Riley Report

Following is the Riley Report for June 2002. Please feel free to pass this on as you see fit. If you wish to use any part of the Report in an offline publication please acknowledge the author or contact the author if to be fully republished offline. If you are not currently subscribed to the Riley Report (there is no charge) you can email info@rileyis.com and simply put subscribe in the body of the text. You can also go to the Riley Report at: http://www.rileyis.com/rileyreport/ and subscribe there.

This report looks at the changing nature of e-government and e-governance, how government web sites are being used and the nature of some of the online population using services electronically. Also explored is the important role that the production and dissemination of information is going to have in developing e-government programs. The challenges are many, especially as legislation in being passed in many countries to restrict the flow of information due to national security concerns.

The Changing Nature of E-government

Recent comments by trade magazines and writers specializing in e-government are sending a clear message to government: get online or be left behind. The underlying current of this message is saying that the up-and-coming cyber generation have different expectations and their culture is going to have to be embraced. This cultural shift will require many changes and adjustments by governments. But governments are slow to change and even slower to implement massive change. So it is worthwhile, at this juncture, to take a look at where many governments stand in relation to e-government.

A recent study by the European organization, Van Dusseldorp and Partners, the Netherlands, put forth some interesting statistics on the actual usage of e-government programs in 27 countries. The study found that that there is a general reluctance by citizens in European countries for providing personal information “such as credit card or banking details online to government organisations.”[i] Of those surveyed, “ two thirds of respondents felt ‘unsafe’ with giving out personal information online. Germany was the most concerned (85%) and the US at 72 %. Only 6 percent of respondents have paid for government services or products online” [ii] The study also says that 20% of respondents have gone online to find government information but “26% of Internet users globally have used the Internet to either access government information, provide personal information to the government or transact with e-government services. ”[iii]

The interesting thing about the study is the degree to which the usage by people in a given jurisdiction varies from country to country. For example, Norway and Denmark have the highest e-government usage by citizens at 53 and 47% respectively, while Finland and North America stands at 46% and the United States at 34%. There has been relatively low e-government usage in France (18%) and Germany at 17% and, surprisingly, Great Britain at 11% of the population involved in e-government usage.[iv] These figures, however, reflect only the national picture and, if analyzed down to the local level, there could be instances where e-government usage, for example, could sometimes be higher at a local, provincial or state level than at the national level. Whatever the conclusions, it is clear that e-government services and transactions are very much at the nascent stage, but these figures show there is a lot of potential and clear room for growth in this area.

Analyzing usage through percentages can be a bit misleading as to how many people are actually taking advantage of online services. The United States may have only 34% of their population using government sites but when translated into actual numbers the perception of usage changes. 34% of the American population translates into approximately 85 million people. A recent comprehensive study by the American PEW Internet and Life Project, a public interest group in the United States, illustrates how deep and extensive usage of government web sites in the country is becoming. The Report, published in April 2002, found that “(f)ully 68 million American adults have used government agency web sites – a sharp increase from the 40 million who had used government sites in March 2000 when (PEW) first polled on the subject. They exploit their new access to government in wide-ranging ways, finding information to further their civil, professional, and personal lives.” [v]

The study did find that many government site users came online to focus on their own personal needs. However, the Report also unearthed abundant evidence that what they have termed the “new e-citizen” is taking hold. The numbers back this up:

As to the events of September 11 the survey found that many government agencies used their Web sites to convey information about the tragic events. However, just 7% of the online population went to government, federal and state, to get information, ask questions and half of that 7% sent messages to elected officials in response to the attacks.

While these statistics in the United States, and in other countries, show growth in the use of web sites, there is also another trend occurring, which could eventually impact e-government acceptance and growth. The change is in the amount of information now being withdrawn from many government web sites because of the potential threat this might pose to a country’s national security. Information, such as environmental sites or comings and goings of the US naval fleet, once easily available on the Internet, have now been withdrawn. What was once considered innocuous information is now interpreted by many governments as being of potential use to terrorists. This is changing the dynamics of government information and how the citizen can access and use that information. What the long term, possible, deleterious effects could be have yet to be determined and it is premature to be making dire predictions of possible slippage of e-government services because of recent legislative developments restricting the sharing of information with the public. But there is a trend developing here. At the heart of e-government services is information and the way in which it is delivered, or not, to the public. More importantly, information on government web sites can make significant contributions to a country’s economy. Yet, developments in the last eight months have been such that there could be significant shifts in the interactions between governments and the public in the months and years to come. What is certain is that this change in attitude by governments to information will result in cultural and economic changes in the dynamics of our society.

Thus, while there is growth in e-government internationally, this and other studies do show there are serious concerns by citizens about security when they go online, and about their privacy when providing personal information to a government agency or department at any level of government. Most e-government surveys point to privacy and security (2 distinct concepts linked to each other) as of major concern to the majority of citizens who go online. The concerns are not just linked to shopping online and participating in e-commerce activities but also to the way in which citizens will use government sites. Citizens still want a respectable comfort zone that assures them their personal information is going to be used in limited ways and not end up in a multitude of databases. Many surveys have shown that people do prefer security over information and privacy rights in the fight against terrorism. But at the same time citizens are still concerned about potential loss of privacy in the new technological environments.

At this point in time it is not possible to make any definitive judgements as to how much these recent trends will change the whole nature of government accountability, openness and transparency. Information that was once freely available on many government web sites has now been withdrawn for security reasons. In order to assess how our culture of openness has changed, further distance will be needed from recent and ongoing actions of governments in regards to their information holdings, enhanced security measures, and reduced privacy rights in government,

It can be stated that there has been a change and that there have been shifts in the attitudes and practices towards openness. But how far have these shifts gone and to what degree is the public supporting these changes? These are the questions that are arising but answers are difficult to come by. The questions are important as changes in legislation in regards to information-sharing within and outside government, the degree to which privacy principles are maintained and the security when using the Internet, will be important to governments if they want to continue to develop e-government service delivery programs and transactions with the citizenry. This is a pivotal stage in the growth of the new e-government, e-governance and e-democracy movement. Information is at the heart of e-government. It is crucial that governments not allow the information rights of citizens that have evolved in the past five decades to slip away. What the current changes really demand is that governments around the world develop clear-cut information policies that will protect national security while not diminishing the right of citizens to have access to a wide body of government information and are assured citizens will continue to have a comfortable zone of privacy when coming to government sites.

[i] http://www.europemedia.net/newsletter.asp Europemedia (as of 14 April 02)

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Larsen, Elena and Rainie, Lee, PEW Internet and Life Project, The Rise of the e-Citizen: How People Use Government Agencies Web sites, April 3, 2002, Washington, D.C. http://www.pewinternet.org (as of 18 April 02)

THE RILEY REPORT – June 2002

The Changing Nature of E-government