Privacy by design and administrative efficiency in e-governance: A case study

Achieving administrative efficiency is one of the objectives pursued by e-governance. Many aspects of government to citizen and government to business exchanges may be streamlined through an adequate use of information and communication technologies (ICT). However, among the various challenges facing e-governance, legal issues regarding data protection and privacy are often perceived as curbing the full potential of ICT regarding efficiency. In this paper, we introduce a decentralized information management model used for the development of e-government in Belgium and that illustrates how privacy and efficiency dot not have to be opposing forces. We discuss the key aspects of this model and how it complies to the principles of a privacy by design approach. We assess its overall strengths and weaknesses as well as its potential to support further legal requisites such as the right to information and transparency.