Skip to main content

Home/ ITGS News/ Group items tagged politics and government

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Jaymee C

TOPIC: In what ways is social networking used for serious business? - 35 views

The article I read was about the United States government using social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace to do investigation on people and catch criminals. Though it may be helpful for the...

politics and government social networking internet

nicholas n

TOPIC: Net Neutrality-Issues of censorship or equality of access and the digital divide - 20 views

On Mohammad post I learned how the people in Iran used Twitter in the Election of the President to bring information out to the rest of the world and organize rallies within the country. This is an...

Saida K

Google: Internet freedom is declining - 1 views

  •  
    The Government censorship has expanded outside of China.
  •  
    This news item meets the requirements for ITGS because it includes all strands of the ITGS Triangle: Social/Ethical Issues, Application to Specific Scenarios and IT Systems. The Social and Ethical issue includes security, the digital divided and equality of access and surveillance.The government has decided to block certain videos from youtube, or articles from other websites regarding the negativity of the country. In other words, citizens and residents of that country won't be allowed to access "negative news" about the country they're currently living in. The digital divide and equality of access is relevant in this case because many other countries can see what different countries have blocked, meaning that for example, a person living in Germany that was not allowed to access information over "neo-Nazi content" may find information that was banned in Thailand about "the Thai king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, with feet near his head." Surveillance also is considered a social impact because the government is monitoring the actions of others, in terms of what they're posting online. The application to specific scenarios would be politics and government since the government is controlling the use of information through censorship. In all, the article explains what the government has controlled over the internet in company with Google, which includes Blogger, YouTube, AdWords, Google Maps and others. But the fact that the government is isolating the amount of information does not suffice the statement that people have the right to have their internet freedom.
  •  
    This is really interesting! I didn't know about this digital censorship around the world. I knew about how most information is censored in different places in the world, but not in regards to places such as Germany. There are various methods of censorship and more ways than one of being able to get past them; one example is the use of proxies. Again this strikes me as something absurd. I have never heard of digital censorship in a country such as Germany, where there are so many sources for access to data. Why the government would ban such information I still cannot fathom, but the impacts that this arouses are serious, especially in regards to surveillance and the digital divide and equality of access. But ultimately, this was a very captivating post.
Madeline Brownstone

A survey of technology and government: Look it up on the web | The Economist - 0 views

  •  
    "EVEN the most curmudgeonly critic would have to admit the one great benefit of e-government: it comes twinned with i-government, where i stands for information. As readers under the age of 30 may be only dimly aware, before the internet age simply getting hold of information on any aspect of government was often far from straightforward. "
Madeline Brownstone

A survey of technology and government: E for express | The Economist - 0 views

  •  
    This article raises a number of issues related to e-government and the use of mobile phones for government transactions. It appears that India embarked ahead of more developed nations in the West to go electronic. The problem of access to phones and widespread illiteracy is discussed and raises some important concerns.
Madeline Brownstone

Unboxed - I.B.M Tries to Help Cities Work Smarter - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  •  
    "Local governments, like many businesses, are struggling with a data glut. Agencies collect huge amounts of information about topics as diverse as building permits, potholes, Medicaid cases and foster-child placements. Technology, according to computer experts and government officials, can be a powerful tool to mine vast troves of government data for insights to streamline services and guide policy."
Madeline Brownstone

A survey of technology and government: The road to e-democracy | The Economist - 0 views

  •  
    "According to Cary Coglianese, an American e-government expert, imagining that online consultation will breathe new life into democracy "is a bit like imagining that giving automobile owners the ability to download technical manuals and order car parts online would turn a great number of them into do-it-yourself mechanics". Greater involvement by experts may make for more sensible rules, but it will not turn the system of public administration on its head. In short, badly managed organisations with computers will stay badly managed. That has been the lesson from private business, and it equally applies to the public sector, where e-government has barely begun to scratch the surface of what is possible. That is reason for disappointment, but also for hope. "
Madeline Brownstone

A survey of technology and government: The good, the bad and the inevitable | The Econo... - 0 views

  •  
    "A PRODIGIOUS amount of money has been spent worldwide on putting government services online, but the results so far have been hard to measure and often disappointing (see chart 2). Accenture, a consultancy that pioneered the business of selling technology services to government, has been publishing reports on the subject since 2000. The titles give a flavour of the industry's struggle to balance promise and performance. In 2001 it was "Rhetoric vs. Reality: Closing the Gap", followed by "Realising the Vision" in 2002 and "Engaging the Customer" in 2003. "
Madeline Brownstone

Rewired State - 0 views

  •  
    "Rewired State runs hackdays to let developers show government what is possible and government to show developers what is needed. "
Madeline Brownstone

A survey of technology and government: Identity parade | The Economist - 0 views

  •  
    "THE internet, argues Kim Cameron, who works as "Identity Architect" at Microsoft, "was built without a way to know who and what you are connecting to". That is bad enough in the private sector, where the only thing at stake is money. For dealing with government, it is potentially catastrophic. Technology can-just about-tell how an internet user got online. It can check the authenticity of passwords and logins, and validate smart cards or biometric checks. But such data, even if encrypted, can be stolen, borrowed, guessed or intercepted."
Madeline Brownstone

BBC News - Computer game gives taste of life as an MP - 0 views

  •  
    "Young people are to get a "virtual taste" of life as an MP, as Parliament launches its own computer game. Commons Speaker John Bercow is targeting MP for a Week at 11 to 14-year-olds interested in politics. Players experience the daily life of a backbencher and are scored according to the judgements they make. "
Madeline Brownstone

A survey of technology and government: The electronic bureaucrat | The Economist - 0 views

  •  
    "Putting their services online should allow governments to serve their citizens much more effectively. But despite heavy spending, progress has been patchy, says Edward Lucas "
Mohammad A

iPhone takes a trip to \"return to sender\" - 1 views

  •  
    Chinese people wait in line for each of the new Apple iPhone releases, buy them at premium price of $600, and send it back to where it was made to get it unlocked.
  •  
    Chinese people wait in line for each of the new Apple iPhone releases, buy them at premium price of $600, and send it back to where it was made to get it unlocked.
  •  
    This article meets the requirements for an IT article because, to begin with, it discusses one of the main IT systems, the cellphone (a sophisticated phone such as the iPhone however). It is reliable because it comes from a new source such as the New York Times, which has a reputation of giving reliable information to its readers. The time that the article was written is as recent as can be (less than 24 hour news, meaning that it involves one of the main issues and impacts that affect society on a greater scale today). There are stakeholders involved - the people responsible for the social/ethical issue(s), the people being affected by it, and the people becoming involved as a result of the impacts of these issues. Therefore it can be stated that this article meets all the requirements for ITGS. The social and ethical issues that result from this IT situation are significant to what it led to. One of the main issues that revolves around this issue is the digital divide and equality of access. Once the iPhone is "unlocked", the user has access to many digital streams of data; data in which regular iPhone users do not have access too, or they are unable to stream it. Integrity is also one of the main social and ethical issues; the IT device in question (an Apple iPhone) was "tampered with" and has therefore lost most of its value as well as its originality. People and machines, although it is a social and ethical issue that affects almost all IT systems, it can also be said that it is relevant to this situation as well. The people who are unlocking the iPhone are on this "digital treadmill" in which their life revolves around the database and access to digital information. Information that is so immense and updated so quickly that it can be overwhelming sometimes, yet provide the user with an extensive amount of knowledge, which is often put into good use. The specific scenario that this IT system and its impacts are based upon is politics and government. The act
Elisavet M

Data Security Laws Seem Likely, So Consumers and Businesses Vie to Shape Them - 0 views

  •  
    During 2005, political organizations advocated for strict laws implementing data security enforcement, as rising concerns stemmed out of alarming statistical studies and research, revealing identity theft, credit card frauds and hacking as emerging and terrorizing practices overtaking much of the internet realm. This article introduces the beginning of the rise in public awareness, as technology strongly began to redirect the business world into another more digital phase. It was during that year, the primary stakeholders, also known as the businesses ( participants of e-commerce that stored, verified and utilized private consumer data), vocalized their needs clarifying their desire for the creation of constraints in regards to the consequences or negative implications of passing certain bills (for data security). The past exemplifies the various influences the introduction of data security measures, passed by the government legislatures, had upon newly initiated businesses; among the most significant implications discussed were: the need to build a secure database for reliable storage of clientele digital data with the utilization of particular software as well as improving business organizational structure in order to maximize the rate of security notifications towards consumers based on a foundation of rigid security standards. Far from the adaptation to such implications, the political crisis of establishing solid ground for a new set of security data policies and standards became an overwhelming process for politicians, congress members in conjunction with consumer and data privacy groups that rivaled in attaining the responsibilities of passing the needed laws. The politicians (stakeholders, holding the role of administering governmental legislation to stabilize data security breaches), came into opposition with the concerns of many members of advocacy groups (stakeholders, holding the responsibility of supervising and publicly navigating the direction of th
  •  
    continuation: the adjusted standards enforced by politicians). The problem of adhering to the instruction of newly created laws motioning businesses to appoint data security officers, draft policies, to comply with policies and procedures involving giving access to files in business databases for the Federal Trade Commission to check comes into collision with what most online businesses want to go through the process of doing. However, with the issue of security surfacing future consumer problems, as security breaches become major forces threatening the safe entering of digitally encrypted information (such as credit card codes), many companies become increasingly aware of the needed adherence to the strict security data laws, in order to continue profiting financially in order to keep the rate of consumer trust and payment increasing.
Madeline Brownstone

Hacking For Good Reasons - Articles - Educational Technology - ICT in Education - 0 views

  •  
    "We tend to think of hacking as bad, and hackers as evil. But as well as the ones wearing white hats, ie the ones who are on our side and checking out vulnerabilities that others might exploit, there are the techno-geeks who are all dressed up and with nowhere to go. Until now. On the 11th March, the UK's Home Office, Cabinet Office and Ministry of Justice opened their doors to 10 technical experts from http://www.rewiredstate.com who used data.gov.uk and the web to develop tools and services that help people."
Olivia M

Iran's Protests: Why Twitter Is the Medium of the Movement - TIME - 4 views

  •  
    In the most recent Iranian elections, the government censored many websites on the Internet in order to prevent news and other information from leaking the country/"classified governmental issues within the election". The Iranian people started using social networks (mainly Twitter) to spread the information of governmental oppression around both nationally and through out the world. After Twitter started blocking such sites, Iranians started using their cellphones as the method of sending out information on the injustices occurring during the election.
  •  
    This is a very interesting article. I find it interesting that Iran is afraid of the word of their government is getting out, so they block one of the most used wrbsites on the internet, I feel as though you could have argued the point that the tweets were not neccesarily the most reliable. As said in the article, "The vast body of information about current events in Iran that circulates on Twitter is chaotic, subjective and totally unverifiable. It's impossible to authenticate sources. It's also not clear who exactly is using Twitter within Iran, especially in English. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the bulk of tweets are coming from "hyphenated" Iranians not actually in the country who are getting the word out to Western observers, rather than from the protesters themselves, who favor other, less public media."
Madeline Brownstone

A survey of technology and government: Making it happen | The Economist - 0 views

  •  
    "The public face of this is a single portal, dc.gov, which allows residents to do almost anything that in the past would have involved either picking up the phone (and hanging on and on) or going to an office and waiting. The site not only lets them find out about every imaginable aspect of the city, but also provides them with a means of acting on the information. This is not just a matter of printing out forms, but often of filling them in and submitting them online too. It is possible to renew a driving licence, pay a parking fine, report broken traffic lights, request a visit from the rubbish-collection service, get all manner of permits, see planning applications and pay local taxes. "
Madeline Brownstone

BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | UK surveillance plan to go ahead - 1 views

  •  
    Interesting plan that GB has proposed. Monitoring ALL internet traffic. Whoa!!
Madeline Brownstone

Activists utilizing Twitter, Web proxies to sidestep Iranian censorship - The Boston Globe - 0 views

  • Derek Lowe and his Iranian-born wife were appalled by the violence that came in the wake of Iran’s disputed presidential election, and by the Tehran government’s attempts to censor news of the upheavals. And so they joined the protest, as best they could from their home in Acton. They decided to become members of the legion of Internet activists fighting the Iranian government’s aggressive attempts at post-election censorship. Armed with their computers and Internet access, they are helping Iranian protesters get the words and images out of their country for the world to see.
  •  
    "Derek Lowe and his Iranian-born wife were appalled by the violence that came in the wake of Iran's disputed presidential election, and by the Tehran government's attempts to censor news of the upheavals. And so they joined the protest, as best they could from their home in Acton. They decided to become members of the legion of Internet activists fighting the Iranian government's aggressive attempts at post-election censorship. Armed with their computers and Internet access, they are helping Iranian protesters get the words and images out of their country for the world to see."
1 - 20 of 49 Next › Last »
Showing 20 items per page