Using internet to promote the transparency and fight corruption: Latin American transparency portals

The right to social control of the government refers to the monitoring of the formulation of policies and initiatives of government by citizens and their social organizations. This category of rights creates conditions for the establishment of relations of trust between rulers and the ruled and gives legitimacy to actions by the people. The initiatives that are the right are the benefits of accounts and disclosure of government activities. The right to social control depends substantially on access and availability of governmental information. With the use of ICT, social control of government can be encouraged by the possibility of facilitating access to information, primarily using the Internet. The Internet is a fast, relatively low cost and easy medium to use for enhancing the promotion of this right. Examples of government initiatives to promote transparency are Transparency portals. The Transparency Portals, which are present in several Latin American countries, provide access to public information especially in relation to public spending. This article examines the possibilities of using portals to promote the transparency and social control of public management as well as citizen participation. The study adopted a methodology based on survey through structured observation of the following Latin American portals: Transparency Portal, at Baja California, Mexico; Transparency Portal, in São Carlos, Brazil; Portal Transparency, in the municipality of Caçapava, in Brazil; the Transparency Portal, Trujillo, Peru; Transparent Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the Transparency Portal, Federal Government of Brazil.