ZDNetGovWeek: A great Great Debate, Vint Cerf speaks, half of India hit with malware, and still some NSA
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.
The Great Debate
Do democracies really need to spy on their citizens?
This was the hot debate of the month, with Violet Blue on one side, me on the other side, and Zack Whittaker moderating. It's a very useful read and I invite you to not only read out opening statements, rebuttals, and closing, but all the comments as well.
Partisanship and politics is getting in the way of solid security strategy
As long as this partisan foolishness continues, Americans won't trust America's leaders. That makes it almost impossible for Americans to trust potentially intrusive, yet necessary security measures.
Top stories this week
Access control changes a must for future, safe Internet, Vint Cerf says
Essay provides insights from "father of Internet" on future of Web.
FBI datacenter project could set government standard
In a reasoned approach to the Federal mandate, the FBI looks to build more effective datacenters, not just reduce their numbers.
PRISM harming US cloud providers' business abroad as contracts cancelled
Europe's digital commissioner Neelie Kroes could be right in guessing that the US government spying program PRISM could have multi-billion euro consequences for US cloud providers.
Nasdaq hackers charged following 'largest known data theft in history'
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged five men who allegedly targeted the Nasdaq and stole over 160 million credit card numbers.
7 takeaways from someone who runs a half-billion-dollar IT operation
How the CIO of the U.S. General Services Administration promotes fresh thinking in technology.
U.S. House rejects proposal to strip considerable power from NSA
The NSA's data collection program will continue for at least another day (and then some).
FTC revises final order over Google, Motorola Mobility business practices
The FTC rules on Google's business practices once again, this time over the Internet giant's standing against other mobile device manufacturers.
US lawmakers to vote on data mining
US legislators are expected to vote on whether to halt phone and internet data mining not related to terror suspects, a move opposed by the White House.
Other government coverage around ZDNet
Will McAfee's hacking hyperbole hatchet job kill the trillion-dollar myth?
As brokers of reliable information about the scale of online crime and espionage, most information security vendors would make great used car salesmen. McAfee's latest research finally takes the right path.
Intelligence bosses ask biggest UK firms to take 'security health check'
FTSE 350 companies are being invited to review their cyber governance by the heads of GCHQ and MI5.
Almost half of India Web users attacked by local malware
According to Kaspersky Lab, 5.39 million local malware threats were detected on computers in India, putting the country in 10th place globally.
Android malware samples jump six-fold in Q2
Malware samples which consist mostly of mobile spyware rocketed to over 120,000 last month within three months. The OS's application signing shows further weakness, according to Alcatel-Lucent's Kindsight Security Labs study.
Qld govt IT outsourcing good for industry: Walker
Queensland IT minister Ian Walker has refused to say how many jobs will go as part of the government's shift to outsourcing IT services, but has said that it will boost the private IT sector in Queensland.
Former Supreme Court judge warns against Greens' metadata Bill
A former Supreme Court judge has added his voice to the dissent against a Greens proposal to require law enforcement agencies to get a warrant before accessing telecommunications metadata.
EMC-owned RSA taps Webroot for real-time phishing detection help
The goal of the partnership is produce a system that not only identifies phishing attacks faster with less false positives, but also analyzes suspected phishing sites and sources.
Cybercrime can cost economy up to $500B
Cybercrimes may cost the global economy US$100 billion to US$500 billion, and over 500,000 jobs in the U.S., due to various factors such as reputation damage, consumer losses, and service disruption costs.
Fund emergency mobile network with digital dividend money: committee
An Australian parliamentary committee has recommended that emergency service organisations be given 30MHz of the 700MHz spectrum band for their own networks, funded through the revenue from the digital dividend auction.