GLOBAL INFORMATION SOCIETY WATCH 2012 THE INTERNET AND CORRUPTION Transparency and accountability online ASSOCIATION FOR PROGRESSIVE COMMUNICATIONS (APC) AND HUMANIST INSTITUTE FOR COOThematicPER reportsATION / 1WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES (Hivos) Global Information Society Watch 2012 Global Information Society Watch 2012 Steering committee Anriette Esterhuysen (APC) Loe Schout (Hivos) Coordinating committee Karen Banks (APC) Monique Doppert (Hivos) Valeria Betancourt (APC) Project coordinator Valeria Betancourt Editor Alan Finlay Assistant editor Lori Nordstrom Publication production Mallory Knodel Proofreading Valerie Dee Lori Nordstrom Graphic design Monocromo [email protected] Phone: +598 2 400 1685 Cover illustration Matías Bervejillo Financial support provided by Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (Hivos) Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) Global Information Society Watch Published by APC and Hivos 2012 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Some rights reserved. ISSN : 2225-4625 ISBN : 978-92-95096-85-1 APC -201301- cipp - r - en - digital -176 Table of contents Preface . 6 Mapping corruption ANRIETTE ESTERHUYSEN (APC) and MANUELA MONTEIRO (HIVOS) Exposing delusions of power: The art of using visual evidence Introduction: The new omnipresence . .7 to expose corruption . .42 Omidyar Network - DAVID SASAKI Tactical Tech - STEPHANIE HANKEY with research by FRANCESCA RECCHIA Thematic reports Political cartoons Governments using ICTs for integrity and accountability: Some thoughts by Akram Rslan . 52 on an emergent research and advocacy agenda . 12 Transparency International - DIETER ZINNBAUER Country reports Secrecy,privacy and transparency: Introduction . 62 the balance between state responsibilities Alan Finlay and human rights . 16 Argentina . .64 Privacy International - EMMA DRAPER Nodo TAU Transparency reporting . 20 Bangladesh . .68 Open Technology Institute - Bytes for All Bangladesh JAMES LOSEY and GRADY JOHNSON Benin . .72 CréACTION BENIN Using technology for collaborative transparency: Risks and opportunities . 24 Bolivia . 76 Association for Progressive Communications (APC) - REDES Foundation SHAWNA FINNEGAN Brazil . .80 GPoPAI In search of transparency: From “using” to “shaping” technology . .29 Bulgaria . 83 Cardiff University and The Citizen Lab, BlueLink.net University of Toronto - ARNE HINTZ and STEFANIA MILAN Cameroon . .86 PROTEGE QV Artivism online . .3 JMI Foundation and Fair Play - KATE DECLERCK Canada . .89 APC and Open Technology Institute China . .92 Institutional review Danwei Who is doing what when it comes Colombia . .95 to technology for transparency, Colnodo accountability and anti-corruption . 37 Democratic Republic of Congo . .98 Practical Participation - TIM DAVIES Si Jeunesse Savait (SJS) Republic of Congo . .100 AZUR Développement Costa Rica . 1. 02 Occupied Palestinian Territory . 175 Cooperative Sulá Batsú Maan News Agency Côte d’Ivoire . .105 Pakistan . 179 NNENNA.ORG Bytes for All Pakistan Egypt . .110 Peru . 183 ArabDev Red Científica Peruana (RCP) and Consorcio para el Desarrollo Sostenible de la Ethiopia . 114 Ecorregión Andina (CONDESAN) Ethiopian Free and Open Source Software Network (EFOSSNET) Romania . 188 StrawberryNet Foundation and Sapientia – Hungary . 118 Hungarian University of Transylvania Metatron Research Unit, Hungarian Autonomous Center for Knowledge (H.A.C.K.) Saudi Arabia . .192 SASIconsult India . .122 Digital Empowerment Foundation South Africa . .195 University of Witwatersrand Indonesia . .126 EngageMedia Spain . 199 SETEM Iraq . 129 Richmond, The American International Switzerland . 202 University in London Comunica-ch Italy . 133 Syria . .206 NEXA and Eurovisioni Anas Tawileh Jamaica . .137 Tanzania . 210 Mona ICT Policy Centre, CIPESA University of the West Indies, Mona Thailand . 213 Jordan . 141 Thai Netizen Network Alarab Alyawm Uganda . 217 Kenya . 146 WOUGNET Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) United Kingdom . 221 Republic of Korea . .150 Open Rights Group Korean Progressive Network Jinbonet United States . 225 Kyrgyzstan . .154 Electronic Frontier Foundation Civil Initiative on Internet Policy (CIIP) Uruguay . 229 Lebanon . 157 ObservaTIC Mireille Raad Vanuatu . 232 Morocco . 161 Dan McGarry DiploFoundation Venezuela . .236 Nepal . 165 EsLaRed Kishor Pradhan Western Balkans . 240 Netherlands . 168 OneWorld Platform for Southeast Europe (owpsee) Transparency International in the Netherlands Nigeria . .172 Fantsuam Foundation Preface The theme for this year’s GISWatch as Transparency International’s critique – “transparency and accountability with a of e‑government projects and the impact focus on corruption” – is for some a difficult they have on corruption, or more indirectly, one. At least two country report authors for instance, through considerations of withdrew from participating in this year’s transparency and privacy. The role of the publication because of the consequences they youth in “activism online” is also discussed, could face locally from singling out specific while, in our mapping section, Tactical Tech acts of corruption in their countries. This is looks at using visual evidence effectively to telling. It suggests that to consider ICTs and expose corruption. corruption directly is to put the spotlight more As is usual with GISWatch, the thematic narrowly on what governments or businesses reports published here form the bedrock for or state authorities are actually doing – and the country reports that follow, covering both this can, as some authors contend, be risky. It developing and developed countries, such as is dramatically different from talking generally the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, about e‑government, and how this may usher Pakistan, Argentina, Ethiopia, Occupied in a new era of transparency – possibilities Palestinian Territory, Lebanon, China and even that are more abstract than concrete, and Vanuatu. therefore much safer to discuss. This difficulty demonstrates the value of the theme and The internet is a powerful source for increased serves to provide a reality check – much access to information about corruption, and needed in this era where governments and how, and by whom, it is perpetrated. But businesses from north, south, left and right it cannot substitute for the role played by are optimistically engaging in partnerships the media and civil society activists. We are to “open” government and use the internet pleased to present the sixth edition of the to enhance transparency. Talking about GISWatch report. We believe it is essential for transparency is much easier than dealing with civil society networks to participate in and its consequences. watch over ICT policy processes at global, regional and national levels. n As the title of GISWatch 2012 also suggests, “corruption” is often read through the lens of other conceptual concerns. This year several Anriette Esterhuysen (APC) thematic reports assume different points of and Manuela Monteiro (Hivos) entry on the issue: whether directly, such 6 / Global Information Society Watch Introduction: The new omnipresence 1) pay a USD 200 bribe and return home to enjoy David Sasaki Omidyar Network the rest of my Saturday afternoon, or 2) surrender davidsasaki .name my car until Monday morning when I could begin a lengthy bureaucratic nightmare involving multi- ple trips to government offices, banks, and the tow pound . Such is the story of my first bribe in Mexico A tale of two bribes City, which taught me several lessons . The first time I paid a bribe in Mexico City I was First I learned that Mexico City’s civil society caught by surprise . Admittedly, I had broken the law . was still not as coordinated and innovative as the In 1989 the Mexico City government passed legisla- city’s corrupt police officers . Upon leaving the po- tion1 which required that on every second Saturday lice station I was awarded a stamped card that of the month all vehicles with licence plates ending looked more official than anything I had seen from in 7 were not allowed to circulate . And here I was, a the Mexico City government . “If any police officer newcomer to the city, a licence plate ending with 7, pulls you over on your way home,” I was told, “just and driving in unintended defiance of the law . flash them this card and they’ll leave you alone .” Two weeks earlier I had started a new job with Various police units across multiple jurisdictions Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investment had coordinated to produce a system of illicit cards firm of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar . I was hired to register those who had already paid a bribe . In- to help build the movement of open government in deed, a motorcycle-mounted police officer pulled Latin America; to give support to entrepreneurs who up to my window, eagerly awaiting his own bribe, use new technologies to strengthen civic participa- and then sped off in disappointment when I showed tion and government accountability . The likelihood him my I-paid-a-bribe card . that I would now bribe a police officer to evade my Second, I learned that corruption flourishes warranted sanction seemed preposterous . with poorly designed laws, no matter how benevo- I rolled down the window, handed the police lent their intentions . Mexico City’s “Hoy No Circula” officer my driver’s licence, my car registration, and legislation, which prohibits vehicles from circulat- awaited my citation . If only it were so easy . The ing