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The bill that passed Congress and was signed by the President recently
has received some decent attention. You can scan recent articles:
http://news.google.com/news?&q=e-government
The New York Times had a reflective piece today that mentions some of
the important e-rulemaking provisions:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/technology/23NECO.html
E-rulemaking is a big step forward for e-democracy in the United
States government. Examples:
http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/public_participation/rulemaking_sites.html
And the leading system in the Department of Transportation:
http://dms.dot.gov/ (I understand that the OMB frozen development on
a number of systems to get agencies to work together to create a
uniform system - anyone have an update?)
Democratic Technology Reciprocity
In the face of all the recent government attempts to "protect
us" through the use of technology, I'd like to introduce the concept
of "democratic technology reciprocity" -
For each investment in technology that increases the power of
government over individuals an equal investment in technologies
that allow citizens to collectively hold their government more
accountable is required.
Without just e-democracy investments in government, the information
age will lead to a massive power shift way from citizens and small
associations to government and large institutions that have the
technology resources to exercise control and influence. Many would
argue that that has already happened.
We need the technolibertarian voices across the Net to rally their
troops not just against over-reaching technology-enhanced government
intrusion, but to also take when necessary a more pragmatic approach
and promote specific technologies and laws that promote government
accountability.
Technocommunitarians like myself just don't have the required weight
with the rights-oriented Internet cultural leaders to get this
message through to the grass roots. In towns, states
<http://www.e-democracy.org/study> and nationally, people should be
working with elected officials to craft specific legislation that
require government use of technology for accountability, improved
decision-making, and citizen participation. While 5 percent of
government agencies, city councils, and members of Congress will
voluntarily do great e-democracy things, I seriously doubt any vision
for e-democracy in government will become universal in this or any
country without specific legal requirements and the resources
required to make democracy in the information age work.
Steven Clift
http://www.publicus.net
Democracies Online Newswire
http://www.e-democracy.org/do
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