The Internet has an increasing grip on us, both in our daily actions and where our personal data is concerned. The call for a reliable digital place is increasing, a logical task for the government. At the same time, we note that this government is still lagging far behind in the digital world and sometimes struggles to acquire and maintain knowledge. We see an important role for the government, but this requires innovation. We explain what that means in this two-part series.
For people who love change, the past two decades represent very inspiring times. Never before has our daily life been so fundamentally changed in such a short time as with the advent of digitization. On the positive side, digitization has contributed enormously to improving the information position of everyone. And the Internet has created previously impossible connections between people: from groups of former students of a school to Skyping with someone in New Zealand. The Dutch have always been leaders in this digitization and have firmly embraced the Internet. A recent CBS publication shows that in 2015, the Netherlands was among the top three European countries in terms of digital skills. Such access and skills allow the Dutch to inform themselves extensively on all topics. And now it's time for the government! It is certainly not leading the way and needs to start spending its budgets on real innovation and being more daring.
We see the fundamental influence of digitalization all around us; Almost 90 percent[1] of all Dutch people have a smartphone in their pocket, there is a sharp increase in the number of postal packages due to online shopping, and the number of tourists visiting our cities via Airbnb is growing faster and faster. We are waiting for the entry of self-driving cars on the streets. By now we are used to the possibilities offered by this phase of digitalization, but we see that another big step has already been taken with the emergence of The Internet of Things IoT).
The Internet of Things refers to the situation where human-operated computers (desktops, tablets, smartphones) are in the minority on the Internet. In this view, the majority of Internet users consist of semi-intelligent devices, so-called embedded systems. Everyday objects thereby become an entity on the Internet. They can communicate with people and with other objects and make autonomous decisions based on this[2]. In its publication The Robot in Charge, the WRR refers to this case as the Internet of Robotic Things[3]. And states, "The Internet is being extended, as it were, with senses (sensors) and hands and feet (actuators), and thanks to machine learning and artificial intelligence, the Internet is also becoming smart."[4] This development is taking place everywhere, including in your home, for example with the smart thermostat and refrigerators that you can control or set from a smartphone.
An even greater impact on our daily existence is likely to be had by the Internet of Things in the area of mobility, including self-driving cars. It also offers great opportunities for the labor market. Eric Mamer, Director Compėtitivité & Semestre Européen, DG GROW at the European Union, names this in his Keynote introduction as follows: 'With the advent of the Internet of Things this shift will accelerate. Entirely new kinds of jobs, and challenges, are being developed that didn't exist fifteen, ten or even five years ago'[5]. Thus, like the advent of Internet (stores), this development requires adaptive nature in existing companies, government and organizations. This is certainly as true for education and competency development.
Much has already been written about the impact of all the digital possibilities on our daily lives. Trend watchers predicted the enormous impact on mobility and offices. Because it became possible to work 24/7 regardless of location, the prediction was that offices would become a thing of the past and that there would be an enormous reduction in commuter traffic. However, measurements of traffic congestion show that it is mainly related to the business cycle. Contrary to predictions, congestion has increased sharply over the past three years, for example, by 25 percent in the first quarter of 2018 compared to 2017[6].
The same picture applies to office space. On peak days Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, Dutch offices are unabatedly crowded; the total volume of office space in the Netherlands has even been more or less stable since 2007, hovering around 50,000,000 m2[7].
Despite the opportunities on offer, we see in practice that we prefer certain social and professional conventions to digital opportunities. Being present at a consultation via skype or other digital opportunities is still less accepted and preferred than being physically present. Thus, despite technical capabilities, we as citizens and professionals still weigh how we act based on pre-digital and digital conventions, according to what we feel is most appropriate at that moment and in that case. This critical attitude will become more important in the future.
The Internet has had a major impact on the global economy, especially where commerce takes place. This is because it has moved from the store to the Internet. Incidentally, as was assumed, the economic pillars did not change substantially with the arrival of the Internet. The idea was that self-organization and a social economy would emerge, and companies did start up through that movement. But in practice we see that even these initiatives are essentially driven by sales and profit, with the social element disappearing. A striking example of this is Airbnb. At its launch, this platform seemed to be primarily socially driven. Citizens were enabled to make their room or house available to others and also make use of a wide range of living space elsewhere for very limited prices; a social initiative.
In practice, it appears that the company is simply out for profit and does not seem to care about the social effects of the system, such as nuisance, impact on residential neighborhoods that turn into hotel districts and avoidance of tourist taxes. Municipalities around the world are now joining forces to take joint action against AirBnB. Salient detail is that one part of society cooperates with this initiative just as easily as another part rejects it.
So it is primarily technological capabilities that have structurally changed our actions, without directly changing the world order. What has changed fundamentally, however, is the extent to which we have control over our own privacy. By directly or indirectly posting personal information online, we relinquish control over that information, as it were. The examples in this area are legion, from the big hack at Sony, the possible influence of elections through posts on Facebook and the recent news about Cambridge Analytica obtaining and misusing millions of personal data from Facebook. The complexity that arises here is that democratic institutions are at a great disadvantage in technological knowledge and developments compared to tech professionals. Something that became painfully clear during the questioning of Facebook's CEO by U.S. Congressional senators. The senators appeared to have very little knowledge of various social media forms and the technology behind them. This also plays out here at the national level, as discussed in the blog "Concealing Language" on iBestuur, following a Court of Audit report on ict[8]. And it is precisely the democratic institutions that are primarily the guardians of the protection of people and their personal data. In the traditional, analog world this is adequately regulated, but in the digital world the government is searching for its role. Here it is behind the times, despite the many incidents that have occurred in the field of privacy and personal data, it seems that it is not yet taking the powerful role for which there is urgency and need.
The gap between the knowledge of tech professionals and democratic institutions is worrisome, as fundamental rights of us as citizens are called into question and do not appear to be guaranteed. Indeed, in many cases you have no choice whether or not to make your data and personal information available, as a recent article in NRC Handelsblad demonstrates. The article discusses how algorithms influence us and what impact they have on us unnoticed. "For example, how booking.com makes you book a hotel room faster. How you end up in the Limburg bush if you bravely keep listening to your Tomtom. How Google knows how long you have to wait for a table in a restaurant. How Blendle tries to get you out of your bubble with algorithms.... Google uses anonymized location data from hundreds of millions of smartphones to publish crowds in stores and restaurants on Google Maps and in its search engine. It's a handy feature with one drawback: business owners who are reluctant to share visit dates or wait times with the outside world cannot get out from under publication. They are suddenly part of a system they would not choose for themselves[9].
The effects such algorithms have on us are not yet fully known. But that there must be sharp action from the government is evident. In particular because it involves ethical questions such as: may we as citizens be used as digital guinea pigs without being noticed? And what rights do we have as digital individuals? The Rathenau Institute states in a recent publication, "Is it morally acceptable to improve people's behavior unknowingly or unknowingly? The article argues that as citizens we should have the right to remain anonymous, to not be measured, analyzed and coached[10]. The institute also warns that ICT use erodes social skills, such as empathy. It calls for looking beyond the individual instrumental level and approaching it as collective issues. For this, strong government action is crucial because, the institute argues, "Individuals can only become truly technological citizens if they feel protected by an optimally designed governance system. The following four components are crucial in this: 1) rights and compliance monitoring, 2) social debate, 3) political vision and 4) corporate social responsibility."[11]
An impressive plea, which brings us to the question of what the role and position of government is. More on that in Part 2.
[1] CBS Internet; access, use and facilities, 2017
[2] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_der_dingen
[3] WRR (2015), The Robot the Boss, p. 25.
[4] Idem
[5] http://eiil.net/three-industry-changes-caused-by-digitalisation/
[6] https://www.anwb.nl/verkeer/nederland/verkeersinformatie/filezwaarte
[7] Offices in Figures, NVM Business, p. 11.
[8] See: https://ibestuur.nl/weblog/verhullende-taal
[9] https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2018/04/05/de-formule-hoe-algoritmes-ons-dagelijks-leven-sturen-a1598375
[10] https://www.rathenau.nl/nl/wat-de-mens-over-biomedische-technologie-en-mensverbetering
[11] Idem
This article can also be found in the files Digital transformation and Internet of Things
source: Platform O
