An audit of the 23 presidential candidates’ websites by the Online Trust Alliance found that 74 percent failed to guard voters’ privacy and security, an OTA news release said Tuesday. Twenty-six percent passed and "performed so admirably that they achieved ‘Honor Roll’ status,” it said. “There was no middle ground.” Presidential candidates who made the honor roll include Republicans Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Rick Santorum, as well as Scott Walker, who left the race Monday. Democratic candidates Lincoln Chafee and Martin O’Malley also made the honor roll. The sites that failed scored an F in privacy practices, it said, with some linking to “nonexistent or inadequate privacy policy disclosures,” while others failed because they reserved the “right to liberally share or sell their donors and site visitors’ personally identifiable information (PII), including addresses, phone numbers, employers and even passport numbers, with unaffiliated third parties that the candidates deem to be like-minded organizations,” said OTA. “Although political websites may not be beholden to the same security and privacy standards as industry, our findings clearly reveal that these campaigns’ data practices are out of alignment with consumer expectations and Federal Trade Commission guidelines for the business community," said OTA Executive Director Craig Spiezle. On a positive note, all candidates had “excellent consumer protection scores,” it said. But Spiezle said that in an era of “mounting distrust of data and privacy practices, candidates must move beyond a compliance mindset and embrace responsible data stewardship” because consumers not only pay with their credit card, but also with “giving away their PII.” Friday at 1 p.m. EDT, OTA will host a webinar to discuss further the findings of the audit with Future of Privacy Forum Executive Director Jules Polonetsky and TRUSTe CEO Chris Babel.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is scheduled to speak at a "Presidential Series" breakfast Friday sponsored by the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) and CEA. The event begins 7 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency in Reston, Virginia. Walker scheduled a 6 p.m. EDT news conference Monday, where he was expected to announce his withdrawal from the race for the Republican presidential nomination. NVTC representatives didn't comment Monday on how Walker's withdrawal might affect Friday's event.
Tech companies took to social media to show support for and offer jobs to Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old Texan who was arrested at his high school after bringing in what his teacher thought was a bomb but actually was an electronic clock he made as part of an engineering project. Twitter tweeted support for Ahmed and offered him an internship. Mark Zuckerberg said he would love to meet Ahmed and give him a tour of Facebook. Foursquare tweeted support for Ahmed, as did several other tech companies including Google, which invited him to its online global science competition this weekend. President Barack Obama tweeted “Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House?” The president’s top science adviser, John Holdren, personally invited the teen to the White House Astronomy Night Oct. 19, U.S. Chief Data Scientist DJ Patil wrote in a White House email.
US Ignite received a $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to build "living lab" test beds in 15 communities throughout the country, it said in a news release Monday. The grant is a part of the Obama administration's initiative unveiled earlier that day to research and develop smart cities (see 1509140054), which includes a total anticipated investment of $160 million. The end result of US Ignite's grant "will be a growing number of communities nationwide participating in a 'smart city app store' for interoperable and interconnected smart gigabit community applications," it said. The group said its new project will span three years and include participation from cities including Cleveland; Kansas City, Missouri; and Madison, Wisconsin. The White House announcement also marked the beginning of the Smart Cities Council's Smart Cities Week Conference and Exhibition in D.C.
Twenty-four of the 26 federal agencies participating in Office of Management and Budget IT reform initiatives reported achieving an estimated total of $3.6 billion in cost savings and avoidances between FY 2011 and 2014, a GAO report released Tuesday said. More than half of the savings, about $2 billion, were from data center consolidation and optimization efforts, it said. Almost 70 percent of the savings, $2.5 billion, were savings and avoidances from the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Treasury and the Social Security Administration, it said. The goal of the report was to determine how savings from OMB’s IT reform efforts were being invested, but most agencies didn’t fully meet OMB requirements to submit reinvestment plan information for varied reasons, the report said. GAO recommended agencies complete their IT savings reinvestment plans and improve tracking, and that OMB clearly “define targets for agency reinvestment and require that agencies complete their plans and track actual reinvestment performance.” OMB and 12 agencies agreed with the GAO recommendations, one agency didn't say whether it agreed or disagreed, three agencies had no comments, and one agency partially agreed.
The Obama administration launched a smart cities initiative that includes a $160 million investment in federal research for more than 25 technology collaborations, a White House news release said Monday. Researchers will use the new funding to create test beds for IoT applications and to develop multisector collaborative models for the technology, it said. The initiative also will focus on intercity collaborations and harnessing information technology to tackle local problems, as well as building off of sensor networks, cybersecurity and broadband infrastructure research, it said. The National Science Foundation will invest more than $35 million in smart city research and grants, including a $3 million award for the University of Chicago to create the array of things -- a network infrastructure to support the development of and deployment of sensors, embedded systems and communications systems, it said. The Department of Homeland Security plans to invest $50 million through five years to develop emergency response systems and technologies for smart cities, the White House said. DHS joins the Department of Transportation, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Census Bureau in smart cities investment. To coincide with the launch of the initiative, the White House hosted a Smart Cities Forum Monday, where representatives of government agencies and the private sector discussed the impact smart cities could have on urban life and touted various programs currently in the works.
NetCompetition Chairman Scott Cleland blasted presidential candidacy talk from Larry Lessig, a Harvard Law School professor and net neutrality advocate. “The political agenda hidden inside Mr. Lessig’s Trojan horse candidacy is network neutrality,” Cleland wrote Monday in an op-ed for The Daily Caller. “At least part of the reason Mr. Lessig is running for president, is because he knows the partisan net neutrality gains enjoyed at the FCC are at serious risk of defunding from Congress, of overturning in court, and/or reversal by a potential Republican President in 2017.” NetCompetition receives support from the telecom industry. Lessig announced consideration of a bid last month and plans to officially announce his candidacy for the Democratic nomination Wednesday. He has said he has no intention to govern as president, simply to advance a campaign finance overhaul measure and then resign.
The Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator seeks comment by Oct. 16 to help craft the next iteration of its Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement. The plan, which is administered by the Office of the Coordinator, aims to put in place the mechanisms to reduce the supply of fraudulent goods and other intellectual property infringement, while also assisting other countries in cracking down on illegal operations, the Office of Management and Budget said in Tuesday's Federal Register. Through the plan, the U.S. aims to prioritize U.S. resources for "countries where programs can be carried out most effectively with the greatest impact on reducing the number of infringing products imported into the United States, while also protecting the intellectual property rights of U.S. rights holders and the interests of U.S. persons otherwise harmed by infringements in other countries," said OMB. Following two previous three-year versions, this plan will last 2016-19. OMB requested “input and recommendations” on the broad effort to crack down on IP infringement, including through legislation, presidential action and regulatory changes, “as well as ideas for improving any of the existing voluntary private-sector initiatives and for establishing new voluntary private-sector initiatives.”
As President Barack "Obama prepares to welcome Chinese President Xi to the White House this month, cybersecurity concerns should be a priority topic of discussion,” wrote Information Technology Industry Council resident China trade policy expert John Lenhart on an ITI blog Wednesday. “U.S. and Chinese frustrations continue to run high due to concerns over Chinese involvement in the recent high-profile hack of the Office of Personnel Management, as well as continued Chinese concerns following the revelations of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden,” Lenhart said. “But pursuing actions of escalation would only serve to widen the divide between the two countries.” Strong and constructive engagement during the presidential summit would best be focused in a few key areas like committing to market competition and free trade, establishing consultative cybersecurity mechanisms, and addressing policies that create barriers to interconnectivity, Lenhart said. “The two countries cannot allow further escalation of cyber-tensions, as it threatens to undermine the mutually beneficial policies of commercial engagement we have enjoyed for the past 35 years.”
President Barack Obama took over the White House Instagram account Monday, posting a photo from Air Force One with the caption “Incredible view as we near Anchorage.”