Telefónica published the second edition of its Digital Manifesto, which defines the fundamentals that should guide public policy in democracies of the digital era to ensure that the benefits of digitalisation reach everyone in a rapidly changing technological, political and social environment.
Its Digital Manifesto revolves around five main principles to guide the debate on a New Digital Deal:
- Digitalisation must be an inclusive process in which we can all participate. Billions of people around the world are still not connected, and without connectivity there is no digitalisation. To achieve this, the deployment of broadband should be a priority for public administrations.
- Social and fiscal policies must adapt to the current digital companies. Governments must adopt the necessary policies to ensure that citizens are ready to navigate in the new digital environment. It is very important that they also implement a clear tax system that obliges global digital service platforms to pay the corresponding local taxes and contribute fairly to the development of the countries in which they operate.
- Users must have transparent knowledge of their data and have control over how and when to use them. This is the only way to earn their trust and to exploit all the potential of data as the promoter of positive social change in areas such as health, education, transport and climate change. To achieve this trust, it is necessary to guarantee the security and privacy of the data.
- For the sustainability of the internet, global platforms of digital services that are responsible and committed to social development are needed. In this regard, governments and regulators must ensure the application of existing values and laws. In turn, data have become a great competitive asset, and this should be considered by the authorities in the supervision of the markets to avoid positions of dominance and to prevent large global internet platforms from becoming the de facto guardians of users’ digital experience. To guarantee its sustainability, it is also necessary to ensure the ethical use of artificial intelligence and algorithms, especially by these large platforms.
- The modernization of social policy and the rights of citizens in the digital world are required as well. To this end, Telefónica advocates for a Digital Bill of Rights created with people in mind, that also protect its values and fundamental rights in the digital world.
“We need a new regulatory paradigm that applies the same rules to the same services and that guarantees that all companies have the same opportunities to innovate. The authorities must intervene with agility when necessary to guarantee fair competition and the rights of users”, underlined Pablo de Carvajal, Group General Council, Public Affairs, Regulation and Responsible Business, at the presentation of the manifesto. The presentation event was closed by Ignacio Moreno, member of the Board of Directors of Telefónica SA and chairman of its Regulation and Institutional Affairs Committee.
https://www.telefonica.com/es/web/public-policy/manifiesto-digital
