The Homeland Security Department announced today that the president’s budget, scheduled for release Monday, will include $12.14 billion for border security and immigration and enforcement efforts. But the details on IT are sparse.

According to the press release, $775 million will go toward secure border fencing, infrastructure and technology contributing to the Secure Border Initiative, or SBI, and $100 million will support the expanded use of E-Verify, DHS’ automated system employers use to confirm the employment eligibility of new hires. The department expects E-Verify participation to increase from about 50,000 employers now to more than 100,000 this year, and 300,000 in fiscal year 2009, according to the release.

DHS also announced that $442.4 million will go toward additional border patrol agents, $3 billion to enforcement activities by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and $1.8 billion to additional detention beds.

DHS officials gave no specifics of what those budget allocations will involve and whether any funds will go toward supporting IT efforts, but that doesn’t mean industry can’t provide some guesses. Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer at FedSources, a federal research and marketing firm in McLean, Va., chimed in on the percent of funds he expects to go toward IT products and services:

• $775 million for secure border fencing, infrastructure and technology under SBI in fiscal 2009: 5 percent
• $442.4 million for additional border patrol agents: 0 percent
• $3 billion for enforcement activities: 2 percent
• $1.8 billion for ICE custody operations: 0 percent
• $100 million for E-Verify: 50 percent

Will the overall budget bring far bigger numbers for DHS IT efforts? One can only hope.

While progress is being made, the government has a ways to go before it can claim to have fully embraced Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), subject experts said at a panel discussion on the topic yesterday.

Attending the 2008 AFFIRM CFO Summit were Douglas Webster, chief financial officer at the Department of Labor; Jim Martin, chief financial officer at the Department of Housing and Urban Development; and Mark Krzysko, an acquisition executive in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Each spoke about the unique challenges of trying to implement newer risk assessment and mitigation strategies to the federal arena.

According to COSO, ERM is defined as a process to identify, assess and mitigate potential risks across an enterprise. The approach has been gaining steam in the private sector and has started to cross over into the federal workspace.

Webster said that one of the problems with the current approach is the focus on audits and internal controls, which he called a foundation on which better risk management practices must be built. "Internal controls are largely operational, while audits are backward looking. ERM focuses on projected risks,” Webster said. “Identifying all risks is not enough. You must balance those risks with the amount of monetary investment they require.” He added that the government should look to the private sector for those best practices.

The concept of risk vs. return is an interesting one, and one highlighted a Government Executive article on the Census Bureau's rationale and later contract problems in switching to handheld computers to support the 2010 Census. According to Krzysko, such risk/reward calculations are a critical part of ERM. “I believe the dialogue has shifted; we are now asking ‘What value does this (project) bring the taxpayer, the warfighter, or the community at large?’”

As an example of how ERM could improve the acquisition process, Krzysko referred to Defense's success in establishing a new software program that allows senior decision makers to instantly view on a computer the critical pieces of information on major weapon systems. “Within 45 days, we were able to access the programs of 12 major weapon systems worth over $103 billion in nanoseconds," he said. "Before that, you had to go through multiple services and someone had to prepare and walk the data through the process. It has helped us move from a focus on compliance to one on responsibility.”

Still, there remains much to be done. “Not to be negative, but there’s a good ways to go in terms of best practices when compared to the private sector," Webster said. "You still don’t hear the risk part of the equation in the daily vernacular of decision making."

When asked who was leading the charge in the government towards ERM, Webster said the only agency to enforce COSO’s definition of ERM is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. “They got it. It would be worthwhile if more organizations did the same,” said Webster. “There are difficulties in applying ERM to the federal government, but they are not so great that we shouldn’t attempt moving in that direction.”

Headlines from around the Web for Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender

Congress Extends Surveillance Law for 15 Days
NetworkWorld
Following an appeal from President George W. Bush on Monday, Congress has granted a temporary extension to a controversial law that allows the government to conduct telephone surveillance on suspected terrorists.

Tech Giant CSC Moving Its Base to Falls Church
The Washington Post
Global technology and consulting firm Computer Sciences Corp. is relocating its headquarters to Falls Church from El Segundo, Calif., making it one of the largest companies based in the Washington area. The move, which may bring as many as a couple of hundred employees to the area, caps a consolidation of CSC management in the region. The company already has 11,000 workers in the area.

Phone Glitch Hangs Up Schools in Massachusetts
The Boston Globe
A small human error caused a large telephone glitch that occurred shortly after the Medford district's automated calling system went through its update. Someone forgot to log out of the database before trying to send a message sometime before noon to the few parents whose children had been marked absent. Instead, about 2,100 calls were issued about absent students at various schools. So many parents arrived at Brooks Elementary School to check on their children that officials put the place in lockdown.

NASCIO Urges Action on IT Security in New Video
Government Technology
NASCIO has released a new video, "At Risk! Securing Government in a Digital World." A product of NASCIO's Security and Privacy Committee and IT Security Video Work Group, the video is designed to assist state CIOs in communicating the important message about why securing government technology is a critical concern in the digital world.

Where the Candidates Stand on IT
Government Computer News
Advisers to Republican and Democratic presidential candidates, speaking at the State of the Net conference hosted by the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus, outlined their differing opinions on the government’s role in promoting, regulating and policing IT.

Kaine: Talk Results to Capture Business
Washington Technology
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine urged contractors selling to state governments to talk first to governors, legislators and state officials about tangible results they can help them achieve before moving on to specific technology strategies.

Future Watch: High-Tech Bridge Safety
PC Magazine
Some crafty tech upgrades could help stabilize many of the nation's potentially unsafe bridges. Researchers surmised that placing electronic sensors on bridges could transmit essential data to FHA monitors, reporting on the structural integrity and general overall health of the bridges.

Study: U.S. Broadband Goal Nearly Reached
BusinessWeek
n 2004, President Bush pledged that all Americans should have affordable access to high-speed Internet service by 2007. A report to be released Thursday by the administration says it has succeeded -- mostly. "Networked Nation: Broadband in America" is an upbeat assessment of the administration's efforts to spur growth and competition in the high-speed Internet market. Critics said the report's conclusion is too rosy.

Data Breaches Probed at New Jersey Blue Cross, Georgetown
ComputerWorld
Companies are paying a lot of attention to securing their networks against malicious attacks and other threats, but some still lag in implementing similar measures for protecting data on desktops, laptops and portable storage devices. The most recent examples are Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey and Georgetown University, both of which faced data compromises this month.

Free Service Offers Prisons' Neighbors Alerts
The Indianapolis Star
An automated telephone call system will warn people living near Indiana prisons of escapes and riots. The Alert Notification Service is a computer system that telephones people who have registered for the service if there's trouble at a prison. While there are 28 correctional facilities in Indiana, the system will be intended for alerts from the 24 prisons considered "secure facilities."

After much speculation, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., confirmed yesterday that he will not run for office in 2008. As Republicans and Democrats scramble to defend or snag (respectively) the Davis' congressional seat, the technology community – both in and outside government – bids farewell to a staunch advocate.

The list of IT issues that benefited from Davis' support is long. In his early days in Congress, he founded the Information Technology Working Group to promote a better understanding of issues important to the computer and technology industries. He sponsored the Y2K Act, which encouraged Y2K compliance in industry, and later helped pushed several bills through Congress that advanced efforts to more strategically implement IT: the E-Gov Act of 2002, the Federal Information Security Act, and the Critical Infrastructure Information Act, to name a few. He speaks frequently in support of changes to trade agreement laws that would make it far easier for agencies to purchase technology goods and services.

Phil Bond, the president and CEO of the Information Technology Association of America, described Davis as the “ultimate champion for technology in Congress,” helping to “tear down the wall between the federal government and commercial technologies.

“When other members needed to get smart on IT, they often called Tom,” Bond said in a prepared statement.

Now what? In a statement released this afternoon, Davis said that he has not yet decided what opportunities to pursue, "but it’s clear to me that returning to the private sector and reacquainting myself with that view of the world is the best move." He was careful to call his departure “a sabbatical from public life,” keeping the door open for a return to government, but no doubt the number of offers coming his way in the meantime promises to be staggering -- if it isn't already -- as IT firms and organizations scramble for the chance to profit from his knowledge of government IT as well as his influence.

You may have heard that federal agencies are monitoring an American spy satellite that is predicted to enter the Earth's atmosphere, with the possibility of some debris reaching the ground. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, head of the U.S. Northern Command, says "the size of the satellite suggests that some number of pieces will not burn up as the orbiting vehicle re-enters the Earth's atmosphere and will hit the ground," the AP reports.

But Wire Magazine's Danger Room blog says not to worry. The chance of debris hitting someone is "pretty darn minuscule." They've posted a video of a Russian rocket body re-entering the atmosphere over Denver to make the point.

Headlines from around the Web for Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender

GSA to Grade Agencies on 508 Compliance
Federal Computer Week
The General Services Administration, borrowing a play from the Office of Management and Budget, will begin assigning red or green scores to agency contracting officers and 508 coordinators depending on whether they are ignoring or complying with the law.

IT Salary Increases Modest; Gender Gap Widens
NetworkWorld
Salaries for IT pros only edged up in 2007 from 2006, and the gender gap widened to the point where women in IT are now making 12 percet less on average than male counterparts, according to the Dice.com annual technology salary report released Tuesday.

CIA Goes Green, From Roof to the Drain
ComputerWorld
The Central Intelligence Agency is adopting green building designs and technology in its new campus facilities in northern Virginia, saying it is making its new campus buildings energy-efficient and pleasant places to work, with offices that have outdoor views, lots of fresh air and preferred parking for carpoolers.

Federal Desktop Security Mandate Kicks In
NetworkWorld
On Wednesday the federal government's desktop security mandate kicked in, requiring government agencies to support standard secure configurations for Windows XP and Vista operating systems. Known as the Federal Desktop Core Configuration standard, the FDCC will require agencies to apply and maintain standard security settings on all desktops and laptops.

U.S. Tops New Tech Usage Ranking
Reuters
The United States, Sweden and Japan topped a new ranking called Connectivity Scorecard that measures how well countries use telecommunications technologies -- networks, cell phones and computers -- to boost their social and economic prosperity. Created by a London Business School professor, Connectivity Scorecardmeasured countries on around 30 indicators including usage of communications technology.

TWIC Card Needs Double Since Initial Estimates
Federal Computer Week
The U.S. Coast Guard now says that up to 1.5 million workers could need Transportation Worker Identification Credential cards. But before the workers who will likely need the smart cards can begin to fully use their credentials, the Homeland Security Department still faces several challenges, including unanswered policy questions about the requirements for individual ports and card reader specifications.

Over 95 Percent of E-mail is Spam
Government Technology
Ipswitch on Monday announced the result of its ninth Spamometer survey, revealing that 96.4 percent of all e-mail received is spam, the highest rate since recording began. This compares with 95 percent the previous quarter and only 84 percent over the same period last year. The biggest category of spam -- finance -- accounts for 41 percent of all messages received in an e-mail inbox.

IPv6 Profile Takes the Long View
Government Computer News
The National Institute of Standards and Technology wants to make it clear that neither agencies nor the information technology industry are expected to be using its proposed standards for IPv6 networking and security products when IPv6 is enabled on government backbones this year.

NJ Free Tech Web Site in Danger of Closing
The Star-Ledger
A free, state-funded Web site popular with fledgling biotechno logy companies, small business entrepreneurs, scholars, students and medical professionals will go off- line Feb. 29 unless the Legislature and Gov. Jon Corzine come up with $1 million to keep it going.

The Web site for CSO (that's Chief Security Officer) Magazine recently gave out its "Privvy" awards for 2007 -- dubious recognition for people who utter the most provocative and/or telling statements about privacy. One of the winners is a federal government executive: Deputy Director of National Intelligence Donald Kerr, who won the "Doubleplusgood Newspeak of the Year" award for this quote:

"Too often, privacy has been equated with anonymity; and it’s an idea that is deeply rooted in American culture.... But in our interconnected and wireless world, anonymity—or the appearance of anonymity—is quickly becoming a thing of the past.... We need to move beyond the construct that equates anonymity with privacy and focus more on how we can protect essential privacy in this interconnected environment. Protecting anonymity isn’t a fight that can be won. Anyone that’s typed in their name on Google understands that." Privacy advocates seized on Kerr’s Orwellian attempt to singlehandedly change the definition of privacy because, hey, it’s really hard. (Source: Office of the Director of Naval Intelligence.)

Headlines from around the Web for Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender

Red Light for Green-Tech Start-Ups?
CNET News
A tidal wave of venture capital has poured into clean tech over the past four years, reflecting the confidence investors and entrepreneurs have that high energy prices and climate change make the sector ripe for technical innovation. But the economics of the energy business pose funding challenges to start-ups in the field, a situation that could be exacerbated by a softening economy.

Agencies Share Information By Taking a Page From Wikipedia
The Washington Post
When President Bush challenged Congress to cut the number and cost of earmarks by half, the administration's budget chiefs turned to their wiki. That's right, the Office of Management and Budget, where caution and precision rule, has embraced Wikipedia as a model, hosting an online place where federal officials can swap information and ideas outside traditional boundaries.

Air Force Trains Warriors to Defend Cyberspace
USA Today
The military relies on computers and electronic communication to launch precision weapons, spy on its enemies and communicate with troops in combat. The Air Force is revamping its training to prepare its 320,000 airmen to protect its frontlines in cyberspace, Air Force Brig. Gen. Mark Schissler said.

New York State Employee Arrested For Selling Historic Documents On eBay
InformationWeek
An employee of the New York State Department of Education has been arrested on suspicion of stealing hundreds of historic documents and artifacts from the New York State Library and attempting to sell them on eBay and elsewhere. The artifacts included a four-page letter written by the vice president of the United States under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.

FEMA Seeks IT Overhaul
WashingtonTechnology
Two and a half years after Hurricane Katrina exposed flaws in its computer systems, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is preparing to award a contract worth up to $1 billion to overhaul its information technology architecture and software.

ICANN Seeks Volunteers to Help Coordinate Internet Identifiers
Government Technology
The Nominating Committee for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is looking for volunteers to help it with the global task of coordinating the Internet's unique identifiers. The Nominating Committee has launched an updated and easier to use Web site outlining how people can apply for positions currently open on ICANN's Board and its Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees.

Power Processing for All
Government Computer News
As part of the Defense Department’s High Performance Computing Modernization Program, the Aeronautical Systems Center receives a new supercomputer every two years and retires the oldest system. In October, it added a system that delivers more than 60 teraflops, it raises the center’s capacity to 85 teraflops — more than triple what was available previously.

Sign of the Times: Billboards in Florida Will Post Election Results
The Tallahassee Democrat
The Florida Outdoor Advertising Association announced Monday that 36 electric billboards in nine cities -- including Pensacola, Tallahassee, Fort Walton Beach and Fort Myers -- will carry election updates from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. The digital signs will also post final results, when they are tabulated.

Tech Virtuoso Hopes To Replicate Success
The Washington Post
The tech world was a different place when W. Scott Amey ventured into it 16 years ago, co-founding a company that went on to become the largest minority-owned firm in the Washington region. By the time he sold his interest in RS Information Systems in 2004 and stepped down as its chief operating officer, its work had grown from a single $5,000 GSA award to more than 100 prime defense contracts.

The New York Times reports today on the backlog of investigations facing the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA must inspect foreign plants that manufacture medical devices, drugs and process food. But, as the Times reports, antiquated computer systems cannot support the work. In fact, the FDA cannot create a list of plants that have not been inspected. The Times based its article on reports obtained from the Government Accountability Office. The reports will be released today at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Headlines from around the Web for Monday, Jan. 28, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender

Bush Order Expands Network Monitoring
The Washington Post
President Bush signed a directive this month that expands the intelligence community's role in monitoring Internet traffic to protect against a rising number of attacks on federal agencies' computer systems. The directive, whose content is classified, authorizes the intelligence agencies, in particular the NSA, to monitor the computer networks of all federal agencies -- including ones they have not previously monitored.

NIST to Release SCAP FDCC Scanner List
Government Computer News
On Feb. 1 the National Institute of Standards and Technology will release a list of validated scanners that check for Federal Desktop Core Configuration compliance. The scanners all use the Security Content Automation Protocol to automatically scan desktop computers and return the results, said Peter Mell, NIST’s SCAP validation program manager, at an FDCC workshop held Thursday in Gaithersburg, Md.

D.C. Government Limiting Web Access After Online Porn Debacle
NetworkWorld
After firing nine government employees for visiting "an egregious amount" of pornographic Web sites, the city announced this week that it has implemented a filtering scheme that would screen porn on all government computers. D.C. has begun putting technology in place that will block sexual content and notify users of the government's Web use and access policies.

Black IT Employment Reaches a Post-Internet-Bust High
CIO Insight
Employment among African-American IT professionals rose by 10.3 percent in 2007, reaching levels not seen since the Internet boom. Still, the percentage of blacks among all employed IT workers is lower than it was at the beginning of the decade.

Investors Wary of Networking Start-Ups
NetworkWorld
Eight years after the technology bubble burst, venture capital funding for networking start-ups is still hard to come by. Investors still taking a hit from the excesses of 1999 and 2000 have limited the amount they’re willing to spend on new companies in favor of later-stage players.

Philadelphia's Project Ocean Finally in Full Flow
ComputerWorld
This month has at long last brought Philadelphia a new water-billing system to replace a 30-year-old mainframe application that had forced city workers to continue using punch cards. The billing-system initiative, known as Project Ocean, was once a high-priced mess for the city. But Philadelphia CIO Terry Phillis said the new system finally went live on Jan. 2.

Wi-Fi Gets Trial Run on Boston Commuter Trains
The Boston Globe
In an effort to boost commuter rail ridership, The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority announced a pilot program yesterday that makes free wireless Internet access available along the Worcester/Framingham rail line to South Station. The MTBA began developing the service more than a year ago after Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray, then mayor of Worcester, suggested it.

Students Click, and a Quiz Becomes a Game
The New York Times
Hand-held clickers are part of an increasingly popular technology known as an audience response system, which has been used for everything from surveying game show audiences to polling registered voters. That technology is now spreading to public and private schools across the country.

Performance Report on State Spending Online
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pennsylvania has issued the first Governor's Report on State Performance, aimed at tracking the effectiveness of such state programs as welfare-to-work, tourism, alternative energy and more. The 180-page report was printed for lawmakers and cabinet members, but is available online to the general public on the state's Web site.

The following item was posted by Anne Laurent.

More news about NASA and virtual worlds.

This weekend's Virtual Worlds and Immersive Environments conference was held at the space agency's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. Two days with some big names in virtual worlds should place NASA even more squarely on the virtual government map than it has been. NASA already has issued a call for help creating its own synthetic world and multiplayer immersive game.

Here are the organizing principles for the confab:

1. We all get to go: The ability to engage anyone in being a part of or contributing to an experience (such as a space mission), no matter their training or location. A new paradigm for education, outreach, and the conduct of science in society that is truly participatory.

2. Remote Exploration: The ability to create high-fidelity environments rendered from external data or models such that exploration, design and analysis that is truly inter-operable with the physical world can take place within them.

3. Become the data: A vision of a potential future where boundaries between the physical and the virtual have ceased to be meaningful. What would this future look like? Is this plausible? Is it desirable? Why and why not.

NASA is hosting some big virtual world names. Among the lecturers will be Corey Bridges, who founded Multiverse, a company of former Netscape folks who want to put the tools of synthetic world creation into the hands of the masses, so to speak.

Underlying NASA's growing interest and presence in the virtual world appears to be a belief that it's more than just a place to attract kids to science. NASA seems to be envisioning a future in which space missions occur not just in physical outerspace, but simultaneously in the ethernet.

Here's a telling quote from the conference welcome: “This workshop will focus specifically on the convergence of underlying technologies necessary to achieve high-fidelity virtual environment experiences, and possible architectures of that convergence. There will be a particular emphasis on how these technologies can support scientific and engineering visualization and analysis.”

Kind of gives new meaning to the idea of “space,” eh?

Problems and skepticism surrounding the Army's $200 billion Future Combat System (FCS) have been discussed for years now. (Government Executive Magazine ran its latest in-depth assessment last year, and The Washington Post ran a critical article this week.) In the Post article, reporter Alec Klein, quotes an executive from FCS prime contractor Boeing as saying the original estimate of the number of lines of code has always been 55 million -- not the 33.7 million lines of code that the Army estimated in 2003. (That number has now increased to 63.8 million.) Boeing FCS program manager Dennis "Muilenburg ... said that the original software estimate was 55 million lines of code, not 33.7 million," according to the Post.

That statement caught the eye of Robert Charette, a risk management expert who consults with governments, including the Defense Department, and companies worldwide. In his blog "The Risk Factor," he wrote in a recent post:

The reason I find this [Boeing's assertion that 55 million lines of code was the original estimate] curious is that the 33.7 million lines of code estimate has been around for several years, and appears in congressional testimony many, many times. That number gave lots of folks pause in 2003, since the Army claimed at the time that it would complete FCS in five and a half-years. Questions were raised then about whether that amount of code could be developed in that time frame, but the ever-confident Army said it could be accomplished.

I have never heard or seen that 55 million lines of code number ever mentioned before this article. If that was the true estimate at proposal time, did the contractor and the Army "forget" to let Congress, the Governmental Accountability Office (GAO), and a whole bunch of other people know the true system size so that they wouldn't ask questions in 2003 like, "Tell me again how you plan to develop and integrate an average of 10 million lines of native and commercial-off-the-shelf software per year over each of the next five years?" "Can you point to any military software-intensive development of 10 million lines of code successfully completed in 5 years?" "Can you prove you are not legally insane?"

Headlines from around the Web for Friday, Jan. 25, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender

Software Group Says Without More Foreign Workers in U.S., Jobs May Go Overseas
ComputerWorld
The U.S. software industry is larger than the food processing industry in terms of revenue, according to an IT trade group that wants Congress to raise the annual cap on H-1B visas, give permanent residency to foreign nationals who graduate from U.S. colleges and back trade policies that give companies unfettered access to global markets.

Jihadists Get Encryption Upgrade
InformationWeek
Until recently, Al-Qaeda didn't pose much of a threat online because it used outdated technology. Having modern encryption tools changes the equation. Last week, an Islamist Web site called Al-Ekhlas released updated encryption software to help keep secret communications from prying eyes. The site is allegedly frequented by Al-Qaeda supporters.

In Senate, a White House Victory on Eavesdropping
The New York Times
A White House plan to broaden the National Security Agency’s wiretapping powers won a key procedural victory in the Senate on Thursday, as backers defeated a more restrictive plan by Senate Democrats that would have imposed more court oversight on government spying.

The Complex Crux Of Wireless Warfare
The Washington Post
Future Combat Systems is considered the most thorough modernization of the Army since World War II. It all depends on the software, which is intended to do what military commanders have until now only dreamed about: Give soldiers the power to communicate through a wireless network in near real time with hovering drones; remotely control robots to defuse bombs; fire laser-guided missiles at enemies on the move; and conduct a video teleconference in a tank rumbling about 40 mph in the haze of battle.

Open-Source Software Appearing in the Data Center
ComputerWorld
Linux, Apache and other open-source applications have long been used to power Web and file servers. But when it comes to managing the data center, many companies have held back. Now, though, some users have turned into big believers that open source works here, too.

Survey: Offshore IT Outsourcing Rates Low and Unchanging Among American Companies
Government Technology
The majority of U.S. companies are not engaged in the practice of overseas outsourcing, according to a survey by Robert Half Technology. Ninety-four percent of CIOs surveyed said their company does not outsource IT jobs outside the United States.

NYC Releases Police Data to Crime Research Group
The New York Times
The New York Police Department has turned over an electronic database on more than 500,000 street stops made by officers in 2006 to analysts at a national crime data archive in Michigan, officials from the City Law Department said on Thursday. The intent, officials said, is that the data will be released in some fashion to researchers and the public.

NIST Releases a Draft Compliance Guide for IPv6
Federal Computer Week
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s second draft profile on IP Version 6, released Jan. 23, will help agencies buy products that the government considers capable of handling the new protocol. The draft profile describes initial plans for testing whether products can integrate with other products built to NIST’s specifications.

Cyberadvice Awaits the Next President
Government Computer News
The Center for Strategic and International Studies has put together a Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency and expects to have a set of recommendations ready by the end of the year. A senior fellow said a package of a half-dozen or so recommendations should be ready for the new president’s desk sometime between the general election in November and the end of the year.

Government Should Make IT Security a Priority, Execs Say
Government Computer News
The next U.S. president needs to pay more attention to securing the government’s data and information technology systems, and Congress must be willing to provide adequate funding for the task, say executives from Symantec. “These are clear and present dangers,” Symantec Chief Operating Officer Enrique Salem said Thursday during a lunch with Washington IT reporters. “There is a real exposure.”

Bases Compete for Cyber Command
Washington Technology
Air Force bases in five states are competing to become the permanent headquarters for the Air Force’s new Cyber Command created in November 2006. The Cyber Command’s mission is to deter and protect against cyberspace attacks on military computer systems and networks. The center is expected to bring in about 500 Air Force jobs and potentially millions of dollars in economic impact.

Headlines from around the Web for Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender

Like It or Not, More Federal Workers Telecommuting
NetworkWorld
By law, all executive agencies should be enabling eligible employees to telecommute, but a number of agencies are unsure of telecommuting policy. Others still are concerned with security. So, boosting the ranks of federal employees who telework is a slow, sometimes painful process, despite numerous incentives and legislative edicts lobbed at U.S. agencies over the years.

Draft of HTML 5 Hints at a Brave New Web
Wired
The release of a draft specification for HTML 5 marks another important step toward creating the next version of HTML, the hypertext markup language that powers the web. This week, the HTML Working Group, which is the arm of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) charged with updating HTML, published the first official draft of HTML 5, which will eventually supersede HTML 4.

OMB, GAO to Go Digital on Key Reports
The Washington Post
The Office of Management and Budget will not print 3,000 copies of the president's budget to hand out on Feb. 4. Instead, the four books that lay out the president's spending priorities will be put on the Web. Across town, the Government Accountability Office is dropping publication of its famed blue-cover reports for distribution on Capitol Hill, at agencies and at conferences.

Microsoft's New E-Gov Platform: Help Fed, Local Agencies Reach Citizens
Government Computer News
Microsoft has introduced Citizen Service Platform, a suite of tools it will provide without charge to local and regional governments worldwide to help them deliver Web-based services to citizens. It incorporates the company’s work with local and regional governments over the past several years, and consists of templates designed to run in Microsoft operating environments for the most commonly deployed e-government services.

New York City Says: "Just 311 It"
Government Technology
Yesterday, in a video presentation, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Department of Consumer Affairs Commissioner Jonathan Mintz and Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications Commissioner Paul J. Cosgrave demonstrated the city's online 311 service request tracking and business licensing capabilities.

Paper Ballots Win Over Colorado Gov.
The Denver Post
Gov. Bill Ritter, backed by a bipartisan line of key legislative leaders, announced he wants the state to use traditional paper ballots filled out at polling places in the 2008 elections, saying the decision — reached after lengthy discussion with state and county officials — is the best way to hold a safe, verifiable election, and it was met with applause by a number of voting activists.

New Malware Toolkit Infected More Than 10,000 Web Sites
Government Technology
Finjan's Malicious Code Research Center the latest significant Web attack in a genre of crimeware that threatens to turn highly trusted Web sites into insidious traps for unwary visitors. More than 10,000 Web sites in the U.S. were infected in December by this latest malware.

Report: Schools Will Increase Spending on Open Source
InfoWorld
Educational institutions will increase spending on open-source software and services over the next few years, but that doesn't mean proprietary software will be left in the dark, according to a new report covering 14 countries. A market research company predicts that primary and secondary schools and universities will spend $489.9 million on open-source software by 2012, up from $286.2 million now.

In Georgia, New Electronic System to Shorten Wait for Vital Records
The Macon Telegraph
A new statewide system aims to shorten the wait time to receive birth and death certificates, the Georgia Department of Human Resources has announced. The new $3 million Vital Events Information System electronically registers vital events, such as births and deaths, within a few days, as opposed to the several weeks it took the old paper-based system.

The following item was written by Anne Laurent.

NASA wants to do more than just seek new worlds, it wants to create one.

The day after Valentine’s Day, the space agency hopes to receive a pile of five-page proposals detailing how it should go about creating a synthetic online world and a multiplayer game within it. The goal is to lure more youngsters into science, technology, engineering and math professions that NASA needs to achieve its lofty plan to return to the Moon and to build a spacecraft to carry humans to Mars.

In its Jan. 16 request for information, NASA seeks the input of organizations that already operate immersive synthetic environments that would be interested in partnering to develop a new online world and educational role-playing game.

“A high quality synthetic gaming environment is a vital element of NASA’s educational cyberstructure,” according to the RFI. “This new synthetic world would be a collaborative work and meeting space as well as a game space of a kind familiar to increasing numbers of American students. Games and challenges in the [massively multiplayer online educational game] would engage students in a way that is both familiar and comfortable for them.”

It won’t be NASA’s first foray into the synthetic universe. The agency already has a presence in the best known of the dozens of virtual worlds, Second Life. NASA’s “island” in Second Life houses a virtual CoLab, a digital version of a program begun at the agency’s Ames Research Center in San Francisco to allow collaboration between NASA and individuals in support of space missions.





Other federal agencies also have outposts in Second Life. Perhaps the best known is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Meterora, where visitors can ride a submarine, view tsunami demonstrations, ride a weather balloon and a hurricane hunter plane and interact with a real-time 3-D weather map of the United States.





The Crawford Auditorium on NOAA’s island hosted the virtual version of the first gathering of the Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds, “Exploring Virtual Worlds,” in November and held live at the National Defense University in Washington. (175 people attended in the real world, 182 in NOAA’s auditorium.) The Centers for Disease Control, which has had a Second Life presence since August, also was on hand.

Headlines from around the Web for Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender

IT Spending Rising Despite Recession Fears
CIO Insight
According to the Gartner 2008 CIO Agenda study, the average worldwide IT budget increase after weighting is expected to go up 3.3 percent, a slight increase from 3 percent in 2007. IT spending will rise 3.3 percent in the United States, 3 percent in Europe and 4.5 percent in the Asia/Pacific region. The survey was conducted by Gartner Executive Programs, a membership organization for CIOs.

Symantec Identifies First Real Case of 'Drive-By Pharming'
NetworkWorld
The theory is now a reality. Symantec reported Tuesday that drive-by pharming, in which a hacker changes the DNS settings on a customer’s broadband router or wireless access point and directs the link to a fraudulent Web site, has been observed in a case involving a Mexican bank.

State AG Says IDs Wouldn't Break Law
The Houston Chronicle
A special driver's license or personal identification card making it easier for U.S. citizens to cross the Texas-Mexico border wouldn't violate federal law, provided it was approved by the secretary of the Homeland Security Department, the state AG ruled Jan. 22. Such a license also would have to meet certain technological requirements, such as being machine readable and tamper-proof.

Audit Lists Five Most Overlooked Open Source Vulnerabilities
InformationWeek
Palamida, a vulnerability audit and software risk management company, says it's identified the five vulnerabilities most frequently overlooked by users in their open source code. The Palamida list reflects known vulnerabilities that have been aired and fixed by their parent projects but are still encountered in the user base, such as businesses and government agencies.

Md. Governor to Look at Computer Tax Impact
The Baltimore Sun
Gov. Martin O'Malley, speaking before an unhappy audience affected by a tax on computer services, pledged yesterday to work with them to "mitigate whatever possible downsides" might come with the tax that was passed in November's special session. More than 100 people attended the Tech Council of Maryland dinner in Annapolis, and nearly all of their hands went up when O'Malley asked how many opposed an extension of the sales tax to computer services.

D.C. 311 Call Center Launches Amid Qualms
The Washington Post
District officials launched an expanded 311 call center Jan. 22 aimed at making customer service more efficient. But the new system angered a key D.C. Council member who warned that it could slow the city's response to emergencies.

Illinois Centralizes Job Searching at One Site
The Chicago Sun-Times
Through the site at www.work.illinois.gov, users can find and apply for as many as 500 jobs at 45 state government agencies. Previously those interested in applying for state jobs could apply online at separate state agency sites and through a Department of Central Management Services site where job postings could be sporadic.

Security Report Reveals Cyber Criminals Targeting Macs
Government Technology
Experts note that malware for Macs has been seen before, but until recently, organized criminal gangs have not felt the need to target Mac users when there are so many more poorly protected Windows PCs available. However, late 2007 saw Mac malware not just being written by researchers demonstrating vulnerabilities or showing off to their peers, but by financially-motivated hackers.

DOD Must Fix Product Security Evaluation Process, Officials Say
Federal Computer Week
The Defense Department’s process for evaluating products to ensure they meet the agency’s information technology security requirements is broken. But senior DOD leaders say a fix is on the way.

TSA’s Passenger Screening System Criticized as Duplicative of CBP’s Border Program
Government Computer News
The long-awaited plan for a new information technology system to match airline passengers against government watch lists faces problems stemming from its high cost and overlap with existing systems, government and industry sources say.

The pressure to go green – adopting policies, processes and technologies that reduce energy consumption -- is building, as Government Executive reported last year. Study after study has shown how much U.S. companies and the federal government can save by using more efficient computer equipment – and it’s not insignificant.

Now, two more studies released this week pile on to the findings. The federal government could save about $960 million over five years if it adopts green technologies such as virtualization, consolidating servers and dynamic smart cooling, according to an article published by InformationWeek. Another study found that the federal government could save about $330 million over five years "by using more energy efficient PCs, specifically those that meet the Environmental Protection Agency's more stringent Energy Star standards that went into effect last July," according to the article.

Or, in other terms:

The annual savings by the feds using more energy efficient PCs would be equivalent to conserving 1.3 billion barrels of oil. Over four years, the report estimates the cost savings would be equivalent [to providing] 28,537 Americans with Social Security benefits for a year, or more than 989 million meals "to the hungry."

The studies were underwritten by the technology companies Hewlett-Packard and Intel.

The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) and the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA) announced yesterday that their merger had been approved by both organizations’ boards of directors. The merger is expected to close on April 1.

As reported in November, the two organizations have planned to merge in hopes of combining their messages and influence on Capitol Hill. The new organization will represent almost 400 technology companies, most of which are federal contractors.

“The new organization will be more of a one-stop shop for government to interface with the industry,” said Phil Bond, President and CEO of ITAA.

Under the terms of the merger GEIA will form a third group under the ITAA banner along with the existing public and commercial sector groups. The new board of directors will have equal representation from both organizations. Dan Heinemeier, formerly President of GEIA, will continue to lead that group as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of ITAA.

“At a fundamental level, we need to do a better job of presenting to the policymakers the importance of IT to fulfilling their missions and the economy’s performance,” Bond said. “We haven’t done as good a job as we might because we have scattered voices, on everything from procurement to economic issues like the knowledge economy and research & development.”

Bond added that while the increased oversight of procurement practices led by House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Ca.) influenced the decision, it was not a primary cause for the merger. “Waxman is just one factor, not the instigator or initial reason,” Bond said. “Our members saw the complimentary nature of the two organizations and saw an opportunity to get a stronger voice. Certainly they understood that with increased oversight, they would need that stronger voice. But it was not a primary factor.”

Headlines from around the Web for Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender

'Hacker Safe' Seal: Web Site Shield, or Target?
ComputerWorld
More than 80,000 Web sites worldwide display a small green logo from the company ScanAlert Inc. that proclaims them to be "Hacker Safe." While ScanAlert asserts this logo is a valuable marketing tool for them, detractors say the logo gives customers a false sense of security and hackers a desirable target.

GSA Pushes the Identity Protocol for Sharing Credentials Across Organizational Lines
Government Computer News
Welcome to the world of federated identity management. Imagine a day when instead of setting up an account with each organization you do business with, you set up a single account that all parties can consult. Such a setup could be useful for federal agencies.

California Task Force Urges Broadband Bonds
CNET News
California should consider issuing debt to augment private investment in enhancing and expanding high-speed communications services, a state task force said. Better, faster and more available broadband capabilities would propel economic growth for the most populous U.S. state, where 96 percent of households already have access to basic high-speed communications.

What If the Internet Went Down ... And Didn't Come Back Up?
NetworkWorld
Imagine, if you will, a world with no Internet. No e-mail. No e-commerce. And no BlackBerrys. E-mail would be supplanted by snail mail; cell phones by land lines. Now imagine what the future would look like. Futurists say virtual business services of all sorts, accounting, payroll and even sales would come to a halt, as would many companies.

5 Disruptive Technologies To Watch In 2008
InformationWeek
While there are dozens of emerging technologies that have the potential to disrupt current standards, five that have significant opportunity to lead to major implications for enterprises in the coming year are: virtualization, the role of Apple and managing cross-platform shops, managed data centers, video over IP networks, and presence-aware applications.

Study: Cutting Software Piracy Creates Jobs
InformationWeek
Cracking down on PC software piracy would create hundreds of thousands of jobs globally and boost economic growth and tax revenues, particularly in Asia where piracy rates are high, according to an IDC study.

SEC Urged Not to Revive 'Terrorist' Watch List
CNET News
Two business groups urged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday not to reinstate a Web tool aimed at helping investors identify companies with investments in countries the United States designates as "sponsors of terrorism."

GSA Looking for Software as a Service for USA.gov
Federal Computer Week
The General Services Administration wants to jump on the software-as-a-service bandwagon through its Office of Citizen Services and Communications. The office issued two requests for proposals last week for Web analytics and online collaboration tools that call out SaaS as the intended way it will meet their needs.

Legislators Rush to Delete Computer Sales Tax
The Washington Times
The extension of the sales tax to computer services has become a $200 million point of contention in the Maryland State House, with Republicans and Democrats trying to build enough support to repeal it before the tax takes effect in July.

Security of Ballot in Maryland Not 100 Percent
The Baltimore Sun
Fear of hackers and lost votes that can never be recovered is forcing out the new technology and giving new life to old-fashioned scanning machines that read tried-and-true paper ballots. Before its $65 million touch-screen machines will be paid off, Maryland expects to be back on the paper trail, following states such as Florida and California.

Harris Corp. said it has tapped Dr. Bart Brad Harmon, who recently retired as chief medical information officer of the Military Health System (MHS), to serve as chief medical officer of the company’s new Healthcare Solutions unit.

Harris said its new Healthcare Solutions division will support commercial and military care customers with a range of information technology offerings including digital content management and visualization products.

Harmon, a retired Army colonel with both a medical degree and a Master’s in public health, spent the past decade working on electronic health record projects for MHS and chaired a working group that defined information sharing between MHS and the Veterans Affairs Department.

The Homeland Security Department may be considering some changes to FirstSource, its indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity small business contract for purchasing of commodity IT goods.

The contracting vehicle, which complements the Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge Solutions (EAGLE) contract for acquiring IT services solutions, was awarded to 11 businesses in February 2007 and is worth up to $3 billion if all options are exercised. So far, FirstSource has more than $380 million in pending and awarded orders.

Despite all the money funneling through, the contract has had its fair share of critics, largely due to the inclusion of joint ventures. Small businesses with fewer than 150 employees were eligible to bid FirstSource, but under the rules of the Small Business Administration's 8(a) Mentor-Protégé program, a joint venture between a small business (the protégé) and a large company (the mentor) qualifies as a small business as long as the protégé firm meets the size requirements. In theory, the program was developed to provide small businesses with guidance and direction, encouraging small-business growth.

Three joint ventures were awarded FirstSource contracts:

-- EG Solutions, a joint venture between Alaska-based Eyak Technology (fewer than 150 employees) and Chantilly, Va.-based GTSI (700 employees, and 2007 revenue of about $850 million)
-- ST Net Apptis, a joint venture between Gaithersburg, Md.-based St Net Inc. (about 20 employees) and Chantilly, Va.-based Apptis (1,500 employees and 2006 revenue of about $700 million)
-- MultimaxArray, a joint venture between Greenbelt, Md.-based Array Information Technology (fewer than 150 employees) and Herndon, Va.-based Multimax (more than 1,000 employees)

In June 2007, Multimax was acquired by Harris, who reported $4.2 billion in revenue in 2007.

A source close to the contract that asked to not be named said that the presence of those three joint ventures has left a bad taste in the mouths not only of their competing small businesses, but also DHS contracting officers, driving a decision to reevaluate the contract and consider some restructuring.

Why? Multiple sources on the contract claim that the protégé companies are doing little to none of the work under FirstSource, while their mentor counterparts provide the bulk of fulfillment and claim the majority of dollars.

It’s true that in many cases, contracts awarded under FirstSource are awarded directly to the large business. This is technically in violation of the rules, as the joint venture company holds the contract, not the mentor company alone. In January, for example, Nampa, Idaho-based MPC Computers, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MPC Corporation, announced that it will team up with “prime contractor Apptis” to fulfill a multi-year contract to supply desktop and notebook PCs to the U.S. Coast Guard, under DHS’ FirstSource contract. There was no mention of St Net or even St Net Apptis.

Regardless of whether or not joint ventures keep in the spirit of the small business program, a lot of speculation is swirling about what DHS may or may not do to adjust FirstSource requirements. A DHS representative said that, at this time, there are no plans to re-compete FirstSource and provided no other information.

SBA, on the other hand, all but verified changes, stating in an email that "there is nothing that requires DHS to exercise a contract option,” once the current contract expires in February 2009, and that “the new contract we are told will still be set-aside for small business with ‘expanded’ small business categories.”

While vague, mention of a new contract with different small business standards certainly supports claims that a change may be in the works. SBA directed all further inquiries to DHS, who remains mum.

Read more about concerns associated with joint ventures at GovernmentVAR.

Headlines from around the Web for Friday, Jan. 18, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender

DHS to Replace 'Duplicative' Anti-Terrorism Data Network
The Washington Post

The Homeland Security Department spent more than $90 million to create a network for sharing sensitive anti-terrorism information with state and local governments that it has decided to replace, according to an internal department document. The decision had been outlined in an Oct. 27, 2007, memo.

European Outsourcing Overtakes American In 2007
InformationWeek

In 2007 European companies outsourced more business than their counterparts in the Americas for the first time as northern European countries followed Britain's lead, outsourcing consultancy TPI said Friday. The value of outsourcing deals signed in Europe last year was $40.9 billion, compared with $26.6 billion in the Americas.

Americans Less Married to Work Today Than in the Past
NetworkWorld

According to an online survey conducted by Monster.com, more Americans view their jobs as a means to an end, for example as a way to pay the bills or help support their families, as opposed to being the end-all, be-all in their lives.

Upswing in IT job market for permanent positions
NetworkWorld

The January Hays Quarterly Forecast released Wednesday lists the hottest IT jobs for 2008 with a definite upswing in permanent vacancies. The areas of strongest demand in IT include helpdesk positions with Hays' IT Director Peter Noblet claiming candidates are offered job within hours of an interview.

Water-Bill Changes Finally Flowing
The Philadelphia Inquirer

For years, Philadelphia's troubled effort to transform its water-billing system symbolized little but bureaucratic bumbling and communication failures. But after a massive overhaul, the initiative code-named Project Ocean may be morphing into a tale of success, one that is soon to be retold nationally.

FBI Retools Most-Wanted List
USA Today

Those grainy mug shots, once confined to post office lobbies, are coming to a billboard near you. The FBI is retooling its Top 10 Most Wanted list into an increasingly multimedia, international appeal for help as it tries to keep its signature program relevant in a crowded media landscape.

Pennsylvania's Electronic Tax Filing System Now Open to Owners of Small Businesses
Government Technology

Improvements to Pennsylvania's electronic income tax filing system now make it possible for owners of small businesses to join the millions of Pennsylvanians who enjoy the advantages of electronic tax filing, according to Department of Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf.

OMB Official Touts E-Government Success
Federal Computer Week

The Office of Management and Budget’s deputy administrator for e-government and information technology highlighted some of the achievements of the federal government's e-government efforts while noting what he saw as governmentwide progress.

Panel Urges Border IT Reform
Government Computer News

A presidential committee has recommended changes in border processing technologies and procedures — including several categories of systems upgrades and policy reforms — to relieve onerous border crossing requirements for entry into the United States that have reduced foreigners' desire to come to the country for tourism, study and business.

Funding Set for Vote with 'Paper Trail' in Maryland
The Baltimore Sun

After years of protests that the touch-screen voting machines that it bought in the wake of the 2000 Florida election debacle are unreliable and susceptible to tampering, Maryland will abandon the system and replace it with devices that allow for a manual recount.

At a conference this month, a panel of technologists will work through the ethical and legal implications of whether a robot can be held responsible for war crimes. The discussion, titled "When Robots Commit War Crimes: Autonomous Weapons and Human Responsibility," is part of the Technology in Wartime conference at the Stanford Law School.

The io9 blog, edited by Annalee Newitz, today pointed out that this question isn’t some academic exercise for eggheads; robot weapons have already been involved in friendly fire incidents, including one in South Africa.

Charlotte, N.C., mayor Pat McCrory sent out an email news release this week announcing his candidacy for governor of North Carolina. The only problem was that in the letterhead in the email, governor was spelled "governer," according to an article in The News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C.









When contacted by a reporter asking about the misspelling, Victoria Smith, McCrory's campaign manager, said a hacker broke into the campaign's computer system and changed the spelling. Later a campaign spokeswoman said it was a simple mistake made by a tired graphic designer. Smith later stuck to the hacker story. Finally McCrory himself put an end to the mystery: He said it was a simple mistake by the graphic designer.

Hat tip: Wired

Headlines from around the Web for Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender

IBM Alliance Aims to Aid Its Workers with Obtaining Government Careers
InformationWeek
On Thursday, IBM and the Partnership for Public Service, launched a pilot program to help assist IBM-employed Baby Boomers into starting new careers in the federal government. Those Big Blue Boomers would help replace the nearly 500,000 other Boomers who are expected to retire from their government jobs over the next five years.

Cyber Espionage Seen as Growing Threat to Business, Government
NetworkWorld
Cyber espionage is getting renewed attention as fresh evidence emerges of online break-ins at U.S. research labs and targeted phishing against corporations and government agencies here and abroad.

D.C. Airport Pass Speeds Travelers Clear to the Gate
The Washington Post
Washington area travelers will soon be able to speed more quickly through airport security if they are willing to pay a fee, provide personal information to the government and allow their fingerprints and eyes to be scanned at checkpoints.

Semantic Web Takes Big Step Forward
ComputerWorld
The Semantic Web got a critical boost Tuesday from the World Wide Web Consortium with the puplication of query technology SPARQL, a Semantic Web component designed to enable people to focus on what they want to know rather than on the database technology or data format used to store data.

Nebraska University, Colleges Seek Larger Down Payment on Computer Systems
Lincoln Journal Star
The school system, looking to replace a 20-year-old computer system, has asked the state for help. Gov. Dave Heineman has included $10 million in his budget plan to help, less than half of the $22.5 million the university system is seeking.

Aurora Cops Chase "$600,000" Error
The Denver Post
About $600,000 from the Police Department's cash-evidence vault is unaccounted for, but officials blame the discrepancy on a computer data-entry error dating back 12 years. The current city auditor said the discrepancy was due to an error that occurred when Aurora upgraded software in 1996.

Mo. Governor Urges Legislature to Make Financial Disclosure Site Permanent
Government Technology
Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt today lauded the success of his Missouri Accountability Portal as the site topped the 3 million visitor mark. In his State of the State Address Blunt urged the General Assembly to make the MAP site permanent ensuring future transparency for Missouri taxpayers.

Joint Forces to Sharpen Disaster Response
WashingtonTechnology
The U.S. Joint Forces Command and Northern Command are planning a series of computer-based disaster drills with four states this year as part of their Noble Resolve 2008 preparedness exercises.

Federal Judge Approves N.Y. Voting Machine Plan
Albany Times Union
A federal judge has approved New York's latest plan for bringing the state into compliance with federal voting laws. If the state acts on the agreed timeline, voting machines accessible to the disabled will be available in every polling place around the state by this fall's federal elections.

University of Wisconsin Staff's Personal Data was on Public Web Site at Least a Year
The Capital Times
UW-Madison officials waited more than a month before advising more than 200 faculty and staff members of a potential exposure of their personal information on the Internet last year. The personal information included e-mail addresses, phone numbers and Social Security-based campus ID numbers of faculty and staff who made purchases from the DoIT computer shop.

Web sites developed by U.S. senators and representatives still have a long way to go to take full advantage of the Internet, according to a recent report released by the Congressional Management Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan group advocating a more effective Congress.

In its fourth report on congressional Web sites, CMF concluded, "Despite some bright spots, overall the quality of congressional Web sites continues to be disappointing. The most common letter grade earned by congressional Web sites in 2007 was a “D”— the same as in 2006." (While CMF identified the gold, silver and bronze winners -- those Web sites that received an A+, A, or A-, respectively , it did not identify those Web sites receiving an F or a D, which accounted for about 42 percent of all congressional Web sites.)

Who are more technically adept, Democrats or Republicans? House Democrats slightly edged out their Republican colleagues in getting a larger share of CMF's top award, the Gold Mouse Award, given the proportion of seats they hold. Democrats were awarded 57 percent of the gold awards vs. 43 percent for the Republicans. (Democrats hold 54 percent of the House seats.)

It was the opposite story in the Senate, with three of the four Gold Mouse Awards going to the Republicans. (Democrats hold a slight majority in the Senate, 51 - 49.)

Also, only 6 percent of all U.S. representatives received a Gold Mouse Award, while only 4 percent of senators did.

Those receiving CMF's Gold Mouse Award for 2007 include:

Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME)
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA)
Rep. John Boozman (R-AR)
Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL)
Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN)
Rep. Christopher P. Carney (D-PA)
Rep. Bud Cramer (D-AL)
Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)
Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA)
Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-NJ)
Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-VA)
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA)
Rep. John Linder (R-GA)
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY)
Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA)
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
Rep. Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Rep. Patrick J. Murphy (D-PA)
Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ)
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA)
Rep. Hilda L. Solis (D-CA)
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL)
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA)
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT)
Sen. John Thune (R-SD)

CMF, in partnership with Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, the University of California-Riverside, and Ohio State University, measured Web sites in six areas: legislative content, press resources, state or district information, constituent services and communication tools.

Headlines from around the Web for Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender

Maryland Relents, Says OK to Real ID
The Baltimore Sun
Bowing to federal pressure to crack down on undocumented immigrants, the O'Malley administration announced yesterday that in two years it would begin requiring all driver's license applicants to present a birth certificate, passport or some other documentation to prove they are legal residents of the United States.

Cyber-Espionage Moves into B2B
InfoWorld
The practice of cyber-espionage is rapidly moving beyond the government sector and finding its way into the world of international business, according to experts with SANS Institute, one of the world's top IT security training organizations.

Young Workers Not to Blame for IT Retention Problems, Industry Veterans Say
NetworkWorld
Scores of NetworkWorld readers challenged an article discussing the results of a survey that found young workers to be the biggest challenge to IT staff retention. Respondents claimed the nature of the global ecoonomy and events of the past few years have taught young workers to put their interests before those of their employers.

Could Post-Ballot Audits Renew Faith in U.S. Elections?
ComputerWorld
A post-election review of a random group of e-voting machines from voting precincts in a state, along with a hand count of the accompanying paper ballots or voter-verified paper records to be sure that the paper records and the machine counts coincide exactly could ensure that the machines are properly recording the votes, and perhaps reassure a skeptical public.

Corporate IT Almost Ready for Online Backup, IDC Says
ComputerWorld
The inability of large enterprises to control exploding data growth over the next few years will fuel rapidly increasing corporate use of hosted backup services, according to an IDC report released last week.

Colorado Officials Lean Toward Paper Ballots After Electronic Machines Tossed
The Denver Post
Colorado officials are leaning toward abandoning the electronic voting terminals that have thrown the state's election system into turmoil and are instead looking at using only paper ballots for this year's elections. But still up in the air is how those ballots will be delivered — either by mail or at polling places.

SSN's Visible in Mailing Due to Folding Error
Government Technology
The Wisconsin Department of Administration announced Tuesday that a folding error may have caused some Social Security numbers printed on the Form 1099-G to be visible in the envelope window. Up to 5,000 taxpayers in some Northeast communities have been notified.

Update: This post was recently updated to correct an editing error, which appears below as a strike through. Our apologies for the confusion.

Due to an editing error, the It's called a talent-management system and many large American companies are suing using them. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the systems:

are designed to provide insight into an employer's recruiting and succession-planning needs. By tracking the number of employees that come in and out of a company, the programs can identify thinning areas along the organizational chart. Furthermore, they can pinpoint internal talent that might qualify or have the potential to qualify for expected vacancies and see from employee profiles whether a person is willing to relocate or aspires to work in a different area.

Look for them coming to government – if they haven’t already.

Privacy and security has always been a tug-of-war issue: The argument is you have to give up some privacy to get some security. Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, is working on a cybersecurity plan that would ask Americans to give up a lot of privacy to get their security, according to a New Yorker article. (Subscription required.)

The proposal that is getting the most attention is giving the government the ability to search "the content of any email, file transfer or web search," according to an article on vnunet.com.

According to that article, the New Yorker author, Lawrence Wright:

suggested that this kind of monitoring is already going on. He spoke to an AT& T employee, Mark Klein, who claimed that he installed data switching systems in the company's exchange that copied all internet traffic to the National Security Agency.

"I know that whatever went across those cables was copied and the entire data stream was copied," said Klein. "We are talking about domestic as well as international traffic."

He added that previous claims by the Bush administration that only international communications were being intercepted are not accurate.

Headlines from around the Web for Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender

Top 10 Cyber Security Menaces For 2008 Listed
InformationWeek
The SANS Institute on Monday released its take on the top 10 cybersecurity threats for 2008. Leading the list is a rise in the number of attacks on Web browsers, a growing amount of botnets, and sophisticated cyberespionage.

Storm Botnet Gets Profiled at Web Site
NetworkWorld
Storm, which has grown into a large remotely controlled botnet since the initial worm appeared a year ago to infect victims' machines, is getting a graphic profile on Secure Computing's TrustedSource.org research portal. StormTracker displays real-time information compiled through sensors maintained in 75 countries.

Nashville Laptop Theft May Cost County $1 Million
ComputerWorld
Officials say thieves broke into Davidson County Election Commission offices on the weekend before Christmas, smashing a window with a rock and then making off with a $3,000 router, a digital camera and a pair of laptops containing names and Social Security numbers of all 337,000 registered voters in the county. Identity-theft protection for those affected is expected to cost $1 million.

Michigan Voting Officials Confident of E-Voting Systems
ComputerWorld
Today, as Michigan voters cast their ballots in their state primaries, questions arise as to whether Michigan's election results will face the same kinds of post-election scrutiny from candidates and pundits as they did in New Hampshire, since the states use similar optical scanning vote-tabulation machines.

Police Chief Pleads for IT Community's Help
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
In his data-driven a