ZDNetGovWeek: More Snowden, Google encrypts data, exclusive interview, and whistleblowers get no love
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.
Exclusive interview
Before I hit you with this week's top Gov stories, I want to remind you about a fascinating exclusive interview I did with Michael Janke of Silent Circle. Here it is:
Top stories this week
Snowden handed NSA information in Dell's employ: Reports
Reports have surfaced claiming that Edward Snowden began his intelligence collection in 2012.
Google Cloud Storage now automatically encrypts all data
Current users shouldn't actually notice a difference in performance or usage as this is all set up to take place behind-the-scenes.
Prepare for the attack of the politiclones!
If you thought fake Facebook fans and Twitter clonebots were the hot, dirty new election tactics, just wait for when politicians catch up with this century's technology.
'Bipartisan agreement' to sideline whistleblowers
Refusal to acknowledge Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning as whistleblowers is an endorsement of a wider 'surveillance agenda', according to the Australian Greens party.
White House wants report from gov't surveillance review group by December
The review group is one of the four "specific," albeit not "all-inclusive" steps announced during last Friday's press conference at the White House.
Other government coverage around ZDNet
Google and Facebook express concern over data protection laws in Brazil
Possible requirement to store data locally would affect the Internet giants and everyone doing business with Brazil.
China reportedly to probe IBM, Oracle, EMC over security concerns
National security concerns have reportedly arisen from the PRISM saga as many of China's core IT systems are dominated by foreign hardware and software firms.
Turnbull commits to all current NBN contracts
Australian Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has ruled out altering any existing NBN contracts, including for construction of the network.
Australian attorney-general holds firm on 'whistleblowers'
The AG's office maintains the distinction between 'genuine whistleblowing' and 'unauthorised disclosures' and says Manning and Snowden's actions were not whistleblowing.
Washington Post confirms it was hacked by Syrian Electronic Army
The new property of Jeff Bezos wasn't the only major news outlet targeted by the organization.
Coalition NBN won't be costed
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has confirmed that unlike most other Coalition policies, the alternative NBN policy won't be costed through the Parliamentary Budget Office.
Many privacy policies are long, complex: OAIC
The Australian privacy commissioner has revealed the results of a global privacy sweep, with more than half of the websites examined failing to meet the requirements set out by the upcoming Privacy Act reforms.
IBM wins largest federal cloud contract to date: U.S. Dept. of Interior
The home of the National Park Service is making the jump to the cloud with help from IBM's SoftLayer unit.
Expecting privacy with email providers is extremely naive
The only email service that you can trust with completely protecting your privacy is one that you build yourself.
Thai police seeking to monitor LINE messages
The technology crime suppression division plans to monitor chat messages to check for threats to national security, following the spread of rumors online about a military coup ahead of a planned protest.
Business intelligence, tackling legacy systems top priorities for CIOs
Government tech chiefs are seeing small increase in budget, and putting BI, mobile and security on their wishlists.
Spain demands answers over US spying claims
The NSA's surveillance program has been targeting Spain, according to reports.