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House Panel Clears Grid Security Bill
The Energy and Environment Subcommittee passed a bill on Wednesday to protect the nation's electricity grid from terrorism and cyber threats.
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GOP Finds its Tweet Voice
The Republican Party was criticized after the 2008 elections for being outdone by Democrats in using social networking to raise money. The party is a quick learner, it seems.
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Acquisition by Wiki?
Collaboration, crowdsourcing and social media may be the way forward when it comes to improving government processes.
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Y'all Come Back Now
I'm from the South -- the same lovely city as the infamous <a href="http://www.pauladeen.com/">Paula Deen</a> -- and every now and then I appreciate finding someone in the D.C. area who speaks my language. That's right. I say "y'all."
Ideas
House Passes File Sharing Bill
The House on Tuesday passed a <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:H.4098:">bill</a> that would mandate a policy banning the use of file sharing software on federal computers and networks, along with those used by contractors.
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Stand Up and Be Counted
We're a little over a week into the 2010 decennial census -- most census forms were delivered between March 15 and 17 -- and it's time for a progress report, courtesy of the Census Bureau's new <a href=http://2010.census.gov/2010census/take10map/>Web mapping feature</a>.
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USPS Takes to the Web to Explain
The U.S. Postal Service launched on Wednesday a <a href=http://www.usps.com/communications/five-daydelivery/>Web site</a> to explain their controversial proposal for five-day mail delivery.
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Open Government = Another Buzzword?
Opening up the government means more than just putting information out there, said Rachel Flagg, General Services Administration web content manager and Federal Web Managers Council co-chair, during a panel discussion Tuesday at GovSec, a government security expo in Washington, D.C.
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New Cookie Rules, April 7
The White House early next month plans to change a federal Web site policy that bans tracking devices called cookies, which many commercial sites use to customize their pages for users, administration officials said on Tuesday.
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Google Stops Censoring, Stays In China
Google on Monday announced it has stopped filtering search results for Chinese citizens - a move that flies in the face of Chinese law - but plans to continue operating in China.
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Nextgov Launches Soundbytes
Nextgov wants to hear from you: What do you think about body scanners? Transparency? The IT workforce?
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Kempf to Oversee GSA Acquisitions
General Services Administrator Martha Johnson on Friday announced that Steve Kempf, currently the Federal Acquisition Service's deputy commissioner, will take over as FAS acting commissioner on April 3.
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Supreme Court Sorta Spiffs Up Web Site
The heavily-trafficked <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/">Web site</a> of the U.S. Supreme Court -- long criticized for its confusing navigation and lack of information -- has finally been upgraded, somewhat.
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The Nose Knows
Is your nose a snub? Or maybe a turn-up? According to British scientists, the nose could be the newest feature used to verify an individual's identity.
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Broadband Plan: Test Fed Sites
The national broadband plan released by the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday presents federal Web managers with a somewhat impossible mission.
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Stimulus Watchdogs Go CSI
Analysts working for the independent federal board that monitors stimulus spending are using CSI-style tools to fight fraudsters, according to a report about oversight operations that the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board released to the president and Congress on Monday.
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Upcoming: House Transparency Caucus
Some members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are expected next week to announce the formation of a bipartisan congressional transparency caucus, co-chaired by Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the panel's ranking member, and Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill.
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Tax Free Smart Grid Grants
Federal grants under the Smart Grid Investment Grant program will not be taxed, the Treasury and Energy Department announced Wednesday. This means that the IRS will provide a safe harbor for corporations receiving grants under the $3.4 billion federal stimulus program, which funds projects that aid the modernization of the energy grid.
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