InternetPolicy.net

e-Government in Europe: Good Practice Cases

This database of eGovernment cases has become a component of the Good Practice Framework launched by the European Commission on April 20, 2004. The Framework uses a set of assessment criteria for evaluating practice examples, which include quality, benefits and transferability. It defines good practice as "real life solutions with actual usage which represent leading edge experience, though not necessarily the best, ideal or unproblematic. They provide useful learning experiences for others, likely to stimulate creativity, self reflexion and the transfer of good ideas." The database had been launched one year ago during the ministerial conference on egovernment held in Italy, and it aims to contribute to the objectives of eEurope 2005. It is being populated with additional cases, which can be searched by country (a total of 24 countries), theme, government level (local, regional, national), type of cooperation/partnership, and type of user (citizens, business). Currently each registry includes website and case summary and/or description.
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/programmes/egov_rd/gpf/cases/search_country/text_en.htm

China: Make E-Governance Effective Public Service

(China Daily) A recent report on the development of China's electronic governance pointed out more than 90 per cent of the country's 336 big cities had already created their own websites.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-08/10/content_363725.htm
Source: PoliticsOnline

Italy Helps Iraq Towards E-government

Iraq has taken its first steps towards implementing e-government with the signing of an agreement with the Italian government to provide funding and expertise for the development of an intranet for the nation's fledgling post-Saddam administration.

According to the agreement (http://www.governo.it/GovernoInforma/Dossier/progetti_sviluppo/memorandum_en.pdf), an expert will be assigned by the Italian Ministry of Innovation and Technologies to help the Iraqi government draw up an action plan covering technical requirements, timescales, and costs of the project.

The Iraq initiative is one of several within the 'E-Government for Development' programme run by the Italian ministry (http://www.innovazione.gov.it/eng/egov4dev/iniziativa.shtml). As part of the programme, a number of other Arab states are receiving help with new technology, including an accounting system for the Algerian ministry of finance, and e-procurement and accounting systems for the Jordanian government.

The Tunisian government has already worked with Italy to put in place new technology to support its customs system, and is in the process of implementing other projects such as a system for submitting income tax returns electronically. Tunisia is also considering widening public access to e-government services by deploying technology that supports digital signatures.

Multilateral Development Banks e-GP Website

Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) solutions have been proven to produce transparency and significant savings for those countries able to implement them successfully. e-GP is a very effective tool in the fight against corruption, the promotion of integration and the stimulation of greater productivity not only at government level, but also in small and medium enterprises. At the beginning of 2003, an e-GP working group was created under the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) Procurement Harmonization Process.Since then, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank have achieved a very high degree of harmonization in their approach to providing technical advice and support to their member countries in developing their e-GP strategies and solutions. This website provides a single entry point to all the information developed and all the tools created under the e-GP Working Group.

http://www.mdb-egp.org

Japan launches regional centre of governance

The World Bank and the Japanese government have collaborated to establish the Tokyo Development Learning Centre (TDLC). The TDLC will serve as a knowledge and training centre for the region, and is the latest addition to the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN), an initiative launched by the World Bank in 2000. Now comprising more than 60 centres around the world, the GDLN makes use of state-of-the-art Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to enable knowledge sharing and collaboration free from geographical constraints.

http://www.pstm.net/article/index.php?articleid=266

E-Planning in the UK

The PARSOL (Planning and Regulatory Services Online) e-gov project is developing a range of guidelines, benchmarks, schemas, systems and toolkits to assist Local Authorities in building effective and transparent online planning and regulatory systems.

This brings real working benefits to Local Authority departments and officers and ultimately helps to provide both citizens and business users alike with faster and more effective services online. The Project is run by a consortium of Local Authorities led by Wandsworth Borough Council and financed by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Support is provided by key national organisations - IDeA, RTPI, CIEH, LACORS, Planning Officers' Society, SOCITM, The Planning Inspectorate through the Planning Portal Project, HSE and the Environment Agency. PARSOL is funded by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

The PARSOL product catalogue was launched by Phil Hope MP, Minister for Local e-Government, at the LGA Annual Conference in Bournemouth on 8th July 2004. The catalogue comprises a range of materials including standards, toolkits, guidance, systems and software. A synopsis of the speeches from the event will be published on this web site as soon as possible. The event formally marked the completion of an extensive period of product creation and looked forward to the coming months when the PARSOL team will be seeking to rollout the products to local authorities across England.

http://www.parsol.gov.uk

Internet Governance Project

"The Internet Governance Project (IGP) is an interdisciplinary consortium of academics with scholarly and practical expertise in international governance, Internet policy, and information and communication technology. The Project is conducting research on and publishing analysis of Internet governance. Some of the work is intended to contribute to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), and the United Nations Working Group on Internet Governance, as well as related debates at the international, regional and national levels."

http://www.internetgovernance.org

"The Accountable Net"

Thanks to QuickLinks we learned about an interesting paper: "The Accountable Net: Peer Production of Internet Governance" by David R. Johnson, Susan P. Crawford and John G. Palfrey Jr. (548kb PDF, April 2004: Harvard Public Law Working Paper No. 97; Cardozo Public Law Research Paper No. 87; Berkman Center Research Publication No. 2004-04). From the abstract: "Three problems of online life - spam, informational privacy, and network security - lend themselves to the peer production of governance. Traditional sovereigns have tried and, to date, failed to address these three problems through the ordinary means of governance. The sovereign has a role to play in the solution to each of the three, but not as a monopoly and not necessarily in the first instance. A new form of order online, brought on by private action, is emerging in response to these problems. If properly understood and encouraged, this emerging order could lead to an accountable internet without an offsetting loss of those aspects of online life that we have found most attractive..."

WGIG consultation

According to the ITU Strategy and Policy Unit blog, the Secretariat of the UN's Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) is now operational. Executive Secretary Markus Kummer says: "...one of our priorities is to make sure that the process ahead of us is as open, inclusive and transparent as possible. To this end, the Secretariat is organizing consultations open to all Governments and stakeholders on the establishment of the WGIG, its structure and working methods as well as the scope of its work. The meeting will take place on 20 / 21 September 2004 in Room XVIII, at the Palais des Nations, Geneva. Interpretation in all UN languages will be provided. Governments and all stakeholders are encouraged to submit written electronic contributions on this subject until 13 September to: [email protected]. More information on this meeting including the draft agenda will be made available in due course on the WGIG website, which is under construction. A link to the WGIG website will be provided from the WSIS Executive Secretariat site at http://www.itu.int/wsis/."

ICANN to discuss domain auctions

"Should auctions determine who controls the rights to oversee the Internet addressing system?" asks Jennifer L. Schenker in the International Herald Tribune. "The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, a not-for-profit organization that acts as gatekeeper for the Net's addresses, will attempt to grapple with that question at a week-long meeting in Kuala Lumpur that begins Saturday [19-23 July]. Some academics who closely monitor Icann have been pushing for auctions as a fairer way to determine who should control so-called generic top level domains like .com or .net that help users find their way around the Internet.

"On Tuesday, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development gave its endorsement for auctions, increasing the chances, some say, that this solution will be chosen over subjective choices based on merit, as is the current system. 'We have come down on the side of auctions, and I think most economists would agree because they are more transparent and verifiable,' said Sam Paltridge, an OECD economist. 'There is less risk of decisions being challenged in court and less risk of favoritism'...

"Icann has pledged to come up with a new policy using 'straightforward, transparent and objective procedures' by Sept. 30 and to put a new plan into action before the end of the year. It asked the OECD for its input as part of that process...`Icann is also awaiting recommendations from the World Intellectual Property Organization and from technical experts...

"If Icann adopts an auction-based selection process, the first to feel the impact is likely to be VeriSign, which has a contract to oversee the two most successful commercial top-level domains, .net and .com, reaping an estimated $180 million in revenue annually from the $6 fee it charges a year for each of the approximately 30 million registered names under its control. The current agreement between Icann and VeriSign on the .net domain expires next June. Once the contract expires, the OECD's report says, 'there seem to be few, if any obstacles, to Icann auctioning the right to be the registry responsible for .net. An auction would provide a transparent and verifiable mechanism for the market to value .net appropriately and avoid the pitfalls associated with comparative selection....'

The OECD is recommending that auctions take place only after a pre-qualification process, which would ensure the financial viability and technical expertise of candidates. Although it is not the goal, auctions also might bring in extra money for Icann, depending on what companies bid, Paltridge, of the OECD, said. At the Kuala Lumpur meeting, Icann is expected to double its budget, to $15.8 million from $8.6 million, by raising the rates it charges registries and registrars. Fears that only applicants with the most money would win in auctions can be offset by setting up a process in which not-for-profit generic top-level domains would be awarded in a lottery process, said Mueller of the University of Syracuse."

Meanwhile, the Center for Democracy and Technology has issued a new report on ICANN and Internet Governance: Getting Back to Basics: "The report calls on ICANN to focus on its limited mission and bottom-up, consensus-based approach, which remains the best model for managing core Internet naming and numbering functions. Karl Auerbach presents a well-written critique of the report in his CaveBear blog.

The schedule and agenda for next week's ICANN meeting in Kuala Lumpur can be found here. Several attendees have promised to report from the meeting in their respective blogs - e.g., Ross Rader and Susan Crawford.