Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi’s administration may have made some progress through the Digital Kosovo initiative, but internet-wise, Kosovo still isn’t an option on most apps and websites.
Let’s face it, applying IT tools and practices that could make our government smarter, faster and cheaper have been moving quite slowly.
For example, six of 38 municipalities in Kosovo attempt to use digital tools to make life a bit easier for citizens- but Kosovo’s most important door where citizens should be able access documents, the government’s central website, rks-gov.net, acts like a confusing information portal.
There are 5 steps that should be taken for the upcoming administration from a technological perspective.
1. Open Government Partnership Kosova
Kosovo is already part of the The Digital Agenda of Europe, which will enhance transparency between citizens and its government, but the administration will have to push even harder. The initiative should provide new opportunities for public administrations to become more efficient in providing user-friendly services, which will reduce costs and administrative burdens.
2. Big Data
“Big data,” which is the availability of data, is both structured and unstructured and can help make sectors like education, healthcare, taxation, transportation, cyber-security more efficient. It’s about time for the government to invest in the industry. Information would be up to date about market trends in different industries, and especially in data visualisations. With this kind of data, Kosovo would be better in tackling needs and emergencies or grasping greater opportunities.
3. Cloud
Throughout Kosovo, most software is outdated, which fails to deliver services to citizens.
Cloud computing can help the administration move towards a more agile government that would be more cost-effective.
4. Surveillance and interception of telecommunications
So far the Law of Surveillance grants authorities real-time access to communications data while violating privacy. The upcoming parliament will have to review the draft law proposed by the last government.The government promised that the proposed law will follow the European legislation, however the legal justifications are still pretty shaky. Its foundation lays in outdated laws, including one dating back to 1995, or the recently invalidated 2006 Data Retention Directive, which was struck down in April since it hindered the right to privacy. Changes need to happen soon because the law in its current form is way too dominant, which could go a long way in Kosovo.
5. Cybersecurity
Back in November 2013, an article revealed that NSA – infected more than 50,000 computer networks worldwide with software designed to steal sensitive information, and lo and behold a Computer Network Exploitation center is located right in Prishtina. It’s going to be challenging for the new administration to tackle cybersecurity, which is critical to the nation’s security and economy. It’s not the NSA that is a the real threat here, but it’s the potential harm that could come from other regional agencies, which could tap Kosovo’s networks and infrastructures. Immediate prevention is better than restoration.