Confidence in E-Government: The Outlook for a Legal Framework for Personal Data and Privacy

Abstract

Since the 1990s, governments have been exploring, and in many cases implementing, e-government in an effort to expand their budgeted services and efficiency. However, the desire to address these needs has often been offset with a basic lack of experience in the field of e-government, forcing governments to act relatively slowly and cautiously to migrate some of the services traditionally offered by paper-based government to e-government. In this new phase of government creation, new rules are being applied, major investments are being made, and the government agencies involved are reorganizing — not without difficulty. This chapter examines the cases of France, Belgium, Canada, the United States and Ireland and how each of these countries is extremely attentive to an important aspect of the successful acceptance of e-government — the protection of personal data — through new regulations, policies and creative, legal innovations.