The Catch 22 of government online participation

Republished from eGovAU.

Government often has a narrow path to walk when engaging online, some of the measures in place to protect the privacy and security of citizens and government officials can conflict with efforts to improve the transparency and openness of government processes.

Hence this article from the New York Times, Government 2.0 Meets Catch 22.

The article highlights some of the issues that US government officials must navigate and contend with when participating with online communities or even using the internet to research potential employees.

While the article doesn’t present any real solutions for government, it does highlight that there can be the need for some government policies and legislation to be reconsidered to provide the appropriate balance between government’s ability to engage online and to protect those it employs and serves.