E-Government

While learning about eGovernment in class i was struck by how the internet is used to promote certain parties or people ...I feel this is a good idea because the government can access young people this way and recruit more voters..I think the internet was especially promenent in the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States...Proof of the potential importance of eGovernment was highlighted by Barack Obama making the first ever online presidential address shortly after his election. In the following video we can see how the Internet can be used to govern a country in a very modern way.




DISADVANTAGES

Increased contact between government and its citizens goes both ways. Once e-government begins to develop and become more sophisticated, citizens will be forced to interact electronically with the government on a larger scale. This could potentially lead to a lack of privacy for civilians as their government obtains more and more information on them. In a worse case scenario, with so much information being passed electronically between government and civilians, a totalatarian -like system could develop. When the government has easy access to countless information on its citizens, personal privacy is lost.


Opponents of e-government argue that online governmental transparency is suspicious because it is maintained by the governments themselves. Information can be added or removed from the public eye (i.e. the Internet) with or without public notice. For example, after the World Trade Center in New York City was attacked on September 11, 2001, United States federal officials removed a large amount of government information from its websites in the name of national security. This act went relatively unnoticed by United States citizens. To this day, very few organizations monitor and provide accountability for these modifications

ADVANTAGES
One goal of e-government will be greater citizen participation in the nation’s capital. Through the internet, people from all over the country can interact with politicians and make their voices heard. Blogging and interactive surveys will allow politicians to see the views of the people they represent on any given issue. Moderated chat rooms can place citizens in real-time contact with elected officials and their offices, allowing voters to have a direct impact and influence in their government. These technologies can create a more transparent government, allowing voters to immediately see how and why their representation in the capital is voting the way they are. This helps voters better decide who to vote for in the future. A government could theoretically move more towards a true democracy with the proper application of e-government.