US may bar Sprint from federal contracts: The US government is considering barring US telecoms carrier Sprint from bidding for new federal contracts. The US inspector general has recommended that agency hearings be held on whether to impose the ban, following Sprint's admission that it had overcharged the US Department of Justice (DOJ) by USD2.6 million. Sprint, which maintains that the overcharge was the result of a billing error, has already agreed to repay the DOJ twice the amount of the overcharge. If the bar is imposed, Sprint will be following in the footsteps of fellow telecoms company MCI, which was recently banned from bidding for new government work. The General Services Administration said it made the ruling against MCI, formerly known as WorldCom, because the firm had failed to adequately revamp its internal accounting procedures and business ethics, in the wake of its multibillion dollar accounting fraud.
China to roll out electronic ID cards: China is to begin issuing electronic ID cards next year, to replace the paper-based ID cards currently used by 960 million citizens. The cards will contain an embedded chip that will hold personal information that can be checked electronically against the government's databases. The government says the main reason for introducing the new system is to boost law enforcement, as paper ID cards can easily be forged and used in financial crime. However, critics point out that the law governing the new ID cards does not contain any guidelines to control how the government can gather and use personal information. Separately, chip-based social security cards are being rolled out in cities across the country, containing information pertaining to the carrier's medical care, welfare benefits and employment assistance.
Malta portal enjoys record traffic: The government of Malta has reported record numbers of visits to its portal, www.gov.mt. For the month of July, the site received 8 million hits, and almost 130,000 transactions were carried out on the site. Transactions refer to interactive activities such as downloading documents or submitting forms on-line. The most popular area of the portal was found to be the section offering services from the Ministry for Social Policy, where 42 percent of all transactions in July took place. Malta's IT Ministry said the most popular forms that were downloaded from the site included tax documents, guidelines for benefits and children's allowance forms. The Maltese government has said that it plans to bring 90 percent of its services on-line before the end of the year.
New Zealand to put court rulings on-line: The government of New Zealand is to make court judgments available on-line in 2004. The Courts Department said it is currently developing a Web site where the public will be able to view decisions made by the Court of Appeal and the High Court. A record of judgments in civil and criminal cases will be held permanently on the site, which will include a search facility. The details of certain cases will not be disclosed, such as those where the identity of victims must be protected. Court judgments are currently available in paper format, but requests for information about rulings incur fees and can be difficult to track down. The new electronic system is aimed at making the workings of the judicial system more open to the public.
Broadband usage is on the rise in UAE: The United Arab Emirates says it expects the number of broadband Internet users in the country to jump more than 50 percent this year. According to a study by Dubai-based Madar Research Group, based on a survey released by Internet service provider Emirates Internet and Multimedia, broadband usage will rise by 53 percent in 2003, while the number of users on dial-up connections will fall by 5 percent. Salem Al-Shair, director of e-services for the Dubai eGovernment project, said the increase in broadband take-up would encourage people to use e-government services: "This development will considerably enhance people's ability to use Dubai eGovernment's advanced on-line services on the portal www.dubai.ae with higher efficiency and greater speed." The report estimates that overall Internet penetration in the UAE will grow by 10 percent this year to reach 1.1 million users.
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