Inclusion in E-government: a Security Perspective

With over 90% of the UN’s member countries operating government websites, the phenomenon of egovernment is of critical importance to national and international communities. Implementation of egovernment takes various forms and this paper develops a framework which aims to define and classify e-government according to its advanced use of technology, engagement of citizens and government. One of the dangers of advancing e-government is the creation of social divisions and exclusion of the technological “have-nots”. This paper focuses on citizen inclusion in the process of egovernment from the perspective of security. In order to engage citizens in e-government, there must be transparency and confidence in the systems and services it provides. Studies have shown that if trust in e-commerce is broken, then it is particularly difficult to regain. So there is an imperative for egovernment to get its security right both in terms of hard technical measures and soft management measures to ensure that the perception of trust engendered in its citizenry, is legitimate and can be maintained. This paper recommends that e-government incorporates trust-building criteria in the design and evaluation of e-government: such as accessibility, integrity, accountability, authentication, and transparency.