National Data Protection Policy, National Electronic Transactions Policy , CSME...

While Global Voices brought up that little has been said about the Caribbean Single Market Economy (CSME), I've held back because of a few things. First, CSME has been in the works for a while and it could be something quite worthwhile, especially in tandem with some things I've been discussing with Mark Frazier of OpenWorld.

But before I could go charging off, I had to take a look at the latest output of Trinidad and Tobago's FastForward, and see where they are at. Special thanks to Dev Anand Teelucksingh of the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society for bringing that information forward... staring at an unchanging FastForward website for months has lead me to not look at it. There's a hint and a half for the folks at FastForward.

These things are all related - and with CSME, they relate to the Caribbean, as do issues of copyright and other forms of intellectual property. But CSME doesn't really tackle the issues of technology as much as the issues of people. Assuming promises to citizens of CARICOM nations are to be met, the whole region should fall under an developed nation status within a few decades. Pragmatically speaking, it's up in the air.

The FastForward Information

FastForward.tt recently published the following:

• National Data Protection Policy (PDF ; 128K)
• Explanatory Memorandum on National Data Protection Policy (PDF ; 63.3KB)
• National Electronic Transactions Policy (PDF ; 95K)
• Explanatory Memorandum on Electronic Transactions Policy (PDF ; 194KB)

After reading these policies, it's apparent that at least a few people have taken consumer privacy in the region seriously - the National Data Protection Policy is a fairly robust looking document which allows for changes in technology. That's pretty important within Trinidad and Tobago and within the entire Caribbean region. It's important to note that there has been no enforced data protection policy in Trinidad and Tobago - and now, there is one that will have to be enforced to be useful.

Is it enforceable? Time will tell. But one of the concerns in Trinidad and Tobago, and visitors to Trinidad and Tobago, is kidnapping - and one of the things people have been concerned about is the fact that kidnappers somehow know how much money people have in the bank.

And then there's the 'Magna' cards that showed up in people's mailboxes - discount cards, not from a bank, but sent to bank customers. The banks sold or gave that information to a third party, and while the Magna card was widely thought of as acceptable, it demonstrated that the banks could do with the information whatever they pleased. According to the National Data Policy, this is no longer supposed to be legitimate.

But then - do other CSME countries have a National Data Policy?

The Electronics Transactions Policy and Bill integrates easily into a 'CSME' sort of environment - as long as CSME participant countries have a compatible policy and/or bill. Yet - this same bill and policy doesn't seem to fit the financial infrastructure of the region in a way amicable for small and medium enterprises. The problem with people who live in ivory castles is that they often do not look down upon the plains.

So the Caribbean could be standing on the brink of true progress, which transcends the limitations of what is actually involved in CSME. But CSME itself has very practical problems.

CSME

The Caribbean Single Market and Economy, which is largely a CARICOM Single Market Economy since it works within CARICOM and not necessarily without, utilizes the Caribbean Court of Justice for Law. Established in 2003, there are hopes that this is a move from Law in the Anglophone Caribbean becoming separate from having to contend with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for settling matters at a high level. This could be good. It could be bad. Time will tell, but in the grand scheme of things this is probably the most tentative step toward actual progress in a ICT capacity for participants in CSME.

Harmonization of Standards has not been clarified too much, but the harmonization of legislation (through the Caribbean Court of Justice and otherwise) seems to intuitively make sense.

In all, it can look quite impressive until the practicalities unfold - the history of the West Indies Federation comes to mind, where politics broke something which predated CARICOM. And while MediaCritic is unhappy with the Guyanese President's movements, people too quickly forget how little Guyana has gotten from CARICOM. When there was flooding, no real assistance was rendered to Guyana until the waters receded - from other CARICOM member states.

When Grenada was ravaged by Hurricane Ivan - who was there first? Venezuala. A non-CARICOM member, but an observer.

With such a lack of solidarity from CARICOM member states in matters of emergency, the question must come to the fore - if you couldn't play well together before, why do you think you can now with CSME? The answer, of course, is that CSME is supposed to assist in such things. When the answer and the question are the same, the judge is time.

Travel/Housing

Travelling for professionals in the Caribbean could be made easier - maybe CSME is a stride in the right direction. Yet, sitting here in my house in San Fernando, I cannot help but notice all the 'housing' built by the government. The practicality is that if one cannot house one's own people - and there are issues of that in some CARICOM nations - how can you expect to attend a dynamic population's housing needs?

Conclusion

On the digital front, there is much progress that can be seen in the next 5 years if policies and bills are enforced - and if the nations with a history of minimal cooperation actually view themselves as a single entity. The farmer in Guyana feels no bond with the farmer in St. Lucia - that has not changed. They are competitors. Should CSME allow them to be allies? Will it?

Do the farmers know about CSME? Probably not. Not at this level, because the government, the media and the non-traditional media haven't put it into context. Two of the three are available to the average farmer.

CSME is a young initiative, dressed well and made slick by what is in it - but seriously compromised by what is not in it; the realities and practicalities. The human actors in the CSME skit had better bring something to this play, because even with Nobel Laureates available from the Caribbean - none of them wrote this one. CSME will not solve anything. It just might be a method for solving some of the problems - until if falls under the weight of it's own bureaucracy, which is something CARICOM itself is having a hard fight with.

If I were a betting man, I'd have to call this as 50-50. Being a conservative person when it comes to bets, I'll wait until the odds are distinctly better - especially considering that CSME itself hasn't been very open. How can you expect people to talk about something they have so little plain information to discuss? The burden there falls on the media to translate these documents from bureaucratese to English.