Tech Roundup: Will Covid-19 consolidate Brazil’s shift to e-government?

You’re reading The Brazilian Report’s weekly tech roundup, a digest of the most important news on technology and innovation in Brazil. This week’s topics: the bidding war for bankrupt telecom firm Oi, Brazil’s turn to e-government during the pandemic, and the country is a hotspot for ‘credential stuffing’ attacks.

Will Covid-19 consolidate Brazil’s shift to e-government?

Since the start of the pandemic, demand for government services online has surged. In June, the federal administration’s online e-government portal Gov.BR recorded over 12 million users, three times that of January, according to data from the Economy Ministry. Does this mean Brazilians are beginning to wave goodbye to in-person bureaucratic services? 

The great accelerator. The Economy Ministry said the Covid-19 pandemic has forced the government to speed up its process to digitize services. As part of the 2020-2022 Digital Government Strategy, the administration intends to offer 100 percent of its 3,000-plus services online.

Right direction. As explained in last week’s Tech Roundup, Latin America — Brazil included — is improving in the United Nations’ e-Government index. The index ranks countries according to their availability and quality of online services, telecoms infrastructure, and human capacity to operate it.

Keep an eye out. According to Alexandre Barbosa, a senior innovation researcher at ITS Rio, the success of this move to digital depends on how citizens will access the services. He mentions the Provisional Decree 983, regarding the use of electronic signatures in government agencies, as a crucial turning point. The decree is likely to go to a vote in Congress in the coming weeks. “It will be decisive to stop or further the digital agenda,” Mr. Barbosa tells The Brazilian Report.

States and cities. Though embedded in the ministry’s agenda, the digital transformation of states and cities has not kept up the pace with the advances seen in the federal sphere. States have been tackling their own agendas, with Mr. Barbosa praising the examples of Alagoas, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Ceará, and Espírito Santo. 

• But in order to make progress with municipalities’ turn to e-government, the relationship between...