Letter: E-gov bill should include Web 2.0 guidelines

Regarding "Privacy amendment stalls e-gov bill," the E-Government Act needs to be reviewed not just for security, but also in the light of using Web 2.0 technologies. We are living in a policy vacuum. There are no solid policies or guidelines available for the use of these technologies. Plus, the technologies are moving so fast that once a policy is implemented, it is null and void. We need to find a better way to address and balance the security and privacy aspects with providing transparency in government and the ability to use the best tool for the job.

Right now, we are severely handicapped and bogged down by Internet policies developed in the early 1990s. Those policies for Web sites if applied to social media strangle our ability to use the tools successfully. That needs to change. The people who need to develop new policies are people who actually understand and use the technology as opposed to those who just read about.

The E-Gov Act should include recognition of those issues and approval for agencies to begin developing  their own social strategies or some kind of federal government social strategy.

Anonymous

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