By Cameron | Published: January 30, 2007
This morning House and Senate leaders of the respective Appropriations Committees announced a deal on funding for the current fiscal year. As we’ve reported this year’s funding for most of the federal government has been limbo for months because of the national elections last year. The current Congress faced two choices — extending 2006 funding [...]
By David B. | Published: January 29, 2007
January 31 Hearing: The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will complete its organizing for the 110th Congress, prior to a hearing on promoting travel to America. 2:30 p.m., 253 Russell Building Meeting: The Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus will hold its annual State of the Net Conference. 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., [...]
By David B. | Published: January 24, 2007
While we’ve known about some of the changes in the House Science and Technology Committee (including the new name) for a while, Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN), the new chair, finalized the changes in a hearing this morning. Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) is the new Ranking Member. Per a press release available on the committee’s website [...]
By David B. | Published: January 22, 2007
In response to a request for public comment from the Federal Identity Theft Task Force, USACM submitted comments on Friday on the technical implications of several different proposals under consideration. The full text of the request for comment, which includes discussion of the use of Social Security numbers, the effectiveness of a possible nationwide policy [...]
By David B. | Published: January 22, 2007
Congressional Committees continue to organize for the new Congress and hold their first hearings. January 22 Meeting: The Board of Advisors for the Election Assistance Commission is meeting to review recent election and Election Assistance Commission activities. 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Four Points Sheraton, 1201 K Street N.W., Washington, D.C. January 23 Meeting: The [...]
By David B. | Published: January 18, 2007
The controversial National Security Agency (NSA) wiretapping program, which the Bush Administration has asserted did not need warrants to operate, has been changed. In an article published in today’s Washington Post (registration required), the Attorney General has stated this program will be subject to judicial review through the court that administers the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance [...]
By Cameron | Published: January 17, 2007
ACM joined with several groups other leaders in the computing community expressing concern over the state of the 2007 budget (which is currently in limbo) for information technology research and development and calling on Congress to complete proposed funding increases for several key science agencies. We’ve mentioned this issue a couple of times (1,2) over [...]
By David B. | Published: January 11, 2007
Two actions in recent days demonstrated the level of Congressional interest in privacy under the new Democratic Congress. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing Wednesday on government data mining programs. You can access witness statements, member statements and the hearing webcast at that link. The new chairman, Senator Leahy of Vermont, indicated that there [...]
By David B. | Published: January 9, 2007
The 110th Congress is starting, which means there are hearings to follow. More will come as the committees finalize their organization and goals for this session. January 10 Hearing: The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing entitled, “Balancing Privacy and Security: The Privacy Implications of Government Data Mining Programs .” 9:30 a.m., 226 Dirksen [...]
By Cameron | Published: January 8, 2007
Before the New Year, one of the stories we wrote (it is a couple of paragraphs down) was about Congress embracing a full-year “Continuing Resolution” for most federal agencies. They did this because the last Congress only completed 2 of its 13 appropriations bills and decided it would be too complex to pass two sets [...]
By David B. | Published: January 4, 2007
While the first session of the 110th Congress gets underway today, here are a few notes on recent electronic voting activity. First, the New York Times (registration required) is reporting about a recent disclosure that a testing lab has been temporarily barred from approving new voting machines. The company, Ciber Inc., is also having trouble [...]
By Cameron | Published: January 3, 2007
Happy New Year! We usher in 2007 with a continuing story from last year — security and e-voting machines. Computerworld has a good interview with Eugene Spafford, USACM’s Chair and Director of Purdue’s Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS) on the security of e-voting issues. The focus of the interview [...]
