Labour Party criticises lack of police e-mail: A spokesperson for Ireland's Labour Party has criticised the Irish government for what he calls a "failure to include An Garda Siochana in e-government initiatives." Tommy Broughan, TD, Labour's spokesperson on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, said he was recently informed that senior officers at his local Garda (police) Stations did not have e-mail addresses that are accessible to the public. "It is astounding but typical that this fast contact facility has not been extended to include An Garda Siochana, perhaps the most important nationwide government agency," he said. Broughan noted that e-mail facilities would help to maintain regular contact between local Gardai and urban Neighbourhood Watch and rural Area Alert teams. He also said e-mail facilities would encourage members of the public to report crime to the Gardai, and he believes that it should be possible to automatically log e-mailed crime reports onto the Garda Pulse computer system.
US e-gov ratings fail to improve fast enough: More US government websites are declining in terms of user satisfaction than are improving, according to the latest E-Government Satisfaction Index. The quarterly report, which measures the performance of US federal agency websites, is part of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and was carried out by the University of Michigan in partnership with the American Society for Quality, CFI Group and ForeSee Results. The results for the third quarter of 2004 show that of 54 sites studied, 33 percent have improved in terms of satisfaction ratings, 41 percent have declined, while 17 percent stayed the same. "E-government is generally good," said Larry Freed, CEO of ForeSee Results. "The problem is that it is generally not getting a lot better. Not improving -- staying the same even if 'same' is good -- will lead to declines in satisfaction over time." The best-performing sites continued to be health sites run by the National Institutes of Health, in particular MedlinePlus, which scored 86 points, only slightly behind Amazon.com, which was the best-performing e-commerce site in the ACSI.
Switzerland trials online referendum: Switzerland is about to hold what it claims is the world's first internet referendum on national issues. Online newswire Swissinfo reports that residents of four municipalities in Geneva -- Anieres, Cologny, Carouge and Meyrin -- will be given the opportunity to vote online on the issues of whether to introduce statutory paid maternity benefit nationwide and whether to ease Switzerland's naturalisation laws. Eligible voters also have the option to cast their votes by post. Those who wish to cast their ballots online have been issued with a single-use PIN number which they must use to log in to the online system. Users will also be asked to input their date and place of birth before being issued with an electronic ballot paper. The online voting trial has come in for criticism, however, with some saying that e-voting is an unnecessary luxury. "Postal ballots long ago cancelled out the main advantage of voting electronically, which is to be able to vote without having to go to the polling booth," said Petra Baumberger, an e-government specialist at Bern's Technical University.
Dutch presidency calls for e-government innovation: The Dutch presidency of the EU is urging Member States to harmonise their e-government systems and to focus on devising "innovative" services. The IT strategy report, prepared by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, says that governments should work together to foster developments in three main areas: authentication, electronic payments and IT security. The presidency calls for the establishment of an "interoperable European framework for identity management," whether authentication is verified with smartcards, software tokens or embedded chips. With regard to e-payments, the report says that systems should be "harmonised" across Europe to enable interoperability and encourage the use of such transactions across the region. The presidency also urges the EU to look for "breakthroughs" in e-government and to concentrate on trying to roll out innovative services instead of merely focusing on IT "connectivity."
Jordan ramps up e-government rollout: Jordan's Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MoICT) has announced plans to connect up 18 government departments by the end of the year. According to a report in the Jordan Times, six departments are already on the network, connecting 650 civil servants; the plan to extend the network will see this number increase by between 12,000 and 15,000. The head of the e-Government Programme Management Office, Khaldoun Naffaa, said the expansion of the network was necessary in order to provide the infrastructure needed for e-government services. Naffaa said that the Income and Sales Tax Department and the Land and Survey Department would begin providing e-services in the near future. "Shared departmental services, authentication, social security services, electronic payments and internet services will be introduced in these departments," said Naffaa. Ministries to be added to the network include foreign affairs, interior, labour and tourism. Naffaa noted that rolling out e-services would involve changing the law and training government staff to use the network, as well as raising awareness of e-services among citizens.
Autor: Sylvia Leatham
Quelle: ElectricNews.Net, 22.09.2004
