October 2013

Congress is harming the federal workforce

[Commentary] Congress should be tutored on a fundamental principle taught to doctors: First, do no harm. Lawmakers’ inability to pass a timely funding bill has caused a federal government shutdown, denying Americans important services and damaging the livelihoods of 2 million federal workers.

This political breakdown follows the epic budget battles that resulted in “sequestration” — the arbitrary, across-the-board cuts that were meant to be so draconian that Congress would surely act before they could take effect. These budget reductions are saving money but at a high cost. . People are being asked to do their jobs without appropriate resources. They are being furloughed. Pay freezes have been in effect for three years. Morale is plummeting. Would anyone run a business this way? Would you encourage your children to devote their careers to public service? We will never get what we want out of our government if all we do is tear it down. Democrats and Republicans are fighting like King Kong vs. Godzilla — and we are the city getting destroyed around them.

[Stier is president and chief executive of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service]

DOJ: Tech firms would aid terrorists by revealing NSA requests

Tech companies would violate surveillance laws and help terrorists avoid detection if they reveal government requests for data, the Department of Justice (DOJ) told the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

In a motion, the US government responded to requests from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Facebook and LinkedIn to publish more information about the national security-related requests for user information they receive. The companies argued that they should be able to release information about the number and types of requests they receive from the US government, as well as the number of accounts affected by those requests, so long as they don’t disclose the specific targets. The Justice Department said that's an “implausible reading” that “ignores the forest for the trees.” “The companies’ narrow focus on individual targets ignores that the disclosures would risk revealing the Government’s collection capabilities as they presently exist and as they develop in the future,” DOJ wrote. If terrorists have information about which companies are turning over information to the government, they would be able “to infer when the Government has acquired a collection capability on new services” and “which platforms and services are not subject to surveillance or are subject to only limited surveillance,” the response said.

NAB To Hill: Broadcasters Remain Key First Informers

A National Association of Broadcasters witness told a House subcommittee that TV and radio remain key to the nation's emergency alert system. WFMZ-TV President and GM Barry Fisher told Congress that while targeted wireless emergency alerts are an important part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency toolkit that does not reduce the importance of broadcasting as a ubiquitous emergency information delivery system that can reach areas where cell service may not go, or where it has been knocked out.

Fisher's testimony came in a FEMA reauthorization hearing in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management. Congress is considering legislation to improve emergency alerts via the broadcast and cable Emergency Alert System (EAS), Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and the IPAWS (Integrated Public Alert and Warning System). "When the power goes out, when phone service is limited and the Internet goes down, broadcasters are always there and are always on the air," he said in his opening statement.

Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, Call for Applications

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is seeking applications from persons interested in serving on the Department of Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC or committee) for a two-year term. The CSMAC provides advice to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information on a broad range of issues regarding spectrum management and policy. Applications must be postmarked or electronically transmitted on or before November 15, 2013.

FirstNet Finishing Up Active First Year

FirstNet crawled toward its goal of developing a nationwide public safety broadband network at the start of the year, spending its first few months naming board members and conducting business operations. But by spring, the entity ramped up with a flurry of activity, setting the stage for what looks like a whirlwind 2014.

Starting in May, FirstNet conducted six regional consultation workshops where representatives met with state and local government agencies about their existing public safety communication projects. In addition, FirstNet has issued RFIs for broadband technology, created a regional operational model aligned with the 10 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regions and approved a $194 million budget for 2014. According to TJ Kennedy, deputy general manager of FirstNet, the moves were made to better support outreach activities in 2014, including state consultation meetings.

Potential Ripples of Stretched Cyber Support During Shutdown

With electronic infrastructure still up and running despite the government shutdown, the lack of staff support in information security shops is likely affecting the government’s ability to respond to cyber threats and attacks and creating potential ripple effects for cybersecurity going forward.

Memo to WaPo: Price discrimination does not imply monopoly

[Commentary] In a blog post at the Washington Post’s “The Switch” site, the usually reliable Timothy Lee set out to analyze pricing in the market for Internet access services. I have a lot of respect for Tim, but his blog contains some pretty fundamental economic errors that need to be set straight. Most important, the blog buys into the long-discredited notion that price discrimination implies monopoly power.

Economists have understood since at least the early 1980s that price discrimination can and does occur in competitive markets where there are large sunk costs. Not only that, but it is widely understood that price discrimination in such markets is not only possible, but necessary, and not only innocuous, but welfare maximizing. Jonathan Baker wrote (a decade ago): “Competitive price discrimination is probably found most commonly in high-technology markets and other industries with low marginal cost, high fixed costs, and some product differentiation.”

K-12 Leaders Shift From Protectors of Status Quo to Change Agents

David Britten, the superintendent of the 1,800-student Godfrey-Lee school district in Wyoming (MI), said the activity he sees in his schools has changed dramatically over the past five years. Between classes, students walk the hallways texting their families and friends. They bring their laptops and tablets to school to take notes in class. And Britten himself regularly uses the district’s Facebook page to reach out to and connect with students, parents, educators, and the community.

“That’s part of the game now,” said the superintendent. In fact, as a result of the shifting educational landscape—in large part because of technological changes—what it means to be a superintendent today is far different from what it was just a few years ago, he and others say. Superintendents across the country are now communicating more directly with community members than in the past, said Rowland Baker, the executive director of the Technology Information Center for Administrative Leadership, or TICAL, in Santa Cruz, CA. These days, when parents or members of the public want to voice an opinion about something happening in a school or district, they often fire off an email to the superintendent, rather than set up a meeting or phone call, Baker said.

Key part of EHR incentive program halted due to government shutdown

A key function of the electronic health-record (EHR) incentive payment program was shut down along with much of the federal government. Multiple operations of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology stopped, according to a 13-page HHS contingency staffing plan.

They include administration of the Certified Health Information Technology Product List, or CHPL, a public repository of complete and modular EHR systems that have been tested and certified to standards developed by the ONC. Providers must use only products from the list to qualify for “meaningful use” of EHRs and receive payments under the program, which has thus far paid out $16.2 billion to hospitals, physicians and other eligible professionals.

The Most Destructive, Unpredictable Force in Tech

[Commentary] The most destructive, unpredictable, and fickle force in the tech industry is you and me and everyone we know.

More or less overnight, a series of technological and marketing revolutions -- like ubiquitous broadband Internet and the lure of consumer devices such as the iPhone -- completely upended the market for technology. Over the past few years, for the first time, we "end users" have been allowed to choose the tech we want to use at home, on our wireless networks, and, crucially, at the office. Call it the case of the incredibly shrinking IT Guy: In the past, CIOs and their staff had a reputation for being snarky, geeky guys who were always looking for ways to tell employees what they couldn't do. Now, at the most progressive companies, the tech department's main job isn't to say no. Instead, it's to find a way to let employees safely run any device or program they like. The thinking goes like this: Employees are most productive when they're allowed to work with the tools that make them happy.

Benton

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