« i l DÄMM! PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Compendium to the Erasmus Course COMPLEX 6/95 INSTITUTT FOR RETTSINFORMATIKK TANO Hovedkontor: Rosenholmvn. 25. 1410 Kolbotn, tlf. (66) 99 80 00 Bergen: Øvre Kråkenes 17. tlf (05) 12 OK 00 Stavanger: Professor Olav Hansscns vei 13. tlf. (04 ) 87 70 00 Trondheim: Vestre Rosten 81. tlf. (07) 88 00 00 ZNgnkfrmwngfor JUSogEDB Postboks 6728, St. Olavs plass, 0130 OSLO Postgiro 0813 5139654 Bankgiro 8200.42.49727 Foreningen står bl.a. tor salget av CompLex-heftene Enkel og hurtig tilgang til offentlige informasjonsdata - en forutsetning for effektiv saksbehandling og riktige beslutninger Statens Datasentral er Norges ledende databasevert for offentlig informasjon. Vi formidler opplysninger fra Løsøreregisteret, Det sentrale personregister, Motorvognreaisteret, Tinglysingsdata og Lovdata, for å nevne de viktigste. I tillegg til alle tjenester for online bruk av basene, bistår vi selvsagt også med satsvise datauttak. Ta kontakt for nærmere opplysninger! inform Statens Datasentral a.s Ulvenveien 89 B, 0581 Oslo telefon 22 95 63 00 Advokatfirmaet Selmer § Co. DA har 40 medarbeidere, hvorav 25 advokater og advokatfullmektigen Firmaet yter advokattjenester hovedsakelig innen de forretningsjuridiske disipliner omfattende bl.a. kontraktsrett, selskapsrett, skatterett, aksje- og børsrett, arbeidsrett, petroleumsrett. miljørett, gjelds­ forhandling og konkurs, jus og EDB. Våre oppdragsgivere er i del vesentlige innenfor bank, finans, revisjon, industri, forsikring, shipping, energi, handel, entreprise og fast eiendom, forskning og utviklingsarbeid. Firmaet yter dessuten advokattjenester ved generasjonsskifte i familiebedrifter og bistand generelt innen arverett, familierett og skifterett. Firmaet har en stor andel utenlandske oppdragsgivere og er tilknyttet Unilaw, en internasjonal sammenslutning av advokatfirmaer. Asbjørn Berg Odd-Einar Christophersen Anne-Blanea Dahl Bjørn Kleiven Jeppe Norman Cristian Selmer Jon Skjørshammer Roy M. Slettvold Synnøve Smedal Svein Sulland Eilif Torma Sverre S. Tysland Lars Weyer-Larsen Trygve Øydne Fullmektiger: Amt Angell Inger Ekker Bartnes Fredrik A. Borch Gunnhild Buestad Morten Bøsterud Susan Halvorsen Ingebjørg Harto Jan Herud Margrethe Husebø Geir Kruge Anne Helene Osberg Firmaet har etablert traineeordn ing for studenter ADVOKATFIRMAET SELMER & CO. SELSKAP MED DELT ANSVAR Kirkegt. I5.tif. 22 42 64 90 Postboks 476 Sentrum. 0105 Oslo f ADVOKATFIRMAET BLOMSETH, KRISTIANSEN, SOLBERG & VALE DA M.N.A. ❖ Telekommunikasjonsrett ❖ Bygg- og entrepriserett kabel-TV, kringkasting m.m. ❖ Eiendomsrett ❖ Opphavsrett ❖ Boligrett ❖ Transportrett - Luftrett ❖ Selskapsrett ❖ Skjønns- og ekspropriasjonsrett ❖ Foreningsrett ❖ Anglo-amerikansk kontraktsrett ❖ Arbeidsrett Tlf. 2 2 60 85 85 - Fax 22 60 85 20 Pilestredet 57, 0 3 5 0 Oslo Jf CompLex nr 6/95 Institutt for rettsinformatikk Postboks 6702 St Olavs plass 0130 Oslo Jon Bing and Dag Wiese Schartum Public Administration and Information Technology Compendium to the Erasmus Course TANO © TanoA.S. 1995 ISBN 82-518-3416-3 Institutt for rcttsinformatikks utgivelser i skriftserien CompLex er støttet av Den norske Advokatforening Lovdata Kopi nor Fotografisk opptrykk ved Engers Boktrykkeri A/S, Otta 1995 Preface This compendium is specifically composed to serve as a syllabus for Erasmus students attending the course on "Public Admini­ stration and Information Technology" at the Norwegian Re­ search Centre for Computers and Law, University of Oslo. The book contains a collection of articles discussing various legal problems connected with the application of information technol­ ogy in public administration. Many of the contributions take, as an explicit point of departure, examples from the Norwegian public sector. However, this should not mislead the reader to believe that these problems are specific for the Norwegian and Scandinavian societies. Even if the articles primarily discuss problems related to the public sector, the reader should, moreo­ ver, have in mind that similar questions are found in the private sector. Studying these articles should challenge the Erasmus students to find parallel examples and problems in their respec­ tive home countries and thereby convey new aspects and experi­ ences to lectures and discussions. We sincerely call on the students to give us feedback on the articles in this book, and hope that reading this book will contribute to their interest and involvement in the on-going and future debates about the relationship between public administra­ tion and individuals in a computerised society. Oslo 3 August 1995 Jon Bing and Dag Wiese Scartum Contents 1. The Norwegian Research Center for Computers and Law: Research Issues and Organisational Outline 2. Data Protection in Norway 3. Privacy and Surveillance Systems 4. Commercialisation of Government Information and Data Protection 5. Automated Systems and Claim Realization in Social Security Organizations 6. Introduction of information technology in social insurance institutions: Political objectives and organizational consequences, history and future 7. Representation of legal rules in computer programs - some implications on legal protection and service to citizens 8. Delegation and Decentralization - Computer Systems as Tools for Instruction and Improved Service to Clients 9. Dirt in the Machinery of Government? 10.Organization of Systems Development - How Do We Secure Legally Correct Computer Programs? 11.Regulatory Co-Operation through computer assisted solutions Public Administration and Information Technology The Norwegian Research Center for Computers and Law: Research Issues and Organisational Outline Jon Bing 1. The initiative In 1970, computers had become an integrated part of the Norwegian society. For instance, the introduction of a general social benefit scheme comprising the whole society, and introduced in 1967, was based on the maintenance of population-wide data bases for the monthly payment of the different categories of benefits. Professor Knut S Selmer, at this time both Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo, and Chairman of the Department of Private Law, had taken sufficient interest to take a course in FORTRAN programming. He was dissatisfied with the results, however, as he felt that the ability to write trivial program statements did not bring him much closer to the two essential questions: How did a computer really work? And what impact might this technology have on society in general and law in particular? Compendium to the Erasmus Course Therefore, it was somewhat natural that he turned to me when I was hired as a research assistant after my law exam in January 1970. My reputation as a science fiction writer may have made him believe that I might be inclined to take an interest in the area loosely described as "computers and law". He turned me towards the American journal Law and Computer Technology, and 1 started taking classes in COBOL, another high level programming language. March 16, 1970, the Department of Private Law organised the first of what was to become a series of seminars in "computers and law". I spoke in general of the possible issues involved, reviewing developments abroad, and emphasising computerised legal information systems.1 Due to the interest generated by this and other seminars, professor Selmer received a request from a government agency summer 1970 to undertake a research contract analysing the issue known then as "data banks and privacy". It is not usual to accept research contracts for university institutions. But by doing so, professor Selmer made the foundation of what should become the Norwegian Research Center for Computers and Law. And these early developments have imprinted the NRCCL with characteristics still visible: An interest in both legal technology and the law applied to information technology, and a reliance on extramural funds for pursuing its research interests. The activity became sufficiently visible that it became desirable to establish an organisational framework - it was maintained that creating a section of the Department of Private Law mainly was a question of printing a letterhead. From January 1971, the NRCCL a Section of the Department of Private Law. 1 The introduction is published as "Elektronisk databehandling i rettsvitenskapen". Lov og rett 8/1970:369-382. Public Administration and Information Technology The activities slowly grew and became consolidated. In 1981, the NRCCL moved to new building that also housed the Data Inspectorate, which had been established under the Data Protection Act in 1980, and the Lawdata Foundation, offering computerised legal information services for Norwegian lawyers and public institutions. Together, these three organisations - one private, one public agency and one research center - became a unique symbiotic relationship in computers and law. It may be indicated that professor Selmer remained Chairman of the NRCCL (a position he held from the start until 1989, when he was succeeded by me), was the Chairman of the Board of the Lawdata foundation (a position he held until he retired in 1990), and became the first Chairman of the Board of the Data Inspectorate (a position he still holds). In 1985, the NRCCL was divorced from the Department of Private Law. The reason was related to the fact that research was conducted outside the area of Private Law, the geographical distance made administrative co-operation hardly feasible, and the economic risks implied by the projects funded by extramural sources.