Attitudes towards privacy by design in e-government: Views from the trenches

Abstract. In light of increasing public pressure and strict regulation, issues of information security and privacy gain prominence in the e-government domain. A promising approach to ensure data protection is to embrace the Privacy by Design principles and practices in the public sector but this remains a major challenge for practitioners. This article leverages in-depth interviews with e-government stakeholders in Bulgaria to explore their opinions and preferences on data protection issues, thus outlining the main drivers and barriers for Privacy by Design implementations. The key insight is that increasing citizen demands and regulatory oversight engender a change in privacy thinking that defies the current status quo. Limited understanding, scarcity of best practices, legacy systems and insufficient financial and administrative capacity seem to be the main implementation obstacles.Keywords. Privacy by Design, e-government, data protection, personal data.JEL. C80, H10, H11

Snapshot of civil registration and vital statistics systems of Tunisia

A dedicated Centre of Excellence for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) committee aims at improving the quality of statistics on civil status in Tunisia. Members of this committee are the National Statistics Institute, the Ministry of Local Affairs and Environment, and the Ministry of Health. Sector-specific unique identifiers can be linked with the Citizen’s Unique National Identifier Number without compromising privacy and personal data protection. The role of the civil registration system in public governance will be enhanced through the expansion of interoperability between government information technology systems and the rolling out of a range of e-governance services.Global Affairs Canad

Making public concerns tangible : an empirical study of German and UK citizens’ perception of data protection and data security

Digitisation processes in the public sector have led to an increase in innovative approaches for better service delivery using information and communication technology. Citizens, however, often have reservations towards e-government efforts due to concerns regarding data protection (DP) and data security (DS). This article is based on a mixed-methods design consisting of a media analysis and an online survey of 1000 respondents from the UK and Germany, which investigates the conception of DP and DS from the citizens’ point of view. Results demonstrate that citizens do not fully understand the terminology used in newspaper articles concerning DP and DS. Moreover, findings show that DP and DS are of great importance to citizens. However, the perceived relevance of DP and DS varies between services, being strongest for online banking. Compared to the German citizens surveyed, the UK citizens displayed greater concerns about disclosing personal data online. Despite some differences, however, findings across both samples indicate a common lack of understanding of the two concepts DP and DS. The resulting citizen concept of DP and DS can help to mediate between politics, technology and the public in the discourse of e-government initiatives and the requirements for DP and DS. We argue that citizens’ understanding of DP and DS is a prerequisite for governments to adequately address citizens’ concerns regarding e-government initiatives

DINAMIKA E-COMMERCE DI INDONESIA TAHUN 1999-2015

The rapid development of technology encourages every human being to continue to innovate, one of which is in terms of shopping or trading to make it easier, faster and safer, e-commerce is one of the solutions to solve the problem of efficiency in buying and selling transactions. The objectives of this study are: 1) to analyze the background of the emergence of e-commerce in 1999, 2) to analyze the role of the government in the development of e-commerce in 1999-2015, and 3) to analyze the impact of e-commerce on Indonesia's economic growth in 1999-2015? The methods used in this study include heuristics, criticism, interpretation, and historiography. The sources used are divided into two, namely primary sources and secondary sources. The primary sources used by researchers are the results of accounts / interviews from e-commerce owners on YouTube, statistical data obtained from the Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics and websites that provide data such as data on Indonesia's economic growth, growth in e-commerce value and data related to laws. The law which contains e-commerce, with this data can be a reference for researchers to analyze the development and impact of e-commerce on Indonesia's economic growth. Then the secondary sources used by researchers are books and journals from previous research related to e-commerce in 1999-2015. The results of this study indicate that in 1999 the emergence of e-commerce was the result of internet users entering Indonesia, the growth in the number of internet users in Indonesia encouraged the idea of realizing e-commerce as an efficiency solution in a trade. The development of e-commerce increases every year and has a peak in 2015, the role of the government in regulating trade regulations and laws, one of which is in article 9 of Law number 11 of 2008 related to consumer protection, making e-commerce more and more attractive to the public. The impact of the rapid development of e-commerce has provided positive values for the Indonesian economy, one of which is the country's income from goods or taxes which is increasing every year, which according to data from the Indonesian Central Statistics Agency, the Indonesian economy increases by 5-10% annually in e-commerce sector. Keywords: E-commerce, Economy, Online Tradin

Political business cycles in public goods expenditures in Poland and Spain

JEL classifications: H72, D72In this work the discussion is focused on the empirical test of the presence of opportunistic cycles in municipal budgets of Poland and Spain. In the view of progressive decentralization of public sector, the research is extended by the examination of fiscal autonomy effect. Panel data analysis provides an evidence on electoral cycles in the categories of spending considered in the literature as invisible to the electorate. In particular, local incumbents seeking re-election signal higher competence through manipulation of spending policies associated with social support, environmental protection, public safety and administration. Further research indicates that electoral cycles in Spain are intensified by limited authority of councillors determined by transfers from the central government. The main findings suggest that distribution of fiscal power to sub-national governments may mitigate the effects of political budget cycles.Neste trabalho a discussão centra-se no teste empírico à presença de ciclos oportunistas nos orçamentos municipais de Espanha e Polonia. Com base na progressiva descentralização do sector publico, a investigação estende-se também ao tratamento dos efeitos da autonomia fiscal. A analise de dados de painel fornece evidencias da existência de ciclos eleitorais nas categorias de gastos públicos consideradas na literatura como invisíveis ao eleitorado. Em particular, governos locais que procurem a reeleição apresentam uma maior evidência de manipulação de politicas de gastos públicos associados atividades como apoio social, proteção ambiental, segurança publica e administração. A investigação indica ainda que os ciclos eleitorais em Espanha são intensificados em concelhos com autonomia limitada e determinada por transferências vindas da administração central. Os principais resultados sugerem que a transferência de poder para os governos locais pode mitigar os efeitos dos ciclos políticos nos respetivos orçamentos

Information sharing in e-government initiatives: Freedom of Information and Data Protection issues concerning local government

In e-government initiatives, the sharing of information is crucial for empowering citizens and boosting joined-up services. The lack of clear guidance on how to share government data can potentially harm Freedom of Information and or Data Protection rights. This article addresses this issue by drawing from the main concerns governments have when dealing with Freedom of Information and Data Protection issues. As illustration, we comment on the findings of a case study we have conducted in a Local Authority in the United Kingdom (UK). Our findings show that local government managers might be struggling to adequately implement Freedom of Information and Data Protection aspects. Cultural aspects are subtly present in this context, as managers’ values and beliefs regarding public access to information might be biased toward either information disclosure or information withholding

Setting Standards for Fair Information Practice in the U.S. Private Sector

The confluence of plans for an Information Superhighway, actual industry self-regulatory practices, and international pressure dictate renewed consideration of standard setting for fair information practices in the U.S. private sector. The legal rules, industry norms, and business practices that regulate the treatment of personal information in the United States are organized in a wide and dispersed manner. This Article analyzes how these standards are established in the U.S. private sector. Part I argues that the U.S. standards derive from the influence of American political philosophy on legal rule making and a preference for dispersed sources of information standards. Part II examines the aggregation of legal rules, industry norms, and business practice from these various decentralized sources. Part III ties the deficiencies back to the underlying U.S. philosophy and argues that the adherence to targeted standards has frustrated the very purposes of the narrow, ad hoc regulatory approach to setting private sector standards. Part IV addresses the irony that European pressure should force the United States to revisit the setting of standards for the private sector