ZDNetGovWeek: Healthcare.gov crashes and burns, mostly gives NSA a week off
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
Politics prevent IT best practices, all but dooming Obamacare to initial failure
From a technological implementation standpoint, there was no reason that healthcare.gov had to crash and burn so badly. Ah, but there was a reason it crashed: the nature of politics.
Microsoft Office 365 and Google Apps face off in DoD contract
Microsoft and Google are both approved to sell 50,000 seats of their respective cloud-office offerings into the U.S. Department of Defense.
U.S. plans 'tech surge' to fix balky health exchanges
The web-based, federally-run insurance exchanges went online on October 1, but they have been beset with problems.
Health insurers getting bad data from healthcare.gov
Insurance companies tell the Wall Street Journal that they are receiving erroneous application data from the troubled healthcare.gov site.
NSA spied on Mexican President's emails: Report
Even foreign governments are no match for the NSA's reach, with documents now showing that it could read the Mexican president's email.
Other government coverage around ZDNet
Brazilian government to pour cash into cybersecurity start-ups
Nurturing new companies from the sector is seen as insurance policy against new attacks.
São Paulo starts tech-driven plan to improve transport system
The city government will promote a hackathon based on open data about the bus network
Google aims to leap past censors in repressed markets
Google Ideas also picked up a new browser extension designed to provide a "trusted" pathway to protect Internet connections from filtering, surveillance or misdirection.
Tasmania looks for core eHealth infrastructure replacement
Tasmania's eHealth infrastructure is beginning to show its age and needs to be replaced with an open standards system.
Indonesia must step up security defense
Following a report last week that Indonesia was the top contributor of attack traffic, stakeholders in the country must be obliged to take necessary actions in identifying and removing security vulnerabilities.
IGF 2013 delegates to discuss governance issues
The annual Internet Governance Forum kicks off in Bali today, bringing together regulators, policy makers, academics, civic groups, and other delegates who will discuss issues. But, has the landscape changed?
Hackers: Here's how Apple's iMessage surveillance flaw works (video)
Apple's iMessage is believed to be among the most secure, surveillance-proof messaging tools. But hackers have exposed a flaw that allows malicious interception, impersonation, and the viewing of private messages.
South Africa steps up battle against cybercrime as Dexter trojan hits fast food chains
A new National Cybersecurity Advisory Council has been formed in same week trojan discovered on POS servers.
Labor swaps Defence and Communications in shadow ministry
Stephen Conroy's experience in holding the communications portfolio will instead be used to oversee Defence.
With big data, the DNC turns politics into political science
Learn how the Democratic National Committee leveraged big data analytics to better understand and predict voter behavior and alliances in the 2012 U.S. national elections.