Public Sector - Internet Marketing News and Blogs

A new study has been critical of the quality and accessibility of UK government websites.

The report (pdf), by the Public Accounts Committee, finds that the public sector has some work to do on the usability of its websites - which it says have barely improved since 2001.

Google is facing concerns from EU officials over the length of time it stores users' search habits.

A working party of data protection officials from members states last week sent a letter to the search giant demanding justification for its policy of keeping hold of users' identity and search patterns for up to two years.

The cost of failing to usability test designs before deployment has unfortunately been shown again in Scotland's controversial election results.

Google is working with US state governments to make online information more easily accessible to citizens.

The search site partnered with Arizona, Utah, California and Virginia so that "information that previously did not appear in a casual Google search will now appear when searching for results on relevant topics ranging from education to health to property records or regulations", Reuters reported and Google announced.

The Labour Party has appointed credit reference agency Experian to create a direct marketing campaign that will rely in part on e-mail.

The effort will reportedly see Experian create, build and manage a database of UK voters for use in permission-based e-mail and marketing campaigns.

The UK government must do more to ensure consumers get broadband well in excess of the speeds offered by today's packages, according to a telecoms advisory group.

Although 50% of all adults live in a home with 'broadband', according to a recent Ofcom report, the Broadband Stakeholders Group warned that current speeds will be too slow to handle the requirements of the most bandwidth-hungry businesses by 2012.

Twelve percent of British internet users fell victim to online fraud last year, with around half of them losing out while shopping according to new research.

Some 2,441 survey respondents to the Internet Safety: The State of the Nation paper reported an average £875 loss in 2006.

The UK government could turn to mobile marketing technologies in an effort to get on top of immigration control.

Among measures proposed by the Home Office, visitors to the country would receive a text message reminding them when their visa is due to expire.

Search engines saw an explosion in the number of Britons searching for Council Tax last week after a documentary showed how thousands may be elligible for a rebate.

Martyn Lewis of Moneysavingexpert.com appeared on TV to report how hundreds of users of his site's forum had claimed up to £1,000 because their homes were incorrectly banded.

That prompted an avalanche of search traffic form rate-payers Googling for more information, according to data from Hitwise.