday TV has a 4:3 format corresponding to the ratio
between the width and height of the image. Compared to this cinema films have normally had a width-height
ratio of approx. 16:9 for many years, because it provides the best viewer's experience for a given size of
cinema screen or TV screen.

New TV sets

Both digital TV, HDTV and the 16:9 format will demand new TV sets to achieve the full benefit of the
technical possibilities. During the next few years consumers will therefore have to choose TV set not only
according to size or appearance as today, but also according to technical capabilities. A number of interim
solutions and combinational models may be expected, and it is possible that the TV, just like HIFI, will
consist of more units, e.g. an image screen unit and one or more tuners or e.g. decoders and signal
converters for the various technical formats. At any rate long interim periods must be expected - probably
10-15 years - for the process of adjustment to these new techniques.

"Pay-per-view"

The digital TV technique opens for the possibility of a new way to charge viewers for TV consumption:
"Pay-per-View" or "Pay-Per-Program". It may also be called "taximeter TV" or "selling TV
program-by-program". With this particular kind of program the TV set, or a special decoder, registers which
channel the viewer has turned on, when and for how long; subsequently money will be charged according to
consumption.

"Video-on Demand"

In "Video-on-Demand" a large number of programs are stored in a central facility, and the individual viewer
can call and get the desired program from his telephone or directly from the TV set. Along the way the
program can be stopped, repeated or winded forwards or backwards, in the same manner as a video film. In
practice it corresponds to an electronic version of a video store.

A less complicated version is called "Near-Video-on-Demand": A particular program, e.g. a film, is broadcast
with certain intervals on more channels, so a new version is started e.g. every half hour. Thus the viewer can
choose to start whenever it suits him