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The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a ruling that not only threw out other cases, but has more broadly set a limit upon the use of data seized in a computer search. The ruling has to do with the "plain view" doctrine, which allows law enforcement to take …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus package, states were required to set up websites in a specific format to explain to citizens how the money was spent. The [URL="http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/pdf/ARRAwebreport.pdf"]first look[/URL] at how states have done has come out, and it …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

President Barack Obama's administration made two announcements Monday about improved transparency in government: one about IT projects in general, and one about improving broadband access. The announcements were made at the [URL="http://personaldemocracy.com/pdf-conference/personal-democracy-forum-conference"]Personal Democracy Forum[/URL], in New York. Tuesday, White House Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra and White House New Media …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

Following the lead of John F. Kennedy's Peace Corps, President Barack Obama had mentioned in his campaign platform a "Craigslist for Service" (which met with the [URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-newmark/a-craigslist-for-service_b_150924.html"]full approval[/URL] of Craigslist founder Craig Newmark). It has now come to fruition with what Obama is calling "[URL="http://serve.gov/"]the summer of service[/URL]." "This summer, …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

"Universal service" should encompass broadband Internet access in the same way that it originally encompassed telephone access, according to a new report from the Federal Communications Commission to Congress. The [URL="http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-291012A1.pdf"]report[/URL], [I]Bringing Broadband to Rural America: Report on a Rural Broadband Strategy[/I], is written by Michael Copps, acting chairman of …

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Member Avatar for GuyClapperton

The UK Government's communications agency GCHQ has issued a rare statement saying it has no plans to monitor every individual's emails. Instead, the Home Secretary says we should all be ready to have our ISPs record [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8032367.stm"]all our Internet contacts[/URL]. I've met a few ISPs. They're going to be delighted, …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

The Department of Agriculture's Office of the Inspector General has issued a [URL="http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/09601-8-TE.pdf"]report[/URL] finding that the Rural Utilities Service continues to grant loans to areas that already have broadband service and to communities near major cities. For example, 77 percent of loans were said to have been made in areas …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

"Most Americans can easily find videos of water skiing squirrels on the Internet, but they’ll have less luck finding out whether their children's school buses and classrooms are safe, or if neighborhood gas stations are overcharging," said the Sunshine Week 2009 Survey of State Government Information online. Results ranged from …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

Though it hasn't gotten as much attention, one of the biggest recipients of largesse from President Barack Obama's stimulus package is the health care information technology industry. The bill requires utilization of electronic health care records for everyone in the U.S. by 2014, when only about 28 percent of health …

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Member Avatar for GuyClapperton

This is the sort of thing that annoys me intensely. Our Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Lord Davies of Abersoch, has been asking the good people at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona what they need to grow the mobile business, what it's all about, that sort of …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

A government is rolling out a wireless network, starting with 18 cities, using WiMAX technology that supports mobile networking, for $30 a month. The real news is where it is: Libya. WiMAX, based on similar technology to cell phone networks, offers wider coverage than is possible using wifi. Like wifi, …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

Remember the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3670.html"]Idaho elected official[/URL] a few weeks back who got in trouble for forwarding a message, comparing Michelle Obama to a black widow spider, to 26 people from his official email account? It gets better. The [I]Kuna-Melba News[/I], a weekly paper that covers western Ada County and eastern Canyon …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

Ah, yes, the wonderful Christmas tradition of watching Santa's travels around the world using a missile defense system. It's actually a very sweet story. "The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number," explains the NORAD …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

For many people, the first they heard of Saturday's plane crash at Denver International Airport was via a Twitter message from someone who'd been on the plane, which quickly made its way through the Internet: "Holy ****ing s*** I wasbjust in a plane crash!" (Despite what some overly dramatic news …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

No sooner had the echoes of “Sarah *who*?” faded than the blogosphere was on the job, showing that even for an unknown person from a remote area, there was plenty of readily accessible information available – and not only perhaps doing a better job of vetting than the McCain campaign …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

If you were one of the just seven people in the first half of the year who went to the Washington State Department of Transportation web page using free wifi from the rest areas along its highways, you're out of luck -- the state dropped the little-used service as of …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

When one thinks about high-tech states, one typically thinks of places such as California and Massachusetts. But....Alabama? The Southern state was the only state government on CIO Magazine’s top 100 institutions for excellence in information technology. According to CIO, the state provides more than 130 e-government applications through the [URL="http://www.alabama.gov/portal/index.jsp"]state's …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

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 …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

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 …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

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 …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

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 …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

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, …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

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 …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

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, …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

[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 …

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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 …

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Member Avatar for EddieC

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 …

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Member Avatar for slfisher

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 …

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Member Avatar for Mahen

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 …

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Member Avatar for happygeek

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 …

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