The following statement can be attributed to Michael Petricone, senior vice president, government and regulatory affairs, Consumer Electronics Association®, regarding House Judiciary Committee Chairman Goodlatte’s issuance of principles governing collection of sales taxes on products purchased online. “Leaders in both parties recognize that differential tax treatment of online and brick-and-mortar retailers is unjustifiable and unsustainable…. Keep reading →
Technology
CEA Challenges MPAA Study Pointing to Search Engines as Encouraging Online Content Infringement
By businesswireThe following statement can be attributed to Michael Petricone, senior vice president, government and regulatory affairs, Consumer Electronics Association®, regarding a study released today by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) purporting search engines aid in consumer infringement of online content: “This is a Hollywood formula as familiar as a rom-com: Blame the technology… Keep reading →
Oregon Department of Justice Boosts Efficiencies, Response Times and Reduces Paper with New Workflow System
By Breaking Gov
The Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ), led by the state’s Attorney General, is responsible for general counsel and supervision of all civil actions and legal proceedings in which the state is a part or has an interest. Headquartered in Salem, the Department is further responsible for the operation of a number of program areas designated… Keep reading →
Improving Background Investigations Requires Full Lifecycle Perspective
By Growson Edwards and Paul Wilkinson
The federal government has earned praise the past few years for making improvements to the security clearance process. In fact, at a Homeland Security and Government Affairs subcommittee hearing in June 2012, it was reported that the time for initial investigations was down to 44 days, from 189 in 2005. Keep reading →
For the fourth straight year, federal IT spending was about even with the prior year’s budget – and it seems very clear that trend will come to an abrupt halt in 2013. The Professional Services Council (PSC) stated the “Addressable IT Budgets” in Fiscal Year 2012 added up to $121.7 billion – a total the Council estimates will drop to $115.5 in FY13, with budgets for IT equipment expected to drop 19% in FY13.
With the so-called “fiscal cliff” looming, the new year began promptly with a deal that largely addressed the tax portion of the so-called “fiscal cliff” equation, but delayed measures addressing the spending portion of the “cliff” that include raising the debt ceiling and sequestration spending cuts. Keep reading →
A new app for Android devices called, will read your favorite Websites and blogs to you, freeing your hands (via Bluetooth) while driving. But it also holds out a promising solution to those who have difficulty seeing or reading small text on a smartphone or tablet screen.
Available free of charge through the Google Play store, Web2go, developed by Tel Aviv-based Volacent Inc., introduces what the company calls Artificial Reading Intelligence (ARI). ARI allows the application to streamline the reading process so that the app reads only the relevant text in an article, skipping over superfluous information such as long lists of menu items, photo captions on advertisements and other data points that are not part of the story or blog entry. Keep reading →
The federal agency responsible for thousands of international radio and television broadcasts is using Google Currents, a free tool that potentially could be the blueprint for every federal agency distributing RSS feeds to big audiences.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors — which oversees Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio and TV Marti, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks — launched the Google Currents platform last October to disseminate its content easily and swiftly to its weekly audience of 175 million in 59 languages. Keep reading →
A new report by the Partnership for Public Service said the federal government must move faster to embrace social media because it’s “not just a passing trend” but an important mechanism for advancing government effectiveness.
The report, to be officially released Wednesday, found pockets of excellence in agencies using social media and digital applications, but concluded that “use of digital platforms is by no means standard across government.” Keep reading →
Contrary to the predictions of many security experts, who argue that cloud exploits, mobile device attacks and all-out cyber war will be among the most likely data breach threats governments and enterprises will face in 2013, researchers for the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) have reached a far different conclusion.
The most likely threats in 2013 will involve authentication attacks and failures, continued espionage and “hacktivism” attacks, Web application exploits and social engineering. Keep reading →
The Defense Department has awarded a first of its kind joint enterprise licensing agreement for Microsoft collaboration, mobility, productivity and security tools. Valued at $617 million, the three-year agreement will allow the Army, Air Force and the Defense Information Systems Agency to begin using the latest versions of the company’s products.
The agreement creates a single framework providing all three organizations with a single, standardized way to access new Microsoft technologies. The contract also supports top DOD IT goals for data center consolidation, collaboration, cybersecurity, mobility, cloud computing and big data, company officials said in a statement. Keep reading →