Around the world governments are struggling to understand and address some of the age-old issues that have been accelerated by the intranet. One attracting particularly high attention is the protection of young people from illegal and inappropriate material, cyberstalking, cyberbullying and, sometimes, themselves. Various governments are attempting different approaches to address these issues, with the…
Beth Noveck, director of President Obama’s open government initiative, said in a recent essay, Our institutions of governance are characterized by a longstanding culture of professionalism in which bureaucrats – not citizens – are the experts. Until recently, we have viewed this arrangement as legitimate because we have not practically been able to argue otherwise….
I’ve come across some interesting situations recently where technology is far in advance of legal frameworks, placing governments in a position where agencies may be breaking – or at least bending – laws by using certain online tools. Twitter is a case in point. The technology was invented after the Spam Act was passed and…
In an example of how law isn’t keeping pace with internet developments, last week The Age published an article, Problems with courts ordering service by Facebook, which considered the potential clash between an ACT Supreme court ruling and the terms of the US social network. While the court ordered that a default judgement could be…
This archive mirrors the original eGov AU blog — Craig’s professional commentary on AI, digital government and technology in public life, running since 2006.
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