European Parliament votes in favour of biometrics: The European Parliament has voted in favour of European Commission proposals to include facial images as biometric identifiers in passports. The Parliament agreed that the introduction of passports containing facial images would make it very difficult to falsify such documents and would ensure that the person presenting the passport was in fact the person to whom the passport was originally issued. However, noting that the implementation of biometric elements must not infringe on privacy or data protection rights, the Parliament rejected proposals both for the mandatory inclusion of fingerprints in passports and for the creation of a central database of EU passports and travel documents. "Such a database would increase the risk of abuse and function creep," the Parliament said in a statement. Only the authorities of the EU Member States that are "competent for reading, storing, modifying and erasing the biometric data may have access to it," the statement continued. The Parliament also explicitly stated that the purpose of the regulation is to ensure that biometric features "shall be used only for verifying the authenticity of the document and the identity of the passport holder."
Big increase in IT contracts for US: The US federal government increased its spending on IT contracts by 60 percent in 2004, according to annual figures released by Input, a government market analyst firm. Federal IT-related contract awards reached USD155 billion in fiscal 2004, a 60 percent increase from the USD95 billion in IT prime contracts awarded during 2003. The latest report from Input -- entitled "FY2004 Where did the money go?" -- indicates that defence agencies are primarily responsible for the rise in IT spending, with four of the top five departments in defence-related sectors. "The large increase in awarded dollars can be attributed to a handful of defence-related programmes, as well as the emergence of the Department of Homeland Security as a major player with its USD10 billion US VISIT award," said Michael Boland, senior analyst of Federal Vendor Profiles at Input. The US Navy topped the chart with contract awards of USD36.8 billion, which included a USD19.5 billion Engineering, Technical and Support Services contract for the Naval Warfare Center.
South Korea to collaborate with France, Poland: South Korea has made agreements with France and Poland to beef up cooperation in the IT and e-government arenas. The Korea Herald reports that Korea's Minister of Information, Chin Dae-je, recently held meetings with his French and Polish counterparts aimed at enhancing collaboration between the countries on IT issues. France and South Korea agreed to hold an IT cooperation committee meeting that would attempt to set up working groups in five areas: digital TV, telecoms regulation, e-society issues and e-government services. Meanwhile, at the Korean-Polish summit in Warsaw, Minister Chin and the Polish Minister of Infrastructure adopted a joint statement calling for the promotion of bilateral cooperation aimed at encouraging the proliferation of IT professionals, mobile communications, e-government and broadband services.
Omantel executive calls for e-gov building blocks: A high-level executive at an Omani telco has called on the government to invest in the digital economy in order to prepare for the rollout of e-government, reports the Times of Oman. Speaking at a seminar held by Microsoft and HP, Ali Al Wohaibi, executive president of Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel), said that there were a number of prerequisites that need to be fulfilled if the Sultanate's planned e-government launch is to have momentum. Wohaibi emphasised the need for greater PC penetration, more government investment in broadband, and incentives for internet take-up by the public and private sectors. The telecoms executive also called for the government to consider the implementation of an e-payment infrastructure, recognition of digital signatures and the provision of PCs to all schools.
Unisys rolls out e-kiosks for South Africa: Unisys Africa has announced that it has rolled out 600 public information terminals (PITs) for the South African Post Office. South African newswire IT Web reports that the PITs enable citizens to access public services through an online government portal known as the Batho Pele Gateway. The terminals, which were designed by Unisys, feature e-mail, internet access, a fingerprint reader, touch screen, smart card reader, a video camera and a microphone. Citizens who wish to log on to the service will be identified either through biometrics or through the use of a smart card. Although services via the PITs are currently available free of charge, the Post Office is implementing a billing system for certain services. Citizens will also be able to use smart cards to pay for services. "We believe the project can generate a healthy return on investment and fulfil social responsibility obligations to the South African public," said Tony Volker, area sales director at Unisys Africa.
Autor: Sylvia Leatham
Quelle: ElectricNews.Net, 08.12.2004
