http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/14/europe/EU-GEN-Estonia-NATO-Cyberterrorism.php
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hdzFrz7y0JJbZ6mS48k37U6wqosQ
The law, the Communications Data Bill, will implement the remainder of the European Union's Data Retention Directive.
Last October the Government enacted regulations which said that telcos must keep records of phone calls to and from land lines and mobile telephones. That requirement will be extended to records of customers' internet usage, email usage and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) records.
“The aim of the [Directive] is to ensure that certain data is retained to enable public authorities to undertake their lawful activities to investigate, detect and prosecute crime and to protect the public," said a Home Office spokeswoman.
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=26748&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Significance: In other countries where a similar requirement has been introduced, the move resulted in a drop in the declared subscriber base as some customers with multiple SIM cards would register with only one operator. This may also happen in Kenya if implemented. Safaricom in particular has refused to divulge how many of its subscribers are active, saying that it has an internal figure, which even its recent share offering prospectus did not clarify.
A recent consultation sought views on how arrangements for local petitions can be strengthened and how the new system might operate.
The focus of our response was around the concept of electronic or 'e' petitions, as highlighted in point 28 of the original consultation. This includes the way that electronic petitions and paper petitions should converge.
http://www.edemocracy-forum.com/2008/04/in-uk-the-natio.html
This paper is the conclulding chapter to the first Global Review of Decentralization and Local Democracy (GOLD) of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) in Barcelona. The GOLD report consists of nine chapters, seven regional reviews, each prepared by experts from the respective region, together with a chapter on metropolitan governance. The concluding chapter, prepared by Tim Campbell, PhD, summarizes the findings, observations, and conclusions in the entire report.
http://208.113.197.138/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=51&Itemid=28
Commissioned by the federal government, the survey quizzed 1 004 firms in January of this year. In every sector except agriculture, it found a growing trend towards on-line contact with the authorities. Companies with 250 employees or more have increased their eGovernment take-up particularly fast since 2006. But smaller firms with nine employees or less are catching up: 44 % of them now favour the on-line processing of their administrative contacts with the authorities – a 9 % increase over last year’s figure.
As well as sectoral information, companies tend to go for the authorities’ on-line provision of accident insurance, legislative texts, administrative directories and business news. Swiss firms’ wish-list for eGovernment includes the expansion of the national administrative directory and more on-line guidance about social insurance, as well as a simplification of value-added tax.
The Swiss cantons’ websites are now better known in business circles. Of those surveyed, 24 % mentioned them (up 7 % on last year), and 15 % were aware of municipal sites (also up 7 %); 34 % said they use the cantons’ on-line services (up 20 %) and 2 1% use those of the boroughs (up 13 %); 74 % rated the cantonal services as very or fairly good (up 4 %); while 65 % said the same about the municipal services (up 3 %). The approval rating for federal eGovernment services also rose to 61 % (up 2%). However, 31 % of those interviewed could not comment on the federal services as they were unaware of them. The health, construction and manufacturing sectors gave eGovernment the highest scores.
The government wanted to keep parliament informed of progress to date on its IT and eGovernment strategy, as well as on some current changes and updates. Approval is also needed for two supplementary credits in 2008 to pay for the ambitious plan. The extra loans will add up to CHF1 125 000 (approx. €694 700).
It is well worth it, in the authorities’ view. eGovernment, they point out, is “often a synonym for modern and efficient administration”. It enables Liechtenstein’s national administration to “supplement the traditional means of service provision with electronic access for a broad section of the public”. In recent years, the Internet has contributed to “major qualitative progress in communication between the national administration and its customers – i.e. business, citizens and administrations”.
The report, and an accompanying motion put to parliament, analyses the current eGovernment situation in Liechtenstein as well as giving detailed presentations both of strategy implementation and of individual projects. The aim is to create a wide range of user-friendly basic services by 2011. According to the government, the national administration’s clients should, in future, “be able to accomplish as many administrative processes as possible easily and fast by electronic means, without needing any particular knowledge of who is responsible, nor any special technical know-how”.
Developed by European researchers, the RoboBraille service offers a unique solution to the problem of converting text into Braille and audio without the need for users to operate complicated software.
“We started working in this field 20 years ago, developing software to translate text into Braille, but we discovered that users found the programs difficult to use – we therefore searched for a simpler solution,” explains project coordinator Lars Ballieu Christensen, who also works for Synscenter Refsnaes, a Danish centre for visually impaired children.
http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm?section=news&tpl=article&ID=89717
http://blogs.reuters.com/global/2008/05/07/zimbabwe-new-technologies-in-fight-for-democracy/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/12/AR2008051201287.html
“User-generated video (UGV) and the video sharing sites that exemplify this form of content have spread across the globe,” says Michael Inouye, In-Stat analyst. “China is a prime example of UGV’s global reach and appeal, capturing a significant portion of the world market, making it second only to the US. In general, viewing of online video has increased in the US in the past year, although participation is still stratified by age.”
Recent research by In-Stat found the following:
Amid the growing research of e-government, prominent e-democracy practices have been regulated to sporadic, largely populated municipalities, throughout the world. This article examines the various factors that support and deter the practices of an electronic democracy. Factors which potentially challenge and support the progress of online democratic practices are explored. These factors include budgetary constraints, form of government, and ideological perspectives of municipal managers. Chief administrative officers were surveyed on their views of e-government, with specific focus on the function of e-democracy. The data reviews online practices of municipalities in New Jersey, and through ordinal regression it becomes evident what are some critical factors for the future potential of an e-democratic society.
The findings emphasize the role of e-democracy as more of an ideological innovation than as a functional innovation. Many of the predicted variables based on e-government research were found to be insignificant when it comes to e-democracy. e-Democracy becomes more a function of a manager’s view toward the practice of online democracy than as a function of resources, planning, size and having an IT department. This study was limited in scope, and has some generalizing limitations, but the findings are still able to highlight the unique nature of e-democracy in small-populated municipalities. Not all factors previously found significant in the study of e-government are critical in the study of e-democracy. This finding emphasizes the need for further research specific to the function of e-government. That is, e-democracy should be independently studied or categorized when doing large e-government studies so as to best understand the influential aspects. e-Democracy has its specific functions and ideological framework of utilizing technology for democratic purposes.
http://www.domainesinfo.fr/english/191/12-million-de-domains.php
http://harvardlawreview.org/issues/121/march08/notes/principles_for_user_generated_content.pdf
The new service offers the public the opportunity to influence changes in existing legislation, by contributing their suggestions, comments and opinions. Citizens may electronically submit concrete proposals for change, and suggestions on how to help eliminate administrative barriers – which may often also involve changes in rules or regulations.
In addition, the portal provides a direct link to elected representatives, thus contributing to greater efficiency in the democratic process, and to improved communication between the general public and public administrations. The eDemocracy service is also intended to help citizens improve their understanding of the system and how it works, by providing general information on the public administration, democratic processes, and the adoption of laws and regulations at both national and EU level.
The eDemocracy service is broken down into four main parts: eliminating administrative barriers; contacting elected representatives; democratic processes, and legislation, legal rules in the EU, public information or elections.
The rate of penetration of the Internet in the Hungarian market is still relatively low and this acts as a major obstacle to using web-based eGovernment services. On the flip side, mobile phone penetration is close to 100 %, so this seems to be the real alternative to provide such services for the time being.
Following in the footsteps of early pioneering cities (such as Budaörs, Érd and Debrecen) where local authorities offer various SMS-based services, Békéscsaba, a county seat close to the Hungarian-Romanian border, also introduced such eGovernment service on 15 April 2008. Citizens do not need to be technologically savvy to use this cheap and user-friendly service. For the time being, services offered cover the document office (ID cards, addresses, driving licences, vehicle registration and number plates, etc.), taxation and social policy.
After sending the word ‘WAP’ – short for wireless application protocol – to a designated number, citizens can start browsing a menu system and read about requirements, necessary documents, stamp duties and fees. Once they are sure about what they need to do and how, they can make an appointment and only need to show up five minutes before the agreed time. In order to speed up the process, they can also provide data over the phone in advance. In case there is a need for a specific form, they can specify an eMail address to which the office can send the form. Completing the form in advance also saves time.
Using this new service, citizens can really enjoy a hassle-free, fast and “one-stop-shop” service at their municipality, even when they are on the go. The telecoms service provider already has plans to introduce this service in Budapest in the near future.
Microsoft is making its Citizen Services Platform for creating Web-based electronic government services available to local and regional governments. The platform is available without charge to municipal governments, but they will have to operate a Microsoft computing environment to run the platform.
The Citizen Services Platform includes eight ready-to-use templates for the most common types of transactions between municipal governments and residents, and it can be customized to offer the preferred level of sophistication. E-government services that municipalities and regional governments launch using the platform can, for example, range from simple, so-called presence offerings that provide static information to more complex transactional services incorporating live data streams or enabling online, real-time interactions between residents and government.
The platform includes the following templates:
E-Councilor template—A Windows Live Agent that allows messenger communication with a virtual government worker to ask questions.
Web TV template— Allows government and citizen video hosting in Web 2.0 style.
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 templates— A set of 40 templates to customize scenarios that address site and system administration needs.
Local government communications template— Sample portal with intranet and extranet templates.
Role-based My Site template— Designed for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and the My Site functionality.
Agenda Management template— Allows organizations to streamline processes.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM templates for municipal governments— Vertical templates, including reference data models, predefined work flows and role-based user experiences.
The Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Role-based My Site and Microsoft Dynamics CRM templates are available now; the others will be available later this summer.
“We’re interested in getting citizens out of line and online,” said James Osteen, assistant director of Miami’s information technology department. The city is giving input to Microsoft as it develops additional templates for the platform, Osteen said, including a template in the works for people applying for, documenting, paying for and tracking building permits in addition to a possible template incorporating Virtual Earth to give people localized, neighborhood-oriented services or access to information based on their geographical position.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/technology/07sprint-web.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=4097
http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=23022&email=text
