Providing digital public services through secure digital postal systems

As a result of the technological revolution, postal systems that were once viewed as efficient, trusted and inclusive have rapidly come to be seen as outdated, expensive and slow. Even though posts are still recognised as essential to citizens, they are showing evidence of decline. A direct effect of this decline is that the ability of posts to fulfill their universal service obligation (USO) is slowly being eroded. Ironically, research shows that, in order to protect their personal information online, citizens still seek trusted and efficient systems with which to interact, The aim of this paper is to present a privacy-enhanced Digital Postal Solution (DPS) designed to create public value through reducing citizens´ privacy concerns while providing secure government 2.0 services. Additionally, the DPS restores, in digital format, the full gamut of traditional universal services afforded by posts to citizens in earlier times. Additionally, it provides citizens with a platform where they can avail of web 2.0 technologies to interact with government, making way for a more transparent and collaborative relationship between government and the public. It also provides every citizen with a private digital space, where they can securely access, process and store (un)official and personal information such as bills, receipts, health and financial records. In summary, from this space, citizens can begin to fully and safely interact with digital society.