On November 16, 2017, the Conference Report for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year (FY) 2018 was sent to President Trump to sign into law after swiftly passing both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The NDAA authorizes defense spending levels and prioritizes how the money will be spent at the […]
The Waning Days of a Technology Mandate
Good news may be on the horizon for car owners across the country, with a possible roll-back of a technology mandate that would have forced car manufacturers to install a vehicle-to-vehicle device that has already been outstripped by new technologies. On November 1, 2017 U.S. News and World Reports stated that the Office of Management […]
Serving Our National Security on a Silver Platter: Open Source Code in the 2018 NDAA
Deep in the depths of the Senate-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018, provisions have been injected that could harm already vulnerable Department of Defense (DOD) information technology (IT) systems and place national security at risk. Sections 881-886 of the NDAA pave the way for the DOD to use open source […]
Bill Addresses International Challenges to Online Privacy
American businesses have taken the lead in cloud computing technologies, enabling citizens around the world to communicate with each other, store photos, videos, and documents with greater security and at lower costs. However, as this technology continues to evolve, challenges in protecting individual privacy become more evident, including data of U.S. citizens that is stored […]
Building the Digital Bridge
In 2014, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) President Tom Schatz and I co-authored a book, Telecom Unplugged: Ushering in a New Digital Era. Some of the material in the book became out of date with the advent of the Open Internet Order on February 26, 2015, and passage of the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act on February 24, 2016.
ECPA Modernization Act of 2017 Introduced
The following statement is attributable to Thomas A. Schatz, President, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste on the introduction of the ECPA Modernization Act of 2017 on July 27, 2017: “The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste applauds Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) for introducing the ECPA Modernization Act of 2017, which […]
FCC Chairman Takes Action to Fix Lifeline
It is mind-boggling when the government continues to squander money on a program that has been on the front line of wasteful spending, and program abuse. Yet, that is exactly what the Universal Service Fund (USF) continues to do with through Low-Income Support program, which provides subsidies to low-income households for telephone and broadband service.
A Day of Uniform, Uninformed Activity
The “net neutrality” proponents are at it again, plotting to slog up the internet with a “Day of Action” on July 12, 2017. Similar activity occurred in 2012 in response to legislation regarding online piracy. Since that legislation was abandoned by Congress, these same agitators believe they will have success in shutting down the Restoring Internet Freedom Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) (WC Docket No. 17-108) currently in process at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by inundating the agency and Congress with a high volume of comments against the proposed rule.
This is Not What I Meant by Revamp
In April 2017, CAGW published an article I wrote regarding FedRAMP, and efforts to modernize and streamline the process. Part the effort was the proposed implementation of a FedRAMP Tailored process for low-impact systems.
The Jetsons and the Internet of Things
“The Jetsons” was only on television for one season, 55 years ago, but it produced a lasting impression about an interconnected future. The show didn’t use the term “Internet of Things,” but much of what took place fits into today’s technology.