New on the Net

Insight on the News, Sept 25, 2000 by John Elvin

Several Internet-based companies are trying to push governments to provide more online services, such as an electronic method to pay traffic tickets and other fines. According to Wired electronic news service, governments collect $450 billion in fines each year. As services provided by the companies are described, it seems that governments simply could plug into the company's site and rake in the loot -- for a small fee, of course, which likely would be passed on to citizens using that method of payment.

Other conveniences such as driver's license renewal and motor-vehicle registration also are available, though governments have been slow to pick up on the services. In some cases that's because legislation would be required to authorize electronic payments. In other cases it's just because bureaucracies typically move very slowly in making changes. Among companies involved are ezGov, GovWorks and the National Information Consortium, or NIC. The latter group, NIC, was a target of criticism from privacy advocates recently because, when states make such information available, it sells driver's license information via the Internet.