Jeff Gould

Federal IT Managers Embrace Cloud, But Not Cloud-First Mandate

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One year after Cloud First, federal agencies are embracing the cloud. But they want it to be safer and more transparent. Above all, they don’t want to be locked into just one kind of cloud or a nothing-but-cloud approach.

That’s what we found in an exclusive survey conducted for SafeGov.org by the Ponemon Institute. The survey found that federal managers are working diligently to comply with the Office of Management and Budget’s Cloud First initiative, but are not yet convinced cloud applications are safe enough or will lead to significant cost savings. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 30, 2012 at 11:25 AM

Google’s Government Customers Mostly Immune From New Privacy Policy

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While the news that Aneesh Chopra is stepping down from his White House post as chief technology officer may have earned the most chatter on government IT blogs this week, the bigger buzz behind the scenes was the controversy over Google’s new privacy policies and what it would mean for government employees.

If the controversy began with Google’s announcement Jan. 24 that it plans to follow the activities of users as they move across Google’s various websites and platforms, it escalated quickly the following day with an article by Karen Evans and Jeff Gould. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 27, 2012 at 4:40 PM

Los Angeles Ends Google Apps For LAPD; Decision Bigger Than You Think

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Is the FBI trying to kill the use of cloud email services by local law enforcement agencies? Los Angeles, the first big city customer to adopt Google Apps for Government, now says the service cannot meet FBI security requirements. But is the FBI really at fault?

Google and the City of Los Angeles agreed to pull the plug on their very public, two-year struggle to deploy Google Apps for Government (GAFG) at the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). In a document dated Dec. 9, 2011, city officials blamed the failed deployment on FBI information security rules which, they allege, make it impossible to deploy cloud email services like Gmail to law enforcement agencies.
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This article was reprinted by permission of SafeGov.org.
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If this assessment is correct, local police and sheriff departments across the country who are considering Google Apps or comparable cloud services may be in for a rude awakening similar to the one that Los Angeles faces today. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 19, 2011 at 3:51 PM