ABSTRACT

This entry provides an overview of European Union (EU) information policy, focusing on its formation, its goals, and its influence. European Union information policy refers to the legislation and strategies pertaining to the European policy for the creation of the information society. It is concerned with economic and industrial competitiveness, with an emphasis on the role that information and communication technologies play in revolutionizing everyday life, a broad goal with far reaching socioeconomic implications. This discussion, however, will be confined to information policy areas of greatest interest to information professionals, namely copyright and intellectual property, data protection and privacy, e-government and digitization.