« Guess What I Did On My Vacation | Main | Ky. Prosecutors Investigate Republican Blogger »

Bureacrats And Avatars Don't Mix

Gartner Research analysts are skeptical that governments will capitalize on blogs and other online social tools in the long run because they are unprepared for the risks of entering the virtual world, Technology Daily reported this afternoon.

At the G-Con Gartner Government Conference, Andrea Di Maio, a vice president at Gartner, predicted that by the end of 2010, more than 50 percent of governments will vacate Web 2.0 worlds such as Second Life, where agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have established a presence.

Di Maio said there are political dangers to embedding a government official in a "wiki," which permits anyone to modify Web content, or a blog or an alternate online universe. Di Maio cited an incident where the administration of British Prime Minister Tony Blair tried to engage British citizens online by seeking support for his proposal to establish a road tax. More than 1 million people petitioned online against the tax, he said.

Jeff Vining, another vice president at Gartner, said the alternate universe of Second Life opens a Pandora's box of ethical questions: What if a government official, in his avatar persona, speaks out against the president or engages in criminal activity like online stalking?

Also, government operations on file-sharing networks, wikis and other distributed frameworks create multiple points of online attack, he said. Agencies should "exercise great caution with virtual worlds."

Posted by Danny | 04:37 PM

Comments

Post a Comment