The acronym IoT stands for internet of things. The IoT ecosystem can be envisioned as a set of physical electronic devices embedded with intelligence, connected through a network, enabling them to collect and exchange data, and allowing these devices to be sensed and handled remotely between the physical and cyber worlds. The devices connected through the internet has been influencing all walks of our life ranging from individual, societal, educational, industrial, entrepreneurial, and related to governance as well. As we are connected and surrounded with a plethora of connected smart devices, it seems there is a great risk of security and privacy in several aspects, such as device authentication, data theft, device manipulation, data falsification, etc., to name a few. Hence, the current chapter has been undertaken to explore and comprehend the security and privacy related implications, opportunities, future directions, and challenges involved in implementing digital governance with IoT.
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The origin of communication over Internet was perceived as human to human interaction but with the advent of IoT, the concept of communication over Internet has changed tremendously as now the communication encompasses from beings to things that is Human to Machines, Machine to Machine, and vice versa. With the advancement of IoT it seems that this technology is moving towards an automated society where everything and everyone will be connected (R. Khan, Khan, Zaheer, & Khan, 2012). IoT is the major technological revolution in recent human history which has changed the directions of computing comprising several physical objects with unique identity and pervasive connection. In this technological continuum everything around us like smart vehicles, smart gadgets, smart home appliances, smart wearables etc., are all interconnected to share their data with each other, as well as pass their data to the cloud. IoT ecosystem is expanding every moment based on the existing network environments with embedded intelligence. IoT is one of the fastest growing area in the history of computing with a projected increase of 50 billion devices by the end of 2020, which is 80 times greater compared to the population growth as illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Source: (Zahrah A. Almusaylim & Zaman, 2018) Digital Governance DG or Electronic-Governance EG is projected as the digital presence of an organization encompassing its means of communications with the external world, these means of communication can be websites, blogs, social media channels, portals and all other internet related products and services. Thus, DG is defined as the use of Information and Communications Technology ICT to exchange, integrate and enable communication to dissipate information involving numerous standalone systems and services between government and businesses, government and citizens, and several other back office processes and interactions with in the entire governments operational framework. With the advent and advancement of ICT many manual processes with in the government sector have been automated to improve the quality of service in public sector to name a few are registration of documents online, online payment provisions for various bills, taxes, online registrations of assets belonging to individuals and business organizations, etc. thereby enabling governments to function smoothly with pace and efficiency for the public welfare. ICT now has extended its horizon with an extension of IoT which has provisioned automation for several systems that are facilitating civil life to a large extent to name a few of IoT enabled DG systems are: parking systems allowing public know the parking updates, weather systems to update on weather, traffic control systems to update citizens with the current status of the traffic which are allowing people to plan their travel, security checks at airports, electricity billing systems, automated electronic passports, etc., that are being helpful to manage and administer all these automated systems. IoT in DG is playing a very vital role in improving the quality of life. Hence, to improve and facilitate the systems governments all over the world are investing and willing to invest for developing secure, effective and efficient systems that could facilitate public welfare and smooth governance of the state. Automated systems created by IoT has not only influenced individuals and industries but also, they have greatly impacted the whole governance processes as well globally.
IoT expediates electronic governance by connecting physical objects with a unique IP address forming a network of physical objects which are embedded with intelligence and benefiting organizations for connected with governance to function smoothly thereby enabling digital governance mediated with technology comprising relationship between citizens and governments, development of policy, communication and expression of public will. IoT in DG also provides enough quality data which can be used by organizations to improve their decision making process which in turn can help them to grow with the pace required by the markets. (Brous & Janssen, 2015)