Digital Government
Tech Keeps Pushing Health Costs Up
More bad news for health costs - and how technology is pushing them up.
Ideas
The Outdated and Not So Bad
<em>Smashing Magazine</em>, a publication for Web designers and developers, recently published a <a href=http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/06/23/showcase-of-ugly-military-intelligence-and-defense-websites/>critique of military and intelligence agency websites</a> worldwide, placing dozens of sites in one of its categories: Outdated, Poorly Coded, Poorly Designed, The Not So Bad, and A Few Good Sites.
Digital Government
Honey, We Need Online Counseling
Technology has taken over much of the dating scene, with match-making sites such as <a href=http://www.eharmony.com/>eharmony.com</a>. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that the flip side of finding that perfect mate through the Web is online marriage counseling. The Well blog at the New York Times on Monday <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/seeking-to-pre-empt-marital-strife/">discussed</a> these programs.
Cybersecurity
Paying for Classified Security
You'd probably think that since Sept. 11, the federal government's costs for securing classified information would have increased at a steady rate year after year. That wouldn't be quite right. According to the Information Security Oversight Office's <a href=http://www.archives.gov/isoo/reports/2009-cost-report.pdf>2009 Cost Report</a>, which was just released, the amount the federal government spent on information security for classified data was$4.26 billion in 2009, down slightly from $4.34 billion in 2008. In fact, the amount of spending on securing networks storing classified data hasn't increased at quick clip since 2004, when the amount spent on security was $3.9 billion. Of course, spending shot up right after Sept. 11. In 2001, the cost of securing classified networks was just $2.5 billion.
Ideas
A Stolen Government Laptop -- Ho Hum
Now it's just a dog-bites-man story. Journalists usually look for the man-bites-dog news -- the unusual, atypical stories. A stolen government laptop, which compromises government workers' personal identity, just no longer fits that bill. Still, here's another one.
Cybersecurity
Report: Billions for Securing the Smart Grid
There have been numerous reports on lost of spending on cybersecurity. All those IT initiatives the White House is pushing require secure pathways and storage -- including the smart grid. According to a recently released <a href="http://www.pikeresearch.com/newsroom/smart-grid-cyber-security-market-to-reach-3-7-billion-by-2015">report from Pike Research</a>, a market research and consulting firm for green technology, the market for securing the smart grid will top $3.7 billion by 2015, or about 15 percent of total smart grid capital investment during the next five years.
Ideas
I'm a BARF Forum Member, Thank You
Government loves acronyms. So do technologists. But sometimes people don't think through the name of their organization, contract or program -- until it's too late. I'm not so sure the folks over at the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board were oblivious to what their group spelled out as an acronym. After all, their job is to rat out contractors or agencies that don't follow the rules. Someone over there had a sense of humor.
Cybersecurity
The Growing Business of Privacy
Privacy is becoming big business, <a href=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703438604575315182025721578.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_LEFTTopNews>reportsM</a> <em>The Wall Street Journal</em>. Privacy flubs by AT&T, Facebook, Apple Inc. seem to have fanned the interest.
Cybersecurity
Feds Dodge a Supreme Privacy Shot
Privacy groups are wiping their brows and saying, "Phew," after Thursday's Supreme Court ruling on how much leeway governments have in searching their employees' private electronic messages. The Center for Democracy and Technology, a privacy rights group in Washington, liked the court's decision, even though it found that a California police department's search of an officer's text messages was constitutional. From a CDT <a href=http://www.cdt.org/pr_statement/cdt-supreme-court-holds-steady-workplace-privacy>press release</a>:
Cybersecurity
Developing a Taste for Cookies
It's looking like the decade-old cookie ban for federal websites is about to be rescinded. Dave Wennergren, deputy chief information officer at the Defense Department, <a href=http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20100617_5266.php>talked with Nextgov</a> on Wednesday evening about the department's consideration of giving visitors to its websites the option of choosing to have cookies placed on their systems. That way the department could push content to users based on what they read and where they go on the sites -- not much different than what commercial sites do now.
Digital Government
The Default Problem for EMRs
Leaving systems on default settings have been a big problem for computer users when it comes to <a href=http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090729_2566.php>peer to peer programs</a> and even <a href=http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2007/09/hacking_so_easy_a_cave_man_can.php>major networks</a>.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity Tips Primer
As if we needed any more reminders that, indeed, wireless networks can be vulnerable to hackers or inappropriate use, Joel Gurin, chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission wrote on June 11:
Digital Government
Making IT Look Good to Minorities
<em>National Journal</em>, a Nextgov sister publication, will be hosting a discussion on "The American Workforce is Changing: Can the Business and Education Sectors Keep Up?" The panel will discuss "the changing demographics of the new generation that is entering today's workforce." An e-mail promoting the discussion, which will take place June 17 at the Newseum, says minorities now "comprise two-fifths of this new wave of workers."
Ideas
Classroom Tech Questioned Again
<em>The Washington Post</em> ran an <a href=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/10/AR2010061005522.html>article</a> on Friday that questions just how much -- if at all -- the high-tech gizmos like whiteboards (which replaced chalk boards) that schools have been spending millions of dollars improve learning and test scores. From the article:
Digital Government
Senate's Technophobia Infects Health IT
Nextgov Editor at Large Bob Brewin reported on Thursday that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is going ahead with a conference to talk to contractors about a new $9 million program that will rely on social media, virtual worlds and other online apps to help soldiers cope with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries. The Senate and the House Armed Services committee don't like the idea. They say DARPA doesn't have the expertise in health privacy law to properly protect the information.
Ideas
Orszag Wants Innovation
Tom Shoop, the editor in chief and author of the FedBlog at Nextgov's sister site Government Executive, started a bit of a debate on Wednesday over the supposedly sorry state of the government's computing power -- or is that the government's sorry state of <em>leveraging</em> computing power to create interactive apps that the public can use?
Ideas
OMB to Tackle Financial Systems
Developing financial management systems that work has been a <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20081002_7594.php">big, persistent pain</a> for agencies for years and years. But now the Office of Management and Budget wnats to see if they can provide a solution. The office is getting ready to issue new rules to try to rein in the runaway systems, according to an <a href="http://federalnewsradio.com/?nid=35&sid=1976572">article</a> by Jason Miller at Federal News Radio.
Cybersecurity
Feds Caught Up in iPad Breach
A security breach in Apple's iPad has exposed the personal information of some top government officials as well as celebrities, according to an <a href=http://gawker.com/5559346/apples-worst-security-breach-114000-ipad-owners-exposed>article</a> on gawker.com
Digital Government
Zap -- Sit Up!
No longer does your mother have to shout, "Sit up!" Now your shirt will.
Cybersecurity
FTC On Photocopier Security
More for our continuing feature on the ever-expanding number of devices that present a security hole. (Past items <a href=<a href=http://cybersecurityreport.nextgov.com/2010/05/a_cyberattack_with_that_latte.php>here</a> and <a href=http://cybersecurityreport.nextgov.com/2010/05/hackers_will_soon_want_your_car.php>here</a>.) This month: photocopiers. From IDG News Service:
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