A recent IDC survey of public sector organisations in Western Europe claims that budgetary constraints are not expected to cause major IT spending decreases beyond the short term. The study suggests that local governments are more optimistic than central agencies and that educational institutions also have a positive outlook on their IT budgets, especially in France, the UK, and the Netherlands. Most of the organisations surveyed said they were interested in investing in security technologies, systems infrastructure software, collaborative technologies and knowledge management applications and database/datawarehouse solutions. Many public sector agencies already have or plan to implement mobile solutions, and, in the area of new technologies, many agencies plan to invest in voice over IP and IP VPNs (Virtual Private Networks).
KableNET.com reports that half of all schools in Wales will have a broadband connection by March 2003, according to the Welsh Assembly e-minister. Under the Broadband Wales programme, the Assembly is hoping to provide a 2Mb connection for every primary school and an 8Mb connection for every secondary school. Andrew Davies, economic development minister and e-minister, has announced that he has signed an agreement with 22 local authorities to join the UK's Lifelong Learning Network, a programme that is expected to accelerate the uptake of broadband in Welsh schools. Davies also provided an update on the STG20 million Dawn 2 programme for providing broadband to every GP, hospital and health service trust in Wales. He said that around two-thirds are already on the network but considerable work is needed to ensure that the remainder are connected.
Residents of the London Borough of Harrow can now report problems via text message, according to Government Computing News. The service is being tested in South Harrow in a six-month pilot under the auspices of the New Harrow Project, a programme aimed at making council services more efficient. Residents and businesses in South Harrow are able to use their mobile phones to instantly inform the council of such problems as failed street lights, abandoned cars and potholes. The text messages are routed into Harrow's internal office systems, processed and passed on to the relevant department.
The US Department of State has reportedly granted visas to 105 foreign nationals whose names appear on terrorism watch lists due to a backlog in a name-checking system used by federal agencies. The Visas Condor system was developed in November 2001 to process visa applications and to automatically check them against terrorist suspects named in FBI and CIA databases. A study by the US general accounting Office found that by April 2002, the FBI had a backlog of approximately 8,000 unchecked names from the State Department. Of the 38,000 applications subsequently processed by the Condor system through 01 August, around 280 names matched those on anti-terrorism lists. However, visas were issued to about 105 of those individuals because the backlog in the name-checking system allowed misspelled or duplicate names to slip through.
Two-thirds of Internet users in Canada say they would vote on-line in federal, provincial and municipal elections if they could, according to a study by marketing and social research organisation NFO CFgroup. Fifteen percent of those who expressed an interest in on-line voting did not vote in the last federal election. Almost 90 percent of respondents who were in favour of on-line voting said it would be more convenient than voting in a polling station, while 75 percent thought on-line voting would be more cost-efficient. The main reasons cited that would discourage Internet users from voting on-line were concerns about privacy and about the security of the voting process.
The Inter-American Development Bank says it is to issue a USD17 million loan to Jamaica for the improvement of its Internet access and e-government services, according to a report in the on-line edition of the Jamaica Observer. Part of the loan will be used to provide 60 low-income communities throughout the country with access to the Internet. The money will also go toward upgrading e-government services so that businesses and citizens will be able to pay their taxes on-line and to obtain export and import permits through government Web sites.
Quelle: electricnews
