BL Ochman would like you to nominate What’s Next for Marketing Sherpa's Best Business Blog Awards. I would like you to nominate Presto Vivace Blog. Make your own choice.
MarketingSherpa Issues Call for Nominations to 2nd Annual Best Blog Awards
Monday, April 25, 2005
Sunday, April 24, 2005
McDermott: Feds closing the door to information
Florence Olsen, Federal Computer Week
Truer words were never spoken.
Patrice McDermott remembers when government information was freely available on the Web. Beginning about 1994 and up to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, federal employees published thousands of documents on the Internet. Information that previously had been difficult to find suddenly was easy to get.
The mood then was "let a thousand flowers bloom," said McDermott, deputy director of the American Library Association's Office of Government Relations. "People were independently putting a lot of stuff up. There was not a lot of oversight."
But lately, McDermott has seen the flowering of electronic access to government information begin to fade. It's one of several trends that worry her.
Another is that prospects for expanding e-government, which she said looked promising in the early days of the Bush administration, now appear diminished. Administration officials who favor more government secrecy in the wake of the terrorist attacks seem to have gained the upper hand, she said.
Since the attacks, online government information has been disappearing, and McDermott said that is a dangerous trend. "The greatest risk to the public is the notion that the government should withhold anything that might potentially be of use to terrorists," she said.
Truer words were never spoken.
Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits
National Gallery of Art, West Building, Main Floor
Went to see a special Rembrandt exhibit today. I love Dutch masters, so I really enjoyed it. Rembrandt painted two pictures of the grieving Mary. I think it is the first time I have seen a painting of Mary as an middle aged woman. She is simply portrayed as a grieving adult. Her eyes are clear but downcast. The Dutch painted women much differently from the Italians or French, resolute with a penetrating look.
Went to see a special Rembrandt exhibit today. I love Dutch masters, so I really enjoyed it. Rembrandt painted two pictures of the grieving Mary. I think it is the first time I have seen a painting of Mary as an middle aged woman. She is simply portrayed as a grieving adult. Her eyes are clear but downcast. The Dutch painted women much differently from the Italians or French, resolute with a penetrating look.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Friday, April 22, 2005
In defense of the trade press
Paul Graham was very unfair when he wrote this:
I encourage anyone to read Colin Clark’s articles on the debate over Iraq that ran in Defense News during the summer of 2002. Unlike The New York Times or The Washington Post, Clark’s reporting holds up very well.
Or read Michael Hardy’s coverage of the voting machines controversy in Federal Computer Week. Vastly superior to anything I have seen in any mainstream publication.
I have heard of trade publications giving away editorial for advertising, but never the kind of payola journalism that currently infests allegedly credible news organizations.
Different publications vary greatly in their reliance on PR firms. At the bottom of the heap are the trade press, who make most of their money from advertising and would give the magazines away for free if advertisers would let them. [2] The average trade publication is a bunch of ads, glued together by just enough articles to make it look like a magazine. They're so desperate for "content" that some will print your press releases almost verbatim, if you take the trouble to write them to read like articles.
I encourage anyone to read Colin Clark’s articles on the debate over Iraq that ran in Defense News during the summer of 2002. Unlike The New York Times or The Washington Post, Clark’s reporting holds up very well.
Or read Michael Hardy’s coverage of the voting machines controversy in Federal Computer Week. Vastly superior to anything I have seen in any mainstream publication.
I have heard of trade publications giving away editorial for advertising, but never the kind of payola journalism that currently infests allegedly credible news organizations.
Paul Graham’s submarine
Paul Graham has written a fascinating analysis of PR’s influence on the press. Shorter version, Graham is not enthusiastic about our work. He is correct to say we have a huge impact on story selection, otherwise our clients would not pay us.
Organizations, commercial and otherwise, need to get their message out, news publishers and broadcasters need stories to tell. I would suggest there is a creative tension between the two that serves the public interest.
I certainly agree with Graham that PR is essential for small businesses whose advertising budget is limited; that is why I started Presto Vivace, Inc. I also think this observation is exactly right-
Next time I write a press release I will try to bring my blog sensibility to bear, and see if it does not improve the copy.
Dan Gillmor comments.
Reptile Rants comments.
Edit-
Virtual journalist
Organizations, commercial and otherwise, need to get their message out, news publishers and broadcasters need stories to tell. I would suggest there is a creative tension between the two that serves the public interest.
I certainly agree with Graham that PR is essential for small businesses whose advertising budget is limited; that is why I started Presto Vivace, Inc. I also think this observation is exactly right-
Whatever its flaws, the writing you find online is authentic. It's not mystery meat cooked up out of scraps of pitch letters and press releases, and pressed into molds of zippy journalese. It's people writing what they think.
I didn't realize, till there was an alternative, just how artificial most of the writing in the mainstream media was. I'm not saying I used to believe what I read in Time and Newsweek. Since high school, at least, I've thought of magazines like that more as guides to what ordinary people were being told to think than as sources of information. But I didn't realize till the last few years that writing for publication didn't have to mean writing that way. I didn't realize you could write as candidly and informally as you would if you were writing to a friend.
Next time I write a press release I will try to bring my blog sensibility to bear, and see if it does not improve the copy.
Dan Gillmor comments.
Reptile Rants comments.
Edit-
Virtual journalist
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
For my developer readers
Extreme Markup Languages® 2005
August 1-5, 2005
Montréal, Canada
A peer-reviewed technical conference. An unfettered festival of unconventional markup. Pointy-brackets, pointed questions, and sharp ideas. Nearly a week of geek speak.
August 1-5, 2005
Montréal, Canada
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Susan Smoter and George Coffin of the IRS talk about Portals and Content Management at NCC AIIM
George Coffin, Chief of the Public Portal Branch, opened his remarks by saying the IRS had only been in the web business a few years, having recently migrated from a dial-in bulletin board. The IRS public website needs to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Information must be available whenever the taxpayer requests it. There is a tremendous emphasis on security for obvious reasons.
There are three different portals. There is the public site where information can be anonymously requested. The IRS does not track visitors to its public site. There is a registered secure portal which is password protected, where taxpayers can request specific information on their return, such as the status of their refund. There is also an internal portal for IRS employees.
The IRS has introduced new services at its registered portal, including the ability to apply for an Employer Identification Number, free-file, e-file and a suite of e-services for tax preparers.
The key features of IRS web portal design are: role based design (based on user needs, not internal structure), search enhancements (Because users need to retrieve what they want when they want it, the IRS continuously improves its search engine.), key words on the home page (such as “the 1040” and “file an extension on April 14”), usability testing, and an advanced content management system to be sure that displayed information is current.
Coffin offered a glimpse of the site traffic on the IRS public site. There are 80,000 items, 39,000 static files, 24,000 HTML files, and 12,000 JSP files. The IRS is currently using Vignette (Congratulations Vignette!).
He listed the their key successes. The IRS implemented a decentralized content management application and created an organization to manage it. Two hundred and fifty users were trained, including authors, reviewers and publishers. Business rules and standards were established. They were able to improve content quality and establish a consistent look and feel for their web documents.
Coffin concluded his presentation with lessons learned. Pay attention to organizational readiness. Be careful of the URL format. Be sure to create forms for feedback. Address the taxonomy and metadata issues early. Implementation is a continuing effort.
Richard Barry asked if the IRS had a records management system to archive the website as changes are made and if its system is 5015 compliant. Coffin responded that there is a manual system for tracking the public site but not for the employee web portal.
Coffin concluded with a slide illustrating the day’s site traffic. The IRS was receiving 2,148 hits per second as of 4:15 PM, April 14.
Susan Smoter began her part of the presentation by saying she would not answer tax questions, “I do IT.” She asked if anyone had not heard of e-file; no one raised their hand. She was surprised, but given the number of IRS contractors in the audience, this was to be expected.
She showed a slide quoting from The Washington Post:
Referring to the Washington Post story, Smoter said, “I’ve only been in this town all my life, and I still believe what they tell me”. Here, there was general laughter, not a good sign for The Post.
Smoter showed a series of slides illustrating how paper returns are handled and offering a glimpse of the massive volume the IRS must deal with. Boxes of returns are sorted, and each return must be keypunched into the IRS system. Paper returns for individuals have a 21% error rate, business returns 13% and e-filing 1%. Processing paper returns requires 40 days, e-filing 21 days. Obviously the IRS is eager to encourage e-filing.
Free-filing is available to taxpayers who meet certain criteria. The IRS worked with a consortium of partners to develop this service.
Smoter said of the IRS, “We are all civil servants; we’re here to serve the people.” She went on to joke, “I’m from the IRS and I’m here to help”, to general laughter.
Smoter began to talk about future developments for IRS web portals. The IRS plans in terms of enterprise portal business strategy, “because it is not about technology.” Their strategy includes better channel management and the use of existing structures to capitalize on investments. Here, she pointed out that tightly coupled structures are desirable for good data management. Smoter talked about the importance of chunking, “so you can throw away old chunks and insert new ones.”
Smoter talked about the importance the IRS places on its partners, the software providers who, as Smoter put it, “are our front end.”
She listed the benefits of an enterprise strategy: the ability to develop once and reuse, composite applications, the ability to store once and use many, and transparency. Here, Smoter threw the floor open for questions.
The first question was about personalization. Smoter was emphatic that the IRS would never use personalization. “We know our customers don’t want us to know who they are.” (general laughter) She went on to say that multilingual web pages are at the top of IRS priorities.
The second questioner wanted to know what was being done to make sure that the IRS did not turn into another ChoicePoint. Smoter said the IRS is very concerned with protecting taxpayer security and privacy. The IRS is in the process of examining what Smoter described as the entire “tax ecosystem.” They are reviewing requirements for how IRS partners handle the information they receive from taxpayers.
Smoter said that, according to Gartner, XBRL will be the business reporting language. The European Union is adopting XBRL. The IRS is looking at it.
The last questioner wanted to know if Smoter could “tell us about procurement terms and planning.” “No!” responded Smoter, but she went on to say that they had a Request for Information out, and “I hope you’re all reading it.”
Edit-
A record e-filing season, David Perera, Federal Computer Week
There are three different portals. There is the public site where information can be anonymously requested. The IRS does not track visitors to its public site. There is a registered secure portal which is password protected, where taxpayers can request specific information on their return, such as the status of their refund. There is also an internal portal for IRS employees.
The IRS has introduced new services at its registered portal, including the ability to apply for an Employer Identification Number, free-file, e-file and a suite of e-services for tax preparers.
The key features of IRS web portal design are: role based design (based on user needs, not internal structure), search enhancements (Because users need to retrieve what they want when they want it, the IRS continuously improves its search engine.), key words on the home page (such as “the 1040” and “file an extension on April 14”), usability testing, and an advanced content management system to be sure that displayed information is current.
Coffin offered a glimpse of the site traffic on the IRS public site. There are 80,000 items, 39,000 static files, 24,000 HTML files, and 12,000 JSP files. The IRS is currently using Vignette (Congratulations Vignette!).
He listed the their key successes. The IRS implemented a decentralized content management application and created an organization to manage it. Two hundred and fifty users were trained, including authors, reviewers and publishers. Business rules and standards were established. They were able to improve content quality and establish a consistent look and feel for their web documents.
Coffin concluded his presentation with lessons learned. Pay attention to organizational readiness. Be careful of the URL format. Be sure to create forms for feedback. Address the taxonomy and metadata issues early. Implementation is a continuing effort.
Richard Barry asked if the IRS had a records management system to archive the website as changes are made and if its system is 5015 compliant. Coffin responded that there is a manual system for tracking the public site but not for the employee web portal.
Coffin concluded with a slide illustrating the day’s site traffic. The IRS was receiving 2,148 hits per second as of 4:15 PM, April 14.
Susan Smoter began her part of the presentation by saying she would not answer tax questions, “I do IT.” She asked if anyone had not heard of e-file; no one raised their hand. She was surprised, but given the number of IRS contractors in the audience, this was to be expected.
She showed a slide quoting from The Washington Post:
Taxpayers filed nearly 56 million returns electronically as of April 8, an 8 percent increase over 2004 figures. That translates to nearly two-thirds of all tax returns, the IRS said. Not only that, Uncle Sam's bean counters expect that this year will mark the first time that more than half of individual tax returns will be filed online. A lot of that is due to the Free File software, which the IRS said accepted more than 4 million tax returns as of April 6, an almost 45 percent increase over the number filed last year.
Referring to the Washington Post story, Smoter said, “I’ve only been in this town all my life, and I still believe what they tell me”. Here, there was general laughter, not a good sign for The Post.
Smoter showed a series of slides illustrating how paper returns are handled and offering a glimpse of the massive volume the IRS must deal with. Boxes of returns are sorted, and each return must be keypunched into the IRS system. Paper returns for individuals have a 21% error rate, business returns 13% and e-filing 1%. Processing paper returns requires 40 days, e-filing 21 days. Obviously the IRS is eager to encourage e-filing.
Free-filing is available to taxpayers who meet certain criteria. The IRS worked with a consortium of partners to develop this service.
Smoter said of the IRS, “We are all civil servants; we’re here to serve the people.” She went on to joke, “I’m from the IRS and I’m here to help”, to general laughter.
Smoter began to talk about future developments for IRS web portals. The IRS plans in terms of enterprise portal business strategy, “because it is not about technology.” Their strategy includes better channel management and the use of existing structures to capitalize on investments. Here, she pointed out that tightly coupled structures are desirable for good data management. Smoter talked about the importance of chunking, “so you can throw away old chunks and insert new ones.”
Smoter talked about the importance the IRS places on its partners, the software providers who, as Smoter put it, “are our front end.”
She listed the benefits of an enterprise strategy: the ability to develop once and reuse, composite applications, the ability to store once and use many, and transparency. Here, Smoter threw the floor open for questions.
The first question was about personalization. Smoter was emphatic that the IRS would never use personalization. “We know our customers don’t want us to know who they are.” (general laughter) She went on to say that multilingual web pages are at the top of IRS priorities.
The second questioner wanted to know what was being done to make sure that the IRS did not turn into another ChoicePoint. Smoter said the IRS is very concerned with protecting taxpayer security and privacy. The IRS is in the process of examining what Smoter described as the entire “tax ecosystem.” They are reviewing requirements for how IRS partners handle the information they receive from taxpayers.
Smoter said that, according to Gartner, XBRL will be the business reporting language. The European Union is adopting XBRL. The IRS is looking at it.
The last questioner wanted to know if Smoter could “tell us about procurement terms and planning.” “No!” responded Smoter, but she went on to say that they had a Request for Information out, and “I hope you’re all reading it.”
Edit-
A record e-filing season, David Perera, Federal Computer Week
ChoicePoint Data
During the April NCC AIIM meeting, a member of the audience asked how the IRS’ Free-File could avoid becoming another ChoicePoint, clearly a reference to recent security breaches. Everyone in the room immediately understood the reference; no explanation was needed.
Susan Smoter explained that the IRS was reviewing security procedures with its partners. Partners must explain to the IRS how they handle information they receive from taxpayers and what security policies and procedures they have in place.
ChoicePoint Data is now synonymous with security breach and loss of privacy. This is a public relations disaster for the company.
Edit-
Adam Shostack has additional information.
Susan Smoter explained that the IRS was reviewing security procedures with its partners. Partners must explain to the IRS how they handle information they receive from taxpayers and what security policies and procedures they have in place.
ChoicePoint Data is now synonymous with security breach and loss of privacy. This is a public relations disaster for the company.
Edit-
Adam Shostack has additional information.
An inadequate response from Visa
"Carders" can put fraudulent info on swiped cards - a "very serious threat" to smartcard security - Visa won't say what if any action they will take
If you know you have a security problem, try do take action before you hear from the press. If the press contacts you before you take action, do not give them the run-around. The worst possible approach is to sit and wait to see if the story has has legs. That is the path to PR disaster.
If you know you have a security problem, try do take action before you hear from the press. If the press contacts you before you take action, do not give them the run-around. The worst possible approach is to sit and wait to see if the story has has legs. That is the path to PR disaster.
Monday, April 18, 2005
ET.gov, now live
ET.gov
I participated in the usability test. I think this is going to be very helpful, especially to small contractors.
Why should I Register with ET.gov?
Registering with ET.gov provides the opportunity for your emerging technology to ‘get discovered’ by the Federal community and fosters the maturity of your technology in the Federal market. ET.gov can shorten the ‘Time to Market’ for your emerging technology in the Federal community.
I participated in the usability test. I think this is going to be very helpful, especially to small contractors.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Friday, April 15, 2005
David Patton at the Washington DC XP User Group
David Patton presents Agile .NET to an XP audience
If you don’t understand user groups, you don’t understand technology.
David Patton gave a presentation at the Washington DC XP User Group on Monday night. It was different to the typical XP/TDD presentation due to the audience (who needed no introduction to TDD!) and also David's experiences. It was interesting to hear the audience's surprise at the maturity of the tools for Agile development on the Microsoft platform and also to hear the comparisons to tools on other development platforms.
If you don’t understand user groups, you don’t understand technology.
Sarbanes-Oxley & other Regulatory Compliance: A Legal and CEO Perspective
NCC-AIIM Monthly Meeting
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Panelists: Dendy Young, Chairman and Chief Executive of GTSI
Peter Unger, Esq. of Howrey Simon Arnold & White, LLP
Moderator: Suresh Shenoy, Executive Vice President with IMC, Inc.
Regulatory compliance is a serious challenge impacting nearly every organization. Rising costs, risk assessment, and operational impact assessments are just some of the legal and business areas being examined as part of this roundtable discussion. Please join us to learn more about how your business can face some of these daunting challenges!!
Mr. Dendy Young is the CEO of GTSI – one of the largest government contractors in our region. He will discuss the burdens placed on publicly traded companies and the practical challenges for compliance. Attorney Peter Unger from Howrey Simon Arnold & White, LLP will present the view from a legal and regulatory perspective. The panel will be moderated by Suresh Shenoy, Executive Vice President from IMC, Inc. IMC is a leading technology services and solutions company.
The panelists will discuss the emergence of compliance as a business problem – demanding methodologies to meld process, security and archiving to deal with increasing governance issues and increasing regulations such as Sarbanes Oxley, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, Basell 2, and HIPPA others.
We will also examine how IT services can help the CEO to create a “real time enterprise” with access to both structured and unstructured information for compliance. Professionals chartered with managing content – incoming mail, paper transactions, fax/scanned images – and those seeking new & better ways to improve accuracy, speed and costs of capture, will benefit by attending.
Consumers Not Told Of Security Breaches, Data Brokers Admit
Jonathan Krim, Washington Post
Somehow that does not seem an adequate response.
Executives of two major data brokers acknowledged to a Senate panel yesterday that their companies did not tell consumers about security breaches that occurred well before recent incidents exposed more than 400,000 people to possible identity theft.
ChoicePoint Inc. and LexisNexis also suffered breaches before passage of a California law in 2003 that requires companies doing business in the state to notify consumers that their data might be at risk, officials said. But the companies chose not to alert the public in those cases.
"Why not?" snapped Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Judiciary Committee chairman.
"I can't explain it," replied Douglas C. Curling, president and chief operating officer of ChoicePoint.
Somehow that does not seem an adequate response.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Broadcasters Must Reveal Video Clips' Sources, FCC Says
Frank Ahrens, Washington Post
That was fast.
Television broadcasters must disclose to viewers the origin of video news releases produced by the government or corporations when the material runs on the public airwaves, the Federal Communications Commission said yesterday.
The FCC's ruling comes as video news releases produced by the Bush administration and aired as part of local television news reports have come under attack from critics who call them unlabeled Republican propaganda.
That was fast.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Software agents give out PR advice
New Scientist, Duncan Graham-Rowe
With any luck PR software is more reliable than translation software.
Governments and big business like to indulge in media spin, and that means knowing what is being said about them. But finding out is becoming ever more difficult, with thousands of news outlets, websites and blogs to monitor.
Now a British company is about to launch a software program that can automatically gauge the tone of any electronic document. It can tell whether a newspaper article is reporting a political party’s policy in a positive or negative light, for instance, or whether an online review is praising a product or damning it. Welcome to the automation of PR.
Till now, discovering whether the coverage you are getting is good or bad, negative or neutral has usually meant hiring a “reputation management” firm. Teams of people employed by the company will read through everything written about a chosen organisation, person, event or issue and report back on how favourable it is.
As well as being expensive, this can be a long, slow process, says Nick Jacobi, director of research for the Corpora Software company in Surrey, UK. “There’s a massive information overload.” A single news agency may churn out more than eight articles each hour. That is almost 200 stories a day per news outlet.
With any luck PR software is more reliable than translation software.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Why don’t lawyers work with PR Pros?
Jim Horton has an insightful post on Maurice Greenberg, former CEO of AIG, losing PR war with Eliot Spitzer, attorney general of New York. Spitzer is clearly choosing his prosecution targets for maximum political effect. Putting aside whether you think this is a bad thing or whether you think it is a good thing, if you are counsel for the defense you cannot ignore the PR side of the case. Spitzer would never do this were it politically counterproductive.
I have not followed this closely and I am not a lawyer, so I cannot comment on the particulars of the case, but any lawyer whose client is being pursued by the Eliot Spitzers of this world would be well advised to work closely with the public relations spokesman.
I have not followed this closely and I am not a lawyer, so I cannot comment on the particulars of the case, but any lawyer whose client is being pursued by the Eliot Spitzers of this world would be well advised to work closely with the public relations spokesman.
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Va. Lawmakers Aim to Hook Cyberscammers
Karin Brulliard, Washington Post (reg. req.)
Makes me proud to be a Virginian.
Thanks to our good friend Privacy Digest for the tip.
The Virginia General Assembly this year passed a handful of new bills aimed at cracking down on computer and online crimes, including a statute that observers say is the nation's first law that criminalizes "phishing" schemes.
Makes me proud to be a Virginian.
Thanks to our good friend Privacy Digest for the tip.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Friday, April 08, 2005
Top technologies honored at FOSE
Here’s a list of all the Best of FOSE winners:
Congratulations to the winners.
- Adobe LiveCycle Policy Server, Adobe Systems Inc.
- Altova XMLSpy 2005, Altova Inc.
- Apple Remote Desktop 2, Apple Computer Inc.
- Comet 12, Tadpole Computer Inc.
- Gateway 9415 Server, Gateway Inc.
- HP ProCurve 3400cl series switches, Hewlett-Packard Co.
- HP xw9300 Workstation, Hewlett-Packard Co.
- Intel Centrino mobile technology, Intel Corp.
- Kodak i660 Scanner, Eastman Kodak Co.
- MPC Transport X3100, MPC Computers LLC
- Telkonet PLC, Telkonet Inc.
- VoteFiler, Comfidex Corp.
Congratulations to the winners.
Blogging FOSE
FOSE!
Going to FOSE
LinuxBiometrics.com
Wallace Wireless Introduces Emergency Mapping Application for the BlackBerry
MacGossip am 6. April
DEJA DE JODER Y ESPERA !
Tiger sightings - FOSE
Intel in the Beltway
Googlestuff
Intel's Otellini Calls for Government Action on Broadband
My Hard Drive has over heated!
Cingular Answers Fort Hood Police’s Call
Tiger 8A428 on display at FOSE
6Mi-Co Exhibits Mi-Forms Governmental Software Solutions with Key …
"Federally Challenged"
Going to FOSE
LinuxBiometrics.com
Wallace Wireless Introduces Emergency Mapping Application for the BlackBerry
MacGossip am 6. April
DEJA DE JODER Y ESPERA !
Tiger sightings - FOSE
Intel in the Beltway
Googlestuff
Intel's Otellini Calls for Government Action on Broadband
My Hard Drive has over heated!
Cingular Answers Fort Hood Police’s Call
Tiger 8A428 on display at FOSE
6Mi-Co Exhibits Mi-Forms Governmental Software Solutions with Key …
"Federally Challenged"
Some advice on e-mail records policy
Jason Miller, Government Computer News
The Federal government is leading the way in managing email archives.
When is an agency e-mail message an official federal record that must be preserved? That is the question puzzling records managers as e-mail volume among and within agencies continues to grow exponentially.
Michael Kurtz, assistant archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration, said 95 percent of all agency e-mail messages are considered federal records, but only a small percentage need to be kept.
"Most e-mail is transitory in nature for setting up meetings or going to lunch," Kurtz said today at a meeting of the Federal Information and Records Managers' Council at the FOSE 2005 trade show in Washington. "This is an area of some contention or concern because of the public interest groups that want to save the records. We will work through it. Most e-mail should disposed of quickly and not entered into the file system."
Kurtz said NARA issued a draft policy in November to help agencies quickly dispose of e-mail records except for a small number that employees will continue to print and file until NARA finishes developing the Electronic Records Archive.
The Federal government is leading the way in managing email archives.
Another spammer for the slammer
Spammer gets 9 years in prison
Makes me proud to be a Virginian.
Leesburg, VA, Apr. 8 (UPI) -- A Virginia judge Friday sentenced one of the top 10 spammers in the world to nine years in prison.
Makes me proud to be a Virginian.
First responders to get biometric IDs
Alice Lipowicz, Government Computer News
I would have thought a decent communications system that allows fire and police to communicate with each other would have been more to the purpose.
About 200,000 first responders in the Washington region will be issued biometric smart card IDs under a new program to be deployed by the Homeland Security Department, in partnership with state and local agencies in the Washington region, Lee Holcomb, DHS chief technology officer, said today.
The initiative will involve police, fire and emergency response agencies in the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, Holcomb said at a forum on interoperability at the FOSE trade show in Washington.
I would have thought a decent communications system that allows fire and police to communicate with each other would have been more to the purpose.
Which journalists are blogging?
Cyberjournalist keeps a list of journalist blogs. Thanks to BL Ochman for the tip.
Freedom blogs
Congratulations to Dan Gillmor, Jay Rosen, and Declan McCullagh for being nominated for have been nominated for a Freedom Blog by Reporters Without Borders.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Saudi security concerns mount
Janes
A bad sign. A very bad sign.
Clashes earlier this week between Saudi security forces and militants north of the capital Riyadh come shortly after an influential US Army War College report recommended that US policymakers develop "a well-established plan in the event of catastrophic events in the Kingdom."
A bad sign. A very bad sign.
Advice for Sale In Battle for Federal Contracts
Ellen McCarthy, Washington Post (reg. req.)
Even though the Federal government has requirements that a certain amount of business go to small firms, the reality is that the big firms get almost everything. This is partly because of the we need to go with an established firm mentality.
The best advice I can offer any small business is get involved with the trade associations and user groups. That is why I have many of them linked on my sidebar.
The impetus for the growth is clear. While local companies collected $42.5 billion in federal-contract revenue in 2003, $19 billion of that went to 1 percent of the firms, about 60 companies, according to a study released by the Greater Washington Initiative this week. The industry has ballooned, but not everyone is getting an equal share of the business.
Small firms have long complained that it is expensive to become a qualified government vendor and tough to compete against large companies that offer more services and seem to know every federal procurement official on a first-name basis.
Even though the Federal government has requirements that a certain amount of business go to small firms, the reality is that the big firms get almost everything. This is partly because of the we need to go with an established firm mentality.
The best advice I can offer any small business is get involved with the trade associations and user groups. That is why I have many of them linked on my sidebar.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
When good people give bad advice, the Infocom Group
I just received the following email:
This is sickeningly true. Over a series of conversations, sources can often seduce reporters into collaborators. Do not be part of this pernicious practice.
Never do this. Asking to speak off the record is a clue you are about to say something which should remain unsaid.
I would be real careful about asking what other sources are saying, there are far too many reporters only too happy to play lets you and him fight.
Reporters who disclose sources names are not ratting out their sources, they are informing the public, which is their job.
Exactly so, it is the reporter’s job to tell readers the source of their information. Reading a newspaper is not a faith-based activity.
This is extremely good advice. Even if you never go off the record, you want to be sure the reporter got the quote right. Even the best note takers make mistakes. That is why I prefer reporters who use tape recorders. If possible, ask the reporter if they mind if you make your own recording of the interview. The purpose of this is not to catch a dishonest reporter, but to allow you to evaluate your interview technique and improve upon it.
This is also excellent advice. If you do not have a background in journalism, try to do some original reporting. You will quickly discover how difficult it is to take notes and pick out the most newsworthy parts of any event.
This whole controversy started because a newsmaker wanted to say something inflammatory about someone. This is what anonymous sources are all about, you want to put out dirt on someone, but don’t want to take responsibility for said dirt. Anonymous sources aren’t courageous whistle blowers, they are gossip mongers at best and character assassins at worst. NEVER BE AN ANONYMOUS SOURCE. Let us put an end to this pernicious practice.
Lead Story / How PR Can Protect Sources
Don’t Jump in Head-First: Media Ethics Professor and Columnist Shares Inside Tips for Negotiating the Finer Points of Interviews
“A reporter has the obligation to make sure you know when you’re on the record,” says Knight Professor of Journalism Ethics Edward Wasserman, who teaches journalism ethics at Washington and Lee University when he’s not filing columns for The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post and the Knight-Tribune wire service. “Even so, reporters are not in the business of saving people from embarrassment,” he warns.
The comment follows a story by Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Natalie Pompilio about a former San Jose Mercury News columnist who apparently believed she was speaking off-the-record — and yet was quoted by a colleague after she went on to work as a press secretary for Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown. Pompilio’s insightful piece — which ran in the American Journalism Review and was entitled “Does No Mean No?” — raises questions about the ground rules of interviews for PR practitioners, media trainers and sources alike.
“In this case, it’s difficult to believe that someone with [the source’s] media sophistication would have made inflammatory remarks unless she thought she was sharing private concerns with a colleague,” Wasserman says. “So it comes down to whether the reporter behaved properly, whether he chose to benefit from ambiguity — or whether it was a case of miscommunication.” Either way, “This type of thing happens,” he cautions. Wasserman offers these quick tips for negotiating interviews — and for avoiding unhappy situations like the one outlined above:
1. Align yourself with the reporter’s needs — find out about deadlines. “The first thing you need to know is how much time you have with the interviewer and how desperate the reporter is,” he says. “You will then have a better sense of how thorough the reporter will be and how thoughtful your remarks can be. If the story is weeks out, you’ll probably have several conversations and may talk in different ways at different times. This will give you more flexibility. In addition, [asking about deadlines] helps to align you with the reporter as a collaborator — you can present yourself as being on hand to help and do things like provide background.”
This is sickeningly true. Over a series of conversations, sources can often seduce reporters into collaborators. Do not be part of this pernicious practice.
2. Don’t jump in head-first — get the reporter talking instead. “A smart approach is to open by saying, ‘Let’s talk a little bit off the record first.’
Never do this. Asking to speak off the record is a clue you are about to say something which should remain unsaid.
You want to get a sense of the person and his agenda — and this is one way to get that,” Wasserman suggests. “Say, for example, ‘This part’s not for publication.’ That gets the reporter talking and gets him to tell you what the story is about and where he’s going with it. Most reporters are too savvy to give you the angle, but just ask what they’re hearing and what they need. Knowing what other sources are saying will tell you whether this interview [opportunity] is for you. It lets you know how you will fit into the story — and gives you time to formulate an appropriate sound bite.”
I would be real careful about asking what other sources are saying, there are far too many reporters only too happy to play lets you and him fight.
Similarly: “Once you get a sense of what the story is and whether the person is on deadline, then I would schedule time for another conversation,” advises Wasserman. “Most people aren’t great on their feet. This lets you try out some thoughts and ideas in a way that doesn’t wind up in print. Remember, also, that reporters are more likely to agree if the [reschedule] is positioned as a way to increase accuracy and avoid [corrections].”
3. Know where you stand — ask about the interviewee’s policies when it comes to protecting sources. “There’s nothing wrong with telling a reporter that you can provide information — but that he’ll have to confirm it from someone else before he can use it,” says Wasserman. “If a reporter tries to get you talking by saying he won’t use your name, then ask how far down the road the reporter will go to protect his sources. Some papers have policies in place saying they won’t divulge sources unless ordered to do so by a court. Others will rat you out if they get a letter from a lawyer. You need to find out where you stand with the reporter before you agree to be a source — especially if you’re dealing with a story that might [cause you or someone else harm].”
Reporters who disclose sources names are not ratting out their sources, they are informing the public, which is their job.
4. Make sure you understand each other — don’t leave attribution up to interpretation. “Let’s face it, most of the time your worries about being named in a story are really about [the story making] things mildly awkward for you. For example, maybe your boss will look at you cross-eyed. In those cases, going on the record is really subjective,” Wasserman says. “But the real issue is to make sure you and the reporter understand each other. For example, some people think ‘off-the-record’ means the conversation’s not happening — others think it means their names can’t be used. I would avoid those distinctions,” he advises. “Instead, use the definition. For example, say, ‘I want to say some things, but I don’t want you to use my name. Can we talk about attribution?’ The goal is to get beyond misunderstandings before you speak.”
In addition: “Understand that it’s the reporter’s job to authenticate information by identifying a source as thoroughly as possible,” Wasserman says. “That means the reporter will push for as close an attribution as possible because he has to — not to screw you.”
Exactly so, it is the reporter’s job to tell readers the source of their information. Reading a newspaper is not a faith-based activity.
5. Don’t be afraid to ask to hear your quotes — many reporters will comply. “If you’re still concerned after or during the interview, then consider asking to hear your quotes,” he suggests. “This is a touchy area, but most reporters will read back what they have you saying while they have you in the interview. The reason is they want to ensure accuracy and give you a chance to clean up quotes during a call — they don’t want to have to do it later or [issue a correction]. However,” he cautions, “this can only happen during the interview. Most reporters will let you edit yourself on the call, but they’ll tell you to piss up a rope if you call later to change a quote. Also, make sure the reporter feels that you’re not trying to control the context or story elements. Tell him that you don’t want to edit the story — you just want to make sure you said what you meant to say.”
This is extremely good advice. Even if you never go off the record, you want to be sure the reporter got the quote right. Even the best note takers make mistakes. That is why I prefer reporters who use tape recorders. If possible, ask the reporter if they mind if you make your own recording of the interview. The purpose of this is not to catch a dishonest reporter, but to allow you to evaluate your interview technique and improve upon it.
6. Understand the reporter’s job — make allowances for minor mistakes. “What reporters do is very hard,” says Wasserman. “It’s hard to get things right. Three reporters can sit in on the same meeting and end up with three different stories,” he allows. “This isn’t because of bias. It’s due to limited resources, primitive tools and deadline pressures. Reporters aren’t taking minutes, but relating what they think is important to readers. So be forgiving,” he advises.
This is also excellent advice. If you do not have a background in journalism, try to do some original reporting. You will quickly discover how difficult it is to take notes and pick out the most newsworthy parts of any event.
Wasserman concludes with this advice: “I know it’s hard when you pick up one paper of 400,000 copies and you think you sound like an idiot. Naturally, you’ll want to react. If you do respond or complain, however, start the process with the reporter,” he suggests. “Send an email saying, ‘Good story, but I feel that what I said was distorted.’ Remember that issuing corrections isn’t such a loss of face in print. Broadcast outlets won’t likely comply — but for others, it makes them into ‘nice guys.’” His point: “Have no compunction about demanding corrections. Just do it with [tact] and understanding.”
This whole controversy started because a newsmaker wanted to say something inflammatory about someone. This is what anonymous sources are all about, you want to put out dirt on someone, but don’t want to take responsibility for said dirt. Anonymous sources aren’t courageous whistle blowers, they are gossip mongers at best and character assassins at worst. NEVER BE AN ANONYMOUS SOURCE. Let us put an end to this pernicious practice.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Peter Jennings Has Lung Cancer
ABC News
Best wishes for Jennings.
NEW YORK Apr 5, 2005 — Peter Jennings, the chief ABC News anchorman for more than 20 years, has been diagnosed with lung cancer and will begin outpatient treatment next week, the network said Tuesday.
Jennings, 66, told ABC News staff members of his diagnosis Thursday morning and said he will continue to anchor the broadcast when he feels up to it as he begins chemotherapy.
Best wishes for Jennings.
Monday, April 04, 2005
Brian Krebs on Computer Security
You Have Just Received a Greeting...er, Virus
Just discovered this new blog at the Washington Post. Seems they have finally caught on. Welcome to blogosphere.
The SANS Internet Storm Center is reporting -- for the second time in the past week -- that they are hearing from people who are being targeted by an e-mail scam that pretends to be an invitation to retrieve an online greeting card. It turns out these invitations instead tried to download a "Trojan horse" onto the user's computer.
Just discovered this new blog at the Washington Post. Seems they have finally caught on. Welcome to blogosphere.
The Federal Election Commission moves to regulate blogs
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the regulation of political activities over the internet
Note to my readers in the United States, Comments are due on June 3.
Note to my readers in the United States, Comments are due on June 3.
Alliant draft RFPs hit the street
Government Computer News
Small Business Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts Center
Small Business GWAC Center Planned Events
The General Services Administration yesterday issued the draft requests for proposals for the multibillion-dollar Alliant full and open and Alliant small-business contracts.
Small Business Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts Center
GSA has 8(a) and Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) set-aside contracts already in place and ready to meet tomorrow's technology procurement challenges.
The Small Business Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) Center has a diversified portfolio of pre-competed, multiple award contracts with high-quality, small business industry partners. These small business firms specialize in providing innovative, information technology solutions to federal agencies worldwide.
Federal agencies may access these unique contract vehicles either through a delegation of authority granted by the Small Business GWAC Center or through GSA Federal Technology Service Client Support Centers. GSA provides assisted services in the form of client interface and support, task order issuance, financial management and project management.
Small Business GWAC Center Planned Events
Dept. of Huh?
Student tracker proposed
Perhaps we need a data base tracking the follies of interfering nosey-parkers.
The Education Department wants congressional approval to create a federal database that would track individual students throughout their college careers and give federal officials better information for policy decisions.
A feasibility study released this month by the department's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) states that the center can handle the technological and privacy challenges of such a database, but adds that it would impose additional costs on colleges to update their administrative systems.
The proposed tracking system would require a centralized database and secure off-line storage to manage millions of student records initially, along with millions of new records that would be added each year.
Perhaps we need a data base tracking the follies of interfering nosey-parkers.
Want someone else's Social Security number?
Jonathan Krim, Washington Post
What we have here is the private enterprise version of secret police.
It's $35 at www.secret-info.com. It's $45 at www.Iinfosearch.com, where users can also sign up for a report containing an individual's credit-card charges, as well as an e-mail with other "tips, secrets & spy info!" The Web site Gum-shoes.com promises that "if the information is out there, our licensed investigators can find it."
Although Social Security numbers are one of the most powerful pieces of personal information an identity thief can possess, they remain widely available and inexpensive despite public outcry and the threat of a congressional crackdown after breaches at large information brokers.
What we have here is the private enterprise version of secret police.
The preparation for Global PR Blog Week 2.0 has started!
First Announcement
If you would like to participate, click on the link and join the fun.
The Global PR Blog Week 2.0 is an online conference on how new media technologies are changing the practice of Public Relations and corporate communications. We’re talking weblogs and participatory journalism, wikis, podcasting, and RSS - but the list of topics is open.
If you would like to participate, click on the link and join the fun.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Compare and contrast
To ENIAC and Beyond, by Paula Thornton
Pentagon to Significantly Cut CS Research
Pentagon Redirects Its Research Dollars
Taking advantage of my Washington DC proximity, I made a trip to the National Mall again today – this time taking in the American History Museum. While it needs some serious updating, the one exhibit that I was most inspired by was the one on the Information Age. ...
But from that display and others I later saw an interesting thread of artifacts I hadn't noticed before. Most of the justification and financing that initiated these technologies came from an unexpected industry: the military.
Militaristic technologies are generally associated to things like weapons: the advent of gunpowder and nuclear weapons. I had not really previously considered the other contributions that have seamlessly been absorbed into our daily lives without recognition.
Pentagon to Significantly Cut CS Research
Pentagon Redirects Its Research Dollars
Hundreds of research projects supported by the agency, known as Darpa, have paid off handsomely in recent decades, leading not only to new weapons, but to commercial technologies from the personal computer to the Internet. The agency has devoted hundreds of millions of dollars to basic software research, too, including work that led to such recent advances as the Web search technologies that Google and others have introduced.
The shift away from basic research is alarming many leading computer scientists and electrical engineers, who warn that there will be long-term consequences for the nation's economy. They are accusing the Pentagon of reining in an agency that has played a crucial role in fostering America's lead in computer and communications technologies.
"I'm worried and depressed," said David Patterson, a computer scientist at the University of California, Berkeley who is president of the Association of Computing Machinery, an industry and academic trade group. "I think there will be great technologies that won't be there down the road when we need them."
Friday, April 01, 2005
Reconfigurable Computing After A Decade
A New Perspective and Challenges for Hardware-Software Co-Design and Development presented by Tirumale K Ramesh, Ph.D.
Northern Virginia Chapter of the IEEE Computer Society
Northern Virginia Chapter of the IEEE Computer Society
Thursday, April 14, 2005; Held at Oracle Facility, Reston, Virginia, 6:00 - 9:00pm
Over the last decade, the focus of reconfigurable computing has dramatically shifted from academic research into industrial applications and especially in supporting and accelerating high-data stream applications in commercial and military applications. This is due to need changes and the densities available in today’s field-programmable chips. However, there are still hurdles such as not having an easy programming model to facilitate high-level programmers in hardware-software co-design and development for embedded systems. This paper talks generally about the architectural shifts over the last decade, the tools and methodologies challenges for hardware-software co-design and development and the near and long-term future for its growth.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
The one and only Scientific American
OK, we give up.
There's no easy way to admit this. For years, helpful letter writers told us to stick to science. They pointed out that science and politics don't mix. They said we should be more balanced in our presentation of such issues as creationism, missile defense and global warming. We resisted their advice and pretended not to be stung by the accusations that the magazine should be renamed Unscientific American, or Scientific Unamerican, or even Unscientific Unamerican. But spring is in the air, and all of nature is turning over a new leaf, so there's no better time to say: you were right, and we were wrong.
In retrospect, this magazine's coverage of so-called evolution has been hideously one-sided. For decades, we published articles in every issue that endorsed the ideas of Charles Darwin and his cronies. True, the theory of common descent through natural selection has been called the unifying concept for all of biology and one of the greatest scientific ideas of all time, but that was no excuse to be fanatics about it. Where were the answering articles presenting the powerful case for scientific creationism? Why were we so unwilling to suggest that dinosaurs lived 6,000 years ago or that a cataclysmic flood carved the Grand Canyon? Blame the scientists. They dazzled us with their fancy fossils, their radiocarbon dating and their tens of thousands of peer-reviewed journal articles. As editors, we had no business being persuaded by mountains of evidence.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Payola news media, the logical conclusion
The recent case of a Florida television newscaster who was running a PR agency on the side is but one more example of the current plague of crony journalism. The newscaster was collecting a salary from the local station for reporting stories and money from his clients for placing stories. Nice work if you can get it. The station manager is quoted as saying he was unaware of his correspondent’s side business.
How long will it be before station managers decide they don’t have to pay any salary, that TV correspondents/PR practitioners will work for free? How long before station managers start charging PR practitioners for airtime to broadcast our video news releases? How long before there is some eBay system for auctioning time so that assorted PR agencies could bid on whose story will run which evening? This may sound ludicrous as you read this. But we won’t be laughing long, if we do not do something to restore integrity to our news media.
Crony Journalism goes nationwide
Crony journalism, the Nevada edition
Crony journalism
How long will it be before station managers decide they don’t have to pay any salary, that TV correspondents/PR practitioners will work for free? How long before station managers start charging PR practitioners for airtime to broadcast our video news releases? How long before there is some eBay system for auctioning time so that assorted PR agencies could bid on whose story will run which evening? This may sound ludicrous as you read this. But we won’t be laughing long, if we do not do something to restore integrity to our news media.
Crony Journalism goes nationwide
Crony journalism, the Nevada edition
Crony journalism
Monday, March 28, 2005
Catching Drug Dealers: GJXDM To The Rescue
The Rockley Bulliten
This is just part of the work my client, Integrated Justice Information Systems Institute is doing to help law enforcement do their job.
A real world example: In the war against crystal methamphetamines, one of the problems is that crystal labs pop up easily and frequently move around (also very easily). Law enforcement officials need to be able to define and track the distribution system even when it crosses city lines. In order for law enforcement to track the history of individuals and places -- as well as connections between people -- the police need to be able to exchange information since the labs and dealers just change jurisdictions to escape detection and arrest," Wormeli says.
"The whole idea of the GJXDM is to make it very easy to share information between law enforcement agencies," Wormeli continues, "but also to expedite judicial processing by sending incident and arrest data easily to prosecutors and courts in near real time so that the prosecution and judicial proceedings are expedited. Information sharing in the dynamic and highly mobile world of crystal meth is a big key to law enforcement success through collaboration in cases involving multiple people, locations, and tactics, irrespective of city boundaries. The more they share, the greater the likelihood of successful case clearance and effective prosecution.
"As states implement prescription drug monitoring programs and develop the system for exchanging information across state lines," Wormeli says, "drug dealers specializing in the illicit traffic of controlled substances will have a hard time hiding from law enforcement agencies.
This is just part of the work my client, Integrated Justice Information Systems Institute is doing to help law enforcement do their job.
GJXDM Users Conference Call for Participation
1st ANNUAL GLOBAL JUSTICE XML DATA MODEL (GJXDM)
USERS CONFERENCE
JUNE 8-10 2005
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION - deadline April 15, 2005
The Global Justice XML Data Model Training and Technical Assistance Committee (GTTAC) invites proposals for presentations, panel sessions and tutorials on topics related to the implementation or use of the Global Justice XML Data Model (GJXDM) at the 1st Annual GJXDM Users Conference, scheduled June 8-10, 2005 in Atlanta, Georgia.
This conference will cover the application of XML technologies, specifically utilizing the GJXDM, to enable and facilitate all aspects of justice information sharing, the delivery of justice, public safety and incident management, and the securing of our homeland.
Because the GJXDM Users Conference is expected to attract a diverse audience of policy makers, management and operational staff, and technologists from all levels and branches of government, we are seeking presentations that address the specific needs of these audiences from a technical, organizational, and professional development and training approach.
Financial fraud can run, but can’t hide from P2P encryption busting
Secret Service's Distributed Computing Project Aimed at Decoding Encrypted Evidence
Taking a cue from scientists searching for signs of extraterrestrial life and mathematicians trying to identify very large prime numbers, the agency best known for protecting presidents and other high officials is tying together its employees' desktop computers in a network designed to crack passwords that alleged criminals have used to scramble evidence of their crimes -- everything from lists of stolen credit card numbers and Social Security numbers to records of bank transfers and e-mail communications with victims and accomplices.
To date, the Secret Service has linked 4,000 of its employees' computers into the "Distributed Networking Attack" program. The effort started nearly three years ago to battle a surge in the number of cases in which savvy computer criminals have used commercial or free encryption software to safeguard stolen financial information, according to DNA program manager Al Lewis.
"We're seeing more and more cases coming in where we have to break encryption," Lewis said. "What we're finding is that criminals who use encryption usually are higher profile and higher value targets for us because it means from an evidentiary standpoint they have more to hide."
Each computer in the DNA network contributes a sliver of its processing power to the effort, allowing the entire system to continuously hammer away at numerous encryption keys at a rate of more than a million password combinations per second.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Bloggers have rights too
John Conyers
The FEC is currently considering bloggers' role as journalists as it intersects with the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, or BCRA. Late last year, the District Court for the District of Columbia overturned the FEC's blanket exemption of the Internet from campaign finance law.
The FEC must therefore decide whether to characterize Web reporters as members of the press warranting a BCRA exemption similar to that of the print and broadcast media. I recently wrote a letter along with 13 of my colleagues urging the FEC to apply the press exemption to the Internet, and Sen. Harry Reid has introduced legislation to this effect.
Friday, March 25, 2005
How is Google News compiled?
Dan Gillmor has located a great reference source.
Distinct sources from Google News Home Page in last 48 hours
Distinct sources from Google News Home Page in last 48 hours
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Building privacy into software
Scott's Rules of Reuse for Java
All Data Must Be Private!
Scott's Rule of Reuse # 1:
ALL VARIABLE DATA MUST BE PRIVATE
NOTE: There is only one exception to this rule: final static variables (aka class constants). Otherwise, there are to be no exceptions to Scott's rule #1. Ever.
The reason for this is that a class must be in total control of its state. If someone makes a change, the class must have a chance to know about it. If we leave variables non-private, some other class can change our state w/o us knowing.
The only way variables are to be changed is via methods defined in the class, preferably a setXXX() method. Initially the set method is simply changing the value. However, later on, we can add code to the set method to
- add validation to ensure the value is acceptable
- fire events to tell others that the value has changed
- update other state when the value changes
- log that the value has changed
If the variable is non-private, the set method might not be called when it changes, so we cannot guarantee to be able to fire a property change, validate, etc.
All Data Must Be Private!
I could go on and on about this forever, but I'll try to keep it brief: All data defined in a class must be private!
I may sound a bit like an "OO-purist" when I say this, but I view this from a practical standpoint, having been burned by not doing it...
Making data (by data I mean class and instance variables) non-private allows another class to change their values without the owner of that data knowing about the change. If the owner doesn't know about the change:
- the owner has no control over the value; it could be outside the intended range of the data
- the owner cannot know the value has change, and cannot respond if needed
- the owner cannot tell others that the value has changed
- the owner cannot allow others to veto the change
On top of these problems, if you ever decide to change your code to allow other classes to listen for changes, or restrict bounds on a variable, you would need to find every reference to the data and change it. This can be very painful if the class were a public library that many people had used in their own code.
Even worse, you cannot change the implementation of the data without changing the users of that data. For example, suppose you had an integer instance variable to keep track of some ID for a list node. Perhaps you had done some research and decided that the memory cost of keeping that ID was more expensive than recomputing it the few times it was needed. If ID were only available via an accessor, all you would need to do to affect the change is to remove the instance variable and change the getID accessor to compute the ID and return it. Far simpler than creating the getID accessor and going back and changing every reference to x.id...
Privacy is the key to true encapsulation. All manipulation of an object's state must be done by the object itself!
Once you use accessors to read/write class/instance data, that data is instantly available as a JavaBean property!
Would someone please send the Federal Election Commission a copy of the first amendment?
FEC Signals Light Hand On Internet Campaigning
I think Elizabeth Edwards is right, it would be like trying to regulate conversation.
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
See earlier discussion.
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission revealed yesterday that it plans to take what one of its commissioners termed a "relatively nonintrusive" approach to regulating political campaigns on the Internet.
The agency, which is beginning to consider how and whether to restrict blogs, e-mail and other online activities, released a document describing the legal issues it plans to tackle over the next several months.
Its "notice of proposed rulemaking," as it is known, indicates that the FEC is focusing much of its attention on whether to apply federal contribution limits on online political advertising campaigns. It also indicates that the six-member panel has not decided to impose, but is leaning against imposing, restrictions on independent bloggers or bloggers who work for political campaigns.
I think Elizabeth Edwards is right, it would be like trying to regulate conversation.
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
See earlier discussion.
Federal Election Commission
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Abuse of libel laws
Rachel Ehrenfeld vs. Sheik bin Mahfouz, a Saudi sheik who successfully sued the American writer for defamation -- in England.
Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed -- and How to Stop It
(March 21, 2005) -- When Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of the book "Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to Stop It," opened her apartment door just before 10 p.m. on March 3, she believed she was simply receiving some legal papers from London. But this was no ordinary messenger. According to Ehrenfeld, the visitor carried a warning as well: “You had better respond. Sheik bin Mahfouz is a very important person, and you really ought to take very good care of yourself.” ...
Sheik Khalid Salim a bin Mahfouz has allegedly endowed and arranged financing for a number of Islamic charity organizations that have been accused of funding terrorism. Ehrenfeld asserts, “There are currently over 10 lawsuits outstanding by numerous plaintiffs in the United States claiming billions of dollars in damages from Mahfouz's alleged involvement in financing the 9/11 attack of the World Trade Center."
On his Web site, Mahfouz says he is "increasingly angered" over accusations such as Ehrenfeld's. "There is no truth to these reports," reads the statement. "We condemn terrorism in all of its forms and manifestations."
Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed -- and How to Stop It
Astronomers See Light from Extrasolar Planets
Scientific American
Check out the photo, really exciting stuff.
For the first time, astronomers have directly detected light coming from planets outside our solar system. Two separate research teams announced their findings yesterday.
Check out the photo, really exciting stuff.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
The 5th Enterprise Architecture Conference, Call for Papers
Septermber 19-21, 2005
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
Deadline for Abstract Submission is Tuesday, April 26, 2005.
The FCW Media Group, producer of FCW Events, E-Gov Institute conferences and publisher of Federal Computer Week, is pleased to announce a Call for Participation for the fifth Enterprise Architecture Conference, to be held September 19-21, 2005 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC. This announcement is your opportunity to participate in the Enterprise Architecture 2005 Conference as a member of the faculty.
This conference brings together public and private sector professionals focused on transforming government operations by using flexible, manageable, results-driven enterprise architectures.
They Won’t Go Away, But They are Easier – Taxes for the Future
NCC-AIIM Monthly Meeting
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Susan Smoter, Director of Internet Development Services,
Internal Revenue Service
George Coffin, Chief of the Public Portal Branch,
Internal Revenue Service
Taxes are unavoidable, but the Internal Revenue Service has taken great strides to package web content and provide online tools to make it easier for taxpayers to fulfill their filing obligations. Susan Smoter, Director of Internet Development Services and George Coffin, Chief of the Public Portal Branch will share with us their efforts to ensure the quality, integrity, availability, and usability of IRS electronic information, services and products.
During the peak tax season, the IRS public web site (www.irs.gov) had 75 to 100 million hits per day with a peak of 127.5 million hits on April 15, 2004. The total hits for the calendar year 2004 were more than 5.7 billion. Total pages views exceeded 954 million and visits exceeded 152 million for calendar year 2004. The site was recently recognized as a finalist in the Excellence.gov awards and cited as the “Most Reliable Government Web Site” by Keynote Systems. Join us to learn what has made IRS.GOV such an overwhelming success.
In addition, Ms. Smoter and Mr. Coffin will talk about the IRS e-File and Free File programs, which have experienced substantial growth so far this tax filing season. They will also preview some new customer-centric design work underway for the IRS.GOV site of the future!!
Monday, March 21, 2005
The current state of .NET
Richard Grimes on .NET
I had always assumed that it was referred to as C-sharp. Apparently there are no musicians in Mircrosoft’s marketing department.
More seriously this is a good overview of .NET for those of us who are only vaguely familiar with the technical issues of programming languages.
Edit-
Some different perspectives-
Robert McLaws: FunWithCoding.NET
Rebuttal to Dr Richard Grimes article on .Net
It is now almost three years since I started writing this newsletter and now I've decided to finish. I thought I would provide a concluding article to give my view on the current state of .NET.
I started using .NET when it was in technical preview at the beginning of 2000; at that time it was called COM+2 and the main language was something called Cool. The framework briefly became Next Generation Windows Services (NGWS) before some marketing wonk came up with a term that really would confuse Internet search engines: .NET. How many times have you been asked what .NET means and what relationship it has to .COM and .ORG? Of course, Cool faired no better. Some bright spark decided to call it C#, which initially confused search engines and users alike. The search engines did not like the # character and the users did not know how to pronounce it (C-pound? Or for those of us on the eastern side of the Atlantic, C-hash?).
I had always assumed that it was referred to as C-sharp. Apparently there are no musicians in Mircrosoft’s marketing department.
More seriously this is a good overview of .NET for those of us who are only vaguely familiar with the technical issues of programming languages.
Edit-
Some different perspectives-
Robert McLaws: FunWithCoding.NET
Rebuttal to Dr Richard Grimes article on .Net
Three cheers for Jason Pontin
More Stories Retracted, This Time at 'Technology Review'
It has got to be humiliating to run a retraction like that; but it is a guarantee to readers that MIT Technology Review is serious about maintaining editorial quality.
”Technology Review, Inc. cannot vouch for the accuracy of ‘Carly's Way,’ by Michelle Delio, published online on March 4, 2005. Nor can we stand by ‘Carly's Gone. HP Celebrates,’ also by Delio, published online on February 10, 2005. We regret publishing the stories.”
It was signed on Friday by Jason Pontin, the editor-in-chief. The two stories have been scrubbed from the magazine's Web site (www.technologyreview.com). Clicking on a link to the stories brings a visitor to the retraction.
The two stories, of course, had to do with the recent departure of Carly Fiorina as CEO of Hewlett Packard. They relied on anonymous sources inside HP.
It has got to be humiliating to run a retraction like that; but it is a guarantee to readers that MIT Technology Review is serious about maintaining editorial quality.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Pharming fraud, when do we start throwing cyber crooks in jail?
Monitrotran points to Pharming - a new technique for Internet fraud:
By failing to prosecute spammers when the practice first emerged (and almost all spam is attempted fraud, so there was no need for new legislation) we encouraged the spread of these practices.
Basically, pharming involves interfering with the name resolution process on the Internet. When a user enters an address (such as www.pandasoftware.com) this needs to be converted into a numeric IP address as 62.14.63.187. This is known as name resolution, and the task is performed by DNS (Domain Name System) servers. These servers store tables with the IP address of each domain name. On a smaller scale, in each computer connected to the Internet there is a file that stores a table with the names of servers and IP addresses so that it is not necessary to access the DNS servers for certain server names.
Pharming consists in the name resolution system modification, so that when a user thinks he or she is accessing to bank's web page, he or she is actually accessing the IP of a spoofed site.
Phishing owed its success to social engineering techniques, despite that not all users take the phishing bait, and so this success was limited. Also, each phishing attack was aimed at one specific type of banking service, further reducing the chances of success. Pharming on the other hand, can affect a far greater number of online banking users.
By failing to prosecute spammers when the practice first emerged (and almost all spam is attempted fraud, so there was no need for new legislation) we encouraged the spread of these practices.
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Thinking about a employee monitoring program?
Shel Holtz doesn’t think it’s a good idea:
Word to the wise, I used to work for a labor union. They had a saying, the union doesn’t organize the workers, the company does. An employee monitoring program is what union organizers call a dignity issue, the kind of issue that moves workers to action.
Tech Republic offers up an article on issues to consider when launching an employee monitoring program. The article starts out with a list of reasons to monitor, including ensuring employees aren’t abusing communication systems, limiting employer liability for employee misconduct, and assessing productivity. Most of the article is a guide to sidestepping issues that might arise in the development of such a program.
Wouldn’t it be nice, if one of these articles—and there have been hundreds, perhaps thousands, of them—also included reasons for not implementing employee monitoring programs in the first place?
Word to the wise, I used to work for a labor union. They had a saying, the union doesn’t organize the workers, the company does. An employee monitoring program is what union organizers call a dignity issue, the kind of issue that moves workers to action.
Friday, March 18, 2005
Coming soon, ET.gov
Process for identifying emerging technology
I had the pleasure of participating in a usability test for ET.gov. Anyone, vendors, federal agencies, municipalities, stardards bodies, will be able to go to ET.gov and propose a component. As I understand it, component is loosely defined, it could be a standard like the Global Justice XML Data Model or a hardware component such as an antenna. The user will be given a schema that they can put on their web site and their information will be entered into a federal data base. The federal development team has done a good job of developing an intuitive web interface, just a little bit of tweaking and it will be a hit with the public.
ET.gov is great news for small vendors, such as kind Presto Vivace represents; because it will offer an economical way for them present their product to the federal market.
Component Organization and Registration Environment
EmergingTechnology.gov, Overview and Status
Community of Practice XML
Federal Computer Week: CIO Council to help with architecture changes
Government Computer News: An XML registry is key to sharing data
The ET process will make it easy for users to identify and, in turn, to discover proposed emerging technology (ET) components of potential interest to them, via a Web-based interface. It will also assist the co-chairs of the ET Subcommittee in determining priorities for technical assessments by the Subcommittee, based upon the levels of interest and commitment documented in the process.
I had the pleasure of participating in a usability test for ET.gov. Anyone, vendors, federal agencies, municipalities, stardards bodies, will be able to go to ET.gov and propose a component. As I understand it, component is loosely defined, it could be a standard like the Global Justice XML Data Model or a hardware component such as an antenna. The user will be given a schema that they can put on their web site and their information will be entered into a federal data base. The federal development team has done a good job of developing an intuitive web interface, just a little bit of tweaking and it will be a hit with the public.
ET.gov is great news for small vendors, such as kind Presto Vivace represents; because it will offer an economical way for them present their product to the federal market.
Component Organization and Registration Environment
EmergingTechnology.gov, Overview and Status
Community of Practice XML
Federal Computer Week: CIO Council to help with architecture changes
Government Computer News: An XML registry is key to sharing data
Thursday, March 17, 2005
US Immigration bans blogger from entry, feel any safer?
Via Neville Hopson, Jeremy Wright:
I don’t know if any of what I experienced is even allowed by DHS (Department of Homeland Security). And I don’t even hold anything against DHS, Americans, etc. At the end of the day it’s this guy’s job to protect the border from, as he said, “ingrates and other seedy characters".
There are quotes that stick out in my mind, like the “blogging ain’t a job” qoute that everyone’s bandying about. And there were threats. And there was lots of talk and many humiliating moments. There were also jaw-dropping ones like:
Him: Why would you visit someone in the states you’d never met (I mentioned I was planning to visit several people whilst down there)
Me: Well, I have met most of them, but I’ve talked to them dozens or hundreds of times online.
Him: Do you have any of their phone numbers?
Me: No, but I talk
Him: You can’t talk to someone without a phone number. Stop lying to me.
Me: No, really, I can talk from my computer to theirs
Him: Don’t be a smartass. If you don’t have their phone number, and you’ve never met them, how can you have ever talked to them.
Me: … (at this point I’ve learned that sarcasm doesn’t help, nor does answering questions he doesn’t want to hear the answer to)
Him: So, you’re trying to tell me that you’re going to visit someone who you’ve never met, never talked to and who knows nothing about you? And I’m supposed to believe this?
Me: … (This was two hours in, and minutes before I demanded to be released)
Decompiling Programmer-Speak
A Venture Capitalist points to this hilarious list of programmer expressions and what they really mean.
Very funny, very true.
Naturally, programmers speak in code. You may hear them but that doesn’t mean you know what they said. I was a programmer long before I was a CEO. Then I was a manager of programmers. When I started Solutions, Inc. in 1969, I was all three since I was the only employee.
Computers have changed; programming languages have changed; but programmer-speak has remained remarkably constant. Programmers I managed at Microsoft and AT&T spoke the same language (whether they spoke English or not). ITXC programmers, as great as they were at their jobs, still spoke programmer-speak.
Very funny, very true.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
The R Project
The R Project for Statistical Computing
Who knew that statistics had its own programming language? Thanks to Peter Bruce of Statistics.com for this intelligence.
R is a free software environment for for statistical computing and graphics. It compiles and runs on a wide variety of UNIX platforms, Windows and MacOS.
Who knew that statistics had its own programming language? Thanks to Peter Bruce of Statistics.com for this intelligence.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Crony Journalism goes nationwide
Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged TV News
This is not an image problem for the public relations industry. It is a moral problem for American society.
An examination of government-produced news reports offers a look inside a world where the traditional lines between public relations and journalism have become tangled, where local anchors introduce prepackaged segments with "suggested" lead-ins written by public relations experts. It is a world where government-produced reports disappear into a maze of satellite transmissions, Web portals, syndicated news programs and network feeds, only to emerge cleansed on the other side as "independent" journalism.
It is also a world where all participants benefit. Local affiliates are spared the expense of digging up original material. Public relations firms secure government contracts worth millions of dollars. The major networks, which help distribute the releases, collect fees from the government agencies that produce segments and the affiliates that show them. The administration, meanwhile, gets out an unfiltered message, delivered in the guise of traditional reporting. ...
Last month, in its most recent finding, the G.A.O. said federal agencies may not produce prepackaged news reports "that conceal or do not clearly identify for the television viewing audience that the agency was the source of those materials."
It is not certain, though, whether the office's pronouncements will have much practical effect. Although a few federal agencies have stopped making television news segments, others continue. And on Friday, the Justice Department and the Office of Management and Budget circulated a memorandum instructing all executive branch agencies to ignore the G.A.O. findings. The memorandum said the G.A.O. failed to distinguish between covert propaganda and "purely informational" news segments made by the government. Such informational segments are legal, the memorandum said, whether or not an agency's role in producing them is disclosed to viewers.
This is not an image problem for the public relations industry. It is a moral problem for American society.
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Best PR advice you will ever get
Customer Service IS Corporate Messaging
In a world of email discussion groups and blogs, good customer service was never more important.
How many corporations know how its customer service (CS) department and personnel are interacting with the public? As customer service is usually the first human interaction that your customers have - particularly if you are an Internet-based business - shouldn't you know what your people are saying?
If you are in a public relations department, here's a suggestion: work down in customer service for a day. Answer the phones, answer the emails. Do you really know what your customers are saying, or are you too insulated in the PR department? You want to know the real issues for your company, spend a day in the trenches of customer service. Then, work with the head of CS to ensure that messaging is consistent across the board. Should the two departments be connected? Of course not, that's close to impossible. But, they should work together.
In a world of email discussion groups and blogs, good customer service was never more important.
Friday, March 11, 2005
PR blogosphere’s achievement
The Number of New-to-Me PR Blogs Is, Well, Scary
:)
In fact, it may be fair to say that the Flacksters have surpassed the Blawgers for category leadership in career weblogs. Which can only mean one thing--PR people can out-talk lawyers.
:)
Madrid: Terrorism, the Internet and Democracy
Dan Gillmor’s group came up with some excellent guidelines. This one especially caught my eye:
International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism, and Security
Global Voices Wiki
II. Decentralized systems -- the power of many -- can combat decentralized foes.
1. Terrorist networks are highly decentralized and distributed. A centralized effort by itself cannot effectively fight terrorism.
2. Terrorism is everyone's issue. The internet connects everyone. A connected citizenry is the best defense against terrorist propaganda.
3. As we saw in the aftermath of the March 11 bombing, response was spontaneous and rapid because the citizens were able to use the Internet to organize themselves.
4. As we are seeing in the distributed world of weblogs and other kinds of citizen media, truth emerges best in open conversation among people with divergent views.
International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism, and Security
Global Voices Wiki
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Crony journalism, the Nevada edition
Nev. Lawmaker Seeks Opinion on TV Contract
Unfortunate indeed.
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - When state Sen. Barbara Cegavske reports for work each morning in the Nevada capital, she's collecting two paychecks - one as lawmaker, the other as consultant to a Las Vegas television station.
Cegavske draws $3,000 a month to give advice to NBC affiliate KVBC on education and legislative matters, something she sees nothing wrong with.
``I have done everything to the letter of the law,'' Cegavske said Tuesday. ``I have complied and done everything I'm supposed to do. It's unfortunate it's turned into what it's turned into.''
Unfortunate indeed.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
H.R. 581, The Anonymice Protection Act
Free Flow of Information Act of 2005
This is the proposed federal shield law for journalists. May it go down in flames.
The practice of anonymous sources has done our society incalculable harm. It was anonymous sources who falsely accused Richard Jewell in the Atlanta bombing and gave Eric Rudolph time to cover his tracks and go on to murder others. It was the anonymice who falsely accused Wan Ho Lee and launched a witch hunt at the Los Alamos laboratory.
Our national security and physical safety are endangered by the anonymice who betrayed Valerie Plame, sabotaging our ability to monitor the spread of weapons of mass destruction. If this bill passes, it is unlikely the perpetrators will ever be brought to justice. Our country will be unable to recruit future agents and no allied intelligence agency will cooperate with us.
I could write a long post about how the anonymice are the chief vectors of character assassination. I could write about why the anonymice are a threat to your clients’ reputation. However, the situation is too serious for that. Our nation’s ability to defend itself is at risk . We must end the evil practice of anonymous sources as if our lives depended on it.
To maintain the free flow of information to the public by providing conditions for the federally compelled disclosure of information by certain persons connected with the news media.
This is the proposed federal shield law for journalists. May it go down in flames.
The practice of anonymous sources has done our society incalculable harm. It was anonymous sources who falsely accused Richard Jewell in the Atlanta bombing and gave Eric Rudolph time to cover his tracks and go on to murder others. It was the anonymice who falsely accused Wan Ho Lee and launched a witch hunt at the Los Alamos laboratory.
Our national security and physical safety are endangered by the anonymice who betrayed Valerie Plame, sabotaging our ability to monitor the spread of weapons of mass destruction. If this bill passes, it is unlikely the perpetrators will ever be brought to justice. Our country will be unable to recruit future agents and no allied intelligence agency will cooperate with us.
I could write a long post about how the anonymice are the chief vectors of character assassination. I could write about why the anonymice are a threat to your clients’ reputation. However, the situation is too serious for that. Our nation’s ability to defend itself is at risk . We must end the evil practice of anonymous sources as if our lives depended on it.
A blog is electronic paper on a network
Jeremy Wright has written a curious piece on how bloggers are not journalists. He posits that there is some contradiction between objectivity and credibility on the one hand and authenticity and honesty on the other.
Huh?
Let me go back to the beginning, a blog is electronic paper on a network. It is whatever the writer makes of it. Perhaps it would be clearer to examine another medium, paper. The Washington Post is journalism, Marvel Comics is fantasy. The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer is news, The Daily Show is fake news, and The West Wing is drama.
Blogs are whatever their authors create. Silicon Valley Watcher, Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism and Ed Cone are all news blogs. Presto Vivace Blog is the corporate blog for Presto Vivace, Inc, and Realiticomm is a humor blog.
People do not become journalists because some editor “ordains” them. People become journalists by reporting. Justification by credibility as Luther might have said.
Edit-
Jeremy Wright offers clarification:
Alice,
The post wasn't examining why bloggers are or aren't journalists. The post was meant to examine the ethical differences between bloggers and journalists (or between non-journalist bloggers and journalist-bloggers or between non-journalist bloggers and journalists period)...
Several people have tried to characterize it as something else, I'm guessing, because in order to frame the ethics issue I had to frame the "who is what" issue. But, ultimately, that wasn't the point of the piece.
The point was that bloggers (ie: opinion-driven content, if you will) has a different ethical standard than journalists (or reporting-driven content).
I don't want to touch the "who is a blogger and who is a journalist" issue with a 10 foot pole, because it's a moving target depending on who you're talking to.
The ethics issue, though, is an important one that needs to be talked about.
Hope that helps clarify :) (feel free to blog this response if you want)
Jeremy C. Wright
Huh?
Let me go back to the beginning, a blog is electronic paper on a network. It is whatever the writer makes of it. Perhaps it would be clearer to examine another medium, paper. The Washington Post is journalism, Marvel Comics is fantasy. The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer is news, The Daily Show is fake news, and The West Wing is drama.
Blogs are whatever their authors create. Silicon Valley Watcher, Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism and Ed Cone are all news blogs. Presto Vivace Blog is the corporate blog for Presto Vivace, Inc, and Realiticomm is a humor blog.
People do not become journalists because some editor “ordains” them. People become journalists by reporting. Justification by credibility as Luther might have said.
Edit-
Jeremy Wright offers clarification:
Alice,
The post wasn't examining why bloggers are or aren't journalists. The post was meant to examine the ethical differences between bloggers and journalists (or between non-journalist bloggers and journalist-bloggers or between non-journalist bloggers and journalists period)...
Several people have tried to characterize it as something else, I'm guessing, because in order to frame the ethics issue I had to frame the "who is what" issue. But, ultimately, that wasn't the point of the piece.
The point was that bloggers (ie: opinion-driven content, if you will) has a different ethical standard than journalists (or reporting-driven content).
I don't want to touch the "who is a blogger and who is a journalist" issue with a 10 foot pole, because it's a moving target depending on who you're talking to.
The ethics issue, though, is an important one that needs to be talked about.
Hope that helps clarify :) (feel free to blog this response if you want)
Jeremy C. Wright
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Watching America
Discover What the World Thinks About U.S. Because public relations was always more about listening than speaking.
Monday, March 07, 2005
DHS, Justice launch federal data model
My client, Integrated Justice Information Systems Institue has some nice quotes in this week’s Government Computer News:
Related sites:
Federal XML Work Group
Government XML Community of Practice
The joint DHS-Justice effort could form the basis for a federal XML dictionary. Hitch said all federal agencies could use NIEM as a basis for their XML efforts. Yet he and others at the workshop acknowledged that participation from a larger number of agencies would be needed to prompt such adoption.
The idea is to “take the core data elements of JXDM that are neutral and use them in other disciplines,” said Paul Wormeli, executive director of the Integrated Justice Information Systems Institute, a Justice-funded nonprofit that assists law enforcement agencies in implementing the JXDM. “Now that all this work is done, why redo it?” ...
The Justice-sponsored Global Justice Information-Sharing Initiative’s Infrastructure and Standards Working Group created JXDM to better share data between state law enforcement agencies and Justice.
“The basic problem [JXDM addressed] was the need to share information, to create a standard vocabulary,” Wormeli said. Although different law enforcement agencies, courts and other organizations could set up point-to-point systems, it was becoming clear that they needed to organize the material so it could be shared without the need for setting up individual connections, which can be costly to establish and maintain.
Although the first finished version of the standard was published early last year, the JXDM model is already used by more than 50 law enforcement agencies at the state, local and tribal levels, as well as by other federal agencies, Wormeli said.
Related sites:
Federal XML Work Group
Government XML Community of Practice
E-voting vendors look to 2006
Michael Hardy, Federal Computer Week
Related sites:
Verified Voting
Avi Rubin’s E-voting page
Following the noisy debates over voting technology during the 2004 election, companies that make electronic voting machines are trying to plan a strategy for the future.
New federal rules will take effect before the 2006 mid-term elections. But an uncertain regulatory structure and an array of standards that differ from state to state are complicating companies' efforts.
Federal legislation that would require voting machines to generate a paper record, which never made it past a House committee last year, is again on the table, as are several other bills. Some states require the paper trail, but many do not.
Related sites:
Verified Voting
Avi Rubin’s E-voting page
Friday, March 04, 2005
The quality of the transmission is more important than the reach of the microphone
Ben Silverman has an interesting interview with a television producer about what they want from guests. Most of it is good advice, but beware of this comment:
Lets you and him fight is a favorite game of too many news organizations. Don’t be part of it. Given the choice of granting an interview to an obscure blogger who covers your industry and a food-fight cable news show, go with the blogger. You don’t want to wind up on The Daily Show’s great moments in punditry, as read by children.
- What about guests who fight back when the host is confrontational? "We love those us!" the producer said. "As long as the host and guest don't get personal, we love some intelligent, but excited banter. What we love most is when two guests get into it with each other."
Lets you and him fight is a favorite game of too many news organizations. Don’t be part of it. Given the choice of granting an interview to an obscure blogger who covers your industry and a food-fight cable news show, go with the blogger. You don’t want to wind up on The Daily Show’s great moments in punditry, as read by children.
New Industry Helping Banks Fight Back
Sleuths Hit Online Identity Thieves With 'Takedowns,' 'Poisoning'
Presto Vivace is guessing that this is an under reported crime.
But the fledgling industry as a whole has adopted divergent approaches to combating the problem, and there are signs that federal regulators could soon step in and mandate specific technologies. As a result, many banks have put off adopting the new services until the market matures. In the meantime, some security experts say, a few banks are resorting to hacker-like tactics in their own defense.
Only a fraction of the roughly 9,000 financial institutions nationwide have been targeted by phishers, but that ratio is changing for the worse each day. To date, online con artists have impersonated more than 150 banks, yet only about a third of those targets have deployed commercial protective technologies, said David Jevans, chair of the Anti-Phishing Working Group, a coalition of banks and technology companies.
The anti-phishing market is so young that there is little public analyst information about how much banks are spending on the new technologies. The annual sales for each of the companies contacted for this story varied widely, ranging from less than $1 million to $20 million. But several companies only began selling their services in mid-2004, and nearly all said they expected business to double in 2005 as attackers begin targeting other industries.
Presto Vivace is guessing that this is an under reported crime.
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