December 2013

Federal Records Must Go Digital, but Managers Say They Can't Do It Without More Resources

Nearly half of federal records managers believe the Obama Administration’s goals for making all new records digital and electronically searchable by 2019 is unrealistic, a new study has found.

That deadline, introduced in an August 2012 presidential directive, upset transparency advocates who said it gave agencies a pass to delay transitioning to digital records management systems and would result in even transparency-friendly agencies putting their limited resources toward other priorities. Now, records managers say even that far off deadline won’t be achievable without more funding and better trained records management professionals, according to the study released by MeriTalk, a public-private partnership focused on improving how the government manages information technology. The study was underwritten by the information management company Iron Mountain. Most importantly, just 54 percent of survey respondents said they’d be able to meet a mandate in the directive to identify all permanent records that must be digitized by Dec. 31. Only 18 percent of respondents said they’d made significant progress in actually digitizing permanent records, while 70 percent said they had little progress to report.

The National Security Agency’s oversharing problem

In the days after the attacks on September 11, 2001, the National Security Agency underwent a transformation from an organization that operated on a "need to know" basis to a "need to share" culture. In the process, the agency threw out many of the procedures and controls that might have stopped Edward Snowden from walking out the door with thousands of secret documents. But after the WikiLeaks scandal, the NSA began trying to ratchet back on its internal promiscuity with information classified at the highest level -- Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI). Ironically, it was part of this effort that allowed then-contractor systems administrator Snowden to download thousands of documents from the Agency's highly classified internal Web servers -- documents that were openly available to him because of his security clearance and duties assigned.

NBCUniversal announces record coverage of 2104 Sochi Olympics

Big fans of the Winter Olympics won't have much trouble getting their fill of the action from Sochi. NBCUniversal announced that it will present more than 1,539 hours of coverage from Russia in February. That's an average of 85 hours a day on various platforms -- a record for the Winter Games and more coverage than the last two combined. Roughly a third of the action will air on television, divided among NBC, NBCSN, CNBC, MSNBC and the USA Network. NBCOlympics.com will offer more than 1,000 hours of live streaming coverage, along with event rewinds and video highlights.

Comcast CEO meets with top U.S. communications regulator

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts met with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler on Dec 19.

This is one of many meetings between Chairman Wheeler and various industry executives since he was confirmed in November. A source familiar with the matter said the two did not discuss possible deals or transactions. Roberts also met with President Barack Obama as part of the tech industry delegation to discuss the healthcare site HealthCare.gov and US surveillance programs.

'Duck Dynasty' anti-gay fallout sparks debate on religion, tolerance

The suspension of TV personality Phil Robertson of A&E's hit reality show "Duck Dynasty" for making anti-gay comments has sparked a politically charged debate about religion and tolerance while casting doubt on the series' future.

Robertson, the patriarch of the backwater Louisiana clan on the reality show about hunting, fishing and domestic squabbles, was put on indefinite "hiatus" by the cable network A&E for his remarks to GQ magazine characterizing homosexuality as sinful behavior. "Start with homosexual behavior and just morph from there," Robertson said when asked what is sinful. "Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men." A&E, a joint venture of privately held Hearst and Walt Disney, said it was disappointed after reading Robertson's remarks, which it added were his personal views and did not reflect those of the network. "The network has placed Phil under hiatus from filming indefinitely," it said.

What Transparency Reports Don't Tell Us

There was a time in the not so distant past when hardly any Internet company wanted to release a transparency report -- a report that summarized the number of law enforcement and intelligence requests that they received and responded to.

What started with just Google and Twitter in 2010 and 2012, respectively, has become a steady stream of companies joining the bandwagon in the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations. Companies that had no interest in reporting in 2012 by the end of 2013 are holding out their reports in an attempt to earn back eroded customer trust. The problem is that transparency reports actually tell us very little about whether we should trust these companies. According to Google’s latest transparency report, in the first six months of 2013, they received 25,879 requests for user data, and complied with 65 percent of them. Sounds like big numbers. And they are. As Google points out in their report, the number of requests has doubled since 2010. But what does that tell us about Google? Less than you might think.

The numbers in transparency reports can actually mislead us about company trustworthiness.

Verizon to Show Law Enforcement Requests for Consumer Data

Verizon Communications, taking action amid pressure from shareholders, said it will begin providing information on requests law-enforcement officials make for customer data.

Verizon will begin in early 2014 with a report on 2013 requests in the US and other countries where it operates, it said. Subsequent disclosures will follow every six months. While the information will include police and Federal Bureau of Investigation requests, it will leave out US National Security Agency queries. “We have disclosed much of this data over the past two years, primarily in response to requests from legislators,” said Bob Varettoni, a spokesman for Verizon. “The publication of an online transparency report is our way to make this information more consistently and easily available.”

Sen Markey Praises Verizon Decision to Publish Data Requests

Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) one of the Hill's point men on online privacy and security, praised a decision by Verizon to start publishing a report of law enforcement requests for mobile customer data.

Sen Markey has been investigating government requests for data from wireless customers and said he will be introducing legislation requiring regular disclosure from the law enforcement side on the "nature and volume" of such requests. Sen Markey says the bill will also "curb bulk data requests, require warrants for geolocation information requests..." “Verizon is taking an important step toward transparency, and I call on the other wireless carriers to follow its lead and regularly disclose their law enforcement requests for wireless information," the Senator said in a statement. "We clearly need more sunlight in this area, and I soon will introduce legislation to strengthen privacy safeguards for consumers. Reporting is a critical first step towards informing Americans about the nature and extent of wireless surveillance. We need to put rules on the books that protect Americans’ privacy and rights.”

SF's Market Street Wi-Fi Marks Shift In City's Tech Approach

San Francisco’s free public Wi-Fi network on Market Street was announced on Dec 16, after a noticeable absence of promotion before the offering.

This approach in delivering a service to the public without promoting the fact that the city was making good on its promise to deliver is San Francisco's attempt to rebuild trust in its relationship with the public, chief information officer Marc Touitou explained. It’s also a demonstration of Touitou’s style as a new public-sector CIO. The city’s new 50 Mbps Wi-Fi network is a first part of a larger project to offer widespread public Wi-Fi access throughout the city. An official announcement of such a project has not been announced. Thus far, Touitou has delivered on his promise to spend less time making promises and to focus on getting things done. The Market Street Wi-Fi network and a Google-funded project slated to bring Wi-Fi to 31 city parks by the summer of 2014 both come after years of stalled projects and broken promises by the city when it comes to large IT projects.

South Carolina Telco to Launch Gigabit Network

Home Telecom is the latest broadband carrier to join the Gigabit fiber to the home movement with the announcement of GigaFi in Nexton (SC). Home is partnering with MWV Community Development and Land Management to bring the ultra-high speed broadband offer to the suburban Charleston (SC) community, where Home operates a CLEC. The 4,500 acre planned community will eventually have 10K residential homes, 2K apartments and 6 million square feet of commercial space. The community is under construction with the first residential occupancy expected in spring of 2014.

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