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By editorial@silicon.com, 4 December 2001 16:20

COMMENT Knowledge is power, so the old saying goes, and that's doubly so when there is technology involved. Knowing about something - where it is, how much of it is out there - is tantamount to having control over it. And when you are the only one who has this information, well, that makes you very powerful indeed. The UK government has never been shy about exploiting this truism and it is fair to say no other government in the state's history has ever tried to manage such a large amount of data for its own ends. Some of this information management has provoked a storm of protest from lobbyists who have taken it upon themselves to protect our freedom of information and our personal privacy. Now consider the flipside. While the government has sought to control information, visionaries and gurus have also clamoured for it to recognise the impact the electronic world can have on the economic health of a country. They have urged the UK government to embrace the technological revolution quickly, before other countries race off into the online distance. Today the government celebrated the second year of its initiative to get the UK online, known simply as UK Online. Trade and industry secretary of state Patricia Hewitt proudly announced she had so far established 2,000 online centres across the country. That means we should know what the government is doing and vice versa. However, it's one thing to watch, another to do. UK Online was also set up to allow transactions to take place between the state and the people and between different state departments. There is still very little evidence of this happening. This will take a leap into the unknown for the government, as it risks getting another IT project wrong, losing millions of pounds and losing prestige. Knowledge may be power but only if you have the guts to do something with the information. The hard work is still ahead.