More research needed on e-democracy

Privacy and user engagement issues need to be better understood, says parliamentary report

E-voting needs more work

Parliamentary researchers have called for more rigorous evaluation of e-democracy initiatives so their effect can be better understood.

A report by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology for MPs suggests that it may be necessary to identify participants in e-voting and e-petitioning initiatives to understand the significance of results, which raises serious issues of privacy.

The document described e-democracy as "the use of new ICT to increase and enhance citizens' engagement in the democratic process".

The report said that, even if people have access to the technology and the skill to use it, they will not automatically engage with it, and said that tackling disengagement is often considered more pressing than increasing technological access.

Proposals for a parliamentary e-petition system have stalled, although they have been agreed by government in principle, pending considerations of oversight and costs and the issue of how to ensure that petitioners are not alienated if they fail to achieve what they consider a reasonable response.

The Electoral Commission has recommended no further pilots on e-voting until there is individual voter registration enabling users to be positively identified. Counting systems would also need to be more transparent enabling votes to be linked to voters to prevent fraud.