The Information Society – the EU Framework

On January 1 1998, the crucial European Commission Directive concerning full competition in telecommunications markets comes into force. In this abridged version of the last of the 1997 Stockton Lectures, the Member of the Commission who was responsible for it outlines the route to its implementation. This story is part of the broader issue of the way the European Union (EU) has approached the questions raised by the evolving information society. Starting with the establishment of the internal single European market in 1992, the author traces the elimination of public monopolies in telecommunications, the Commission's changing approach to regulation and the way that public fears have been allayed by use of pilot projects. He then examines the significance of technological convergence and globalisation for economics, politics and culture.