Government 2.0 still a long way from reality

There is still a long way to go before existing government services fully take advantage of the benefits that web 2.0 can bring.

So says EU innovation expert David Osimo, director at British research company Tech4i2.

Speaking at ENISA's annual conference in Heraklion, Greece, he said that, in the last year, most public sector web-based applications and services were initiated by individuals and corporations rather than governments.

He claimed that there was a "strong gap" between web 2.0 and government thinking on security and privacy, due to the conflict between the openness of platforms and the government's need to keep an eye on safety.

He used examples of government 2.0 applications in the UK such as Patient Opinion and Downing Street e-petitions as examples of how it could work, but even then he called them "niche" experiences, saying they only worked with a few participants in a closed community.

The administration of US President Barack Obama has agreements with social networks and has appointed some of the best web 2.0 people to the White House staff - a move that Osimo hopes will be mirrored in Europe.