Transparency Unleashed: Privacy Risks in the Age of E-Government
E-government and transparency are significantly improving public service management by encouraging trust, accountability, and the massive participation of citizens. On the one hand, e-government has facilitated online services to address bureaucratic processes more efficiently. On the other hand, tr...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025-04-01
|
| Series: | Informatics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9709/12/2/39 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850167627060609024 |
|---|---|
| author | Cristian Paguay-Chimarro David Cevallos-Salas Ana Rodríguez-Hoyos José Estrada-Jiménez |
| author_facet | Cristian Paguay-Chimarro David Cevallos-Salas Ana Rodríguez-Hoyos José Estrada-Jiménez |
| author_sort | Cristian Paguay-Chimarro |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | E-government and transparency are significantly improving public service management by encouraging trust, accountability, and the massive participation of citizens. On the one hand, e-government has facilitated online services to address bureaucratic processes more efficiently. On the other hand, transparency has promoted open access to public information from the State so that citizens can understand and track aspects of government processes more effectively. However, as both require extensive citizen information management, these initiatives may significantly compromise privacy by exposing personal data. To assess these privacy risks in a concrete scenario, we analyzed 21 public institutions in Ecuador through a proposed taxonomy of 6 categories and 17 subcategories of disclosed personal data on their online portals and websites due to LOTAIP transparency initiative. Moreover, 64 open-access systems from these 21 public institutions that accomplish e-government principles were analyzed through a proposed taxonomy of 8 categories and 77 subcategories of disclosed personal data. Our results suggest that personal data are not handled through suitable protection mechanisms, making them extremely vulnerable to manual and automated exfiltration attacks. The lack of awareness campaigns in Ecuador has also led many citizens to handle their personal data carelessly without being aware of the associated risks. Moreover, Ecuadorian citizens’ privacy is significantly compromised, including personal data from children and teenagers being intentionally exposed through e-government and transparency initiatives. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5a797872f59d4d1f8ecdfa03711f0796 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2227-9709 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Informatics |
| spelling | doaj-art-5a797872f59d4d1f8ecdfa03711f07962025-08-20T02:21:10ZengMDPI AGInformatics2227-97092025-04-011223910.3390/informatics12020039Transparency Unleashed: Privacy Risks in the Age of E-GovernmentCristian Paguay-Chimarro0David Cevallos-Salas1Ana Rodríguez-Hoyos2José Estrada-Jiménez3Departamento de Electrónica, Telecomunicaciones y Redes de Información, Facultad de Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito 170525, EcuadorDepartamento de Electrónica, Telecomunicaciones y Redes de Información, Facultad de Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito 170525, EcuadorDepartamento de Electrónica, Telecomunicaciones y Redes de Información, Facultad de Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito 170525, EcuadorDepartamento de Electrónica, Telecomunicaciones y Redes de Información, Facultad de Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito 170525, EcuadorE-government and transparency are significantly improving public service management by encouraging trust, accountability, and the massive participation of citizens. On the one hand, e-government has facilitated online services to address bureaucratic processes more efficiently. On the other hand, transparency has promoted open access to public information from the State so that citizens can understand and track aspects of government processes more effectively. However, as both require extensive citizen information management, these initiatives may significantly compromise privacy by exposing personal data. To assess these privacy risks in a concrete scenario, we analyzed 21 public institutions in Ecuador through a proposed taxonomy of 6 categories and 17 subcategories of disclosed personal data on their online portals and websites due to LOTAIP transparency initiative. Moreover, 64 open-access systems from these 21 public institutions that accomplish e-government principles were analyzed through a proposed taxonomy of 8 categories and 77 subcategories of disclosed personal data. Our results suggest that personal data are not handled through suitable protection mechanisms, making them extremely vulnerable to manual and automated exfiltration attacks. The lack of awareness campaigns in Ecuador has also led many citizens to handle their personal data carelessly without being aware of the associated risks. Moreover, Ecuadorian citizens’ privacy is significantly compromised, including personal data from children and teenagers being intentionally exposed through e-government and transparency initiatives.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9709/12/2/39privacydata protectionpersonal dataEcuadortransparencye-government |
| spellingShingle | Cristian Paguay-Chimarro David Cevallos-Salas Ana Rodríguez-Hoyos José Estrada-Jiménez Transparency Unleashed: Privacy Risks in the Age of E-Government Informatics privacy data protection personal data Ecuador transparency e-government |
| title | Transparency Unleashed: Privacy Risks in the Age of E-Government |
| title_full | Transparency Unleashed: Privacy Risks in the Age of E-Government |
| title_fullStr | Transparency Unleashed: Privacy Risks in the Age of E-Government |
| title_full_unstemmed | Transparency Unleashed: Privacy Risks in the Age of E-Government |
| title_short | Transparency Unleashed: Privacy Risks in the Age of E-Government |
| title_sort | transparency unleashed privacy risks in the age of e government |
| topic | privacy data protection personal data Ecuador transparency e-government |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9709/12/2/39 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT cristianpaguaychimarro transparencyunleashedprivacyrisksintheageofegovernment AT davidcevallossalas transparencyunleashedprivacyrisksintheageofegovernment AT anarodriguezhoyos transparencyunleashedprivacyrisksintheageofegovernment AT joseestradajimenez transparencyunleashedprivacyrisksintheageofegovernment |