Harnessing Technology to Prevent Corruption
By Devin Ballam, Marketing –
By using technology to increase transparency in government, the public will be able to verify that government funds are not going to waste and thereby prevent corruption.
A growing economy helps balance social status and improves health and educational services, hallmarks of good governance. So what impedes growth in the economy?
Recently, nations around the world have experienced the debilitating effects of corruption. This causes the economy to suffer and therein lies a problem that needs to be corrected.
Advances Prevent Corruption
Technology has advanced tremendously in these last few decades and continues to influence our everyday lives, for good and bad. Technology, if used correctly, can help fight corruption and improve the trustworthiness of the government.
New advances can help monitor business and governments online by looking at their tax filing, what they buy, and how they distribute their funds. This opens up the government’s every move to the eyes of the public. The citizens in a government are like the customers in a business ― without customers, a business does not function. Likewise, without citizen approval, the government doesn’t receive the funding it needs to work properly.
The Philippines ― A Case Study
In the Philippines, government officials decided to make data and contract information public so citizens could see how tax money was being spent. With recent typhoons shaking the country, the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub offers real-time updates on relief pledges made and money used for typhoon recovery. In addition to these updates, geo-tagging tools help monitor the assistance provided to the people affected by typhoons.
Such technology serves to make governments more transparent, allowing for citizens to check and validate the integrity of government officials.
Verifying Verity
One plausible solution to verify a government official’s statements is to administer polygraph exams. Another potential solution is EyeDetect™, a lie detection test which may be used in place of or in conjunction with a standard polygraph.
EyeDetect™ can help detect lies with a simple, non-intrusive test that poses a series of true or false statements. The examinee is asked to answer truthfully and if a lie is detected, an optical scanner using unique technology that has an average of 85 percent accuracy will record it.
Such technology can help improve the economy by allowing citizens to observe the actions of government officials to know if they can be trusted.
