White House revamps tech management, Hillary's not a cloud expert, and more bank hacks [Government IT Week]
ZDNet's worldwide team provides global 24/7 technology news and analysis. In addition to my own coverage analysis here in the ZDNet Government column and on ZDNet's DIY-IT, every week I'll bring you a selection of the best government-related articles posted by our intrepid reporters and analysts. Here are some of the most interesting from the last week.
Top stories this week
U.S. CTO shuffle: Todd Park staying as advisor; Google exec in the running
Just as news breaks about Google X's drone program targeted toward Amazon, the secret lab's chief could be headed to Washington.
Hillary Clinton talks NSA and privacy, data security, tech jobs in San Francisco
"I'm not an expert on software-defined storage or the intricacies of cloud computing," Clinton quipped.
FBI investigates hack of JPMorgan, other US banks
JPMorgan is reportedly one of multiple US banks which have suffered network breaches resulting in the loss of customer data.
Other government coverage around ZDNet
Judge revives Microsoft Irish data search warrant
A federal judge has lifted a stay on his order that Microsoft comply with a US federal search warrant for data residing on Microsoft servers in Ireland.
Nigeria launches new biometric ID card - brought to you by Mastercard
13 million person pilot of national identity card combines both biometric verification for state services and a prepayment wallet aimed at bringing financial services to the poorest.
Time for a reality check on Labor's CBA-less NBN strategy
Labor-hating has become so popular that few bother remembering the real reason FttP was introduced without a CBA in the first place. But as the Coalition crows about a cost-benefit analysis justifying an FttN NBN 10 times costlier than Labor's own FttN policy, it's worth taking time out for a reality check.
Tasmanian government IT fund gets the chop
As part of a raft of budget savings measures, the new Tasmanian government has axed an AU$28 million whole-of-government IT fund.
Leaked paper reveals Australia's obsessive metadata secrecy
The Australian government has been discussing a detailed data-retention wish list with internet service providers for more than four years — with citizens kept in the dark.
Morrow says NBN Co to get detail on Telstra's copper quality
NBN Co will have access to reports on the quality of Telstra's copper network and where pits have been flooded in the past, as part of the revised NBN deal, CEO Bill Morrow has said.
AFP accidentally lets sensitive metadata go public
The Australian Federal Police inadvertently let sensitive metadata from an active criminal investigation be published online, after providing documents that had not been redacted to Greens Senator Scott Ludlam.
NBN Co plans 1 million premises passed in FY15
With NBN Co reporting revenues of AU$60 million for the last financial year, the company is targeting passing 1 million premises by the network at the end of June 2015.
ASIO chief unfussed by data-retention bypasses
The ease of technical bypasses to avoid being captured by a mandatory data-retention regime is not a concern to ASIO director-general David Irvine.
Data-retention laws to contain statutory metadata specification
Attorney-General George Brandis has said that there is no definition of 'metadata', but a 'statutory specification' of metadata will be included in mandatory data-retention legislation to be introduced in this sitting period of parliament.
ASIC 'unaware' blocking a single IP address would hit multiple sites
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission has said that the staff members who asked ISPs to block websites were unaware that blocking a single IP address would block thousands of websites.
Labor, Greens slam analysis for favouring 'dog's breakfast' NBN
The government's NBN cost-benefit analysis report said exactly what the government wanted it to say, Labor and the Greens have said.
Fortinet establishes R&D lab in Singapore
IT security vendor sets up research facility in the Asian market to support threat intelligence as well as emergency threat response.