Roy Mark

A desperate shortage of qualified IT managers may send Mark Forman, chief information officer for the Bush administration, on a hiring binge this summer. Forman told a technology and counterterrorism forum Thursday that several hundred IT projects in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) are at risk of having funding withheld unless experienced managers […]

As the war in Iraq heats up, Web surfers are swamping the sites of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, causing long delays in downloading pages and slashing availability rates. Keynote Systems , an Internet performance testing management firm, is reporting the Army’s home page, which normally takes four seconds to download on a high-speed […]

The possibility of a war, a space tragedy and the inevitability of taxes drove a 26 percent increase in government website traffic from December through February. In February alone, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, more than one-third of all Internet users visited a government site. Taken as one brand, U.S. government websites, which attracted 44.8 million unique […]

Nanotechnology experts told Congress Wednesday that pending legislation in the House and the Senate is a “significant step” in overcoming the current obstacles facing the fledgling industry. Bills in both houses would dedicate more than $2 billion over three years for nanotechnology research and development programs. S. 189, sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden (D.-Ore.) and […]

Australian Paul Twomey, the incoming president and CEO of ICANN, told reporters Wednesday afternoon his selection as the first non-American to head the organization in charge of the Internet global addressing system represents another step in the maturation of ICANN. Twomey takes over for the outgoing Stuart Lynn on March 27. “I think it is […]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF has joined the growing outcry against the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II) being developed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The San Francisco-based digital rights group is asking the Department of Transportation, the parent agency of the TSA, to withdraw plans exempting the controversial Aviation Security Screening Records […]

With a court victory in its pocket but no names in hand, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is ratcheting up the legal pressure on Verizon to provide the identity of alleged music pirates operating on the Verizon network. Citing provisions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), U.S. District Judge John D. Bates […]

More than $2 billion will be illegally wagered by Americans through offshore Internet gambling sites this year, according to testimony Tuesday morning before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. The panel is considering legislation proposed by Sen. John Kyl (R.-Ariz.) to cut off American access to the sites by prohibiting U.S. banks, credit card companies and […]

Senator Ron Wyden (D.-Ore.), who earlier this year spearheaded an effort to cut off funding for the Pentagon’s Total Information Awareness program, won Senate Commerce Committee approval last week of an amendment to require Congressional oversight of the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II) being developed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Concerned that […]

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman James Greenwood (R-Pa.) are stepping up Congress’ investigation into the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) troubled E-Rate program. In letters to the FCC, which has E-Rate oversight authority, and the Universal Service Administration Company (USAC), which actually administers the program, Tauzin […]

The Federal Communications Commission is considering allowing schools, churches and several companies in the private sector to sell or lease spectrum they control. The FCC anticipates the proposed rule changes will provide alternatives for the provision of mobile broadband services for consumers in urban, suburban and rural areas. Currently, the 190 megahertz of spectrum in […]

Peer-to-peer networks (P2P) are serving as virtual libraries of child pornography according to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report introduced Thursday at a House Committee on Government Reform hearing. While the courts have consistently ruled pornography to be protected free speech under the First Amendment, child pornography is strictly prohibited by federal statutes. The decentralized […]