Ideas
Centralizing Cloud Security
A governmentwide program that provides a centralized approach to security issues in cloud and multiagency IT systems soon will go into pilot.
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Education Error Message
President Obama has put the government in charge of student loans, but it appears that the federal IT system isn't quite prepared to handle that responsibility.
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E-Pay Stubs: Thinking About Defaults
Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/blog/10/03/29/SAVEings/">announced</a> on Monday that the National Finance Center, which processes payroll for 675,000 federal employees, will start issuing electronic pay stubs as a default.
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GSA Continues Acquisitions Shakeup
The General Services Administration on Tuesday announced another leadership change in its Federal Acquisition Service, the office responsible for coordinating goods and services for government agencies. Jon Jordon, controller for FAS, will serve as acting deputy commissioner starting April 3.
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Fun With Math: Budget $$$
The Center for American Progress has launched an <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/03/discretionary_spending_interactive.html">interactive pie chart</a> that lets users zoom in to see which programs are considered discretionary versus mandatory in the annual federal budget. President Obama's budget proposes a three-year <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2011/assets/responsibility.pdf">governmentwide freeze</a> on nonsecurity discretionary spending to save $250 billion over the next decade.
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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.
Ideas
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.
Ideas
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.
Ideas
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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