E-government and E-governance. definition of terms

E-government and E-governance.
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There is some disagreement as to the definition of terms E-government and E-governance.
** I have resolved the dispute over the definitions as follows:

Electronic-Government is how a government sets up any Internet infrastructure and then uses that infrastructure to provide services * and information to citizens, alien residents and even tourists.

Electronic-Governance is how a government uses the Internet in expressing political power over its citizens and other people within its borders.

Cyber-Law-Enforcement , anti-terrorist measures and the regulation of Internet access in public libraries, are the current E-Governance issues under debate in many if not all democracies. In most dictatorships, E-governance is how a government may censor or restrict the dissemination of political viewpoints, news and organizing information over the Internet and other communication technologies.
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note: * West, Darrell M.; Assessing E-Government: The Internet, Democracy, and Service Delivery by State and Federal Governments. September, 2000. Brown University Providence, RI 02912. Last accessed September 6, 2002 via www.insidepolitics.org @ http://www.insidepolitics.org/egovtreport00.html .

When the law chases the Internet | csmonitor.com

~~~ Cybercrime in Cyberspace.
The Internet will never be a totally safe place.
Just be careful out there !! ~~ TP

When the law chases the Internet | csmonitor.com: "And yet cybercrime is now considered a greater worry than physical crime among US businesses, according to a new IBM survey. Nearly 9 out of 10 companies experienced a computer security incident in 2005, the FBI has found, with viruses, computer theft, and other such crimes costing US firms more than $67 billion a year. And the latest worry to individual PC owners is a type of 'spyware' that can remotely follow a person's keystrokes to steal a password or other vital information.

Google itself is quite aware of potential abuse by new software, and how much governments, from Washington to Beijing, want to control or snoop on Google users.

It is primarily up to Congress to pass new laws that can provide the tools to fight cybercrime while also balancing privacy concerns.

One pending bill would provide national standards for companies to notify customers if personal data on their computers has been breached. About half the states have such laws. Another bill would provide protection against spyware intrusion on PCs."

Is Verizon a Network Hog? Not yet ,, but they must be stopped !! Support "network neutrality." !!

"Is Verizon a Network Hog?"
News Analysis
By Catherine Yang
http://businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2006/tc20060202_061809.htm

"The telecommunications giant wants to devote most of its capacity to its own traffic, to Internet companies' dismay

"At issue is what the Internet of the future will offer. Critics of the phone industry say the Net has flourished because innovators anywhere could reach consumers just as easily as deep-pocketed corporations. But if Verizon and AT&T set up tolls and express lanes, upstarts may not be able to afford the fees. "If you deliver video the way Verizon does now, that makes it very hard for others to compete," says Carnegie Mellon's Sirbu.

LEGISLATIVE STRATEGY. The Net companies are trying to persuade Congress to pass a law ensuring that broadband providers, such as the Bells, don't discriminate against rivals when they charge tolls or prioritize traffic, an idea called "network neutrality."

"Could Your VoIP Phone Be Tapped?"

~~ America has to decide just exactly how "Big" we want our "Big Brother " to be. As reported in New York Times , polls show a 50 -50 split , or so on Americans support of the Bush Wiretaps. ~~ TP
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PCWorld.com - Could Your VoIP Phone Be Tapped?: "

Dennis O'Reilly, PC World

Friday, January 27, 2006

BURLINGAME, CALIFORNIA -- "Several privacy and civil-liberties organizations are mounting a legal challenge to prevent VoIP and other Internet-based communications from being subject to taps from law-enforcement agencies."

NSA Web Site Places 'Cookies' On Computers |

~ I personally now will delete my cookies after visiting any Government website. ~` `TP

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InformationWeek | Privacy | NSA Web Site Places 'Cookies' On Computers | December 29, 2005: " By Anick Jesdanun , NEW YORK (AP)--The National Security Agency's Internet site has been placing files on visitors' computers that can track their Web surfing activity despite strict federal rules banning most of them. These files, known as 'cookies,' disappeared after a privacy activist complained and The Associated Press made inquiries this week, and agency officials acknowledged Wednesday they had made a mistake. Nonetheless, the issue raises questions about privacy at a spy agency already on the defensive amid reports of a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States. 'Considering the surveillance power the NSA has, cookies are not exactly a major concern,' said Ari Schwartz, associate director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a privacy advocacy group in Washington, D.C. 'But it does show a general lack of understanding about privacy rules when they are not even following the government's very basic rules for Web privacy.'"

"China Reportedly Shuts Down Blog" -Thu Nov 3, 8:17 AM ET

To ban the Internet completely is impractical for dictatorships if they want their oppressed citizenship to be able to compete in the globalized world economy. So for dictatorships the only authoritarian option is to attempt control and stifle political cyber-dialogues the best they can without curtailing economic activity.

Or in other words to use their powers of E-Governance in order to constrain the citizen use of Cyber-Activism.

~~So, REMEMBER CHINA ,, I'M WATCHING YOU!!

Be careful how you treat those nice and

well meaning bloggers .

Don't make me come over there !!

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China Reportedly Shuts Down Blog

Thu Nov 3, 8:17 AM ET

"BEIJING - Chinese authorities have blocked a pro-democracy Web log after it was nominated for a freedom of expression award by a German radio station, a press freedom group said Thursday.

The blog, titled Wang Yi's Microphone, dealt with 'sensitive subjects' and was maintained by a teacher from Sichuan province, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said in a statement"China Reportedly Shuts Down Blog - Yahoo! News:

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BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Breaking down the Great Firewall

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Breaking down the Great Firewall

Breaking down the Great Firewall
By Kevin Anderson
BBC News

The complex system that the Chinese government uses to control the flow of information - known as the Great Firewall - has holes.

And these holes became more evident during the recent anti-Japan protests as a complex system of text messages, blogs, online instant messages, e-mail and bulletin board systems spread word about the marches.

The Chinese government and the Chinese people constantly play a cat and mouse game over the flow of information.

For every new restriction and technical door that the government slams shut, the Chinese people find a hack, a workaround or an entirely new way of communicating.

The Case of Minnesota E-Democracy, by Lincoln Dahlberg

Extending the Public Sphere through Cyberspace: The Case of Minnesota E-Democracy

by Lincoln Dahlberg
First Monday, volume 6, number 3 (March 2001),
URL: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_3/dahlberg/index.html

Copyright ©2001, First Monday

"Over the last decade a lot has been said about the possibilities of the Internet enhancing the public sphere. The two-way, decentralized communications within cyberspace are seen as offering the basis by which to facilitate rational-critical discourse and hence develop public opinion that can hold state power accountable.

However, this potential has largely gone unrealized. Instead, cyber-interaction is dominated by commercial activity, private conversation, and individualized forms of politics. In this paper I investigate how the present Internet may be used to more fully facilitate the public sphere.

To do this I evaluate Minnesota E-Democracy, an Internet-based initiative that attempts to develop online public discourse. Drawing upon a model of the public sphere developed from Jürgen Habermas' work, I show how the initiative structures discourse to overcome many of the problems that presently limit democratic deliberation online.

While some significant limitations do remain, I conclude that Minnesota E-Democracy provides a basis from which online deliberative initiatives can, given adequate resourcing and further research, extend the public sphere through the Internet."

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Assessing E-Government: The Internet, Democracy, and Service Delivery by State and Federal Governments

One of the Best Early Studies. Very Historical, ~tb

Assessing E-Government: The Internet, Democracy, and Service Delivery

by State and Federal Governments

by Darrell M. West

Brown University

Providence, RI 02912

(401) 863-1163

Email: Darrell_West@brown.edu

September, 2000

http://www.insidepolitics.org/egovtreport00.html

last accessed March 18 2009