Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com
The debate over the E-Verify program is less one about statistics, or even policy, than it is about two states of mind.
One says nobody should have to prove to the government that they are qualified to work in the United States. The government should have to prove they are not.
The other says that people have to be sorted out in order to enforce the law, and both must be examined to separate the legal from the illegal.
Those points of view aren't even mutually exclusive. But neither side gives the other an inch.
Where is the best place on the Web to post a series of instructive videos for state officials about Internet security? On YouTube, of course.
The National Association of State Chief Information Officers did exactly that earlier this year. Just one problem: Iowa technology leader John Gillispie, the association's president, couldn't watch the videos. State employees in the offices where he works are blocked from accessing YouTube on their work computers; it is classified as an "entertainment" Web site.
Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com
The Association of American Universities, a coalition of 60 research universities, has written a letter to Reps. Anna G. Eshoo , D-Calif., and Joe L. Barton , R-Texas, in support of the lawmakers' legislation that would create an approval pathway for follow-on biologics (HR 5629). The letter highlights the bill's proposed data exclusivity period as essential to funding the creation of new biologic products.
Local and federal officials participating in a Congressional hearing on nuclear terrorism disagreed about how prepared the country is to respond to an attack.
Administration representatives ranked the preparations higher than the lone local official testifying.
posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com
A Homeland Security Advisory Council task force is recommending that the Department of Homeland Security create a new technologies acquisition strategy for the entire department and a plan for implementing it -- an idea popular with contractors and the department.
The recommendation was part of an Essential Technology Task Force report that the full council adopted at its meeting Wednesday.
To help frame the debate on science, TechCrunch, which has been covering the just-finished Personal Democracy Forum in New York City, offers a poll to find out what technology policies its readers would give priority to. Among the choices, "mandate net neutrality," "promote renewable energy," and "appoint an engineer to the FCC." Netscape creator Mark Andreessen suggests "brain draining the world" by offering work visas to anyone with a college education.
Related Story: Clinton, Obama Surrogates Debate Science Policy
posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com
posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com
Public and private anti-fraud organizations announced a new initiative Tuesday focused on fighting medical insurance fraud nationwide.
Called the Consortium to Combat Medical Fraud, the new entity is a partnership between the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association (NHCAA), the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) and the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud. The Consortium will also work with the FBI and the Department of Justice.
posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com
Since September 11, 2001, the government, the press and think tanks have talked about how to fix the intelligence failures preceding the attacks. Poor cooperation and communication between intelligence agencies inhibited analyses that could have "connected the dots" well before that horrific day.
John McLaughlin, Deputy Director of Central Intelligence from 2000-2004, says though some of the criticisms of intelligence community exaggerate the number and significance of the failures, agency interoperability was and still is a significant concern for the American intelligence services. But there may be a fix in store.
For the past few years, Jola Bicki has dutifully brought her two sons to the local Polish language school in New Britain, Conn., for 33 Saturday mornings. For their four-hour-a-week commitment, her boys received no payback other than nurturing a link to their family's heritage.
"When other kids sleep or play or do different programs, I have to drag my kids to school, and they didn't like it," said Bicki, who is on the language school's Board of Directors. "I pay for school, they study language and they get nothing."
But that's about to change, thanks in part to Polish Language School Inc., where Bicki's sons studied.
posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com
posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com
The Senate will begin on Tuesday to move its version of a NASA reauthorization, which is expected to be similar to one the House passed last week.
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will mark up a draft NASA reauthorization bill that aides said will reauthorize the space agency at $20.2 billion in fiscal 2009, echoing the scope and length of the House bill (HR 6063).
The Department of Homeland Security will take the second step in its process to regulate facilities that use and store hazardous chemicals this week, sending out letters to 7,000 sites to tell them they have been designated "high risk."
The letters represent the advancement of DHS' plan to improve chemical security across the board. Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection Robert Stephan said he wants to eliminate any perception among terrorists that American chemical facilities are soft targets.
Calling my local cable provider for technical support is an all too frequent annoyance, made more so by the automated process by which the company tries to determine that I am, in fact, me. After matching my home phone number to my account, a recorded voice asks for one more piece of identifying information: "To ensure the privacy of your account, please enter or say the last four digits of the primary account holder's Social Security number."
Asking for any part of a Social Security number is, needless to say, the worst possible way to ensure anyone's privacy, especially when companies misuse those ubiquitous numbers by pretending that they can safely serve as a kind of secret password.
The statement, prepared by the World Economic Forum, was presented ahead of next month's meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized nations. The U.S. has said it won't agree to any binding targets unless China and India do also.
Bloomberg quotes Paris-based International Energy Agency as saying earlier this month that "Oil, power and metal industries are among the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. To cut their output in half by 2050, an extra $45 trillion must be invested in clean-air technologies."
posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com
Fearing the country isn't producing enough scientists and engineers to keep the US competitive with the rest of the world, the National 4-H Council went to Washington this week to lobby members of Congress to promote science to youngsters, says the Wall Street Journal.
4-H wants funding for programs that give kids hands-on experience with science, such as building rockets. The council pledges to prepare one million of the nation's youth for science careers by 2013.
posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com
The House Wednesday passed a bill to reauthorize NASA for one year and continue the agency's ambitious plans to send astronauts back to the moon and to Mars.
The $20.2 billion measure (HR 6063) passed 409-15. Lawmakers began debating it June 12, but a vote on final passage was delayed by unexpectedly long consideration of other bills and the vagaries of the congressional calendar.
House members adopted two amendments to the measure.
It's easy to see why some people call WiMAX, a form of wireless broadband, "Wi-Fi on steroids." Rather than hotspots of connectivity -- a dot of Wi-Fi in a park here or a library there -- WiMAX promises to create a giant hotspot, large enough to cover an entire city. Wireless Internet access on such a massive scale would be valuable to governments, especially municipalities that could use it to remotely read utility meters or stream crime-scene video to police in their squad cars. So ever since state and local officials began hearing about WiMAX in 2001, they've been wondering when this ballyhooed technology would be ready for prime time.
They're still wondering.
Web picks posted by Neil Savage in partnership with xconomy.com
"Jury duty." Two simple words that bring an irritated sigh from bosses, sympathy from co-workers and and a sinking feeling that you'll waste a whole day cooling your heels in a waiting room. But an online innovation in jury selection, called I-Jury is lessening the cringe and inconvenience factor in Travis County, Texas.
I-Jury replaces the traditional juror assembly room, where prospective jurors sit and wait - sometimes for hours - before being assigned to a courtroom. Sometimes people don't get called into a courtroom at all to see if they could potentially serve on a case.
