E-Authentication Best Practices for Government

Every year in the United States, more than 40 million people move and approximately 3 million women change their last name. More than 13 million Americans share one of 10 common surnames, tens of millions of consumers use nicknames or initials, and 57 million males have one of 10 first names. These realities pose complex challenges to the electronic authentication (e-authentication) process, which establishes confidence in user identities presented to an information system, for both the public and private sectors.

The private sector spends more than $2 billion per year on fraud detection and prevention efforts, and government agencies must work to keep pace to ensure that their constituents and customers are protected against cyber-security threats.

Despite e-authentication challenges, government agencies must offer a variety of online services based on e-government directives, public demand and the need for greater operational efficiencies. Given the growing threat of fraud against government agencies — and the wide array of sensitive information in play — e-government is potentially a data supermarket for fraud. This means government agencies must be best-in-class in identity proofing and fraud prevention.

While the private sector faces compliance-oriented pressures, such as the Patriot Act and the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) Red Flags Rule requirements, it has done a good job of adopting risk-mitigation capabilities and implementing processes that strike the right balance between regulatory checks, customer experience, fraud risk mitigation and cost. Given the need for citizen confidence in the security of highly sensitive information, the public sector also has the opportunity to adopt a risk-based and proportional approach to authentication — an approach which is clearly articulated in the National Institute of Standards and Technology levels of assurance and the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) E-Authentication Guidance for Federal Agencies.

The business drivers differ substantially between industry and government, but one can argue that public agencies benefit from adopting the private-sector’s bottom-line driven approach to identity authentication and fraud prevention. That’s simply because these institutions — and specifically fraud managers — are in the business of adopting the most risk-predictive and cost-effective capabilities and technologies.

The OMB’s E-Authentication Guidance for Federal Agencies promotes risk-based authentication by defining four authentication levels tied to consequences of authentication errors and misuse of credentials. More simply, the guidance asks, “What’s the worst that can happen if a bad guy gains credentialed access?” In combining two perspectives of risk — “What’s the worst that can happen?” and “What’s the likelihood this individual is who he or she claims to be?” — a tiered authentication approach emerges:

Level 1 — Little or no confidence in the asserted identity’s validity

• Identity proofing is not required at this level, but the authentication tool should provide some assurance that the same person is accessing protected transactions or data. 
• Relevant industry tools include the use of a user identification, personal identification number, password or secret questions.

Level 2 — Requires confidence that the asserted identity is accurate

• Provides for single-factor remote network authentication, including identity-proofing requirements. 
• Relevant industry tools include the use of more formal identity proofing: identity element verification, authentication and fraud risk scores.

Level 3 — Provides multifactor remote network authentication

• At this level, identity proofing procedures require verification of identifying materials and information, ideally online. 
• Relevant industry tools include out-of-wallet questions, financial instrument verification and one-time passwords.

Level 4 — Provides the highest practical assurance of remote network authentication

• Authentication is based on an individual proving possession of a key through a cryptographic protocol and requires personal presence. 
• Relevant industry tools include the use of public key infrastructure, digital signature, biometrics and multifactor identity elements.

These guidelines require that agencies review new and existing electronic transactions to ensure that authentication processes provide the appropriate level of assurance. So how do you determine what level of identity authentication assurance your agency needs?

1.Conduct a risk assessment of the e-government system.
2. Map identified risks to the applicable assurance level.
3. Select technology based on e-authentication technical guidance.
4. Verify that the implemented system has achieved the required assurance level.
5. Periodically reassess the system to determine technology refresh requirements.

To illustrate the potential complexities of e-authentication, consider the following scenario:
Mary Smith takes out a student loan using her Social Security number and college address under the name Mary J. Smith. Then, using her father’s Social Security number and her parent’s address, Mary takes out a credit card loan under Mary Smith. Mary gets married and takes her husband’s last name, Johnson, and uses his Social Security number to take out a mortgage using their new home address. She then takes out a second mortgage under her maiden name and a different home address while using her Social Security number. Later she files for bankruptcy under a new first name, Margaret, while using a different address.

Given these life events, how can an online government site verify that Mary Smith is really who she asserts to be? Many compliance-oriented authentication requirements (e.g., the Patriot Act and FACTA Red Flags Rule) and their processes hinge upon verification checks and validating identity elements, such as name, address, Social Security number and phone number.

While address verification, for example, is an important element in identity proofing, it should also be taken in context from a fraud risk perspective. Credit information company Experian has shown in recent data validations that the fraud rate associated with non-address-verified identities is less than 1 percent higher than the fraud rate associated with address-verified identities. So while such verification is important, binary conditional checks like this are not the best way to accurately predict identity and fraud risk.

Without minimizing the importance of performing such checks, there are more robust authentication tools that strengthen the process and validate identities. As you assess your organization’s risk and the level of protection needed, consider the following best practices that have been proven to boost protection and prevent fraud during e-authentication:

Identity proofing — Use accurate and comprehensive public and private data sources to validate identity elements, such as name, address, date of birth, phone number and Social Security number. Employ these validated elements to verify individual identities.
Risk-based authentication — Incorporate analytics in the form of identity risk scores and a holistic assessment of a subject and transaction with the goal of applying effective but not overly intrusive or costly authentication treatments.

Out-of-wallet data — Provide consumers and constituents dynamically generated questions that are designed to segment true name individuals from fraudulent ones. This process incorporates knowledge-based authentication with an overall authentication strategy to provide an additional layer of verification.

Risk-Based Authentication

The purpose of a risk-based approach to authentication is to leverage a wide breadth of accurate data sources and quantitative techniques to further assess the probability of fraudulent behavior. The ever-changing nature of identity fraud warrants a risk-based and flexible approach to combating it. Assuming the finite pool of financial and human resources available to government agencies, a risk-based approach to managing identity fraud and citizen access allows institutions to focus on those identities and access points that pose the greatest threat to their application and citizen customers.

More institutions are implementing this type of holistic approach, rather than a rules-based program (one in which particular individual conditions are identified, detected and used in isolation or near isolation in decision-making). This risk-based approach assumes that no single rule or set of rules provides a comprehensive view of a client’s identity and associated fraud risk. Instead, an appropriately comprehensive set of customer data sources can provide the foundation for very effective fraud prediction models in combination with detailed customer authentication conditions.

The inherent value of risk-based authentication can be summarized as delivering a holistic assessment of a customer and/or transaction with the end goal of applying the best authentication and decision-making treatment at the right time. Benefits include:

Reduced fraud exposure — Use of analytics and a more comprehensive view of a client identity (the good and bad) combined with consistent decision-making over time will outperform simple binary rules and more subjective decision-making from a fraud-detection perspective.

Improved customer experience — By applying the right authentication and decision-making treatment, customers are subjected to processes that are proportional to the risk associated with their identity profile. This means that lower-risk customers are less likely to be put through a more arduous course of action, preserving a streamlined and often purely behind-the-scenes authentication process for the majority of customers and potential customers.

Operational efficiencies — With the implementation of a well designed program, much of the decision-making can be done without human intervention and subjective human contemplation. Score-driven policies enable an institution to use automated authentication processes for the majority of its applicants or account management cases. This translates into the requirement of fewer human resources, which usually means lower cost. Conversely it can mean that human resources staff are more appropriately focused on the applications or transactions that warrant such manual attention and treatment.

Measurable performance — It’s critical to understand past and current performance of risk-based authentication policies to allow for their adjustment over time. These adjustments can be made based on evolving fraud risks, resource constraints, approval rate pressures or demands and compliance requirements. This is why ongoing performance monitoring using authentication tools is recommended.

Best Practices

Below are some best practices to consider in the implementation and ongoing assessment of a comprehensive risk-based authentication policy:

Analytics — An authentication score is probably a primary decision-making element in any risk-based authentication strategy, so choosing and validating a best-in-class scoring model is critical in establishing performance expectations. This initial analysis will allow for decision-making thresholds to be established, acceptance and referral volumes to be planned for operationally, and benchmarks to be established against which performance monitoring results can be compared.

Targeted decision-making strategies — Applying unique and tailored decision-making strategies (incorporating scores and other high-risk or positive authentication results) to various access channels and levels of assurance that are related simply makes sense. Each access channel (call center, Web, face-to-face, etc.) comes with unique risks — recall the OMB’s definition of risk as “the consequences of the authentication errors and misuse of credentials” — available data and varied opportunity to apply an authentication strategy that balances risk management, operational effectiveness, efficiency, cost and customer experience. Champion/Challenger strategies also may be a safe way to test newly devised strategies within a single channel or subsegment population without risk to an entire addressable population.

Performance monitoring — It’s critical that key metrics are established early in the risk-based authentication implementation process. Key metrics may include, but should not be limited to:

• actual versus expected score distribution; 
• actual versus expected characteristic distributions;
• actual versus expected out-of-wallet question performance;
• volumes, exclusions, customer velocities and mean scores;
• actual versus expected pass rates;
• accept versus referral score distribution; and
• trends in decision and result-code distributions.

Performance monitoring allows for managing referral volumes, decision threshold changes, strategy configuration changes, auto decision-making criteria and pricing.

Reporting — To apply the three best practices, accurate, timely and detailed reporting must be established around authentication tools and results. Regardless of frequency, institutions should work with internal resources and third-party service providers early in the implementation process to ensure that relevant reports are established and delivered.
As e-government customer demand and opportunity increase, regulatory requirements and relevant guidelines will become more standardized and uniformly adopted.

Regardless of credentialing techniques and ongoing access management, all enrollment processes must continue to be accurate and, most importantly, predictive of fraud risk and compliant with regulatory checks. Such authentication tools must be able to evolve as new technologies and data assets become available, as compliance requirements and guidance become more defined, and as specific fraud threats align with various access channels and unique customer segments.

A risk-based fraud detection system lets institutions make customer relationship and transactional decisions based on a holistic view of a customer’s identity and predicted likelihood of associated fraud risk. To implement efficient and appropriate risk-based authentication procedures, institutions must combine comprehensive and broadly categorized data assets with targeted analytics and consistent decision-making policies to achieve a measurably effective balance between fraud detection and positive identity proofing results. The inherent value of a risk-based approach to authentication lies in the ability to strike such a balance — not only in a current environment, but also as that environment shifts in response to external factors.

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Keir Breitenfeld is a senior director of product management and marketing for Experian’s Decision Analytics business unit. His responsibilities include stewardship of Experian’s comprehensive suite of consumer and commercial authentication and fraud management products and services.

govtech.com

"The Future of e-Government"

Singapore Government would embrace new technologies and facilitate collaboration between citizens, the private sector and the public sector to deliver sustainable public value - Deputy PM Teo Chee Hean pledged.

pmo.gov.sg

We live in exciting times - where technology pervades our lives. The news of a dramatic operation in Abbottabad in Pakistan first broke on Twitter through Sohaib Athar who unwittingly tweeted about the secret operation as it unfolded, before the news was officially delivered by US President Obama several hours later.

In Japan, after the major earthquake and tsunami in March, satellite technology proved invaluable in helping rescue workers assess the extent of the damage in disaster zones. It also helped bring together families who have been separated during the disaster.

Infocomm technologies have definitely become part of our daily lives, shaping the way we work, play and socialise. A 2010 survey by Yahoo! of more than 1,800 Internet users aged 25 to 64 in the US found that 78 percent had abandoned the practice of handwriting letters, choosing to communicate through email instead. 71 percent said the Web had replaced reading the newspaper. 70 percent of those surveyed paid their bills online, compared to only four percent fifteen years ago, when Yahoo! was started.

Singapore stands at the forefront of this new technology frontier. The Infocomm Development Authority reports that many citizens own more than one mobile phone, given that our mobile penetration rate is 144%. Household broadband penetration rates stand at 82%, and more than half of all Singaporeans have an online presence on Facebook.

Recruitment firm Kelly Services estimated in May 2011 that one in five job seekers in Singapore are using social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to search for jobs.

And a 2011 survey by the Institute of Policy Studies of more than 1,000 Singaporeans aged 21 and above found that today, almost 1 in 3 Singaporeans are now accessing traditional news sources through the digital space. The pace of technology change will only get faster in the days ahead.

What does all this mean for governments around the world? In an increasingly complex and rapidly changing environment, government agencies need to ride the waves of change and continuously adapt to new trends.

In the realm of e-Government, the rising popularity of the Internet, widespread mobile access and the rapid take-up of social media tools mean that governments will need to be more connected, more innovative and more efficient in harnessing ICT to deliver higher, more sustainable public value.

Let me share how the Singapore Government will ride this wave of digital revolution in our next e-Government Masterplan for 2011 to 2015.

Through this Masterplan, we hope to achieve the following outcomes:

• First, Improving the exchange of information and ideas. 
• Second, Catalysing the development of new eGovernment services and delivery channels.
• Third, Improving public service delivery.

Improving the Exchange of Information and Ideas

Let me start with how the Singapore Government is using ICT to improve the way we exchange information and ideas.

Government agencies, by the nature of their work, possess valuable data that citizens may also find useful. The sharing of such data with the public in Singapore has been primarily through platforms set up by the agencies themselves.

However, with the widespread use of the Internet and social media, there is now an additional dimension, as we are beginning to see a strong wave of citizen-initiated information and ideas.

For example, late last year, the Ang Mo Kio - Yio Chu Kang Town Council launched iConnect@AMK-YCK, an iPhone application that allows residents to provide on-the-spot maintenance feedback directly to the Town Council from their iPhones. This is a useful avenue for Ang Mo Kio residents to make suggestions on how to improve their neighbourhood.

Active communities of new homeowners also congregate on popular online forums like MyHomeTown.sg to track the status of the project's development or to network with others living in their estate. They are even able to get together before they actually move into their new homes.

Governments, therefore, can and should leverage on the reach of the Internet. Today, the Singapore Government uses REACH and other social media channels set up by agencies to engage people for feedback, comments and suggestions on public policies.

For example, the Ministry of Health has a strong following on Facebook, and uses this channel to increase the reach of its press releases on food poisoning outbreaks, educate the public on good health practices and seek public views on new healthcare schemes and infrastructure projects.

Government agencies have also been looking at public feedback on other online platforms where netizens naturally congregate.

Let me cite a local example. In Singapore, the Straits Times runs a popular website called STOMP, where citizens initiate and participate actively in topics close to their hearts. Government agencies can leverage on this platform to keep abreast of local issues related to their work. Such platforms enable government to better understand ground sentiments, making it easier for the relevant authorities to quickly be aware of pressing issues.

As the engagement of citizens is a key area of focus for the Singapore Government, we will be enhancing online platforms like REACH, and trying out new channels and avenues for feedback and e-consultation to facilitate the involvement and participation of citizens.

Developing new e-Services and Delivery Channels

Second, beyond understanding the needs and concerns of citizens and businesses, governments must also continually look at how they can catalyse the development of new e-services and delivery channels. In the book "The Future of Work", author Thomas W. Malone highlighted that smart enterprises will use emerging technology to tap the power of collective intelligence.

The Singapore Government, too, is doing more in this area.

One emerging technology growing rapidly is mobile services. Smartphones make up 72% of all mobile phones in Singapore, and this number continues to increase. The private sector is already capitalising on this trend, and many companies are actively pushing out services via mobile apps and websites.

Similarly, government agencies can roll out mobile services to reach customers who want to transact with the Government while on the move. Today, the mGov@SG mobile site will be launched, bringing together more than 40 mobile websites and apps developed by government agencies in Singapore. mGov@SG will make it easier for citizens and businesses to find and use mobile apps and websites of government ministries and agencies.

Beyond the channel of delivery, the concept of service delivery is also shifting, as can be seen through the example of the Apple AppStore. Today, Apple does not design and build its applications in-house, but provides the platform and tools for the highly talented and motivated developer community to create great applications for its customers. More than 350,000 apps are available for download from the AppStore, and in Jan 2011 the number of downloads crossed the 10 billion mark.

Governments too can take a leaf from Apple's successful AppStore concept. As long as there is a ready platform, supported by the right tools, tapping on the right pool of talented individuals, innovative individuals and companies outside of government can come up with good solutions that create value for citizens.

The Singapore Government is already looking at how we can develop collaborative platforms that foster the creation of new ideas by tapping on the creativity and dynamism of innovative individuals and companies.

We already have some examples of this.

SGPedia uses a combination of the Singapore Tourism Board's public data and privately sourced data on points of interest to suggest dining places, nightspots, and tourist attractions using the location-based capability of the user's mobile phone.

Our government agencies are also taking further steps to facilitate co-creation through data-sharing.

The Singapore Land Authority has developed a platform called OneMap which encourages developers to make use of geospatial data to create useful map-based services in Singapore.

Under the new masterplan, the Singapore Government will also share textual data with the private and people sectors through the new data.gov.sg portal, a first-stop website bringing together more than 5,000 datasets from 50 agencies.

Similar to government data portals in the US, UK and Australia, this portal will encourage innovative individuals and businesses to stretch their imagination on how government data can be used together with other private data to create new services for citizens.


Improving Public Service Delivery

Third, we recognise that the bread and butter of e-Government is to support the delivery of public services. Our e-Government efforts today make transacting with the government more convenient.

Based on our annual surveys, more than 80% of our customers are satisfied or very satisfied with the current levels of e-service delivery.

But with improving technology and customer readiness and expectations we can make transacting with the government even easier.

We can streamline the number of transactions, reduce the steps required to complete these transactions, or in the case of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, making the process of tax filing disappear through its No-Filing initiative.

Today, Singaporeans are able to access government services online using their national identity number and a password. We call this single access system SingPass.

To differentiate between business- and citizen-related transactions, countries such as Australia and Denmark have separate online identities to carry out personal and corporate transactions with the Government.

We will also introduce a separate access system for business users to transact with the government to complement the existing SingPass system.

Today, we have an eCitizen Portal which serves as a first-stop for Singapore citizens and residents to access Government online services. Our customers do not just want standardized services, but services that are customised to their individual needs. They also want to have a say in the design of the products that are created.

To make it easier for users to locate the information and services they need, we are revamping the Portal, to cater to different user groups or life-stages.

For example, a senior citizen who logs into the eCitizen Portal will be able to find out about interesting activities for seniors offered by the People's Association, read health articles for the elderly from the Health Promotion Board, or get retirement planning advice from the Central Provident Fund, among others.

New features such as recommendation of relevant content and e-services will also be included, as well as options for citizens to personalize their homepage with updates on issues they are interested in.

Singapore also plans to introduce OneInbox, a secure online platform where subscribers can choose to receive electronic correspondence from participating government agencies, in place of hardcopies.

The revamped portal and OneInbox will be launched in the second half of 2012.


Conclusion

The emergence of new infocomm technologies calls for fundamental rethinking and transformational shifts in the way we look at e-Government. Governments must take on the roles of a facilitator and enabler - to collaborate with the public, private and people sectors in creating new solutions, new businesses, and new wealth.

What I have described earlier are just some of the initiatives that the Singapore Government will be pursuing under our next e-Government masterplan for 2011 to 2015, which I am happy to be launching today.

I am hopeful that its vision of a collaborative government that co-creates and connects with its people will deliver a new, higher level of services that people find useful and will help to improve their daily lives. We also hope to collaborate with our partners from all over the world to make this masterplan, a reality.

In closing, let me wish all delegates an enriching session today.

Thank you.

egovmonitor.com

Russian citizens to receive secure access to e-government services with banking cards

Russia’s national telecommunication operator Rostelecom inked an agreement earlier this month with Sitronics, the country’s largest producer of microelectronic devices, to produce microchips containing the electronic signatures of Russian citizens. These microchips are to be integrated to conventional banking cards, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Sitronics expects to produce 50 million chips by 2017 using its own 90 nanometer technological process. Production will start in cooperation with state run nanotechnology development corporation Rusnano at Sitronics’ Zelenograd plant by the end of this year. The new chip embedded bank cards are a response to recent changes in Russian legislation on electronic signatures and will enable Russian citizens secure access to the country’s e-government service portal gosuslugi.ru.

techchee.com

Rostelecom has already signed agreements with three major Russian banks to start issuing the new cards and is holding advanced stage talks with another 15 lenders on the same issue.

In another move to make access to e-government services easier, Rostelecom launched its first digital signature center last month offering USB keys that offer secure access gosuslugi.ru.

Rostelecom also signed a partnership agreement with MasterCard to cooperate in the distribution of bank cards embedded e-signature chips. Besides the chips, the new cards would also contain MasterCard’s proprietary application providing access to a full range of banking services.

ewdn.com

Amandemen Undang-Undang Dasar Dinilai Mendesak

Saldi Isra. TEMPO/Adri Irianto

Guru Besar Hukum Tata Negara Universitas Andalas, Saldi Isra, menilai perubahan atau amandemen ke-lima Undang-Undang Dasar 1945 sudah mendesak untuk dilakukan. "Saya kira harus diselesaikan periode sekarang. Karena semakin jauh kita meninggalkan '98 itu akan semakin berat kita melakukan perubahan," kata dia usai mengikuti seminar "Urgensi Perubahan UUD 1945" di Gedung MPR, Jakarta, Selasa 28 Juni 2011.

Saldi juga mengaku heran dengan lambannya proses perubahan undang-undang ini. Menurut dia, Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pernah berencana membentuk tim kajian perubahan konstitusi. Tapi sampai sekarang rencana tersebut tak ada kabar beritanya lagi.

"Menurut saya secara akademik ada problem dalam perubahan itu, jadi ada yang harus diteruskan perubahannya. Misalnya soal DPD yang dicontohkan banyak orang. Ada pula pasal yang tumpang tindih," ujar Saldi.

Ia mencontohkan, pasal 28 UUD 1945 pernah akan direvisi dengan pasal 28 butir a hingga i. Tapi hingga saat ini pasal 28 masih tetap seperti sebelumnya. "Jadi ada bagian yang berimpitan. Secara sederhana soal struktur, banyak yang sulit dipahami," kata dia. "Jadi begitu orang membaca konstitusi kita itu dahinya jadi mengernyit. Itu perlu perapihan melalui proses perubahan konstitusi."

Saldi khawatir kelambanan ini terjadi karena banyak pihak yang sudah merasa nyaman dengan kondisi sekarang. Berbeda dengan Dewan Perwakilan Daerah (DPD) yang merasa masih kurang dalam hal kewenangan dan saat ini sedang menyusun rancangan perubahan tersebut.

"Banyak yang merasa berada di zona nyaman dengan perubahan itu. Itu salah satu faktor yang bisa mempersulit perubahan. Kalau DPD, itu lumrah (mempersiapkan rancangan)," ujarnya.

TempoInteraktif

Pendataan KTP Elektronik Mulai Agustus

Pendataan kartu tanda penduduk elektronik (e-KTP) untuk wilayah DKI Jakarta akan dilakukan mulai 1 Agustus 2011. "Rencananya begitu, mudah-mudahan ya," kata Kepala Dinas Kependudukan dan Catatan Sipil DKI Jakarta, Purba Hutapea, saat dihubungi pada Senin, 27 Juni 2011.

Purba memperkirakan proses pendataan pada 7,3 juta wajib KTP di DKI Jakarta akan memakan waktu 3-4 bulan sejak waktu pendataan diberlakukan. “Tapi, untuk pendataan perorangan sampai terbitnya e-KTP mungkin akan memakan waktu 1-2 minggu," ujarnya.

Menurut Purba, data yang dihimpun oleh Dinas Kependudukan dan Catatan Sipil itu nantinya akan bermuara ke pusat data yang diolah secara terpusat oleh Kementerian Dalam Negeri. Peralatan penghimpun data pun disiapkan oleh pemerintah pusat. "Jadi, tugas kami hanya mengundang warga untuk datang ke kelurahan, meng-input data mereka dan mengirimkannya ke pusat,” kata dia.

Setelah semua proses selesai, kata dia, nantinya e-KTP akan dikembalikan ke kelurahan masing-masing, sehingga masyarakat dapat mengambilnya secara langsung.

Purba berharap pemberlakuan e-KTP dapat mencegah terjadinya penggandaan kartu identitas. Pendatang gelap yang berpotensi mengganggu keamanan pun dapat diantisipasi. "Kalau sistem ini sukses tentunya biodata penduduk lebih aman dengan adanya sidik jari, dan itu bisa mendukung peningkatan keamanan untuk mencegah terorisme," ujarnya.

Namun, Purba belum dapat memberi perincian anggaran yang akan digunakan untuk pendataan e-KTP ini. Ia hanya memperkirakan anggaran terbesar akan digunakan untuk membayar honor tenaga operator. Purba menyebut ada 700 perangkat input data yang akan dipinjamkan pemerintah pusat. Nantinya tiap alat dioperasikan dua operator. "Anggarannya baru diajukan dalam APBD perubahan,” kata Purba.

TempoInteraktif

New Google Data Shows How Governments Seek To Control Online Content

The Chinese government is notorious for censoring content on the web; to do so, it has created a cyber-security mechanism known colloquially as the Great Firewall. But in truth, many world governments are looking to control the information shown online in one way or another. An extraordinary set of data published today by Google (NSDQ: GOOG) gives insight into this process.

In a major update to its Transparency Report, Google has displayed 18 months of data that shows how many “content removal requests” it has received from government authorities in a variety of countries. In the United States, for instance, courts and cops made 182 separate requests to remove content from a Google service. These requests cover all Google services: YouTube videos, Gmail, Blogger blog posts, and of course search results.

Other companies that have content online—especially user-generated content—are surely receiving their fair share of these types of requests as well. But none, so far, have gone as far as Google in making public information about these requests. This isn’t the only example of Google sharing data about who’s trying to control information online; it also is a major contributor to Chilling Effects, an online repository of copyright and trademark takedown requests.

Overall, the report is a fascinating snapshot of how the world’s governments are reacting to the internet.

The part of the report that deals with “content removal requests” has the most interesting details:

» Brazil is the leader when it comes to demanding that Google remove online content. That’s because it’s the one country where Google has had great success with its Orkut social-networking site, so Google simply has a lot more of people’s personal data posted online in Brazil than in other countries.

» A few agencies with many requests. Often, Google performs repeated takedowns in response to requests from a particular government agency. For example, in Brazil, electoral courts fired up during the fall elections season ordered takedowns of content on Orkut. In South Korea, an information-security agency routinely requests removals of search results that contain RRNs, a personal ID number assigned by the South Korean government. Google complied with all 139 of the requests from South Korea that it received from July to December 2010. In Germany, a government youth protection agency routinely asks for Google to remove URLs from search results when they contain “Nazi memorabilia, or extreme violence or pornography.” Google complied with 97% of the 118 requests sent from Germany. In Thailand, the Ministry of Information sent one request for removal of 43 pieces of content that mocked the king, an act which is illegal in Thailand; Google disabled those items, but only for Thai users.

» Some big cases. Some individual requests lead to big swaths of information being taken down. In the U.K., the Office of Fair Trading requested the removal of fraudulent Google ads placed by scammers. Google took down 93,360 “items” due to that request. In the U.S., six court orders stemming from one ongoing defamation case led to the takedown of 1,110 items from Google Groups.

» Bad apples? While Google complied with most content removal requests, some countries kept striking out. Libya sent 68 requests for content to be removed, but Google complied only 31% of the time. In India, Google complied with only 22% of the 67 requests it got. Some of those requests were from “different law enforcement agencies to remove a blog and YouTube videos that were critical of Chief Ministers and senior officials of different states,” the company states. “We did not comply with these requests.”

It’s worth noting that a “content removal request” can be a lot of different things. It could be a classic kind of government content-regulation, like France or Germany’s laws prohibiting hate speech, or Thailand’s ban on talking smack about their king. Or it might be a court order sent to Google after a plaintiff wins a defamation case.

» More countries are demanding takedowns. In 2010, Google started receiving removal requests from many countries that had previously not made such requests. Those newcomers to the internet-control party include Cyprus, Greece, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Libya, Portugal, Taiwan, Turkey, Panama, Mexico, Argentina, Croatia, Denmark, Hungary, among others. In other countries the number of requests increased significantly. See Google’s country-by-country notes on trends that it’s noticing.

» The China question. The Chinese government is arguably the world’s most notorious internet censor—and it isn’t even on Google’s list. Why? Because the censorship demands themselves are state secrets. Google cannot reveal any of the censorship orders it received until June 2010. Beginning in June 2010, Google essentially shuttered its Chinese search engine at google.cn, instead directing users to its Hong Kong site at google.com.hk, where it can provide uncensored search results.

So now Google is free to disclose censorship demands sent by China—but the requests have stopped coming. In the last six months of 2010, there were no such requests.

» What’s not in the data. Google takes down search results and other content connected to child pornography on an ongoing basis; sometimes that’s as the result of a government request, and other times it just does it on its own. Those takedowns aren’t in this data. Nor are, for the most part, copyright takedown requests, since they (nearly always) come at the behest of private parties and not governments.

Some interesting points from the section of the report dealing with government demands for user data:

» Governments want more user data from Google. Google received close to 9,000 requests for user data from the U.S. government last year, far more than it received from any other country. Google complied with 94% of those requests, according to data from the second half of the year. (Google only started monitoring how many requests were complied with in July 2010.) Unlike content removal requests, most of the demands for user data come from developed nations. The data requests are generally connected to criminal investigations.

But the company’s non-compliance with 6% of requests from U.S. law enforcement—and a much higher proportion in other countries—suggests that it’s seeing a lot of overreach in the data that cops around the world want to grab about suspects.

» A few countries aren’t getting the info they want from Google. For a few countries, Google rebuffs most or even all of their demands for user data. The company complied with only 12% of the 272 user data requests from Polish authorities; none of the 68 requests originating in Hungary; and none of the 45 requests from Turkey.

But for most countries, Google complies with a high proportion of data requests. In the U.K., it’s 72%; for Israel, 76%; for India, 79%; for Brazil, 76%; Australia, 81%;

After the U.S., the countries with the most requests for user data are Brazil, with 4,235 requests in 2010; and India, with 3,129 requests in the same period. The large number for India may just be an effect of its large population. The high number for Brazil is probably due in part to the fact that it’s the one country where Google has had good success in the social networking area, with its Orkut network. That means the company is holding a trove of Facebook-type personal data that it doesn’t have in other nations.

paidcontent.org

Hackers beware: Australian govt tightens policies against cyber attacks

cyberpunkreview.com

The Australian government has announced a new bill aimed at strengthening Australia's cyber security laws, the Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Bill (Bill). The Bill amends various criminal and communications legislation, significantly tightening Australia's laws in this area.

The Bill targets online fraud, child pornography, copyright offences and security breaches (including offences against confidentiality and integrity of computer systems) and brings Australia's communications laws into alignment with international conventions.

Middletons partner, Dudley Kneller said, "These changes will align Australian laws with international standards, so Australia can accede to the Convention which more than 40 countries have already signed.

“Given the cross border nature of cybercrime offences, clearly a high degree of international cooperation is required."

In relation to security breaches, the Attorney General stated that within the last six months more than 250,000 pieces of information have been stolen by hackers, including passwords, contact details and account information.

"This highlights the scale of current cyber crime activities and why the government has decided to act." said Mr Kneller.

Mr Kneller said, "Data security is a particularly hot topic at the moment with a string of highly publicised cyber attacks.

Earlier this month Citigroup announced that hackers had accessed an online facility used by customers to manage their credit cards.

Sony's online gaming system was also recently breached, allowing unauthorised access to the account information of more than 100 million users.

Similar security breaches have also occurred over the last few months in relation to Citigroup, The Australian Institute of Company Directors, RSA Security and Distribute IT in
Australia.

Mr Kneller added, "All these breaches expose organisations and their customers to the risk of identity theft, fraud and phishing scams. In addition the threat to reputation, the costs incurred to remedy and potential exposure to privacy and confidentiality breaches are likely to see such proposed changes cautiously welcomed."

"The Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 is the first of many necessary steps towards combating cybercrime, and dealing with the incidences of security breaches which are becoming more prolific," he said.

m.ibtimes.com

Sri Lanka is world’s 5th best in development of ICT sector, says ICTA CEO

From left:ICTA Investment and Private Sector Development Programme Head Fayaz Hudah, CEO Reshan Dewapura, Monitoring and Evaluation Programme Head, Jagath Seneviratna and e-College Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd. Director and General Mmanager and SLASSCOM Director and Capacity Building Head Nalina Wijesundara at the head table during question and answer time at the media conference.

Sri Lanka ranks fifth in the world in development in the ICT sector, says ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) Chief Executive Officer, Reshan Dewapura. Dewapura said so during his address at the launch of the National ICT Workforce Survey 2010 Report cum media conference held in Colombo last Thursday (23).

Speaking further on the occasion, Dewpura said that the IT workforce in Sri Lanka estimated as at end of 2010, had stood close to 60,000 which was a significant growth of almost 100 per cent from 2006. "It is also estimated that the number of direct ICT job opportunities created in the coming years will be close to 10,000 per year", ICTA CEO revealed.

Dewapura said that it was not surprising that all information coming out of the survey indicated the enormous increase, the year-on-year growth of the national IT workforce reflecting the development of the ICT sector in Sri Lanka. Pointing out to a globally accepted indicator of success and Sri Lanka’s ranking in the world, he said: "The one indicator that beautifully captures these successes in a nutshell is the NRI or the Networked Readiness Index where Sri Lanka’s percentage position has gone up in the last five years from 72 to 48". Alluding to the World Economic Forum , Dewapura said that the WEF, in its report had commented that in the last five years Sri Lanka had the biggest improvement in the NRI and hence the fifth best development in the ICT sector in the world.

Explaining the cause of this growth ICTA CEO said that Sri Lanka’s tireless pursuit in the implementation of the e-Development agenda under the guidance of the Government policy document ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ was yielding positive results.

Referring to the need for the survey Dewapura said that ICTA had undertaken the survey due to the multitude of requests from different stakeholders in the ICT industry, the academia and also potential investors.

"The aim of this survey was to gain a clear understanding of the extent and composition of the ICT workforce in Sri Lanka and then to weigh that against the supply of skilled personnel., Dewapura said clarifying the purpose of the survey.

The survey also has been able to capture anticipated gaps between supply and demand for the future employment opportunities in the IT/BPO sector in Sri Lanka. It also contains specific information related to ICT training in Sri Lanka.

Participating in the occasion ICTA Monitoring and Evaluation Programme Head, Jagath Seneviratna explained the modus operandi of the survey and the basis of its findings: " The survey findings are based on information gathered from 510 organisations which included 75 IT companies, 80 Government organisations, 30 IT/BPO companies, 75 IT training organisations and 250 IT user companies". Responding to a query from the audience on the spread of the survey Seneviratna said that while most IT related companies were headquartered in Colombo the staff serving in them hailed from all parts of the country. He emphasised that, as could be seen from the methodology explained in the report , rules of sampling etc. required for the validity of the findings had been strictly adhered to.

island.lk

Singapore taps into technology trends

Teo Chee Hean, deputy prime minister, coordinating minister for national security and minister for home affairs

Keen to stand at the forefront of the new technology frontier, the Singapore government has launched its five-year plan to capitalise on the social media and mobile technology trend.

Teo Chee Hean, deputy prime minister, coordinating minister for national security and minister for home affairs, announced last week (Monday, 20 June) that the government intends to tap on opportunities in the current ICT environment for its new e-Government masterplan, which runs until 2015.

Speaking at the eGov Global Exchange here, Teo noted that government agencies need to “ride the waves of change and continuously adapt to new trends”.

Dubbed eGov2015, the masterplan includes last week’s launch of a mobile government site. mGov@SG aggregates different types of government mobile services and is compatible on iPhone and Andriod phones. The portal houses more than 40 mobile websites and applications including mobile browser-based, native application-based and SMS-based services developed by government agencies in Singapore.

According to the minister, one of the outcomes the government hopes to achieve through the masterplan is catalysing the development of new e-government services and delivery channels through leveraging on emerging technologies.
“One emerging technology growing rapidly is mobile services. Smartphones make up 72 per cent of all mobile phones in Singapore, and this number continues to increase,” said Teo.

“The private sector is already capitalising on this trend, and many companies are actively pushing out services via mobile (applications) and websites,” he added. Teo pointed out that government agencies can now do the same with the new portal. He said the portal is intended to make it easier for citizens and businesses to find and use mobile applications and websites of government ministries and agencies.

But beyond the channel of delivery, the concept of delivery is also shifting and governments need to develop collaborative platforms that tap on the pool of innovative individuals to come up with good solutions, Teo said.

That is why the government also launched a new data-sharing website called data.gov.sg. The site brings together more than 5000 datasets from over 50 government agencies.

He added that there are examples of collaborative platforms within the public sector already, but the new portal is a step further in facilitating co-creation through data-sharing. Students, start-ups and public agencies can create their own applications and showcase them on the site, as well as look for other applications developed using government data.

mis-asia.com

Open government data gathers momentum in Switzerland

Trams, Bern, Switzerland.

With every available place taken, opendata.ch 2011, the first conference on freely accessible government data in Switzerland, took place at the Swiss Federal Archives in Berne today. The more than 150 participants, including parliamentarians, senior administrators and representatives of business, research and the media, discussed the advantages and challenges of open government data in Switzerland and agreed on some of the next key steps.

The opendata.ch 2011 conference was inaugurated by Edith Graf-Litscher, National Councillor and Co-Chair of the Parliamentarian Group for Digital Sustainability, and Andreas Kellerhals, Director of the Swiss Federal Archives. The opening address was given by Nigel Shadbolt, Professor at the University of Southampton and member of the UK's Public Sector Transparency Board. In an inspiring speech he highlighted the far-reaching transformative potential of open government data for people and governments alike, both now and in the future. Other speakers, including Jean-Philippe Amstein, Director of the Federal Office of Topography swisstopo, Hans-Peter Thür, Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, and Peter Fischer, the Delegate for Federal IT Strategy, echoed Shadbolt's sentiments but also pointed to the challenges for Switzerland in dealing with freely accessible government data. Finally Martin Stoll, chair of the newly created freedom of information organisation Öffentlichkeitsgesetz.ch and head of the research desk at the SonntagsZeitung newspaper, described the shortcomings in current implementation of Switzerland's Freedom of Information Act.

In the afternoon, six different workshops examined the many facets of open government data in greater depth. In the Politics session, parliamentarians and administration representatives discussed creating the conditions necessary to support the release of government data. The Technology workshop looked at specific implementation scenarios and the challenges they pose. The Legal group, which was attended mainly by lawyers, addressed the delicate legal issues associated with open government data. In the Data Journalism workshop, journalists and media representatives learned more about the new trend in researching large volumes of data. The Open Government Data und Business session, moderated by the Bern University of Applied Sciences, focused on the frequent lack of clarity in business models based on freely accessible government information, while the Science workshop considered the new research opportunities that will result from publication of the databases.

The second guest speaker from abroad, Rufus Pollock, Associate of the University of Cambridge and Director of the Open Knowledge Foundation, talked about the international context of the global open government movement and called on conference participants to take bold steps towards obtaining the release of further government data. The closing address was given by National Councillor Christian Wasserfallen, the second Co-Chair of the Parliamentarian Group for Digital Sustainability. He encouraged all participants to take seriously the Swiss open government data manifesto that was launched at the conference, and to play an active part in securing implementation of its demands.

The opendata.ch 2011 conference was jointly organised by the Parliamentarian Group for Digital Sustainability and the Swiss Federal Archives. Administration was coordinated by the Swiss Open Systems User Group /ch/open and the event was sponsored by itopia and Ernst & Young. The Swiss open government data manifesto, the slide presentations and other articles on the conference will be available shortly on the website www.opendata.ch.

The Federal Authorities of the Swiss Confederation

The Government's Role in Cyber Security

Companies are hiring chief information-security officers and spending ever-increasing sums to protect their communications networks and databases from attack.

Bruce McConnell, a senior cybersecurity official with the Department of Homeland Security, sat down with The Wall Street Journal's John Bussey to discuss what role the government should play in this effort and why he's especially concerned about the theft of intellectual property.

Here are edited excerpts of their conversation.

MR. BUSSEY:We have a new era. It used to be that a company locked its front doors and maybe put a fence around the perimeter, kept its stuff in the warehouse, and there would be a cop on the beat making sure that anybody rattling the front door would be caught. Now that we have this new sort of rattling of the front door, who's the cop on the beat?

MR. McCONNELL: The sheriff hasn't actually showed up in cyberspace. We're in an early part of the evolution of this industry and of our approach to this problem. It's tricky because cyberspace is privately owned and operated. There are issues involving government getting more involved in it because it involves the transmission and handling of information that may be proprietary or personal. So part of what we're focusing on in Washington is trying to get that role of the government right.

With respect to the private sector, currently the job of DHS [the Department of Homeland Security] is to provide information and otherwise help companies—critical-infrastructure firms, in particular—protect themselves. We have some things going now that might have a little more active role for the government, but that's a work in progress at this point.

MR. BUSSEY:Tell us a little bit about the active role, because this is a sensitive issue. Say the FBI calls some of the people in this room and says there was an attack that was very sophisticated, and it appears to be state-sponsored. You know, that's always a synonym for China. Or a proxy thereof. And yet, they don't want the government to come in and look at all their private data. What can you do for these companies?

MR. McCONNELL: We already provide information. If you go, for example, to our Computer Emergency Readiness Team, you can find the latest alerts that we have. These alerts are also picked up by the commercial companies such as McAfee and Symantec.

We're also doing an experiment right now with some of the defense companies to provide them with the same kind of security that we use on our military networks. We have information about threats that is not publicly available, and we are providing that information to some of the Internet-service providers who serve these defense companies. And they are using that to block known, bad traffic. So we're doing that test with them to see how that works and whether it can be scaled in a larger way that still protects privacy and confidentiality.

We also have a legislative proposal out that would set out risk frameworks and say these are the kinds of cybersecurity risks firms should address. For critical-infrastructure companies, it would require them to develop plans for addressing those risks. That is currently being considered by the Congress.

MR. BUSSEY: Is the private sector responding positively to that?

MR. McCONNELL: The private sector's response to the legislative proposal is a mixed bag, because on the one hand it does kind of set a level playing field, but it also adds an additional government intervention in the market.

Our view is that we've been trying to get the market to solve cybersecurity for years, and we don't want to repeat the definition of insanity, which is continuing to do the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. So, we are taking a little bit more aggressive approach.

Intellectual-Property Threat

MR. BUSSEY: Do you see a sector of private industry that's doing it as best as they can do, or pretty close to it?

MR. McCONNELL: The financial-services sector has been at this for a long time. They understand risk and they understand this particular kind of risk better than most. So, I would put them at the top of the list.

MR. BUSSEY:And the defense industry?

MR. McCONNELL: It's more of a mixed bag there.

MR. BUSSEY:This is an area of particular concern to DHS because of intellectual-property theft?

MR. McCONNELL: That is what we're seeing as the main threat these days. There is criminal activity involved in financial fraud and then the theft of intellectual property—trade secrets, industrial secrets and that kind of thing, and defense secrets from defense companies, obviously. That is seen as endangering the overall, long-term economic competitiveness of the country.

MR. BUSSEY: I was hinting that it's largely China. Who else besides China is on that list?

MR. McCONNELL: At DHS, our job is to attack and defend against the problem, not do attribution. My view is it doesn't do us a lot of good to call out particular countries and demonize them for this.

Take China. Cybersecurity is a big issue in China. They are experiencing significant hacking problems, financial fraud and that kind of thing. So there's a win-win solution here that involves us cooperating with them and working on some common solutions. This is really a global thing, and no one country can really solve it for themselves.

MR. BUSSEY:You wrote a piece for Wired magazine in which you said: "Nearly everyone practices at least some level of cybersecurity, but these measures must also get easier. They are simply too hard now." What did you mean by that?

MR. McCONNELL: One example is with these defense companies. We're putting more smarts in their firewalls to stop known, bad malware from coming in.

But some of the more recent attacks use a more sophisticated technique known as spearfishing, where the attacker sends a very legitimate-looking email to several employees. One of them opens it up and clicks on the link. It downloads a keystroke logger that allows the attacker to impersonate an authorized user on the network and establish a long-term presence.

That isn't protected by these protections against exterior attacks. Similarly, if you look at the WikiLeaks problem, that was an authorized user who was carting it out because he put stuff on his thumb drive and walked out with it.

Having to deal with it in these multiple ways means you need a whole program of this. The complexity adds to our inability to maintain a uniform level of protection.
Risk-Based Framework

MR. BUSSEY:What advice would you give to these executives for how to assess their vulnerability and then address it?

MR. McCONNELL: This has to be put into another class of risk that you are dealing with and evaluated against other pieces, not just for the reputational aspect of it, but for the long-term competitiveness piece of it. That's why I asked [audience members] whether their chief information-security officer reports to the chief information officer or the chief risk officer.

The CIO's job is to make the systems work, get 'em done, get 'em cheap, make sure they're up all the time. And the chief information-security officer tends to be looked at as a cost center in that environment. So, there may be some advantages to not necessarily changing the reporting, but thinking about it more in a risk-based framework.

MR. BUSSEY:Who within the executive branch would you have the chief information-security officer report to?

MR. McCONNELL: Often, CFOs are the chief risk officers, so that might be the place.

MR. BUSSEY: Any other advice?

MR. McCONNELL: Try to work with your peers on this. There are a number of ways in which we interact with the private sector and, in particular, work with the critical-infrastructure companies. That's an area where more interaction with the government would be helpful to us to understand what you're seeing, and we could tell you some of the things we're seeing.

There's also a good, well-known set of best practices to follow on the technical side. It includes user training and awareness, as well as some of the more technical things such as having long passwords and changing them frequently.

online.wsj.com

Africa Digital Week starts online on 1 July

The Premier Africa Digital conference and workshop in Africa has been launched in Ghana giving a strong impression to the quality of the event come this July in Accra, Ghana.The Africa e-governance Academy (AfegA), in partnership with the African Institute for Development Informatics and Policy (AIDIP), UNDP and Ministry of Communications, has announced the Africa Digital Week.

The Africa Digital Week 2011, the first of its kind, to be organized on the African continent in Accra, is set for July 26-29, 2011 under the theme, ‘My Dream for A Digital Africa’. The event use the ICT Policy Dialogue Forum to start ,the forum is a policy dialogue for policymakers, academia and civic society will take place online from July 1-15, 2011 in Accra to explore electronic governance policies in Africa, especially with the advent of social media and mobile technologies Executive Director, AIDIP, Richard Boateng, in his presenting gave an overview of the Pearl Richards Foundation, as a project set up to help bring interestingly unique ideas and concepts together and turn them into sustainable projects or business enterprises for development, emphasized the use of mobile phones globally as a medium to get information about developments in their communities online.

He was also of the view that business needs a digital interface to meet it’s customers and not only rely on some of the social network to communicate to their customer but go further to use it strategically and ensure that it can help to present their tactics to meet their competition for their competitors .

Also at the launch was the Programme Coordinator, Africa e-governance Academy (AfegA), Ama Dadson, in her cogent presentation, was of the view that for an e-governance programme to be sustainable, there was the need to involve all stakeholders including government, citizens, businesses and policy makers.“There is the need for a holistic approach to e-governance at the national level and regional fronts and there is also the need for commitment and support at the highest levels of government”.

The concept and practice of innovation, driven by the application of information, knowledge, science and technology, she continued, has led to new ways and opportunities for businesses and governments to connect and interact with consumers and citizens so as to promote good governance and create socio-economic value.“E-government allows government transparency. Government transparency is important because it allows the public to be informed about what the government is working on as well as the policies they are trying to implement.”

Fredrick Ampiah, Partnerships Advisor, UNDP Ghana, applauded the initiative by AIDIP and AfegA and expressed gratitude to the media for supporting e-governance through information sharing. AfegA, an independent autonomous organization with no allegiance to any government or institutions, was established to create and transfer knowledge on e-governance.

It is co-funded by the UNDP and OSIWA (OpenSociety for West Africa) with a primary geographical focus on ECOWAS countries. In the long-term, AfegA seeks to become the leading African institution in all aspects of e-governance. AfegA is located at the Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC).

shout-africa.com

Chief Minister outlines vision for open government

ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher, will make public access to information the default position of her Government as the first step in increasing openness of Government. Measures include release of a weekly summary of Cabinet issues and decisions and creation of an Open Government Website, which will be used to release government background reports and reviews; provide public access to material released through Freedom of Information; and access to submissions made during public consultation.

The plans outlined in a Ministerial Statement to the Assembly today, are set to make the ACT Cabinet the most open in the nation and include a commitment to hold a Virtual Community Cabinet on Twitter next month.

"The ACT already has a strong foundation on which to further develop open government, for example we have the most open legislative framework for access to Cabinet documents in the country. We have always taken a proactive approach to communicating with the public, but we are ready to take the next steps.

"Open Government refers to a way of working, and rests on three principles; transparency in process and information; participation by citizens in the governing process and public collaboration in finding solutions to problems.

"Creation of an Open Government Website will provide a single gateway for access to Government information and engage Canberrans in the governance of the ACT and will be operational within three months. This will enable access to government material released through Freedom of Information through upload to the web once FOI requests have been released to the applicant.

"I will also release a weekly report on key issues discussed and decisions taken by the Cabinet, starting in the first week in July. This will make the ACT Cabinet the most open of any government in Australia. I want the community to be informed about the challenges and issues being considered by Cabinet.

"The Cabinet will also next month hold a Virtual Community Cabinet, where all Ministers will answer questions and respond to issues on Twitter. Harnessing new technology and reaching a more diverse range of Canberrans, who have previously not engaged directly with Government is symbolic of our new approach to open government.

"My statement to the Assembly today outlines what we intend to do as the first measures in promoting greater transparency in government. It will not stop here; we will continue to look and examine all the opportunities available to us to build upon this commitment," the Chief Minister concluded.

chiefminister.act.gov.au

Ingin Jenazah Ibu Dipulangkan, Putri Ruyati Nangis di Komnas Perempuan

Air mata putri sulung Ruyati, Een Nuraeni, jatuh bercucuran saat meminta agar jenazah sang ibu yang dihukum pancung di Arab Saudi dipulangkan ke Tanah Air. Een berharap tidak ada TKI yang dipancung lagi.

Ruyati saat eksekusi hukuman pancung

Een didampingi Direktur Eksekutif Migrant Care, Anis Hidayah, menyambangi
Komnas Perempuan, di Jalan Latuharhary, Menteng, Jakarta Pusat, Senin (26/6/2011).

Een mengenakan baju muslim warna merah bermotif bunga-bunga dengan kerudung warna merah. Mereka diterima Ketua Komnas Perempuan, Yuniarti Chuzaifah dan komisioner Komnas Perempuan Tumbu Saraswati.

Een menumpahkan unek-uneknya. Ia ingin jenazah ibunya cepat dipulangkan.
"Kalau memang mau menjalankan hukum Islam, majikan pun yang membunuh harus dihukum pancung. Jangan hanya berlaku pada TKW dan buktikan bahwa mereka sudah dipancung. Itu baru adil," kata Een sambil menangis tersedu.

Een meminta para majikan diminta tidak meremehkan para pembantu. "Manusia siapa pun kalau diinjak pasti marah. Untuk Indonesia, hentikan saja pengiriman TKW. Jangan sampai ada yang dipancung lagi. Cukup ibu saya yang terakhir," ujarnya.

Direktur Eksekutif Migrant Care, Anis Hidayah, meminta pemerintah memberikan penjelasan tentang proses hukum Ruyati dan hak keluarga mengenai proses pemulangan jenazah dipenuhi. "Orang yang meninggal di luar negeri, keluarga berhak untuk mengambil jenazah," kata Anis.

Menanggapi hal ini, Ketua Komnas Perempuan, Yuniarti Chuzaifah akan menyurati raja di Arab untuk pengampunan TKI yang lain. "Terkait dengan Ruyati, hak korban dan keluarga adalah hak untuk mendapatkan kebenaran dan keadilan," kata Yuniarti.

Menurut dia, keluarga berhak untuk mendapatkan jenazah Ruyati dan berhak tahu di mana dan bagaimana bisa dipulangkan. Keluarga juga berhak tahu proses pengadilan sejauh mana korban mendapat pembelaan dan penerjemah pada saat proses pengadilan.

detik.com | PressTV