Problems of success: Privacy, property, and transactions. Common policy issues between ITS and NII initiatives

Abstract

The rate of change in infrastructure provision and of products based on information and communication services demands a simultaneous consideration of the policies, evaluation and regulatory frameworks for ITS and NII initiatives at the same time as their infrastructure and services are designed. Difficult questions of privacy arise as spatial information and real time correlation of location and historical data becomes readily available, storable and retrievable. The information and service products that can be derived from such information are highly attractive, and a social and economic balance needs to be considered. The infrastructure created by and for ITS and NII demands physical use of public rights of way and common property such as spectrum bandwidth. The economic arguments about spectrum allocation are less contentious, but access to the public rights of way for fibre is also an asset for which the community should be recompensed, perhaps not only by payment but also by access to fibre bandwidth. These issues need to be considered at an early stage in NII and ITS deployment, especially if the private sector is to be relied upon to undertake the major part of the investment.