Challenges for e-governance: protests from civil society on the protection of privacy in e-government in Korea

Abstract

This article analyzes the factors that caused recent conflicts between the Korean government and civil society over e-government initiatives and draws implications for e-governance. The disputes over the government’s digitalization initiatives in Korea, for example the conflicts over the electronic education system and the national electronic ID card, show that the government in Korea as in other countries has faced fierce opposition from citizens and suffered major setbacks in pursuing its ICT projects. This article argues that the current cases in Korean society should be understood from a new perspective, one which emphasizes the interaction between the technical standard and the social standard. It shows that the gaps between technical standards, which idealize efficiency, and social standards, which weigh e-privacy as supreme, breed conflict. Finally, the research draws some implications of the analysis for e-governance and democracy.