Obstacles to e-government (problems of digital inequality)
An analysis of international experience shows that there is no single formula for a successful information technology development program.
Each strategy and plan should be individual and take into account specific national characteristics. However, there are several key points that are important for the success of information technology development initiatives:
the presence of clearly defined real goals of information technology development projects;
the current legislative and regulatory framework, including acts in the field of intellectual property law, information technology and telecommunications;
tax and customs incentives, preferential loans to accelerate the growth of the information technology services sector;
initial support for information technology initiatives in their implementation, primarily in areas such as education, health, public administration and e-commerce;
creation of information and services of local importance as a result of the implementation of national technological initiatives to develop computer interfaces in the language of countries where a significant part of the population does not speak English;
taking decisive action on the introduction of information technologies aimed at integrating the isolated rural population into the national economy;
depoliticization of the problem of computerization, for example, through the creation of a non-governmental fund that will receive government funding for the purchase of equipment and software;
The provision of public access areas, such as cafes, community centers and telecommunications centers, has proved extremely successful, and this should be a key component of the action plan to expand Internet access;
The problem of too high access costs should be considered by the State authorities, taking into account the advantages of information technology to improve the work of public services;
The strategic psychological aspect is, first of all, the fact that each recipient of telecommunications equipment, software and network access service must contribute up to 50% of their cost creates a sense of ownership and, naturally, causes envy among neighbors who do not have such systems;
The use of defense budgets in order to create an information technology infrastructure, which, on the one hand, would ensure the security of the country, and on the other hand, it would be used as a resource for education and the provision of services.
The international community is concerned about several issues related to the development of information technology, in particular, the key issue is the cost of using the Internet: the usual cost of access is still too high to ensure widespread distribution of this service. Other problems include the security of online transactions, computer crimes, protection of intellectual property rights, compliance with restrictions on the distribution of materials over the Internet that may be considered offensive and threatening social stability, as well as insufficient participation of developing countries in Internet governance, especially in the field of domain name assignment.
In the United States, the problem of digital inequality was solved by allocating funds in the budget, introducing new tax incentives to stimulate the provision of computers to schools, libraries and public technology centers, to sponsor schools, libraries and public technology centers, as well as to improve computer literacy and the level of education of employees of these institutions.
Competition in the private sector and powerful technological progress are significant forces contributing to overcoming information inequality. Thus, the IT industry is able to double the demand for PCs every 12-18 months without increasing their cost. However, access to ICT is only the first step. People should also be helped to acquire the skills necessary to use these technologies. That is why the US government has implemented initiatives aimed at expanding the use of ICT by all citizens of the country.
