Open Office XML, a Potemkin standard?

At last night’s meeting of the DC XML Users group I asked what they thought of the controversy surrounding the International Standards Organization adoption of OOXML. There was general agreement that the ISO had not covered itself in glory and that its reputation has taken a major hit. Someone mentioned this post by Tim Bray -

The important thing is this: The ISO Delta is completely irrelevant to the marketplace. It is not implemented in the shipping Microsoft products. Microsoft may choose to implement some portion of it in some future release of some product, or they may not. Given Office’s release and adoption cycle, it’s very unlikely that any pieces of the delta they decide to implement will be widely deployed in anything less than five years.

Thus, if you write OOXML software and you generate ISO-Delta markup, it won’t be usable by the deployed base of software. In fact, we have no information as to how gracefully Office will react; will it bypass such markup or explode messily? I’m not optimistic. So, implementors should not generate ISO-Delta markup.

If Bray is correct, the whole purpose of a standards organization has been defeated. It is a shame, a real shame.

Measuring online influence

This blog has 201 subscribers on Feedburner, and 104 on Bloglines. As of today it has Technorati authority of 53. According to Blogpulse it has a rank of 2435. I have 14 fans on my del.icio.us network, 13 friends in Digg, and 2 friends on Slashdot. My Twitter feed has 204 followers.

Try to think how many meetings you would have to attend to build the same number of relationships. This is the power of online communications. It is a time efficient way to build relationships. It offers readers a low key way to get to know you. That, in brief, is the power of business blogging.

Are ISP's injecting ads into web pages viewed by their customers?

ISPs Meddled With Their Customers' Web Traffic, Study Finds

About one percent of the Web pages being delivered on the Internet are being changed in transit, sometimes in a harmful way, according to researchers at the University of Washington.

In a paper, set to be delivered Wednesday, the researchers document some troubling practices. In July and August they tested data sent to about 50,000 computers and discovered that a small number of Internet service providers (ISPs) were injecting ads into Web pages on their networks. They also found that some Web browsing and ad-blocking software was actually making Web surfing more dangerous by introducing security vulnerabilities into pages.

"The Web is a lot more wild than we originally expected," said Charles Reis , a PhD student at the University of Washington who co-authored the paper.

From a Internet user's point of view this really stinks. If you are a publisher, it is a very serious matter that someone is using your content to sell advertising and not compensating you.

Supporting Universal Business with Open Standards Meeting

NEXT Friday, April 25, 2008, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

As an opportunity to introduce Document Engineering Services, we would like to invite you to be our guest at a free seminar on "Supporting Universal Business with Open Standards". This is an opportunity to hear about exciting new developments as well as international projects that use open standards for e-government and electronic business. Specifically:

* the business aspects of open standards
* the European Government e-Procurement Interoperability project
* management and governance challenges in universal business applications
* the document exchange standards landscape

Speakers include:

* Tim McGrath,the Managing Director of Document Engineering Services and author of "Document Engineering: analysing and designing document for business informatics and web services"
* Jon Bosak, Distinguished Engineer,Corporate Standards Office of Global Government Strategy, Sun Microsystems and Chair of the OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL) Technical Committee. He organized and led the working group that created XML and served for two years as chair of the W3C XML Coordination Group.
* Michael P. Onder, USDOT-Federal Highway Administration.

NIST seeks comments on revision of risk management framework

Government Computer News

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released a second draft of Special Publication 800-39, titled “Managing Risk from Information Systems: An Organizational Perspective,” for public comment.

NIST calls the document the flagship publication in the standards and guidelines it is developing under the Federal Information Security Management Act. It provides a framework for managing the risk to organizational operations and assets, individuals, other organizations, and the nation resulting from the use of information systems. It builds on a foundation of best security practices for agency leaders, chief information officers, information system designers, developers and administrators, auditors, and inspectors general.

The current version of the document contains significant changes based on feedback on the first draft, released last fall. Comments on the current draft are being accepted at sec-cert@nist.gov until April 30.

If you have an opinion about this now is the time to speak.

Great moments in government procurement

OMB issues records management guidance

When agencies build or purchase new information technology systems, they should make records management and archiving capabilities be part of the system, decreed the Office of Management and Budget earlier this month in a memo signed by Karen Evans, OMB’s administrator for e-government and information technology.

The memo also suggested purchasing such software through the General Services Administration's SmartBUY program.

There's one small problem, according to Tony Byrne, who runs CMS Watch, an analyst firm for enterprise content management software. Namely, there is only one records management product on the SmartBUY list, from a company called Meridio, now owned by Autonomy. And Byrne writes that while it does records management, it is not a full archiving solution (a charge the company disputes, see below).

Congratulations Autonomy.

Preserving Government Records

Panel would reform records storage

“Too often over the past several years, our investigations have revealed weaknesses in government preservation of e-mail that could leave substantial gaps as future historians examine White House and agency decision-making,” said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the committee's chairman and one of the bill’s sponsors, in announcing the legislation.

In a related development, preliminary findings from the Government Accountability Office released today summarized a survey of recordkeeping processes at four agencies. Although the agencies generally met NARA's statutory requirements, its policies were not always followed, GAO auditors said.

“The loss of documents and information through indifference should be viewed with as much alarm as their loss through a system breach,” said Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment.org, in her opening statement for a hearing set for today by a subcommittee that deals with federal information policies and issues. After a series of votes delayed lawmakers, the session was postponed indefinitely.

Little progress has been made in electronic records management across the federal government, McDermott said, and “we repeatedly have to relearn the lesson, apparently, that servers and backup tapes are not appropriate records management systems.”

It is unclear whether we need to relearn that lesson or whether the Bush White House chose not to learn that lesson.

1105 Rising Star Nominations 2008

The Deadline is May 2

The Rising Star Awards program recognizes young people in the government information technology community -- government or industry -- who have made a difference in their agencies or the community in the past 12 to 18 months.

There is no age limit. However, the program is aimed at individuals who are in the first third of their careers.

The award recognizes specific accomplishments, but the goal is to highlight people who have the potential to contribute to the government IT community in years to come -- true rising stars.

Rising Star Award winners will be honored at a lunch this summer. They also will be featured in one of three 1105 Government Information Group publications, depending on their field of expertise: FCW for policy/management; GCN for technology; and Washington Technology for industry.

Advice to contractors: nominate your customer.
Advice to trade associations: nominate someone who works well with your industry.
Advice to managers: nominate your staff.
Advice to politicians: nominate someone on your staff or someone in the civil service who made you look good.

Blowing smoke on net neutrality

Baltimore Business Journal

"Why should I have to pay a special higher premium toll for something that's basically essential to my business?" said Miller, now president of the D.C.-based Career College Association.

But that's already happening on the Internet, argued Bill McComas, a technology lawyer at Baltimore firm Shapiro Sher Guinot & Sandler. Companies commonly pay for what is known as search-engine optimization -- in which that fee allows their Web site to become a more popular result in a Web search.

What McComas is referring to is search engine optimization, which is entirely separate from net neutrality. Search engine optimization has to do with designing your website in such a way as to make it accessible to search engine spiders. Net neutrality has to do with with Internet Service Providers treating all web traffic the same. The best way to take something away from the public is to convince the public it is already gone. By conflating net neutrality with search engine optimization, McComas clearly hopes to confuse the public. The question is, can he get away with it?

BarCamp: Social Develpment Camp East

May 10 2008

SocialDevCampEast is the Unconference for Developers of the Future Social Web

Where is the social web going? It's going mobile, to geocentric services, and to open platforms. Join a community of like-minded developers for an unconference to discuss the future of the social web.

We're looking for thought leaders from DC to Boston to meet, forge relationships, and envision the future.

How to get the CFO to Fund an Electronic Records Management System

NCC AIIM May monthly meeting

Speaker: William E. Neale,
IBM Enterprise Content Management

We have all become familiar with justifying Electronic Records Management Systems (ERMS) using risk and compliance requirements for the primary business case – which often does not work until too late, after a major disaster or litigation.

Mr. Bill Neale, long known in the metro DC and Richmond area for his work in ARMA and AIIM, offers this unique presentation of a practical business case for ERMS Discover how the implementation of an ERMS system, including business process management (BPM), not only reduces risk, enables compliance, and improves organizational processes and collaboration, but how it also generates true business value leading to a tangible ROI. Learn how to reduce the future cost of compliance and recordkeeping using ECM and BPM to build a cost effective, enterprise-wide records program.

Open letter to my RSS subscribers

According to Feedburner, 229 readers subscribe to this blog, 104 readers subscribe on Bloglines. Preliminary results tell me that very few of you have taken my survey on your favorite sources of tech news. Please do.

While not scientific, this survey is my annual snapshot of where readers get their tech news. It helps me to serve clients. The feedback will help all of us to better understand our community.

Please take my survey.

What is your favorite source of Tech News?

Once again I am taking a reader survey to find out my readers' favorite source of technology news -
Click Here to take survey

Dept. of burnt bridges

Company Sells Access to Behind-the-Scenes Wal-Mart Footage

Flagler Productions, who recorded countless hours of internal Wal-Mart meetings from the 1970s through 2006, was fired two years ago. While that move effectively cut off most of the company's revenue stream, Flagler discovered there are actually plenty of people out there interested in viewing such material -- especially if it involves managers prancing about in drag at an executive meeting. According to the AP, Flagler is charging $250 an hour to outside parties for "video research" and additional fees for a DVD copy of film clips.

Flagler better hope the DVD sales go well; because who is going to hire them after they burn a client like that? Walmart is vulnerable to this sort of thing because of its protracted labor dispute. At some point you have to ask, wouldn't it be better business to sign a union contract and be done with this?

Security Outlook

In 2006 the Dept. of Defense banned the use of Outlook Web Access and HTML email. This is why.

Great moments in inventory control

Sensitive Military Gear Hawked On eBay, Craigslist

GAO investigators were able to buy two F-14 components from separate sellers, special night-vision goggles, body armor vests, and body armor protective plates.

I trust we will be hearing more about this.

For your next event

About Ustream.TV

Ustream.TV is the live interactive video broadcast platform that enables anyone with a camera and an Internet connection to quickly and easily broadcast to a global audience of unlimited size. In less than two minutes, anyone can become a broadcaster by creating their own channel on Ustream or by broadcasting through their own site, empowering them to engage with their audience and further build their brand.

Technosailor broadcast the last DC Social Media Club meeting. I can see how this could be used by millions of groups to increase their reach.

A most unusual call for participation

Get Paid to Find 'Back Doors'

A security research and training group is offering up to $20,000 in grants to anyone with computer programming chops who can help locate and close hidden "back doors" in commercial hardware and software.

According to the Bethesda, Md.-based SANS Institute -- the group offering the grants, hundreds of millions of devices -- from printers to Internet routers and storage systems -- are being placed on networks with built-in back doors. Software and hardware makers have for years quietly built these remote administration tools into their products, mainly to help customers troubleshoot the devices.

This is an excellent publicity stunt by SANS, and it will be good publicity for any security consultant who wants to participate.

Third party applications on the iPhone

Apple Developer Connection

The Objective-C language is a simple computer language designed to enable sophisticated object-oriented programming. Objective-C is defined as a small but powerful set of extensions to the standard ANSI C language. Its additions to C are mostly based on Smalltalk, one of the first object-oriented programming languages. Objective-C is designed to give C full object-oriented programming capabilities, and to do so in a simple and straightforward way.

For those who have never used object-oriented programming to create applications before, this document is also designed to help you become familiar with object-oriented development. It spells out some of the implications of object-oriented design and gives you a flavor of what writing an object-oriented program is really like.

iPhone SDK Downloads Top 100,000

CUPERTINO, California–March 12, 2008–Apple today announced that more than 100,000 iPhone developers have downloaded the beta iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) in the first four days since its launch on March 6. The iPhone SDK provides developers with the same rich set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and tools that Apple uses to create its native applications for iPhone and iPod touch.

“Developer reaction to the iPhone SDK has been incredible with more than 100,000 downloads in the first four days,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Also, over one million people have watched the launch video on Apple.com, further demonstrating the incredible interest developers have in creating applications for the iPhone.”

In addition to the iPhone Software Developer Kit, Apple has agreed to offer all iPhone Applications through iTunes, thus insuring compliance with iPhone standards and insuring quality control. Apple will not charge developers for applications that are free of charge. Developers who wish to charge for their applications will pay Apple 30% of their retail price in exchange for distribution through iTunes. This is going to be very popular and we will be hearing much more about it.

OpenTheGovernment

OpenTheGovernment.org

OpenTheGovernment.org is a coalition of journalists, consumer and good government groups, environmentalists, library groups, labor and others united to make the federal government a more open place in order to make us safer, strengthen public trust in government, and support our democratic principles.

Governance: OpenTheGovernment.org is guided by a Steering Committee (members listed below). A subset - the two co-chairs and three steering committee members - are appointed to the Executive Committee which provides day-to-day guidance, as needed, to the Directorhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif and assists in the development of an annual budget which is brought before the full committee for approval. Subcommittees include a nominations committee and ad hoc committees and working groups as needed.

They are participating in the StratML committee.

Why standards are newsworthy

There is a demonstration in Oslo against Microsoft's Open Office XML format. A demonstration for crying out loud!

Standards matter. Standard selection is vendor selection; which is why Microsoft has put so much money in persuading the International Standards Organization to accept OOXML.

The Potomac technology community is one of the most influential in standards issues. Even more than money, standards determine the direction of future technology. It is a pity local editors do not understand this.

Congratulations WTOP!

WTOP cracks top ten in revenue

WTOP Radio now ranks as one of the ten highest-grossing radio stations in the nation.

Using blogs to market small buisness

Wall Street Journal

Andrew Milligan was stuck. He had spent $60,000 on trade-show exhibitions and magazine advertising for the bean-bag chairs made by his company, Los Angeles-based Sumo Lounge International, and sales were still languishing at a couple of bean bags a day.

So Mr. Milligan, like many small businesses looking to gain exposure and boost sales, turned to the blogosphere. He sent an email to the popular technology blog Engadget.com, asking the editors to review his product. While they declined that request, they agreed to trade three months of advertising on their site for 20 Sumo bean bags to outfit their new office.

Reaching out to bloggers and social-media sites can help small companies build buzz even when marketing budgets are small. These blogs and books can get you started, says Scott Monty, relationship director in Boston at Crayon, a marketing company.

Within 48 hours of the Sumo ad's appearance on Engadget.com, an editor from Playboy magazine clicked on the ad and liked what he saw. He featured the bean bags in the magazine, and within about a week, Sumo had sold 500 bean bags.

Most of the time the results will not be so dramatic. But the article makes an excellent point that blogs offer an economical way to build an online presence. Blogs have the added benefit of being search engine friendly, so a nice mention on even a small blog, will show up in search results.

Congratulations Washington Post!

The Post Wins 6 Pulitzer Prizes

The Internet, consumer protection, and privacy

FTC Divided Over Online 'Behavioral Targeting'

The Federal Trade Commission recently issued a report on consumer protection and technology that explains how the commission will prevent Internet fraud as well as unfair and deceptive advertising. The report, entitled "Protecting Consumers In The Next Tech-ade," outlines consumer protection challenges as technologies evolve.

It found that "questions regarding the types of consumer data collected for use in behavioral advertising, how such data are used, and what protections are provided for that data remain." After a November town hall meeting on Internet tracking, targeting, and advertising technology, the FTC began drafting principles to encourage self-regulation of online behavioral advertising.

I don’t think most people realize that privacy enhances security. Lack of privacy is itself a security vulnerability. It is possible to design for privacy.

Creating software that protects privacy, particularly online, is going to be the next killer ap. The market isn’t ready for it yet, but it will be.

Manual data collection for the 2010 Census

Census abandons handheld devices for 2010 count

After years of trying to ramp up a system for collecting data for the 2010 census using handheld computers, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told Congress on Thursday that the department was giving up on the plan.

The Field Data Collection Automation project “has experienced significant schedule, performance and cost issues,” Gutierrez told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science. He added that “a lack of effective communication with one of our key contractors has significantly contributed to the challenges.”

GCN has not yet been able to reach the contractor — Harris Corp. — for comment.

When you bid on something as high profile as the census, you need to arrange for good communication with the government contracting officer.

When you mess up a high profile contract, your flack needs to be available for comment. Directly you hear that the Government Accountability Office is looking into your contract, and that Congress will be holding hearings, you need to prepare your response. You can’t hide under a bed in a situation like this.

Census counts on paper for 2010

The 2010 census was to be the first paperless population count, but problems emerged early on. Initial tests with commercial handheld devices revealed difficulties, so the bureau turned to Harris for help, awarding the company a five-year, cost-plus-award-fee contract in 2006 to automate field data-collection activities. The contract was initially worth $595 million but later increased to $624 million.

The partnership quickly ran into trouble. The Government Accountability Office and independent evaluator Mitre found that Census’ delivery times and requirements differed from those of Harris. In January, Census officials sent 400 new and revised technical requirements to Harris.

“We had underestimated how difficult it would be to communicate our business model,” Census Director Steve Murdock said. “We really didn’t manage it correctly.”

One of the main sources of the cost increase was the need to maintain a help desk to respond to problems that might arise with the handheld devices. The original contract allocated $5 million for the support, which was not enough. The bureau now wants to pay Harris $217 million to $220 million to run it.

Was Harris retained as part of a competitive bid? If so, did the original request for bid specify delivery dates? Did the original contract specify delivery dates? Why did Harris agree if they could not make delivery deadlines? Why did they agree to an unrealistic help desk budget? I look forward to additional coverage.

Using LinkedIn for business research

Secrets LinkedIn can tell you about your customers

One of the frustrating things about an open-source business is you don't generally know who is using your software. The paid customers you know, of course, but generally this represents a small fraction of the total user base. ...

... Today I found a new way. LinkedIn. What do I mean? And is this only something for open-source vendors?

I was searching for potential sales engineers, and initially did the standard searches: People in Chicago or Austin with Documentum, FileNet, Sharepoint, Java, etc. in their profiles.

Dense though I am, it eventually dawned on me to search for the word "Alfresco" in the LinkedIn database. What I found surprised me.

First, I discovered a wide range of people with Alfresco experience. Some are existing Alfresco customers and partners, some are employees. But a significant percentage include potential customers and partners.

Think about that. Wouldn't you rather hire someone that already knows your code? Wouldn't you rather engage a partner that has already done implementations of your software? Of course you would. LinkedIn can help.

I would never have thought of that. I am sure LinkedIn is being used for all manner of interesting research. I would like to thank the two individuals who sent me an invitation to join LinkedIn. At first I did not understand the value of it; but I think a LinkedIn profile is almost expected, the same way a website is expected.

Eric Litman, Washington Venture Capitalist

Building His Own Start-Up Ecosystem

If you listen to him explain his vision for the future of technology, it sounds quite sweeping:

"There's the perception that the Internet is done in terms of innovation. . . . We're still at the very beginning in terms of human-computer interaction models in terms of opportunities. . . . People today sit in front of a computer typing on an absolutely bizarre keyboard layout that was traditionally designed to prevent people from typing too quickly, so they wouldn't jam the typewriter. We use a device that causes repetitive stress syndrome called the mouse."

Excellent points; some of the most important technological challenges involve the basics.

Eric Austin Litman's Weblog

DC tech scene

I just found this post by Matt Bowen describing the local tech scene, he gives an excellent overview. He also has an aggregator of DC tech blogs.

MIT Enterprise Forum blog

The MIT Enterprise Forum of DC finally started blogging.

Added to the Tech on the Potomac RSS reader.

Small business and the neutral net

The Baltimore Business Journal reports on the fight over net neutrality. The interesting thing about this article is that it makes clear the importance of the neutral net for Web 2.0 companies and small business generally. Your humble servant is quoted.

2008 Mid-Atlantic Business Plan Competition

Via Casey Software, we learn about the 2008 Mid-Atlantic Business Plan Competition. The deadline is April 26.

Edit -
From the comments I learn that the deadline has passed.

Blog Potomac; PowerPoint Free

I saw Geoff Livingston at a social media breakfast at the beginning of the week and he told me that there well be no PowerPoint presentations at Blog Potomac. That alone will make it worthwhile. I hope other conference organizers will be guided by his excellent example.

Open Source Intelligence

Today's spies find secrets in plain sight

Intelligence officers have gleaned insights on Iran's nuclear capabilities from photos on the Internet. They've scooped up documents, including a terrorist training manual, at international conferences and public forums. They've found information in foreign university libraries and newscasts.

Such material is known as "open-source intelligence" or, in the acronym-laden parlance of the 16 federal agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community, OSINT. The explosion of information available via the Internet and other public sources has pushed the collection and analysis of that material to the top of the official priority list in the spy world, intelligence officials say.

We are going to be hearing a lot about this in the future. The secret to good intelligence is recognizing the significance of what you are looking at, well that and the ability to remain objective.

Huh?

TitanTV Moves Beyond Listings

The Daily Greens program delivers environmental tips without coming off like Al Gore at the podium.

Which Al Gore was this? The winner of the 2000 popular vote? The Oscar winning Al Gore? The Noble laureate?

What's wrong with coming across like Al Gore?

The Internet: PR fire

The Internet is fire for our industry, it can light a torch, or it can burn. It all depends upon the circumstances. Take the case of the lawsuit Echostar has brought against NDS. Yesterday a Swiss magazine ran an article about the hacker in the case, Christopher Tarnovsky. In a matter of hours the article was picked up by Slashdot.

An article runs in a French language publication and hours later surfaces on an American website with an English language summary. This illustrates the speed with which news travels and how the Internet transcends national and even language barriers.

New to me local tech blog

Deft Gecko, The search for better software development tools and techniques

Added to the Tech on the Potomac RSS reader.

Economic indicators

FDIC Plans Staff Boost for Bank Failures

By ALAN ZIBEL – 23 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal bank regulators plan to increase staffing 60 percent in coming months to handle an anticipated surge in troubled financial institutions.

A bad sign. A very bad sign.

Happy Easter

Moving in an wired world

Gabe Goldbberg, Washington Post

For the more common situation, a move involving an existing layout, prepare by mapping rooms to receive computer or electronic equipment, showing walls, doors, windows, phone/cable/Ethernet jacks and electrical outlets. Plan furniture placement and where to connect. Don't get caught with jacks or outlets behind immovable furniture.

"A well-designed home has furniture placement worked out," said Jonathan Lathrop of Have Truck Will Haul Moving Service in Prince George's County.

He said that you can generally tell where the architect intended to put furniture by the outlet placement. A living room's long wall with outlets on both ends is meant for the sofa; cable jacks are usually on the opposite wall for TV.

If you ignore these intentions, your creative arrangements may require extension cords, cables or even rewiring.

Of course, plug in extension cords before placing furniture. "Extension cords with flat plugs don't stick out from the wall if you need to put furniture against an outlet," Lathrop said.

Lathrop is the best mover in the area. My family and friends would not consider using anyone else.

Some considerations in writing marketing copy for security agencies

Contractor's Website Reveals Clandestine CIA Programs

Is there any way one can figure out some of the CIA's most highly guarded secrets from a corporate website?

Absolutely.

I’ve done it. (And you can count on it that America’s friends and enemies alike have, too.) ...

... Heckle and Jeckle also brag about a micro-electromechanical facility which becomes particularly interesting in conjunction with their job openings announcements. Reviewing the skill sets they're looking for, it quickly becomes apparent that they design and program their own computer chips, so they're clearly creating proprietary cutting-edge gadgets. It's notable how frequently they're searching for engineers with experience in one of the most miserable operating systems for mobile devices: Windows mobile. They're also regularly seeking programmers versed in another mobile device language: Symbian. Now this information taken in conjunction with their specialty and their prior claims of micro-electromechanical facilities suggests they're designing and creating a lot of mobile, hand held covert communications devices.

And here I'd venture a pure guess that these are probably designed to look like standard run-of-the-mill Treos and other smart phones, blending their “intelligent phones” into the mobile world. The largest consumer of such gizmos is, of course, the CIA's DS&T, adding to suspicions that Heckle and Jeckle is a major DS&T contractor. The primary use of such covert communications gear is for communications with nonofficial cover officers (NOCs) and agents. So the information on Heckle and Jeckle's site suggests that they are likely designing and creating the latest must-have accessories for NOCs and agents, a far cry from the clunky COVCOM gear of yesteryear. (And from the Agency's point of view, knowledge of this would be a serious security breech. Keep in mind the CIA does not even allow contractors to acknowledge their affiliation with the Agency, let alone divulge the programs they are working on, particularly such sensitivities ones.)

Not only have CIA programs been compromised, so have SOCOMs. Judging from the job postings for positions in Florida, Heckle and Jeckle are doing data mining and analytical work for SOCOM. Among other things that can be deduced, they search for relational patterns of terrorist activity and affiliations, looking at a wide array of seemingly innocuous relationships using open source and clandestinely gathered data, particularly focusing upon financial transactional data. I'm betting they have a very sophisticated quantitative model that they're constantly tweaking that underlies this process.

Again, Heckle and Jeckle job postings give us hints to other SOCOM programs. It appears that Heckle and Jeckle are involved in tracking SOCOM assets worldwide. Moving beyond Heckle and Jeckle's own website to other open sources, it's possible to learn some of the specs of related handhelds including whose low-earth orbiting satellites they use. Digging a little deeper, it's also possible to discover the code name of Heckle and Jeckle's RF geolocation program...

Your marketing needs to tell agencies enough so they know what you offer without giving away so much that you compromise national security. Clearly the security agencies need a federal intranet site that had pages for all of the contractors that would be accessible to all federal agencies with a need for such capabilities, but not accessible from the Internet. Your public website should market those products and services that are a matter of public record with some hint that you have additional products and services that are available on a custom basis without going into details.

This is also a perfect example of why security agencies need social media consultants, because clearly while they are reading blogs, they do not understand the implications of social media.

New to me local XML blog

Glen Mazza’s Web Log

Blog Potomac

The Blog Potomac web site is now live.

BlogPotomac is this year's premiere social media marketing event for greater Washington DC. Attendees can expect a one-day event with nationally renowned speakers and advanced discussion of best social media marketing practices.

Promoting social media adoption

Brian Solis has a post about Diigo, a new sharing tool. I noticed on their site they have pictures of some of their users. That is a very clever idea. I am not sure how applicable it is outside of social media, but very clever.

Information sharing to be part of performance review

Bob Brewin, Government Executive

SAN DIEGO -- If federal employees do not personally adopt a policy of sharing intelligence information, they may soon face a poor performance review, the government's top information-sharing czar warned Monday at an intelligence conference.

Thomas McNamara, program manager for the Information Sharing Environment, told an audience gathered at the annual Department of Defense Intelligence Information System Conference that a mandate to share information that the intelligence community follows should be extended governmentwide.

Actually it is more important to reward those who do share information and foster it within their agency than punish those who fail to do so. Let civil servants see that sharing information earns you a promotion and it will spread like wild fire.

New to me local tech blog

JOBMATCHBOX, Jobs, Job Hunting, Hiring and Social Networking

Add to the Tech on the Potomac RSS reader.

Congratulations Blogdigger!

Blogdigger Acquired by Odeo

I'm very happy to announce that Blogdigger has been acquired by Odeo. Over the last few months, I've been working with the folks at Odeo in incorporating Blogdigger's aggregation and search technology into Odeo's new beta site. Along with the acquisition, I've joined the new Odeo team as Vice President of Search and Engineering.

Congratulations Greg Gersh!

The Washington Post covers Mashable

I am a little late on this one. The Washington Post covered MashMeet DC Remix. Both East Coast Blogging and Peter Corbett were both disappointed with the article. Reporters are considered “professional” employees, exempt from overtime protection. The reason I mention this is that readers should know that anytime a reporter covers an evening event, they are doing so on their own time. Their mere presence at an event is an indication that they think it is important news.

If you are not used to news coverage, it takes some getting used to. I think attendees at the event should be pleased. The event got a nice write up and all the presenting companies got linked. I would be pleased. Congratulations Ogilvy PR on a successful event.

More from TheLetterTwo, who was favorably impressed with WhyGoSolo.

Why enterprise search is differnet from Web search

Gerry McGovern, CMS Wire

A major reason why Google is so successful on the Web is that websites really, really want to be found.

Almost every search result in the first page of search results for practically every important search has worked really hard to get into that first page. The owners of these websites have worked hard to make their content search friendly. They have worked hard to make their metadata search friendly. They have worked hard to get as many links as possible, knowing that every link increases their search rankings.

Having good search does not mean you shouldn’t have a good classification and navigation. In fact, a good classification will make for even better search results. Search and navigation are interdependent in many ways. People often use search to jump a couple of levels down into a website. Then, they like to navigate.

Technology is an essential driver of innovation and modernity. But the capabilities of a particular technology are nearly always oversold. And within many organizations there are those only too willing to believe that the latest cool technology will magically transform everything.

A great many organizations do not take search management seriously. They do not invest the necessary human and technical resources to increase findability. But at the other extreme, some managers think that all they need to do is choose the right search engine.

Technology on its own will transform nothing. Without human-designed and managed processes that focus on harnessing the technology, no improvements in efficiency and productivity can be made.

Blogger relations check list

Cory Doctorow has a check list for good blogger relations. It could be summed up in one word, link. Use a permanent link that goes to the item in question.

DC PHP Conference 2008

Via Keith Casey:
2008 DC PHP Conference & Expo, June 2-4, 2008

Call for Papers
Submission Deadline: March 31, 2008

New to me local venture captialist blog

LaunchBox Blog

Added to the Tech on the Potomac RSS reader.

Washington Post Co. Sponsors LaunchBox08 Startup Competition

Collaboration Supports Washington, DC-Based Investment Firm’s Call for Entries in Cutting Edge Innovation

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO) announced today that it will sponsor a global competition for digital startups from LaunchBox Digital, a Washington, DC-based investment firm focused on cutting edge mobile and Web technologies. Called “LaunchBox08,” the competition encourages applicants to submit innovative ideas in order to receive seed funding and participate in a 12-week business building program with access to first-rate mentors and advisors.

LaunchBox Digital offers funding to entrepreneurs at an early stage, providing advice and technical support along the way. The LaunchBox08 competition will select six to 10 entrepreneurs from a pool of applicants to receive funding of $15,000 to $30,000.

There was a marked lack of enthusiasm about this on Twitter today, to put it mildly. There seems to be a feeling that they are not seriously interested in local entrepreneurs. $30,000 dollars is not very much money. On the other hand the winners are sure to be featured in the Washington Post and/or Newsweek.

For St. Patrick's Day

New local exchange forum

East Coast Blogging has created the DC Tech Community Exchange Forum.

New to me local venture captialist blog

WashingtonVC, discovered from a link on 2pluss11.

Added to the Tech on the Potomac RSS reader.

The problem with terminology

Web Service

A Web Service is a software component that is described via WSDL and is capable of being accessed via standard network protocols such as but not limited to SOAP over HTTP.

A web service is a software component that does one very specific thing, such as retrieve a customers account number, and is used in combination with other web services to perform certain functions. Web services can be reused, thus are very handy.

Clearly Steve Rubel is talking about something entirely different:

The leading players on the web all see the train coming. They are wisely creating APIs and turning themselves into plug-and-play services, not just big destinations. YouTube is just the latest to do so today. Amazon has S3. Google has OpenSocial and an extensive library of APIs. As does Microsoft. Facebook is allowing its applications to live outside the site. Twitter is an API first and (eventually) a business model second. Finally, the booming widget economy shows the promise of small content that can go anywhere.

These are the leaders. But everyone - including marketers - will need to think of their online brands not as sites but as portable services that can go anywhere and everywhere the consumer wants. Without such appendages, no brand will ever be able to break through the online clutter such unlimited choice offers.

In this context the term web services is clear enough. We just need to be careful when we do presentations of what is meant by a term. The context is not always as clear as we assume.

New to me local tech blogs

Development Seed Blog

appropriate it

Allman

HACKADAISICAL!COM

All from The DC Technology Network, all added to the Tech on the Potomac RSS reader.

The Anonymice Protection Act redux

We traffic in rumor, innuendo, and character assassination. That is why we prefer to be off the record.




Media Coalition Letter Urges Shield Law Approval

NEW YORK A group of 50 media companies and organizations, as varied as News Corporation and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, have penned a letter urging Congress to take up a pair of federal shield law bills and enact them as soon as possible.

Almost every scandal in journalism in my lifetime has involved the abuse of anonymous sources. Either reporters are simply making stuff up, or they are serving as a laundromat for false allegations.

The use of anonymous sources makes journalists power brokers, a role that is very sweet to them, if ruinous to their profession. This is not the free flow of information, this is the protection of the news organization as gate keeper of information.

What would really promote the free flow of information would be to enact tough laws protecting whistle blowers.

Bad news for hacks is bad news for flacks

Exclusive: Charting 4-Year Circ Plunge at Major Papers

NEW YORK In just four years the top newspapers in the U.S. have collectively lost about 1.4 million copies in daily circulation, E&P has found. But since the reported numbers come out every six months, the overall decline for individual papers may not hit home for many. Each fall off is usually in the low- to mid-single digits -- but it sure adds up.

In an atmosphere like this editors and reporters will take fewer chances on less than box office stories. It will become harder and harder to place clients.

A bad sign. A very bad sign.

The New School of Informaiton Security

The New School of Information Security (Hardcover) by Adam Shostack and Andrew Stewart

Adam Shostack

The New School is a systemic look at dysfunction within information security, and a look at some of the ways people are looking to make things better. We think there's an emerging way of approaching the world, which we call the New School.

I look foward to hearing what other security specialists think of their approach. So much of what is labeled as security has nothing to do with protecting data.

The coming controversy over federal contractors

The Spy Who Billed Me

Just as Blackwater had finally fallen from the headlines and the boys in Moyock thought their State Department contract would be quietly renewed, their worst nightmare has hit: Blackwater is a campaign issue.

There is going to be a lot more scrutiny of federal contractors in general and security contractors in particular. As Guy Kawasaki said in a completely different context, the time to make friends online is before you need them.

In observance of International Women's Day

(source)

Via Servant of Chaos

And in honour of International Women's Day, I thought it worth remembering that there are some fantastic blogs by women -- and what better place to start than with the W-list. If your blog/name is not on the list, then join up here to add your blog to the W Magical List of Women Bloggers. Also check out Wowowow.

Here are a couple of my local favourites that don't seem to be listed -- Dipping into the Blogpond by Meg Tsiamis, Laurel Papworth and Our Great Southern Land by Jayne.

2020 Hindsight by Susan Kitchens
21st Century Collaborative by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
4-women-in-insurance by Dina A. Privitera
45 Things by Anita Bruzzese
Abide | Living with chronic illness by Sharon Brogan
A Girl Must Shop by Megan Garnhum
A Little Pregnant by Julie
A Look at Art & Design by Lisa Mikulski
A Lucid Spoonful by Paula Crossfield
Aerophant by Tai Moses
Affirmagy Blog by Kristen Schuerlein
Aide-Memoire by Kate Carruthers
All for Women by Leigh, Naom, Patricia, and Barbara
Alkamae by Susan Reid
Allied by Jeneane Sessum[[http://www.artlook.typepad.com/|]]
Ample Sanity by Anne Matthews
andHow To Reach Women by Tami Anderson
angiemckaig.com: still a great pair of legs by Angie McKaig
A n n a r c h y by Ann Handley
Ask Dr. Kirk by Dr. Delaney Kirk
Average Jane by Average Jane
Babylune by Kate Baggott
Back in Skinny Jeans by Stephanie Quilao
Bag and Baggage by Denise Howell
Balanced Life Center-Spirituality applied to Life by Nneka
be Conscious now by Kara-Leah Masina
Be Relevant! by Tamara Gielen
Becoming a Woman of Purpose by Carolyn D. Townes
Becoming your StellarSelf by Mary Kearns
Be the One. Find the One: Advertising and Marketing Recruiting by DFBryant&Co (Jenny Meade)
Big Window by Robin Reagler
Biz Growth News by Krishna De
Blog Fabulous by Tracee Sioux
Blogging Blog | Tips, Tools & Toys for the Personal Blogger by Sharon Brogan
Blogging Sueblimely by Sue Bride
BlogWrite for CEOs by Debbie Weil
Blogaholics by Arienna Foley
Blog Til You Drop by Laurence-Hélène Borel
Brain Based Biz by Dr. Robyn McMaster
Brain Based Business by Dr. Ellen Weber
Brains On Purpose by Stephanie West Allen
Brand Sizzle by Anne Simons
Branding & Marketing by Chris Brown
Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk
Bread Coffee Chocolate Yoga by Fortune Elkins
Breastfeeding 1-2-3 by Angela
Build A Better Blog by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff
Build a Solo Practice, LLC by Susan Cartier Liebel
Burningbird by Shelley Powers
Cafe30 by Towanda Long (The Cafe Lady)
Career Goddess by Susan Guarnieri
Change Therapy by Isabella Mori
Chasing Daisy by Daisy
Chatting to my Generation by Anja Merret
Cheap Thrills by Ryan Barrett
CherylMillerVille by Cheryl Miller
Child-Centered Divorce by Rosalind Sedacca
Christine Kane by Christine Kane
Church of the Customer by Jackie Huba
CK’s Blog by CK (Christina Kerley)
Cocktail Party Physics by Jennifer Ouiellette
Colloquium by JHSEsq
Communication Overtones by Kami Huyse
Conflict coaching and resolution for the workplace by Dr Tammy Lenski
Confession of a Marketing Addict by Sunny Cervantes
Confessions of a Pioneer Woman by Ree
Confident Writing by Joanna Young
Conscious Business by Anne Libby
Contentious by Amy Gahran
Conversation Agent by Valeria Maltoni
Conversations With Dina by Dina Mehta
Corporate PR by Elizabeth Albrycht
Cottontimer by Hsien-Hsien Lei
Creating Passionate Users by Kathy Sierra
Creative Curio by Lauren Marie
Crossroads by Evelyn Rodriguez
Cruel To Be Kind by Nicole Simon
Customer Experience Crossroads by Susan Abbott
Customers Are Always by Maria Palma
Customers Rock! by Becky Carroll
CustServ by Meikah David
DailyAffirm by Jeanie Marshall
Debbie Millman by Debbie Millman
Deborah Schultz by Deborah Schultz
Decent Marketing by Katherine Stone
Defining Spiritual Presence by Greenwoman
Designers Who Blog by Cat Morley
Design Your Life by Ellen and Julia Lupton
Design Your Writing Life by Lisa Gates
Diary of Claudine Hellmuth by Claudine Hellmuth
Diva Marketing Blog by Toby Bloomberg
Do It Myself Blog by Glenda Watson Hyatt
Dooce by Heather B. Armstrong
Downshifting by Anne Howe
Driving Traffic by Carol Krishner
Echidne of the Snakes by Echidne
EdithYeung.com by Edith Yeung
Eie Flud by Heather
Elise.com by Elise Bauer
Email Marketing Best Practices by Tamara Gielen
Emerging Customer by Michelle Lamar
Emily Chang - Strategic Designer by Emily Chang
Emily in France Emily
eMoms at Home by Wendy Piersall
EmpowerWomenNow.com by Ponn Sabra
Enter the Laughter by Marti Lawrence
Equip and Empower! by Carolyn D. Townes
Escape Blog by Melissa Petri
Escape From Corporate America by Laurel Delaney
Escape from Cubicle Nation by Pamela Slim
eSoup by Sharon Sarmiento
Essential Keystrokes by Char
Every Dot Connectsby Connie Reece
EvilHRLady by Evil HR Lady
Expansion Plus by Sally Falkow
Experienceology by Stephanie Weaver
Fabulous Geezersisters by Ruth Pennebaker
Fetch Me My Axef
Finding Blanche by Wendy Scherer
Fish Creek House by GP
First Light by Julie Keyser-Squires
Flash and Accessibility by Niqui Merret
Flooring The Consumer by CB Whittemore
Forrester’s Marketing Blog by Shar, Charlene, Chloe, Christine Elana, Laura and Lisa
Forward Steps by Thea Westra
Franke James by Franke James
frizzyLogic by frizzyLogic
Full Circle by Nancy White
Funny Business by Elena Centor
Fusion View by Yang-Amy Ooi
Garden Variety Family by Karin Marlett-Choi
GenPink by Elysa
Get Fresh Minds by Katie Konrath
Get Shouty by Katie Chatfield
Getting Granular by Aimee Kessler Evans
GGs Swedish WOTD by GG
Giant Jeans Parlour by Anjali
Girl With Pen by Deborah Siegel
Golden Practices by Michelle Golden
Goodness Gracious by Jennifer
GourmetStation Delicious Destinations by Donna Lynes-Miller
Great Presentations Mean Business by Laura Athavale Fitton
Hartsock Communications by Nettie Hartsock
Health Observances by JC Jones and Ijeoma Eleazu
Healthline Connects by JC Jones and Ijeoma Eleazu
Hey Marci by Marci Alboher
Hiring Technical People by Johanna Rothman
¡Hola! Oi! Hi! by katia adams
Holly’s Corner Blog by Holly Schwendiman
Horse Pig Cow by Tara Hunt
idealawg by Stephanie West Allen
ifelse by Phu Ly
Illustration Friday by Penelope Dullaghan
Indigo Ocean by Indigo Ocean
Infomaniac by Liz Donovan
Inspirationbit by Vivien
Inspired Business Growth by Wendy Piersall
Internet Geek Girl by Stephanie Agesta
In Women We Trust by Mary Clare Hunt
Jane Geneva by Jane Geneva
J.T. O’Donnell Career Insights by J.T. O’Donnell
Jemima Kiss by Jemima Kiss
Joyful, Jubilant Learning by Rosa Say
Katya’s Non-Profit Marketing Blog by Katya Andresen
KDPaine’s PR Measurement Blog by Katie Delahaye Paine
Kinetic Ideas by Wendy Maynard
Kristy T’s Home Business Blog by Kristy T
Kung Foodie by Kat
Lawgarithms by Denise Howell
Learned on Women by Andrea Learned
Life at the Bar by Julie Fleming-Brown
Lifeblog by anina
Lifecruiser
Lifehacker by Gina Trapani
Lindsey Pollak Career Blog by Lindsey Pollak
Lip-sticking by Yvonne DeVita
Little Red Suit by Tiffany Monhollon
Live The Power by Karen Lynch
Liz Strauss at Successful Blog by Liz Strauss
Lorelle on WordPress by Lorelle VanFossen
Mad Techie Woman by Shelley Powers
Making Life Work for You by April Groves
Marketer Blog by Leslie Jump
Marketing To Women by Holly Buchanan
Manage to Change by Ann Michael
Management Craft by Lisa Haneberg
Managing Product Development by Johanna Rothman
Managing With Aloha Coaching by Rosa Say
Mandarin Design Daily:The MEG Blog by Michelle Goodrich
Marketing Roadmaps by Susan Getgood
Mary’s Blog by Mary Schmidt
MediaBlog by Daria Rasmussen
Media Influencer by Adriana Lukas
Mediation Marketing Tips by Kristina Haymes
Mediation Mensch by Dina Beach Lynch
Misbehaving by Dana Boyd, Hilde Corneliussen, Caterina Fake, Meg Hourihan, Liz Lawley, Fiona Romeo, Dorothea Salo, Halley Suitt, Gina Trapani, Jill Walker
Mkgmd - le mag du marketing multidimentionnel by Christelle Alexandre
Moda di Magno by Lori Magno
Modite by Rebecca Thorman
Mogulettes in the Making by Carmina Perez
molly.com by Molly E. Holzschlag
More Than WE Know by Liz Fuller
Muddy Boots
My Beautiful Chaos by April Groves
My Shingle by Carolyn Elefant
Narrative Assets by Karen Hegman
Newbie NYC by Mary Hilton
Netdiver by Carole Guevin
one coloured world by Anjolie
On My Desk by Linzie Hunter
Online Guide to Mediation by Diane Levin
Orlando Avenue by Colleen Kulikowski
Passion Meets Purpose by Kammie Kobyleski
Peggy Payne’s Boldness by Peggy Payne
Personal PR by Tiffany Monhollon
Poultry Discussion by Louise Manning
Power Energy Leadership by Michelle Kunz
Presto Vivace Blog by Alice Marshall
Productivity Goal by Carolyn Manning
Purple Wren by Sandy Renshaw
Purse Lip Square Jaw by Anne Galloway
Quality Service Marketing by Sybil Stershic
re:Invention by Kristen Osolind
Rebecca’s Pocket by Rebecca Blood
Resonance Partnership by Marianne Richmond
Sacred Ingredients by Nicole Hanley
Sanctuary for Change by Susan Hanshaw
Scattered Light by Cheryl and Janet Snell
Sent From My Dell Desktop by Alejandra Ramos
Settle It Now Negotiation Blog by Victoria Pynchon
Shiva’s Arms by Cheryl Snell
Small Biz Survival by Becky McCray
Small Business Trends by Anita Campbell
Small Failures: Sustainability for the Rest of Us by Jess Sand
So Close by Tertia
Solomother by Christina Zola
Spare Change by Nedra Kline Weinreich
Spirit in Gear by Debbie Call
Spirit Women by Carolyn D. Townes
Subterranean Homepage News by Sheila Lennon
::Surroundings:: by Linda Merrill
Susan Mernit’s Blog by Susan Mernit
Sweet|Salty by Kate Inglis
swissmiss by Tina Roth Eisenberg
Talk It Up by Heidi Miller
Talking Coaching by Krishna De
TechForward by Lena West
Tech Kitten by Trisha Miller
TechMamas by Beth Blecherman
Teen Health 411 by Dr. Nancy Brown
That’s What She Said by Julie Elgar
The Artsy Asylum by Susan Reynolds
The Blog Angel by Claire Raikes
The Brand Dame by Lyn Chamberlin
The Budgeting Babe by Nicole Mladic
the Constant Observer by Tish Grier
The Copywriting Maven by Roberta Rosenberg
The Curious Shopper by Sara Cantor
The Diet Dish by Tara Gidus
The Engaging Brand by Anna Farmery
The Entrepreneurial MD by Philippa Kennealy
The Family Fork by Andrea Giancolli
The Fitness Fixer by Dr. Jolie Bookspan
The Floozy Blog by Kate Coote
The Global Small Business Blog by Laurel Delaney
The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing by Sharon Lippincott
The Kiss Business Tooby Karin H.
The Krafty Librarian by Michelle A. Kraft
The Kristasphere by Krista Summit
The Lawyer Coach Blog by Allison Wolf
The Marketing Mix Blog by Ilse Benun
The New Charm School by Jennifer Warwick
The Parody by Sasha Manuel
The Podcast Sisters by Krishna De, Anna Farmery and Heather Gorringe
The Qualitative Research Blog by Reshma Anand
The Shifted Librarian by Jenny Levine
The What If…? Women by Randee, Lori, Anne, Lynn and Norka (Pink Collar Club)
Think Simple. Be Decisive. by Tina Su
Think Positive! by Kristen Harrell
this is rachelandrew.co.uk by Rachel Andrew
Tiny Starfish in a Great Big Sea by Carol Toscano
Toddler Planet by WhyMommy
unstruc chitchat about information by Daniela Barbosa
Veerle’s blog 2.0 by Veerle
Virtual Woman's Day by Heidi Richards, The WECAI Network™
Vivid by Erin Noteboom
VoIP by Association by Suzanne Bowen
Water Cooler Wisdom by Alexandra Levit
Watermark | A Poet's Notebook by Sharon Brogan
Wealth Strategy Secrets by Nicola Cairncross
WE Magazine for Women by Heidi Richards & Co. The Women's eCommerce Association
We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto. by Jenny Meade
What A Concept! by Sherry Heyl
What’s Next Blog by B L Ochman
White Trash Mom by Michelle Lamar
Wiggly Wigglers by Heather Gorringe
Women Presidents' Organization Chicago by Laurel Delaney
WomensDISH by Diane K. Danielson and Friends
Women's Media Summit by Heidi Richards, et al
Wonder Branding by Michele Miller
Woolgathering by Elizabeth Perry
Worker Bees Blog by Elisa Camahort
Working with Wisdom by Tricia Molloy
Write Ideas Marketing by Andrea Morris
You Already Know This Stuff by Jodee Bock
Ypulse by Anastasia Goodstein
Zenslaw by Karen Turner

Special thanks to Kami Huyse and Roberta Rosenberg for getting this all started.

New to me local communications blog

Information Squid, Better communication through technology

Added to the Tech on the Potomac RSS reader.

The Washington Post discovers information sharing

National Dragnet Is a Click Away

Those network efforts will begin expanding further this month, as some local and state agencies connect to a fledgling Justice Department system called the National Data Exchange, or N-DEx. Federal authorities hope N-DEx will become what one called a "one-stop shop" enabling federal law enforcement, counterterrorism and intelligence analysts to automatically examine the enormous caches of local and state records for the first time.

Government Technology had this story two years ago. Considering that the Pentagon was attacked on 9/11, that the Brentwood Post Office was the one the places affected by the anthrax attacks, that the solving the Beltway Sniper case required unprecedented multi-jurisdictional coordination, you would think that the local editors would take more than academic interest in information sharing.

Well, at least they are beginning to write about it. Maybe in a few years they will discover the importance of Computer Aided Dispatch systems capable of exchanging informaiton.

White House email follies

The White House email controversy: hearings spotlight disturbing IT practices

Some of that technical detail, though, confirmed my worst fears: IT operations at the White House are terrible. The archiving system currently in use is a bad joke. In a big PR problem for IBM Lotus, Congress is also badly miscategorizing Lotus Notes as an obsolete technology, providing a misleading justification for an unfounded migration during a time of war. The cost to manage data recovery is being misrepresented by at least an order of magnitude. And Congress behaves like an old married couple, constantly bickering. That last, at least, is no surprise to anyone.

Like Gilligan's ill-fated three hour tour, this three hour hearing ended badly, with no real resolution. A good hour of the hearing was wasted on a debate between the members about whether an "Interrogatory" of one Steven McDevitt was acceptable to the members.

McDevitt, it turns out, is one of us. He was the IT guy in the White House Office of the Chief Information Officer who was responsible for setting up the new archiving system -- and he was pissed. Apparently, all of his best practices recommendations were ignored.

If the White House PR plan is to stone wall this and hope everyone loses interest, then they are going about it the right way. But I don't think this will work. I think that we are going to be hearing much more about this.

Via Pensieri di un lunatico minore.

Great moments in content management; US Air Force Edition

Air Force Emails Sensitive Information to Tourism Site

"The US Air Force has been sending sensitive information, including flight plans for Air Force One, to a website promoting the town of Mildenhall in Suffolk.

Do you suppose it is something in the water?