A new draft of the Federal Data Strategy is out, and Federal IT leaders are looking for feedback on the proposed practices and objectives that will further advance the President’s Management Agenda (PMA).  […]

A bill introduced in the House today would bring together the Department of Commerce and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), along with private industry, to create a standardized definition of blockchain technology. […]

The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration has issued a request for public comment “on ways to advance consumer privacy while protecting prosperity and innovation.”  The comment solicitation, NTIA indicated, is unlikely to lead to any rulemaking process at least in the near term.  […]

Altaba, which holds Yahoo’s remaining assets following the purchase of the company’s internet assets by Verizon in 2017, said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has reached an agreement in principle to settle consumer class action litigation relating to Yahoo’s disclosures in 2016 and 2017 of data breaches impacting three billion user accounts. […]

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) sees innovative products every day, but now it’s looking for one of its own: an innovative solution that can help determine if a patent application is truly unique. […]

Tim Ruland, the CISO at the Census Bureau, announced his retirement via LinkedIn, with his last day scheduled for September 27. […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday issued a solicitation for “a web-based subscription to a Commercial-Off the Shelf (COTS) social media monitoring tool that provides emailed alerts to SEC staff based on keyword searches for relevant topics with ability to monitor social media sites.” […]

The Federal Trade Commission has issued a warning about a new scam that targets men by claiming to know a personal secret about them and demanding a ransom in bitcoin. […]

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), a Federal government entity within the Department of Commerce that is working with AT&T to build out a nationwide broadband communications network for first responders, said today that Sue Swenson is stepping down as chair of the FirstNet board, and Jeffrey Johnson is resigning as vice chair. […]

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) said today that an internal IT systems failure–that has shut down its major electronic database for patent-related activities since last Wednesday–has yet to be remedied, and that teams are working to restore service following an ongoing five-day outage. […]

U.S. Census Bureau CIO Kevin Smith said that the Department of Homeland Security performed penetration tests this year that were unable to break through Census’ data safeguards, confirming the strength of Census’ cybersecurity programs for both its self-response website and in-field mobile devices. […]

The House today approved by voice vote the ACCESS BROADBAND Act (HR 3994), which would direct the Department of Commerce (DoC) to establish an Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. […]

Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]

Following a July 16 letter by former government officials requesting disclosure of 2020 Census cybersecurity policies, the U.S. Census Bureau issued a statement today affirming its “robust cybersecurity program” and ensuring interested parties that cybersecurity remains paramount at the bureau. However, it said it was declining to reveal all of its encryption policies “as a matter of data security.” […]

Members of the House Energy and Commerce’s Committee’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee expressed broad agreement today that the Federal government needs to do more to promote the availability of broadband service in underserved and unserved areas of the United States, but appeared to signal little in the way of any unified sentiment to coalesce around any of several existing bills that aim for that goal. […]

A large group of former Federal government officials–including national security and other experts from the Departments of State, Homeland Security, and Justice–urged Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross in a letter released yesterday to disclose the 2020 Census’ data protection and cybersecurity policies. […]

CGI Federal has won a task order worth an estimated $530 million to provide services under the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Program to CDM’s Group C Federal agencies, a CGI spokesperson confirmed today. […]

Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee today approved by voice vote a measure that would direct Federal agencies to study Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and whether to regulate them, along with two others aimed at spurring further rollout of broadband services in mostly rural areas of the United States. […]

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee sparred today over competing bills that would address online data privacy generally and protection of customer proprietary network information (CPNI) specifically, but appeared to make little headway toward consensus on how to proceed on legislative measures that have languished in the committee since being introduced last year. […]

With just three matches left in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, we’re coming to the end of a month of hysteria and perhaps some slightly diminished on-the-job performance for millions of ardent supporters. But do you know just how many? Derick Moore, senior communications specialist at the Census Bureau, on Monday announced a new interactive data visualization game released by the Census Bureau last week: World Cup Population Bracketology. […]

The White House isn’t doing enough to address in a public forum a range of artificial intelligence issues and needs to institute a public process to seek comments on AI-related issues, said a group of six industry groups and more than 80 individuals from academia and the private sector in a July 4 letter to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). […]

Underneath its more headline-grabbing aspects such as the proposed merger of the Departments of Labor and Education, the Trump administration’s Federal agency reorganization proposal issued on June 21 marks another step in the wider push toward greater Federal government IT modernization, a former Department of Commerce (DoC) official told MeriTalk. […]

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY2019 today moved closer to final passage, thanks to actions in both House and the Senate. […]

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved by voice vote today S.645, the Measuring the Economic Impact of Broadband Act, that would require the Secretary of Commerce to assess and analyze the impact of broadband service deployment and adoption on the United States economy. […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology today discussed the most recent draft of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Reauthorization Act of 2018, which the subcommittee said is intended to “support broadband infrastructure, efficient spectrum use, and drive the nation’s internet-connected economy.” […]

Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of the United States Strategic Command, told House members today that he would be happy to give over the Air Force’s role in providing “situational space awareness (SSA)” services which involve keeping track of many thousands of pieces of orbital debris that have the potential to disrupt satellites and the communications and other critical services they provide. […]

Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report Thursday that found many Federal agencies are not entirely up to speed in classifying members of their cybersecurity workforce, although many of them have traveled well down the road toward compliance. […]

Rod Turk, acting chief information officer at the Department of Commerce, said Thursday at MeriTalk’s 2018 Cloud Computing Brainstorm that the commodification of IT is changing the service delivery model to make shared services an inevitability, and agencies need to shift their thinking to adapt. Turk outlined his guiding principles for priming agencies for the shared services revolution and provided a set of process questions to aid in implementation. […]