ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the subject is limited to legally enforceable rights to access data stored in computer memories not access to information generally. In an interdependent global economy, legal rights to access data stored in computers are critical to the normal operations of the economy. In an information-oriented economy access to information is crucial to the operation of that economy. In a global economy, access to information, regardless of where it resides within that global context, becomes a matter of high priority. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development issued a declaration on Transborder Data Flows in 1985 urging that all nation-states take care not impede such traffic. Data-processing companies supply a shared resource which can be accessed by nations and companies which can more efficiently and economically lease services and facilities rather than provide their own computer capabilities. Negotiations concerning the treatment of proprietary data of non partisan and non-national users could take place within the Uruguay Round.