E-GOVERNMENT SURVEY 2020 (With Addendum On Covid-19 Response)

COVID-19 Pushes More Government Activities Online Despite Persisting Digital Divide

Denmark, Korea and Estonia top the 2020 UN e-government ranking.

As the COVID-19 pandemic forces lockdowns, most countries and municipalities are pursuing digital government strategies, many with innovative initiatives – but vast numbers of people still do not have access to online services, according to the 2020 edition of the United Nations E‑Government Survey, released today.

The 2020 ranking of the 193 UN Member States in terms of digital government – capturing the scope and quality of online services, status of telecommunication infrastructure and existing human capacity – is led by Denmark, the Republic of Korea, and Estonia, followed by Finland, Australia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the United States of America, the Netherlands, Singapore, Iceland, Norway and Japan.

M-VOTING

Pidato Presiden RI pada Sidang Tahunan MPR dan Sidang Bersama DPR dan DPD, 14 Agustus 2020

These trends will shape e-government in 2020

| By  e-Governance Academy- Federico Plantera |
The turn of the decade brings new trends shaping the way governments deal with innovation. And who better than our own Linnar Viik could shed a light on the underlying dynamics setting the agenda for public digital development in the next ten years?

In our latest post, we reviewed four ages of e-governance. The time is ripe now for a deeper consideration of what will drive an ever-as-pervasive innovation, and how governments can tap into these trends to distribute the dividends of a truly digital society.

ICEGOV2020 – 13th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance

Digital Governance in the Era of Disruptive Technologies and Globalisation

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Continuing its tradition of hosting the International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV) in different cities around the world, the next edition of the conference – ICEGOV2020 – will take place in Athens, the capital of Greece, from 1-3 April 2020. Considered the cradle of Western civilisation and the birthplace of democracy, the city is surrounded by a stunning coastline and mountains, and is one of the world’s oldest cities, with a recorded history spanning more than 3400 years.

Presiden Joko Widodo Tanggapi Revisi UU KPK

Ketua KPK Serahkan Tanggungjawab Kepada Presiden

PIDATO KENEGARAAN PRESIDEN REPUBLIK INDONESIA, 16 AGUSTUS 2019

Iraq sets sights on e-commerce opportunities

Iraqi minister of communication, Naeem Al-Rubaie, speaking during the high-level event on e-commerce and the digital economy in Baghdad on 28 July

Iraq is laying the foundations for e-commerce as it rebuilds its infrastructure after years of violence, government officials said during a high-level dialogue on e-commerce and the digital economy on 28 July in Baghdad.

The event kickstarted weeklong consultations that are part of UNCTAD’s assessment of the country’s readiness to engage in e-commerce, the first such exercise in a non-least developed country.

Nearly 100 people drawn from Iraq’s public and private sectors exchanged views on how to overcome the challenges that hinder e-commerce in the war-affected country.

Cybersecurity Pros Name Their Price as Hacker Attacks Swell

By.Anders Melin

 

It took a $650,000 salary for Matt Comyns to entice a seasoned cybersecurity expert to join one of America’s largest companies as chief information security officer in 2012. At the time, it was among the most lucrative offers out there.

This year, the company had to pay $2.5 million to fill the same role.

“It’s a full-on war for cyber talent,” said Comyns, a managing partner at executive search firm Caldwell Partners who specializes in information security. “CEOs know that, so they play hardball. Everyone’s throwing money at this.”

The threat of digital breaches -- and the fines, lawsuits and occasional executive resignations that sometimes follow -- has left companies scrambling to scoop up scarce security experts. The growing compensation packages and broadened responsibilities are a dramatic shift for a group of workers who once confined to obscure IT departments, little more than an afterthought to senior management.

Joko Widodo faces challenges in 2019 Indonesia poll as blank ballots, child marriages spark regional dissatisfaction

Photo: Prabowo Subianto with Indonesia's President-elect Joko Widodo. (Reuters)

Hundreds of thousands of Indonesians in the city of Makassar headed to local election polls to cast a blank vote rather than elect the only pair of candidates from the same coalition, according to quick count surveys.

Key points:

• Votes swung strongly towards Mr Jokowi in West Java
• More than half of Indonesian voters take into account the candidate's religious background
• Jokowi's political opponents had leveraged the feeling of isolation among conservative Muslim voters

And it's not the only city where this has happened — voters in 13 other regions also voluntarily gave up their time to cast a blank vote to protest against the political and economic elites who nominate the candidates.

"It was quite a slap in the face to the establishment … people are very much more focused on the candidate rather than the party," said Tim Evans from governance organisation Kemitraan, an expert on Asian elections.

[Voters' loyalty] to parties is quite rare here, people can switch parties quite easily — often what we see are people looking at performers."

It's good news for a populist style President like Joko "Jokowi" Widodo who is seen as an outsider to the establishment.

However, he faces a serious challenge as he attempts to deal with policies that could give conservative Muslims reason to turn against him.

This was demonstrated by his reluctance to apply a proposed presidential decree, known as "Perppu", to ban child marriages, and in his anti-leftist rhetoric when he denounced the PKI (Communist Party of Indonesia).

Election Security: What Can Governments Do Now?

By Dan Lohrman

Protecting the integrity of elections is a hot topic. From cyberattacks to fake news influencing public opinion to other forms of external manipulation that could undermine democracies, voting security has risen to become a top issue for global governments. Here’s what you need to know and potential next steps for the public and private sectors.

• What really happened with Russia in the U.S. 2016 presidential election?

• Were any votes changed as a result of hacked voter machines?

• How did social media and fake news play into influencing voter decisions on candidates?

• What must be done now to better protect upcoming elections?

These questions, and many similar inquiries, have been asked for the past 15 months, and some important new information has now surfaced to help in formulating judgments and hopefully gain closure. But regardless of pronouncements from leaders on the left, right and center of the political spectrum (who generally see this issue very differently), there is a growing sense of urgency for new actions to be taken regarding protections for future election security.

This election security topic is of paramount importance to our nation. As Juan C. Zarate, chairman and co-founder of the Financial Integrity Network and former deputy national security advisor for combating terrorism, recently wrote: “Fair elections are at the core of every democracy. Russia's actions surrounding the 2016 American election were aimed at undermining the confidence of the democratic process.”

What follows are several excellent recommendations to protect our votes. After framing the top election issues, this blog focuses on actions that governments need to take now.

The Cybersecurity 202: Voters' distrust of election security is just as powerful as an actual hack, officials worry

By Derek Hawkins 

 

As millions of people across the country vote in eight different primaries today, state officials are working hard to secure the elections from hackers. But officials say there’s a more pressing, albeit abstract, challenge: Keeping voters confident that their vote is safe.

The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that a major goal of Russia’s campaign to interfere in the 2016 presidential election through cyberattacks on 21 states and national political organizations was to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process. By that count, election officials say, they're already succeeding in this cycle — without breaching a single system. 

Just the fear of digital sabotage — and the perception that voting machines are hackable — is enough to scare voters into a lack of confidence in the democratic process, election officials lament.

“What terrorists do is instill fear into the general population — if they’ve done that they’ve accomplished their goals,” said Alex Padilla, secretary of state of California, which holds its primary Tuesday. That's why election interference, Padilla says, is "in and of itself is an attack on our democracy. Any enemy, foreign or domestic, that’s trying to sow doubts, that’s a form of voter suppression." 

What is Cyber Security?

by Nate Lord

 

A Definition of Cyber Security

Cyber security refers to the body of technologies, processes, and practices designed to protect networks, devices, programs, and data from attack, damage, or unauthorized access. Cyber security may also be referred to as information technology security.

The Importance of Cyber Security

Cyber security is important because government, military, corporate, financial, and medical organizations collect, process, and store unprecedented amounts of data on computers and other devices. A significant portion of that data can be sensitive information, whether that be intellectual property, financial data, personal information, or other types of data for which unauthorized access or exposure could have negative consequences. Organizations transmit sensitive data across networks and to other devices in the course of doing businesses, and cyber security describes the discipline dedicated to protecting that information and the systems used to process or store it. As the volume and sophistication of cyber attacks grow, companies and organizations, especially those that are tasked with safeguarding information relating to national security, health, or financial records, need to take steps to protect their sensitive business and personnel information. As early as March 2013, the nation’s top intelligence officials cautioned that cyber attacks and digital spying are the top threat to national security, eclipsing even terrorism.

Eric Schmidt on AI: ‘Trust me, these Chinese people are good’

The billionaire believes that the US government needs to do more to maintain its lead in artificial intelligence. China released an AI strategy in July, which revealed that it plans to become a world leader in the field by 2030.

Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, has warned that China is poised to overtake the US in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) if the US government doesn’t act soon.

Speaking at the Artificial Intelligence and Global Security Summit on Wednesday, the former Google CEO said: “Trust me, these Chinese people are good.”

He added: “They are going to use this technology for both commercial as well as military objectives with all sorts of implications.”

China published its AI strategy in July and said that it wanted to be the world leader in AI by 2030.

New technologies, new content opportunities

Across the globe, news organizations are investing in new methods for producing and delivering content. What are the motivations behind these investments and what benefits do they bring?

 

Let's explore how publishers have been experimenting with new ways of storytelling...

Most Asia-Pacific regions are smartphone-first. Should you be?

Reuters Institute research, which looked at seven Asia-Pacific markets, confirms that Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Malaysia are all mobile-first markets.

In three of these markets mobile-use has reached or is approaching 60%. This widespread use of smartphones has been facilitated by higher penetration rates of smartphone making and mobile broadband in the region.

These figures are much higher than in some developed markets in North America and Western Europe, but indicate future rises in mobile use.  

Publishers are already adapting to this new revenue stream with investment and experimentation in mobile alerts and notifications to reach news audiences.

Worry about the spies, not thieves, who may have breached Equifax

The Equifax breach stole names, addresses, birth dates, and credit card numbers for over 200,000 consumers. One might immediately assume that cyber criminals made the attack in order to sell the information to identity thieves who will run up fraudulent charges, file fake tax returns, defraud mortgages and loans, purchase goods with stolen credit cards or steal a subscription to HBO in time for next season’s Game of Thrones.

But where most see thieves, I see spies.

The cyber intrusion also stole documents used in disputes for approximately 182,000 people. This includes personal identifiable information that sophisticated attackers could use to gain entry into medical records, bank accounts, employer email accounts and networks — virtually anywhere that a person has an online presence. Most consumers are still slow to adopt secondary protection schemes like two-factor authentication and continue to use challenge questions that relate directly to their personal lives. If a spy agency in China, North Korea or Russia (the three most likely culprits in the Equifax breach) has this information, they could use it to infiltrate other accounts of targeted individuals, particularly those persons of interest in government agencies.

Hong Kong govt's digital transformation commitment detailed

Apart from the unprecedented focus on technology and innovation development, the latest Policy Address announced last month also demonstrates Chief Executives Carrie Lam’s commitment to transform the government’s technology practice. Policies that include a new procurement arrangement and CE-led Steering Committee on Innovation and Technology are considered by industry veterans and former civil servants as a digital transformation within the Hong Kong SAR Government.

“The overall direction is positive and encouraging, but it also raises a lot of question marks, particularly around the implementation,” Raymond Wong, the former assistant director (information systems) of the Hong Kong Immigration Department said.

“With Carrie’s personal commitment in technology development and close collaboration between her executive council members, I am confident with the upcoming development in technology,” said Fanny Law, chairman of the board of directors at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park (HKSTP). “Of course, the results remain to be revealed upon the deployment of these policies.”