It didn't used to be this way. A decade ago, when red-light cameras were introduced in cities such as New York, they were put in place with relatively little notice.
Chalk up the current debates to a new phase in government technology- -the policy era. Those who have been steering the technology ship for the past three decades--the technical specialists and senior managers who run the complex technology operations of state and local governments--are losing control of the technology agenda. In the years ahead, advocacy groups, elected officials, policy wonks and corporate lobbyists will increasingly shape the future direction of government technology.
At the same time, state and local governments have little experience as yet in formulating policies about the use of technology in government and what to do about privacy and security issues that arise from new technologies. Nor are state and local governments very effective yet in balancing the competing interests and viewpoints that are at stake. On one hand, there are those who believe technology is being used for unintended purposes, such as raising revenues, while others see it contributing to the core mission of government-- providing for the health, welfare and safety of the community.
Caught in the middle, states and localities run the very real risk of making short-sighted policy decisions and setting poorly conceived direction. One immediate danger is that of prematurely cutting off experimentation. Issues such as how to protect citizens' rights while ensuring public safety, how to further economic development without stifling competition, and how best to bridge the digital divide when a market-based model isn't being responsive, cannot be resolved in a vacuum. Possible solutions need to be thought through and then rigorously tested with proof-of-concept experiments in actual operating settings.
Failure to allow for this kind of experimentation will cause state and local governments in the United States to lag their overseas counterparts in understanding how best to use technology for public policy purposes. Governments around the globe, for instance, are deploying comparable technologies, such as biometrics, to identify people. But several countries--Great Britain and France, for instance- -have a jump on the U.S. when it comes to policies for regulating the privacy issues that use of this technology raises.
To see how ill prepared some states and localities are for this policy debate, look no further than the uproar over municipal deployment of wireless services. Dozens of state legislatures have introduced bills to restrict a locality's ability to set up wireless broadband, but most local governments have stayed on the sideline during the debate. To have so many maintain their silence while fundamental issues concerning the use of technology in the community are being deliberated is indicative of just how far we have to go in this new policy era.
The vigorous, and, yes, sometimes contentious, policy debates in the states over the use of new technologies needs to be encouraged and furthered with evidence-based information. When the traffic surveillance cameras were first put to use in the United States, there was little, if any, factual basis for evaluating whether the cameras could achieve their intended goal of protecting the public. Today, as a result of the experiments that have occurred across the country, there is evidence about costs and benefits, both intended and unintended, that can inform debate over use of the cameras.
We cannot afford to see the future of government through rose-colored technology glasses. Nor should we view every public use of technology as a threat to civil liberties, privacy and the well-being of the private sector. And we should not be surprised when policy debates spill over into election races, sometimes on a national basis, as the off-shore outsourcing of technology jobs did in 2004.
If we demonstrate a willingness to sponsor appropriate policy debate as well as technology experiments, we can raise the level of discourse. So start your policy engines. This new phase in the forward movement of technology promises to be quite the ride.
