Ireland launches e-voting campaign: The Irish government has launched an advertising campaign to promote the rollout of its new electronic voting system. The e-voting system will be used in the local and European elections, due to take place in June 2004. The campaign to educate the public includes advertising in the national press and on TV, a national "road show" that will visit every constituency in the country, and the launch of a Web site, www.electronicvoting.ie. Both the e-voting system and the campaign to promote it have come in for harsh criticism from opposition parties and interest groups. Fine Gael has called on the government to freeze its plans for the e-voting rollout, saying that the system is not fully secure and demanding the implementation of a verifiable paper trail. The introduction of voter-verifiable receipts is also being called for by the Irish Citizens for Trustworthy E-voting. Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen says that a promotional leaflet explaining the e-voting system should be withdrawn, as it contains a picture of someone voting for a Fianna Fail candidate.
US report warns of dangers of e-voting: A new report out of Maryland in the US has warned of the risks of using electronic voting machines made by Diebold Inc. The state of Maryland is due to use the new e-voting systems for the presidential primary elections this March. The study, presented to Maryland state legislators by RABA Technologies, claims that Diebold machines lack adequate security measures to prevent hackers from interfering in the results of an election. However, the report said that the systems were accurate in terms of recording and counting votes. Although RABA conceded that the security vulnerabilities could be resolved in time for the March elections, it recommended that an auditable paper trail for electronic votes should become mandatory. A spokesperson for Diebold said that all of the security concerns raised by RABA had either been addressed already or could be fixed by March.
Council group condemns UK government report: The Society of IT Management (Socitm) in the UK has criticised an e-government consultation document published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). The ODPM document, "Defining e-Government Priority Services & Transformation Outcomes," details best practice and other recommendations for a number of areas of local government activity. Socitm claims that the ODPM's plans do not reflect local council priorities and it describes the government's prescriptive approach as unhelpful. The local representative body also condemns the document's proposal to use the next round of Implementing Electronic Government (IEG) funding to "incentivise" local authorities to work on so-called "priority outcomes". "In IEG rounds one to three, you could set your own plans which reflected local priorities," said Glyn Evans, chairman of Socitm's Information Age Government Group. "Now we're being told exactly what we have to do, half way through the programme, which is going to cause major problems all round."
Malaysia to e-enable tax filing: Taxpayers in Malaysia will soon be able to file their tax returns on-line, thanks to a new e-government initiative. The electronic filing system utilises Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) digital signatures and was developed by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) in conjunction with the Malaysian Institute of Microelectronic Systems. Initially, companies will be able to file self-assessment returns, and the service will be extended to the country's 4 million individual taxpayers by the end of the year. Electronic stamping, used for certain legal documents, will also be made available on the IRB's Web site. IRB chief executive Tan Sri Zainol Abidin Abdul Rashid said the new services were aimed at cutting down on red tape and saving time for taxpayers.
Jordan signs deal with Microsoft: The government of Jordan has signed a deal with software giant Microsoft, as part of the government's drive to develop its e-government services. The enterprise licensing agreement is aimed at the modernisation of public services "through capacity building and joint investment in government e-services," according to Jordan's minister for information and communication technology, Fawaz Zohbi. The minister also said the deal was part of a Framework Partnership Agreement to develop e-government, e-learning and the IT industry, signed by Jordan and Microsoft in October 2003. "Microsoft and Jordan are now working together to elevate their strategic partnership to a new level that focuses on new investment opportunities and cooperation for joint projects across the region," said Zohbi.
Quelle: Electric News Net, 04.02.2004
