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White House Pulls Back the Curtains on Big Data Project May 22, 2013 
The U.S. government is awash in data that is collected, stored and disseminated by federal agencies to fulfill their public service missions. However, the existence of huge amounts of information within the government presents a major profit-making opportunity for commercial firms. The Obama administration has now launched a program to make federal data resources much more available.
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Congressional Investigation Scopes Apple's Web of Tax Havens May 21, 2013 
A series of subsidiaries spanning numerous countries have helped Apple avoid billions in United States taxes, congressional investigators reported Monday. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., head of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is looking into Apple's suspected transgressions, said that Apple "sought the holy grail of tax avoidance."
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New Yorker Launches Strongbox Source-Protection Service May 16, 2013 
The New Yorker has launched Strongbox, an anonymous system for providing the publication with information, based on the open source DeadDrop program developed by the late Aaron Swartz and Kevin Poulsen. Strongbox can be thought of as an extension of the mailing address printed in small type on the magazine's inside cover, said The New Yorker.
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Budget Roadblocks Stymie Federal IT Managers May 14, 2013 
Government information technology managers will no doubt spend every nickel of the Obama administration's 2014 proposed IT budget of $81 billion. They will also likely be dissatisfied with the business environment that affects IT acquisition and deployment. For starters, the proposed 2014 budget for IT, which actually shows a small gain versus anticipated 2013 spending, is not a sure thing.
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FCC Plan to Boost Inflight WiFi Takes Off With Turbulence May 11, 2013 
As more airlines begin to offer WiFi, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is proposing to increase the bandwidth available for inflight wireless broadband. The FCC is essentially basing its proposal on Qualcomm's submission to the government from July 2011. This raises the question of whether the FCC is perhaps too closely tied to one company in this area.
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Obama May Pick Twitter Lawyer for Privacy Post May 08, 2013 
The Obama administration appears to be sending a message to privacy advocates that it's taking their issue seriously by creating a new position devoted to it -- and choosing a high-profile tech lawyer to occupy it. The White House reportedly is tagging Nicole Wong, Twitter's legal director for products, for a top privacy post.
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Federal Workers Lead Telecommuting Upsurge May 07, 2013 
U.S. government employees led a big jump in the use of technology to work from home or other locations, instead of their normal offices, during an annual telecommuting exercise in March. For employers and vendors, the message seems clear that the market for telework and mobile workplace equipment and software has only one way to go -- up.
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IE8 Exploit Had US Nuke Workers in Its Sights May 06, 2013 
A zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer 8 let hackers compromise a U.S. Department of Labor website linked to a database used by former Energy Department employees who had worked with nuclear weapons or uranium. That database was also used by Labor Department claims examiners. Security firm Invincea first reported the attack.
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Big IT Firms Apply Talents to Fed Cybersecurity Research April 30, 2013 
Protecting Internet information has become a costly enterprise, with worldwide spending on security estimated at $60 billion in 2012. That figure will grow to $86 billion by 2016, according to a Gartner study. To help ensure that those investments are being spent wisely -- and to keep technology a step ahead of threats -- 11 major companies have joined a program designed to research data security.
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House C'tee Chair Tells Consumer Protection Chief to Take a Hike April 24, 2013 
If CFPB Director Richard Cordray ever imagined that House of Representatives Republicans would eventually warm up to the bureau, that hope has surely been dashed by now. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, on Monday sent a letter to Cordray, saying that he would be barred from testifying before the committee because his appointment as director was invalid.
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Fed Budget Makes Room for Cloud, Cybersecurity Upgrades April 23, 2013 
From partial unpaid furloughs of personnel to travel cutbacks, U.S. government agencies are scrounging to come up with ways to save money. In that light, the Obama Administration's proposed 2014 federal budget for information technology resources is good news for agency IT shops -- and for vendors serving the market. The administration has proposed spending $82 billion for information technology in fiscal 2014.
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CISPA on Collision Course With Obama Veto April 18, 2013 
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, which faces a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, may end up vetoed by President Obama. CISPA encourages private companies to share security information among themselves and with the government. The House Rules Committee on Tuesday rejected a bipartisan amendment that would have addressed user privacy.
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Immigration Bill Would Open the Gates to More Tech Talent April 17, 2013 
A group of senators known as the "Gang of Eight" on Tuesday introduced a bipartisan immigration bill that could permit an increase in H-1B visas for high-tech workers. The group is led by Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and John McCain, R-Ariz. Another notable member is Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the GOP's latest rising star. Of particular interest to the tech industry, the new bill would raise the current caps on H-1B visas.
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CenturyLink Hauls DoI to Court April 17, 2013 
The U.S. Department of the Interior has big plans to implement a major cloud-based information technology program, with a potential investment of $1 billion over 10 years. However, those plans will have to be put on hold a little longer. One of the potential contractors for the project, CenturyLink, is taking the department to federal court in a challenge to the contracting terms for the project.
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Civilian Oversight Overlooked as CISPA Clears House Committee April 12, 2013 
A revived version of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act -- with provisions for civilian oversight absent -- passed by a vote of 18-2 Thursday in the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The committee adopted six amendments, but removed others aimed at privacy protection. Three of those were proposed by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., with one offered by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
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IRS May Be Sifting Through Email in Defiance of Court Order April 11, 2013 
The ACLU has raised a disturbing possibility after reading 247 pages of records it obtained from the Internal Revenue Service via a Freedom of Information Act request: The agency may be reading taxpayers' emails without a warrant. The IRS was told not to do this after a 2010 appellate court ruling in United States v. Warshak. However, the ACLU now seems to think the IRS has reverted to its previous behavior -- or perhaps never stopped.
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US Biz Groups Rail Against China-Focused 'Cybersecurity' Law April 09, 2013 
The head of the U.S.-China Business Council has criticized a new law aimed at stopping cyberattacks. John Frisbie, the group's president, objected to the law in a letter sent Monday to the leaders of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The provision requires multiple government agencies to get approval from law enforcement officials before purchasing IT systems sourced from companies having connections with China.
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US Navy Will Soon Pack Laser Heat in Persian Gulf April 09, 2013 
For the first time, the U.S. Navy plans to deploy a solid-state laser weapon on board one of its vessels, with the laser's debut scheduled for the Persian Gulf during fiscal year 2014. In a press release, the Navy said development and testing have resulted in a weapon that can "perform actions ranging from non-lethal disabling and deterrence all the way up to destruction."
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Fed IT Contract Window Still Open - but Budget Is Pinching April 09, 2013 
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking a broad range of information technology products and services with a potential contract value of $80 million over 10 years. That's a nice chunk of business, and it's just one of many potential federal IT contracts now available. In addition to providing these opportunities, federal agencies have remained active in awarding major IT contracts.
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Anonymous Taunts North Korea April 04, 2013 
The hactivist group Anonymous has taken on North Korea, hacking into the country's official Twitter and Flickr accounts on Wednesday. It reportedly sent out tweets ridiculing the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, and used its Flickr account to portray him in an unflattering light, to put it mildly. It appears that North Korea has regained control of its social media channels since the hack.
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