“Locked in” at the European Parliament
IT monopolies, open standards and EU procurement policy
Thursday 17 April 2008 9.00 – 13.30 at the European Parliament, Brussels
Participative democracy relies increasingly on the ability of citizens and stakeholders to access public information and to communicate with officials and elected politicians electronically. This half-day conference looks at the situation where public institutions are locked into the ICT products of a single vendor, discusses the implications of this for participative democracy and fair competition, and considers the prospects for the European Parliament to adopt the use of open standards and to promote interoperability in the European ICT sector.