Trusted Computing paper well received internationally

5 October 2006

The New Zealand government's Trusted Computing Principles and Policies were presented at the September 2006 meeting in Berlin of the International Working Group on Data Protection in Telecommunications. The Working Group adopted a working paper that makes a series of recommendations about the responsible use of these technologies. That working paper is being circulated for written comments.

The recommendations encourage governments to consider their responsibilities for the long-term integrity of government-held information in assessing these technologies, especially where privacy or legitimate access to government-held information may be at risk. Governments are encouraged to formalise that concern by establishing policies and to consider the New Zealand principles and policies as models. The paper also suggests that vendors need to educate themselves about government responsibilities for openness and transparency and how those can be accommodated TC/DRM new technologies. 

New Zealand's principles and policies can be summarised briefly as follows: Governments should not implement TC/DRM technologies in ways that may

1. compromise subject access rights, or

2. endanger the confidentiality and integrity of official records, or

3. endanger the privacy of personal information, or

4. compromise the security of government information systems.

The working paper will now circulate amongst non-attending members of the Working Group for comment.