13 ANNEX ONE REPORT OF THE MAITLAMO LEGAL TASK FORCE ADVISOR 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Public policy and legislation can be a help or hindrance in the development of a mature networked economy. The favourable climate that can be created by an appropriate legislative and regulatory regime encourages communities, organisations and individuals to invest in and use Information and Communication Technologies. Important areas, such as Internet availability, the use of ICT in schools and health facilities, and growth of e-commerce, are all influenced by public policy and the legal framework developed by Botswana regarding ICT. 1.2 In general, any country wishing to participate actively in the modern connected world should have in place ICT-related policies, legislation or other rules dealing with a number of areas. Legal certainty must be ensured for electronic commercial transactions, which can be enforced and electronic documents and signatures can be authenticated. Citizens must be able to trust the electronic environment because issues of transactional security, privacy, and data integrity have been addressed. The potential for fraud, obfuscation and cross-border transmission of objectionable content, as well as new criminal behaviour (e.g., the introduction of viruses into the network) must be addressed and cooperative enforcement arrangements established. The exact mix of legislation, self-regulation, voluntary or mandatory industry codes of conduct, market-based incentives and other approaches will depend on both the issue and priorities of the citizens of Botswana, but the resulting policy regime should address the needs of government, businesses and individual citizens in their various roles as consumers, students, health providers, clients, educators and so on. 1.3 This Annex is a report of the Maitlamo Legal Task Force Advisor and addresses a number of issues that the Task Force believed required priority attention. These include: e-commerce legislation; protection of the e-commerce consumer; digital signatures; protection of personal privacy; security of information systems and networks; and cyber-crime and “inappropriate content” and lawful access.