Parliamentary Assembly: Seminar on 'Electronic Democracy'

IRIS 1995-4:1/1

Ad van Loon

European Audiovisual Observatory

On 23 and 24 March 1995, the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe organised a seminar in Paris on "Electronic Democracy". The main question that was addressed concerned the possible impact of telecommunication technologies on society and democracy. Fears were expressed in regards to the possibilities offered by new technologies to manipulate public opinion, especially by the use of opinion polls. Furthermore, access to networks was an important item on the agenda as was the protection of personal data. A main issue was also the relationship between forms of direct democracy offered by the interactive possibilities of new technological developments and democracy based on representation.

The impact of new communication technologies on human rights and democratic values is one of the main focal points of the Council of Europe. In IRIS 1995-2: 10 we already reported that the Council of Europe's Steering Committee on the Mass Media (CDMM) had installed a Group of Specialists on this issue.