Transparency and Public Information on the Internet: Investigating Accountability in the Legislative and Judicial Branches in the South American Scenario

Abstract

In the face of the uninterrupted advancement of information and communication technology (ICT)tools, public sectors are getting closer and closer to citizens. Accordingly, web portals have become an important instrument in enabling society to acquire public information. Therefore, this article seeks to present an overview of the accountability of legislative and judicial branches as indicated by the official websites of national parliaments and courts of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR)countries. The methodology used was based on an observation protocol that considered the indicators proposed by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)for the legislative branch and by Porto [1] for the judiciary. In conclusion, a significant superiority was observed in Brazil regarding the presence of accountability dimensions in both parliaments and courts of justice. Although Argentina performed reasonably well in its legislative branch, the Argentine Supreme Court of Justice website required substantial improvements. In contrast, Paraguay and Uruguay showed a greater need to increase the availability of information on their web portals, both for their legislative and judicial branches. The research also indicates an opportunity for greater interaction between the selected countries, in an effort to share good transparency and accessibility practices on public data.