Ideas
How Many CIOs Does It Take . . .
You would think with three chief information officers in a room, there would not be technology problems for a presentation. Yet, at a morning panel, "Green IT Strategies" at the Greengov symposium at George Washington University, the question was how many does it take to get their PowerPoint slides displayed. The answer? Greater than three.
Ideas
CIOs Not Into CyberScope
Although use of CyberScope, a mandatory new system for reporting on information security in federal agencies, is required by November 15, fewer than one in five federal information technology chiefs have tried using the program.
Ideas
Canada Launches Apps Contest
Canada's capital city plans to hold a contest for citizens to think up government services. But first someone should make sure the competition's website works.
Ideas
Google's Street View of Penguins
Watch out penguins. After <a href=http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2010/09/backlash_in_europe_over_google_street_view.php>raising privacy concerns</a> in Europe, Google Street View has arrived in Antarctica.
Ideas
Why Legacy? It Works
NASA has taken some hits for having decades-old computer technology running the shuttle program and the International Space station. For example, the space agency uses some technology that the moon programs relied on in the 1960s and the space station uses processors more than two decades old. Sounds like a typical government operation? Well, no, when you have scientists explain it.
Ideas
Wikileaks' OGov Lessons
What the ongoing furor over the WikiLeaks phenomenon has revealed, <a href="http://www.thenation.com/print/article/154780/wikileaks-and-hacktivist-culture">writes</a> Peter Ludlow, author of <em>Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias</em>, "is that the media and government agencies believe there is a single protagonist to be concerned with--something of a James Bond villain, if you will."
Ideas
Europe to Google: Not in My Front Yard
Another European country has blocked <a href=http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/>Google Street View</a> from taking pictures in their country, as some Europeans fight the program that provides panoramic views of locations from the street level.
Ideas
A More Serious Twitter Breach
When hackers on Tuesday exploited a security flaw on the social-networking service Twitter to corrupt messages from users -- including the White House press secretary's account -- the breach seemed to be a joke rather than an effort to bring down systems.
Ideas
Drupal Finds More Converts
The Federal Communications Commission plans to rebuild its <a href=http://fcc.gov/>website</a> using Drupal, an open source content management platform, Steven VanRoekel, managing director of the agency, said in a <a href=http://reboot.fcc.gov/blog?entryId=784078>blog post</a> on Wednesday.
Ideas
Turbulence Ahead for FAA's NextGen
The Federal Aviation Administration acknowledges there is still a lot of work to do on its ambitious $20 billion program to replace the nation's aging radar-based air traffic control system with a satellite-based network by 2020.
Ideas
Verizon Nabs HHS Networx Contract
The Health and Human Services Department awarded Verizon Business, a Verizon Communications unit, a $169 million contract to manage and secure Internet protocol and data networks.
Ideas
For HHS, the Eye is on the Prize
For the Health and Human Services Department, Health IT is all about knowing the end result.
Ideas
The Cyberwar Echo Chamber
Pentagon officials are starting to repeat one another's cyberwar rhetoric. Hello, is this an echo chamber?
Ideas
Porn Still a Fed Problem
It seems that viewing pornography is still a problem for some of those among the Federal ranks.
Ideas
Iran, State, an App and Fingerpointing
Technology designed to circumvent Internet censorship by Iranian officials has been found to be riddled with security loopholes, raising questions on how the State Department could have approved it for distribution in Iran.
Ideas
Cyber Pays, Commodities Don't
HP announced the latest in a string of acquisitions on Monday, with plans to buy security software company ArcSight for $1.5 billion in cash. In the last six months, the PC manufacturer has announced plans to acquire Fortify, 3Com, Palm and 3PAR, to name a few, giving it a larger footprint in networking, mobile computing and -- most notably -- security.
Ideas
Watch for Defense FAR Changes
A study by internal government watchdogs found Defense Department contracts are missing certain provisions for protecting confidential government data, an omission that may leave sensitive files vulnerable to disclosure or misuse by company employees. But the footnotes of the audit indicate that changes to the guidelines are expected this month.
Ideas