[government] Forum Topics

A website purporting to encourage improved broadband Internet access in the U.S. runs the risk of undercutting its argument by playing games with statistics. [URL="http://www.speedmatters.org/"]www.speedmatters.org[/URL], a project of the Communications Workers of America, has released its second survey of broadband Internet speeds in the U.S., noting that there has been …

Both the Democratic and Republican national conventions -- scheduled for next week and the following week, respectively -- will feature major roles for bloggers, giving them the same access as traditional press. Hundreds of bloggers are slated to attend the Democratic convention in Denver -- 500 alone paid $100 for …

Ever wondered how the U.S. diplomatic corps keeps track of all of its quickly changing information? Turns out, the same way all the rest of us do -- through Wikipedia. The diplomatic wikipedia, [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplopedia"]Diplopedia[/URL], is not available to the public, though examples of pages are included in a [URL="http://www.epa.gov/oei/proceedings/2007/proceedings07/johnson.pdf"]publicly available …

The state of Maine has found an innovative way to find funding to supports its technology industry – the state issued $50 million in bonds and just awarded $30 million in grants, with the remaining $20 million to be allocated this fall. Funding for the Maine Technology Asset Fund was …

It's been a long-running joke that Republicans don't understand technology, what with United States Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) trying to describe the Internet as a [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_of_tubes"]"series of tubes"[/URL] and President George W. Bush referring to [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internets"]"the Internets."[/URL] However, a new generation of Republicans is not only learning to use technologies …

If you sent out a Twitter or email message after Tuesday's Southern California earthquake, you had a lot of company. As is typical in technology-heavy California, the moderate earthquake generated a following seismic [URL="http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/07/29/picture-internet-told-me-there-was-earthquake"]wave of Internet messages[/URL] of people checking in with each other. In fact, [URL="http://www.emsc-csem.org/Doc/EMSC_DOCS/EMSC_RT_activities_2007.pdf"]one study[/URL] indicates that …

Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama, swept to the role of presumptive nominee through support from fans on the Internet, is learning that the Internet can just as easily be mobilized against him, even after he has already voted on an issue. The issue is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or …

In an example of throwing the bathwater out with the baby, a number of ISPs are dropping the alt.* hierarchy, or Usenet altogether, ostensibly to comply with a demand from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo that they [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2584.html"]rid the Internet of child pornography[/URL]. Some observers, including the [URL="http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9638/EFF+-+Blocking+UseNets+Alt+Hierarchy+Would+Violate+First+Amendment"]Electronic Frontier …

While the full story behind [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2842.html"]San Francisco city government computer engineer Terry Childs[/URL] hasn't yet come out, one thing is certain: the mainstream media is ignorant about technology. Moreover, either the city government and prosecutors are deliberately painting things in as negative a light as possible in order to force …

Claiming he was protecting San Francisco city government's computer system from incompetent coworkers, computer engineer [URL="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/22/BAGF11T91U.DTL"]Terry Childs[/URL] changed the system's passwords and then for more than a week refused to give them to anyone, even after being arrested. Childs was under four felony counts for blocking administrative access to the …

Sean Tevis needed 3,000 people willing to donate $8.34 to his campaign for the Kansas state legislature. Instead, he's up to 5,298 -- and still going. He did it with a [URL="http://seantevis.com/kansas/3000/running-for-office-xkcd-style/"]single website[/URL] in the style of [URL="http://xkcd.com/"]XKCD[/URL], the geek comic strip that has replaced Dilbert on many office doors, …

San Francisco is implementing a wireless network using transceivers on the ground that theoretically will help drivers find parking spaces in the congested city. The technology, called Streetline from the [URL="http://www.streetlinenetworks.com/site/index.php"]company of the same name[/URL], uses wireless transceivers glued on the street in front of each parking space, which form …

""I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description [hard-core pornography]; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it." -- Judge Potter Stewart, Supreme Court Justice, 1964 In …

Of course, it makes sense. After all, I'm following him (along with 43,485 people at this writing). But it still gave me a little thrill, a few minutes later, to get the message that he was now following me (along with the 42,084 other people he follows). Is it automatic …

Just weeks after EarthLink pulled out of a project to provide wireless Internet throughout the city of Philadelphia after the city refused to take over management of the network, a group of investors has agreed to run the project. According to the [URL="http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/news_breaking/20080617_Free_WiFi_will_remain_in_Philadelphia.html"]Philadelpha Inquirer[/URL], a group of investors temporarily called …

Lee Chubb was ticked off. As a year-round, 15-year resident of Ketchum, Idaho – the city associated with the tony Sun Valley ski resort, Chubb has watched a lot of efforts to over-develop the area in a way that would not only take away the small-town feel that he loved, …

[I]Even on a slow day, I can have a three-way chat with two women at the same time -- Brad Paisley, [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GcVnhNjWV0"]Cooler Online[/URL][/I] But what if you work for the government? Particularly if you're a teacher? A number of [URL="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flpfacebook0601pnjun01,0,7309360.story?page=1&track=facebook"]teachers in Palm Beach County[/URL], Fla. -- some of them 20somethings …

The city of Santa Fe, N.M., is finding itself [URL="http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/05/allergic-to-wif.html"]fighting a group [/URL]that wants the city to ban wireless Internet signals from public buildings, claiming the signals are making them sick. The group, calling themselves "electro-sensitive," say they are allergic to the waves generated, and say that Santa Fe's attempt …

The defense departments of the United States and Great Britain have long been aligned militarily. Now they’re cozying up technologically too. The two organizations this week announced the UPDM Group, a trans-Atlantic effort to create a unified version of what are now two distinct application object models. The group, which …

Google told Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to [URL="http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2008/05/dialogue-with-sen-lieberman-on.html"]pound sand[/URL] Monday -- politely, of course -- after the Senator [URL="http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=8093d5b2-c882-4d12-883d-5c670d43d269&Month=5&Year=2008&Affiliation=C"]called on Google[/URL] to remove all "Internet video content produced by terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda" from YouTube. "YouTube encourages free speech and defends everyone's right to express unpopular points of view. …

It had such promise -- a wifi network, treated like a city utility such as water or sewer, providing broadband Internet to everyone in the city, anywhere in the city, for a low monthly price. Yet vendors in cities such as [URL="http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2008/05/12/daily55.html"]Portland[/URL], and even the municipal wireless flagship [URL="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/tech/20080513-0914-wirelessphiladelphia.html"]Philadelphia[/URL] are …

Back in May, I [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry1466.html"]broke the story[/URL] on DaniWeb in this very blog of how the online application facility for UK visas was not only insecure, but that it had potentially been so for years. The company concerned, VFS Global, which operated the visa online application form filing service on …

The UK government has started a concerted [URL="http://yp.direct.gov.uk/cyberbullying/"]campaign[/URL] to stop what Schools Secretary, Ed Balls MP, refers to as a "particularly insidious type of bullying." According to government figures more than one third of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 15 have fallen victim to cyber bullies. Perhaps more …

In a rather ironic turn of events, the US [URL="http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm"]Department for Homeland Security[/URL] has found itself having to admit to Congress that it has been subject to the odd one or two minor security problems in-house. Well, I say one or two. Actually the figure is more than 800. Well, …

Ever since I got my computer, I can no longer remember small reminders. For example, more than once my mother told me to look after the boiling water; I tell her yes and completely forget about everything. The result can be very catastrophic. Therefore, I tried to find a solution …

Inventor of the Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has been speaking out in favour of Net Neutrality at the [URL="http://www2006.org"]15th World Wide Web conference[/URL] in Edinburgh, Scotland this week. For once, my spin on the issue doesn’t matter. What the man who created the Web thinks does, so I’ll leave the …

As I write this article, there’s no way to know the fate of the seven crew members aboard NASA’s STS-114 space ship, commonly known as Discovery. Will they return alive? Or will their heat-shield clad capsule disintegrate in the atmosphere like their predecessor did, Columbia. The crew is currently planned …