Stephen Bell

Employing a single e-government body to coordinate agencies is a sensible approach that's attracting international attention to New Zealand, said Canada-based Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS) government specialist Michel Brazeau.

The government's response to the report of the ICT (information and communications technology) Taskforce has been positive and encouraging, says taskforce head Murray McNae.

Internet service providers (ISPs) appear to have escaped

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) has trenchantly criticized the Australian federal "anti-spam" bill, a phrase EFA insists on putting in quotation marks. The proposed legislation is not really an anti-spam measure, says the online freedoms and rights lobby. In its present form, it both permits some messages most people would classify as spam and prohibits some "unsolicited commercial e-mails" such as job offers in response to a published CV, which the recipient would no doubt wish to receive.

Some governments have attempted to persuade a United Nations (UN) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-sponsored conference to shift control of national Internet domains to government agencies and to let a new or existing inter-governmental body take international control of the Internet.

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) has trenchantly criticized the Australian federal

Some governments have attempted to persuade a United Nations (UN) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-sponsored conference to shift control of national Internet domains to government agencies and to let a new or existing inter-governmental body take international control of the Internet.

Decisions on how and even whether to implement online authentication for New Zealand government services are not expected to be through the final stages of Cabinet approval until near the end of the year, says Bethia Gibson, acting director of the SSC's e-government unit.