Information policies in Spain

Government Information Quarterly

Volumn 15, Issue 2, 1998, Pages 197-220

  Cornella, Alfons ^a  

^a ESADE BUSINESS SCHOOL   (Spain)

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EID: 2942598604     PISSN: 0740624X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S0740-624X(98)90043-0     Document Type: Article

References (101)

1. Prime Ministers in Spain are referred to as Presidentes del Gobierno (Presidents of the Government).
2. Spain has on several occasions requested membership in the G7 group of the world's richest countries.
3. OECD in Figures. Statistics of the Member Countries (Paris. France: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 1996).
4. El Pais, April 23, 1997: "Los Españoles son un 23% Más Pobres Que los Huropeos Pose a Majorar Medio Punto el Pasado Año."
5. Carles Gasòliba. "1986-1996. Deu Anys d'Integraciò Europea." Revista Econòmica Banca Catalana, 109, (1996).
6. Three languages other than Spanish are spoken in Spain and recognized as official languages in their respective regions or autonomous communities.
7. Not only was censorship extremely strict, but even some major international treaties such as the Tratado de Amistad y Cooperación entre Espan̄a y los Estados Unidos were not even published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (see Pomed Sánchez, Luis Alberto, "El derecho de acceso de los ciudadanos a los archivos y registros administrativos" (Madrid, Spain: Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública, 1989), p. 88.
8. Not only was censorship extremely strict, but even some major international treaties such as the Tratado de Amistad y Cooperación entre Espan̄a y los Estados Unidos were not even published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (see Pomed Sánchez, Luis Alberto, "El derecho de acceso de los ciudadanos a los archivos y registros administrativos" (Madrid, Spain: Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública, 1989), p. 88.
9. So. we here have a practical demonstration of Shoshana Zuboff's dichotomy between the "informate" and "automate" results of computer applications in organizations. See S. Zuboff, In the Era of the Smart Machine (New York: Basic Books, 1984).
10. For a more complete definition of information culture, see R.S. Taylor, Value-added Processes in Information Systems (Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corp, 1986), pp. 224-227.
11. EEC Document C156/5.
12. Ian Rowlands, "Understanding Information Policy: Concepts, Frameworks and Research Tools," Journal of Information Science, 22 (1996): 13-25.
13. Fred W. Weingarten, "Federal Information Policy Development: The Congressional Perspective," in United States Information Policies: Views and Perspectives, edited by C. R. McClure, P. Hernon, & H.C. Relyea (Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corp, 1989).
14. Exact references that help locate these laws will be given there.
15. The Scandinavian countries (particularly Denmark), Germany, and France are designing specific strategies to make their countries information societies. For a summary of these strategies see .
16. Until very recently, librarians' training was fairly "traditional" and not much attention was paid to new technologies. As a result, many of the information specialists employed in Spanish companies come from other fields and their information and computer skills are generally self-taught.
17. A. Cornella, Información Digital para la Empresa. Una Introducción a los Servicios de Información Electrónica (Barcelona. Spain: Marcombo Boixareu Editores, 1996), p. 19.
18. See .
19. See .
20. Sec .
21. Although it may be argued that letting Telefónica, which is a regulated monopoly, to build Info Via actually was a sort of a government policy, the author's opinion is that it was more the result of a "laissez faire" attitude, or even the practical result of the inexistence of any specific government planning.
22. Rowlands, "Understanding Information Policy: Concepts, Frameworks and Research Tools," p. 13.
23. This is the issue of an obscure, and somewhat demagogic discussion started by the current government, which maintains that pay-per-view channels should be prevented from broadcasting soccer games. Curiously enough. the idea appears to be aimed at cutting off the revenue earned by one of the country's only pay-per-view channels, which some people consider ostile to the conservative government.
24. See Informe Reina-95 La Informática en la Administración del Estado. (Madrid, Spain: Ministerio para las Administraciones Públicas, 1996): p. 59
25. Ibid., p. 127.
26. Ibid., p. 128.
27. See Informe Iria-94 La Informática en las Administraciones Públicas (Madrid, Spain: Ministerio para las Administraciones Públicas, 1995).
28. David Plocher, "The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995: A Second Chance for Information Resources Management," Government Information Quarterly, 13 (1996): 35-50.
29. For a list of the Consejo Superior de Informática's principal strategy lines, see .
30. Quoted in Plocher, "The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995."
31. See Charles R. McClure, Ann Bishop, and Philip Doty, "Federal Information Policy Development: The Role of the Office of Management and Budget" in United States Information Policies: Views and Perspectives edited by C. R. McClure, P. Hernon and H.C. Relyea (Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing, 1989), p. 55.
32. See .
33. As the Comisión Interministerial de Información Administrativa admits, "the resources allocated to administrative information have been contingent upon the actual interest of the individual executive agencies and also on the extent of the commitment of their managers." In other words, government information services have not always been understood as a requiste of good government.
34. The fact that there are more than 300 Internet service providers for 1,000,000 Internet subscribers in Spain reveals the extent of the interest Internet has aroused among Spanish entrepreneurs.
35. A list of public administration information services available on Internet can be found in the Ministry of Public Administrations' HIA (Hipercentro de Información Administrativa), see and .
36. There is a directory with hundreds of available central government databases, most of which are little used and not commercially exploited (among other reasons, because there is little synergy between the public and private sectors in terms of exploiting these resources). See Directorio de Servicios de Información Electrónica de la Administración General del Estado (Madrid, Spain: Ministerio de las Administraciones Públicas, 1995). However, there is no similar directory for public administrations as a whole, i.e., central, regional and local governments.
37. There are only some general recommendations, which appear in .
38. See Andrés Elhazaz Molina, "Bases de Datos Para el Servicio Público," in Encuentro sobre Bases de Datos en la Administración Pública, Madrid 1990 (Madrid. Spain: Ministerio para las Administraciones Públicas, Colección Informes y Documentos, 1992).
39. For a comparative analysis of use of availability of government information in European Union countries, see .
40. The complete text of the 1978 Spanish Constitution is available (in Spanish and English) through .
41. See. for example, Ignacio Villaverde Menéndez, Los Derechos del Público. El derecho a recibir información del Artículo 20.1.d de la Constitución Española de 1978 (Madrid, Spain: Editorial Tecnos, 1995); Teresa Freixes. Libertades Informativas e Imegración Europea (Madrid. Spain: Colex. 1996); or Santiago Ripol Carulla. Las Libertades de Información y de Commicación en Europa (Madrid, Spain: Editorial Tecnos. 1995).
42. See. for example, Ignacio Villaverde Menéndez, Los Derechos del Público. El derecho a recibir información del Artículo 20.1.d de la Constitución Española de 1978 (Madrid, Spain: Editorial Tecnos, 1995); Teresa Freixes. Libertades Informativas e Imegración Europea (Madrid. Spain: Colex. 1996); or Santiago Ripol Carulla. Las Libertades de Información y de Commicación en Europa (Madrid, Spain: Editorial Tecnos. 1995).
43. See. for example, Ignacio Villaverde Menéndez, Los Derechos del Público. El derecho a recibir información del Artículo 20.1.d de la Constitución Española de 1978 (Madrid, Spain: Editorial Tecnos, 1995); Teresa Freixes. Libertades Informativas e Imegración Europea (Madrid. Spain: Colex. 1996); or Santiago Ripol Carulla. Las Libertades de Información y de Commicación en Europa (Madrid, Spain: Editorial Tecnos. 1995).
44. The Constitution establishes that "everyone has the right to enjoy an environment that is suitable for human development, and the duty to perserve it.....The public powers shall safeguard the rational use of all natural resources, with the aim of protecting and improving the quality of life and defending and restoring the environment, basing (their actions) on essential collective solidarity" (Article 45).
45. This article is developed in the Ley de Régimen Jurídico de las Administraciones Pública, which will be discussed further on.
46. Violation of these rights is considered a crime under the terms of the 1995 Penal Code, which will be discussed further on.
47. Official Journal of the European Communities C156/1993 (Spanish version) "El Acceso de los Ciudadanos a los Documentos de las Instituciones. Comunicación al Consejo. al Parlamento Europeo y al Comité Económico y Social" (June 8th 1993), p. 8.
48. Ibid., p. 7.
49. Ibid., for a comparison of legislation in various EU countries.
50. European Commission. Acceso a los documentos de la Comisión. Guía del Ciudadano (Luxemburg: Oficina de Publicaciones Oficiales de la Comunidad Europea, 1997).
51. This law is applicable at all levels of government, state, regional and local.
52. The author has been in this position twice and in both cases was denied access to the reports. On one occasion the reason given was that the report requested was for the exclusive use of the head of a central government agency.
53. A Spanish judge recently ruled that a journalist should be allowed access to a military archive in order to investigate one of the most confused cases of the final days of the Franco regime: the 1974 execution of Heinz Chez (El País. November 29, 1996). While the military court (a typical example of a closed source of information) denied the journalist access to the file. Catalonia's Superior Court of Justice ruled that " the decision that public powers cannot limit access to sources of information considered as public and which are not affected by restricions established by law derives from the requirement that information be true and the duty of the Government to cooperate in the effective safeguarding of this fundamental right." Oddly enough, the Military Court had denied access on the grounds that the journalist did not qualify as a "legitimately interested party." However, the Catalan Superior Court made it clear that "a restrictive interpretation of the right of access to registers and archives, and particularly, the access of investigators, would be contrary to the very idea of access to public information." Thus, who has a "legitimate interest" in a particular piece of information remains open to discussion.
54. As an example, banks are required to give their customers written notification to the effect that certain personal information may be used by some of their subsidiaries, such as insurance companies.
55. As a counterproposal some associations of affected companies have suggested that rather than restricting the use of files containing personal data, there should be a file in which individuals can voluntarily register their refusal to be listed in any file that might be used for commercial purposes.
56. El País, March 9. 1995, p. 23, "El Censo Electoral se Vende en el Mercado Negro por Siete Millones de Pesetas."
57. Two people were recently tried for creating a political party for this purpose and are facing prison sentences for illicit association and operating under false pretenses. El País (January 2, 1997). p. 14, "Batacazo Electoral."
58. Accessible through . From this page the APD replies by e-mail to questions about data protection, and is an excellent example of a public service.
59. See .
60. El País (December 29, 1996), p. 20 "Renfe, Empresas de Morosos y un Periódico, entre los Primeros Sancionados por Abusos Informáticos."
61. El País (January 25, 1997), p. 13, "La Policía Almacenará en sus Ordenadores Meras Sospechas de Unos Ciudadanos Sobre Otros" and El País (January 28, 1997), p. 23, "Interior Retira la Orden Policial de Fichar por Meras Sospechas a los Ciudadanos y Promete Cambiarla."
62. El País (January 25, 1997), p. 13, "La Policía Almacenará en sus Ordenadores Meras Sospechas de Unos Ciudadanos Sobre Otros" and El País (January 28, 1997), p. 23, "Interior Retira la Orden Policial de Fichar por Meras Sospechas a los Ciudadanos y Promete Cambiarla."
63. Curiously enough, and despite the terms of this Article, the supplement to the Boletín Oficial del Estado which contained the revised text of the Copyright Act bears the copyright symbol.
64. An estimated 90% to 95% of all copy machines sold in Spain have paid this fee.
65. The Spanish Consumers' Union protested this law while it was still under discussion, arguing that the fee was too general. For example, the Consumers' Union maintained that if an individual recorded a film or record by a foreign author, the copy machine fee should not be paid to Spanish producers and authors.
66. Almost all Spanish publishers are CEDRO members.
67. Royalties for original non-printed material are collected and distributed by other agencies such as Entidad de Gestion de Derechos de los Productores Audiovisuales (EGEDA) in the case of audiovisual products.
68. According to a CEDRO study, illegal reprography largely takes place in public and private libraries and university copying services. The agency estimates that abolishing illegal copying practices could reduce the price of books published in Spain by as much as 40%. See Elena Rodrigo, "Reprografía Ilegal en España," De Libros, Dossier, January 1995.
69. Ibid., p. 2.
70. Indeed, some experts consider the Spanish penal code to be one of the world's first to explicitly deal with Internet crimes.
71. El País (October 12, 1996), p. 25, " El Caso del Tráfico de Pornografía Infantil por Internet en Vie Puede Ser Archivado."
72. According to basic data on telecommunications in Europe, available through
73. OECD. Communications Outlook 1997 (Paris, France: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1997).
74. These and other laws on telecommunications in Spain are available from the Centro de Investigación y Promoción de Redes y Servicios Telemáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, accessible in .
75. Article 16, Law 31/1987 establishes that "all citizens shall have a right to telephone service, both in the form of public telephones and as home subscribers."
76. Similar to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
77. To compare the situation with other EU countries, see the ISPO web on . For comparisons with OECD countries, see OECD, Communications Outlook 1997 (Paris, France: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1997), p. 20, which gives information as of January 1997.
78. This is the figure given by the Biblioteca Nacional's Spanish library directory . The Instituto Nacional de Estadistica's 1994 library statistics set the figure at 6.500 (not including privately-owned libraries not open to the general public). Many of Spain's leading libraries can be accessed through Internet. via Web or telnet. For a directory, see .
79. Pablo, Virginia de, "Las Bibliotecas en España", DeLibros, Dossier January 1997.
80. According to the Study of Library Economics in the European Community (1994). European Union libraries stocked 4.11 books per capita in the 1986-1990 period. The EFTA figure was 9.82.
81. Complete information is available from .
82. See Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), Estadística de Bibliotecas 1994 (Madrid, Spain: Instituto Nacional de Estadística. 1996).
83. See the list and Internet address in .
84. A list of municipal public libraries and their addresses is available through .
85. Ministerio de Educación y Cultura. Inversiones en Bibliotecas Públicas del Estado 1983-1993 (Madrid, Spain: Ministerio de Cultura, Dirección General del Libro y Bibliotecas. 1994).
86. See Crespo, Juan Bautista, La informatización de las bibliotecas en la Commuidad Europea. Estudio Comparativo (Madrid, Spain: SEDIC y Ministerio de Cultura. 1993).
87. The equivalent of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
88. Spain's network of automatic tellers machines (ATM) is one of the world's most advanced.
89. El País, July 7, 1996.
90. Accessible in .
91. La Vanguardia (October 25, 1994).
92. Curiously enough, this was one of the EU Directives that Spanish law took longest to adopt.
93. See
94. See .
95. See .
96. Detailed information about the project and its evolution is available, in Spanish, in .
97. Quoted from .
98. El País (February 17, 1997), p. 15.
99. According to a study commissioned by the European Union in 1996. the electronic information market in Spain totalled 75 million HCUs in 1995. while it amounted to 1174 million ECUs in the United Kingdom. 594 million in Germany and 353 million in France. Even in much smaller countries like the Netherlands and Denmark, the market was considerably larger than in Spain (259 million ECUs in the Netherlands and 156 million in Denmark). See Policy Studies Institute, Electronic Information. Member States Study, European Overview (London, UK: Policy Studies Institute, 1996).
100. There are numerous gaps in official statistics on the information industry. However, this is also true in other countries. For example, it is difficult, if not impossible, to estimate how many people can be considered knowledge or information workers because they are traditionally classified as part of the service sector.
101. Don Tapscott. The Digital Economy. Promise and Peril in the Age of the Networked Intelligence (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996).