The US government damages itself by launching its own site

As we all know, president Obama has been trying to launch his healthcare act “Obamacare” for quite some time. This act would provide health insurance to tens of millions of uninsured US citizens.

The US government tried to make this easier by running its own healthcare insurance eCommerce website, called Healthcare.gov. On this website, can apply for healthcare insurance that satisfies their needs. Frankly, it was actually unnecessary for the government to build this website. Many startups were already capable of providing such a service. However, the US government decided to build its own website to protect consumers, because private companies would then have access to income data. This seems an invalid argument because there were already private companies that have access to such data, for tax purposes for instance.

When the US government did launch its own website, it was full of glitches and crashes. This scared away potential customers, thereby tarnishing the government’s reputation even further.

More on this story can be found here : http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/20/how-healthcare-gov-doomed-itself-by-screwing-startups/

Opening up American Internet exchange points: privacy issues?

Some weeks ago Internet exchange point AMS-IX, one of the largest Internet exchange points in the world, revealed they would open up a new hub in the United States. According to AMS-IX, this should make Internet connections easier. However, it is a fear amongst many that the American government will now be able to easily access our Internet data. Of course, this development is a cause of some concern. With all the recent discoveries of Internet spying by the American government agency known as the NSA, privacy has been of high importance.

Indeed, a large number of members from the AMS-IX seem to think privacy is important, because 102 of the 239 members voted against the move to the US.  This move seems of such great concern that even Dutch politicians are wondering whether this move is a good idea. MP Astrid Oosenburg from the PvdA has asked the ministers of Economics and Justice how the privacy of Dutch citizens will be protected.

While AMS-IX has been assured that it could open an exchange without the NSA spying on it, this seems doubtful. Suggestestions have been raised to start a second assocation handling the American exchange. This way, the NSA would not have easy access to Dutch data. However, there still is a clear connection between these two exchanges, which could still raise some privacy concerns.

Our privacy should be protected at all times, and spying upon Dutch citizens should certainly not be made easier.

Sources (in Dutch):

http://www.nu.nl/tech/3587442/nederlands-internetknooppunt-zet-omstreden-stap-vs.html

http://nutech.nl/internet/3582749/internetknooppunt-ams-ix-kan-vs-zonder-spionage.html