131–140 of 195 posts
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Everyone uses Google Analytics. I don't find it particularly high up any list of real worries.
Why does the government need to send its data to google exactly?
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I don’t. I despise Google and what they became and so should you. Maybe my 10 visits a day webpage is an anomaly, and I’m truly the only one not using Google analytics - Still, don’t pretend Google analytics is used by everyone.
For our podcast we specifically set up Plausible to exclude Google analytics. Rather little of value to be gained or lost either way, but it's a matter of conscience and politeness to our users. Sadly we had to put in links to other big-tech application platforms, but those are links to click out of choice if you're a user of those services.
I hope someone reinvents the services we take for granted with a focus on privacy.
When I moved to the UK, one of the surprising things was how well the GOV.UK ecosystem worked. My original country uses a mishmash of Java applets, ajax-based websites, and a mixture of mildly broken, outdated web technologies, served from a variety of domains. GOV.UK was a breath of fresh air with its simple, consistent UI, served as static HTML. This is how internet services should look like.
I'll start why this really matters from the last item. Even after my move I kept my UK company for a while, I was making regular electronic VAT submissions until sometime in July 2021 I decided to deregister my company's VAT. I did that via HMRC's online form. In December I logged in to check to find out that any record of me doing that evaporated, and now I had an "estimated" VAT bill of around £5k. I submitted a zero return for the previous quarter I should've been deregister in and after I rang HMRC and 2 weeks later the balance "I owed" dropped to zero. I deregistered again and this time "it worked". However, I had no way whatsoever to prove I indeed deregistered before. The person I spoke to on the phone that day decided my story believable so I didn't get any fines. What if they had a worse day? Ability to reliably prove you submitted government documents when you say you did is extremely important. In the country I now live in(Poland) you get a cryptographically signed XML document you can use as proof. You get one from any level of government you submit stuff to online (taxes, local councils anything). There is an online service you can check the validity of such signature and the content is all readable with a text editor.
Then a way to electronically sign documents that is equivalent to your in person signature legally without any special equipment or software for free. And a way to authenticate oneself to government services(including national healthcare) Here any citizen (or a foreigner that registers) can do so with one "thing". There are few ways to authenticate, an app, an online bank account (all banks in the country support it), a national id with a nfc chip and a pin, or you go to a local council in person and they create an account for you with a usename/password +2FA(sms,or auth app). You can sign any document using an online service, there is a history of stuff you signed you can check and you have a "mailbox" you can use to receive documents instead of the post.
The system is mostly XML based and it uses ssl for signatures. I have no idea what they use in the backend (probably lots of java). One can also purchase certificates to use as a signature like in other EU countries. The government sites look reasonably modern with dynamic forms, but they deteriorate gracefully if all you want is to read them, but good luck getting forms to work without JS.
Personally I think they did a pretty good job with this system.
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France launched a similar program and publish everything they can on Github See https://www.systeme-de-design.gouv.fr/ and https://github.com/GouvernementFR/dsfr
I find it really funny that it's published on GitHub with the MIT license, but with a disclaimer it's illegal to use it outside of government websites. It's great that it's publicly available, like many other public stuff the French Government is doing like https://beta.gouv.fr/ or the tax calculators, but it's still funny.
> Conditions for the use of the Components by the Other Users
> All Other Users are allowed to use the source code according to the terms of the MIT license.
> Other Users are expressly reminded that any use of the Components outside the limits referred to herein or for the purpose of diverting them and otherwise appropriateing the State Mark is punishable by civil and/or criminal sanctions.
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Hoorah to that! We are lucky to have wonderful .gov services; highly available, accessible, frictionless, simple, informative, well written and bullshit-free. Maybe the best online central government services in the world - though I hear Estonia are a contender too. However I live in perpetual fear that at any moment some corrupt minister will do a deal with Microsoft and the Devil. Out will go plain HTML and common…
Singapore recently did a deal with a company no one has heard of for their immigration process and the results are cameras that don’t work to the point of the officials needing to manually adjust them, forms that don’t contain consistent data across pages, and my favorite “save a photo of the confirm just in case lah.” The old system just worked, the new system insists upon APPs.
Source? I've lived in Singapore all my life and have not heard of this. There was an outage on the 31st of March[1], and parliamentary discussion after that[2] doesn't mention any of what you said.
[1]: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/changi-airport-ter...
[2]: https://www.mha.gov.sg/mediaroom/parliamentary/oral-reply-to...
One niggle I have is the departments’ over-use of forms (from my perspective) in employing the ‘landing page’ pattern. E.g. if you search ‘DVLA vehicle information’, you will land on this page https://www.gov.uk/get-vehicle-information-from-dvla and you have to click ‘Start Now’ to get the page you actually wanted. The same is for logging in to HMRC Personal Tax I’d like the actual form I want on the same page
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Why does the government need to send its data to google exactly?
Should they instead invest time and public money into solving simple product problems (“how many times was this thing looked at?”) in a way that can be understood by the average desk worker? When that problem is well met by the private sector?
I think the answer is yes, and in my earlier post said I'd actually be happy to give more money for government projects that protect peoples' privacy better. For me the problem is not "well met by the private sector" because that solution imposes a hidden externality upon the public end-users. Part of the price we pay is leaking of our data to a non-national private company.
Docker images: https://github.com/notpushkin?tab=packages&tab=packages&q=go...
Simple stub for the signon service (likely needs further modification): https://gitlab.com/notpushkin/stupidauth/container_registry
And the Docker Compose stack: https://gist.github.com/notpushkin/f174b52efc6285e6be30fb66b... (works with https://lunni.dev/ or Docker Swarm + Traefik)
If you do manage to run it please ping me, I'm also interested in trying it out!
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Edit: discusson on GitHub: https://github.com/alphagov/forms/discussions/106
When I moved to the UK, one of the surprising things was how well the GOV.UK ecosystem worked. My original country uses a mishmash of Java applets, ajax-based websites, and a mixture of mildly broken, outdated web technologies, served from a variety of domains. GOV.UK was a breath of fresh air with its simple, consistent UI, served as static HTML. This is how internet services should look like.
Hoorah to that! We are lucky to have wonderful .gov services; highly available, accessible, frictionless, simple, informative, well written and bullshit-free. Maybe the best online central government services in the world - though I hear Estonia are a contender too. However I live in perpetual fear that at any moment some corrupt minister will do a deal with Microsoft and the Devil. Out will go plain HTML and common…
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The flip side of this is local government technology. Truly some of the worst crimes against web development have been committed by local councils, or rather their outsourcing partners. The service that takes that crown in my experience is tarantopermits.com, a parking permit management system that fills me with rage just thinking about it.
I often wonder why so many Local Authorities and Gov Departments have to have their own unique web portals? There must be a massive cost-saving opportunity here.