InformationWeek Political Tech Weblog

New Administration Reaches Out Through New Media

By K.C. Jones — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:03:34 -0500

U.S. President Barack Obama wasted no time showing that he would continue to use technology to engage the public after reaching office.

Obama Speech Praises Tech, Ignores Small Businesses

By Fredric Paul — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:07:32 -0500

In Obama's highly anticipated inaugural address, he once again turned to technology to solve our problems, but failed to mention small businesses. bMighty.com dissects the speech and presents a slide show of what the new administration will mean to technology and smaller businesses.

IT Could Make Or Break Obama Presidency

By Paul McDougall — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:13:19 -0500

Amid unprecedented pomp and ceremony, Barack Obama will be sworn in at 11:56 a.m. Tuesday. But the honeymoon will be short-lived if America's 44th president is unable to translate vision into policy, and policy into results. The latter will to a great extent depend on the Obama administration's ability to manage information technology.

Evidence From Database Errors Can Be Used In Court

By K.C. Jones — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:14:48 -0500

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided, in a 5-4 vote, that police can use evidence obtained in searches resulting from erroneous information in databases, as long as the error was a result of negligence -- not "systemic errors or reckless disregard of constitutional requirements."

NYPD Wants To Interrupt Mobile Communications During Attacks

By K.C. Jones — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:31:43 -0500

The New York Police Department wants the ability to interrupt mobile phone service and other electronic communications during terrorist attacks.

Open Source In Obama's Tech Agenda

By Serdar Yegulalp — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 10:45:39 -0500

Much noise has been made in the past week or so about President-elect Barack Obama's creation of a governmental chief tech officer position. My question is: What will be their stance on open source? Will they lean towards it, mandate it, forbid it ... or ignore it entirely? I looked into it, and came away feeling we had much bigger problems looming.

Tech Policy Issues Up Front In New Year

By K.C. Jones — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:07:08 -0500

Technology policy took a front seat on political agendas Wednesday, even though President-elect Barack Obama hadn't named the nation's chief technology officer by late afternoon.

Model Seeks Court Order To Identify Anonymous Blogger

By K.C. Jones — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:52:47 -0500

A model has asked a court to require Google to turn over a name or other information that would identify an anonymous blogger who posted derogatory comments about her sexual behaviors, looks, and mental state.

Obama To Name CTO

By K.C. Jones — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:16:45 -0500

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama could name a CTO as early as Wednesday, but some people in the technology sector have complained about how long that has taken.

IT Jobs Will Be Hot With Obama In The White House

By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:36:36 -0500

There's a little more than a month before President-elect Barack Obama gets sworn in. Based on the hints he's provided so far about his economic stimulus plans and other programs, some pundits are predicting that demand for IT jobs will take off, especially in key sectors.

Problems Reported Between Obama Transition Team And NASA's Griffin

By K.C. Jones — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:48:04 -0500

President-elect Barack Obama's transition team is rumored to be having some trouble with NASA.

Tech Companies Outline White House Steps For Safer Internet

By K.C. Jones — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:39:06 -0500

Several technology giants have backed a plan to increase cybersafety. A group, whose membership includes AOL, AT&T, Cisco, Google, and MySpace, to name a few, has released a list of online safety recommendations for President-elect Barack Obama's administration.

President-Elect Barack Obama Offers InfoSec Bailout Plan

By George Hulme — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:50:17 -0500

While the president-elect may not realize it's what he's working on -- he is. And savvy security vendors already should be revamping their marketing plans for the InfoSec Stimulus Package of 2009.

Outsourcing Foes 'Less Than Thrilled' With Obama

By Paul McDougall — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 09:45:31 -0500

Many opponents of offshoring, the process by which IT and other jobs are shipped to low-cost countries like India, have blamed the GOP for supposedly selling out the American worker. But there's evidence that Team Obama won't act much differently.

Obama's Innovation Panel Creates Opportunity, Pride For Tech Industry

By K.C. Jones — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:30:17 -0500

President-elect Barack Obama has added an advisory group for technology and innovation to his transition team. The newly formed Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform Policy Working Group will draft an "innovation agenda."

When Obama Appeared On Stage, Web Traffic Dropped

By Charles Babcock — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:01:27 -0500

I don't remember when the Obama family strode on stage Election Night, but a review of traffic at the Clickabilty site shows a sudden drop just before 9 p.m. The drop deepens until about 9:26 and then, just as precipitously, traffic resumes at its previous level. It's a snapshot of how the Web can be trumped by traditional media.

Web Check Means No Job At The White House For Me

By K.C. Jones — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:58:37 -0500

Less than two weeks into U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's transition toward the presidency, it has become clear I'm unlikely to get a job with the next administration.

Bloggers Say Twitter's Voter Fairness And Accuracy Project Less Fair, Accurate Than Voting

By K.C. Jones — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:45:49 -0500

The Twitter Vote Report was subject to human judgment and technological error, according to two bloggers from Reno, Nev., who analyzed the network.

Obama's Vision For A CTO

By K.C. Jones — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:50:22 -0500

All eyes in the tech community are watching to see who will become the nation's first chief technology officer. While there's plenty of speculation and uncertainty about who will fill those shoes, it's clear what the next president expects from the person who fills them.

Obama Still Using Internet To Raise Money, Support

By Mary Hayes Weier — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:39:31 -0500

The presidential campaign ended last week, yet the Obama camp sent out another e-mail blast today asking supporters to fork over another donation -- this time to help pay off the debt of the Democratic National Committee. It makes me wonder if Obama will continue to use e-mail communications to get support, and money, from U.S. citizens well into his presidency to help fund federal initiatives.

Presidential Politics Inspiring IT Transformation

By Michael Singer — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:21:40 -0500

America voted for change this year in the face of huge risk and uncertainty. And though technology wasn't a major theme of the 2008 presidential race, there are lessons for today's IT leaders that we saw on the political stage.

Michael Crichton Exposed Greens' Junk Science

By Paul McDougall — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:03:36 -0500

Talk about the courage of your convictions. Author Michael Crichton stood up to the Chablis-sipping, let-the-Third-World-eat-cake ecobullies while living right in their midst in Hollywood. Crichton died Tuesday, but his words live on and should be closely read by the incoming president and anyone else who cares about the economy and jobs.

Obama Presidency Could Be Tough On Tech Companies

By Paul McDougall — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:36:06 -0500

If you're an investor, now might be a good time to short stocks in the big tech companies. The Obama administration could make things rough on them.

Obama's Online Answer Center Fields Tough Questions

By Mary Hayes Weier — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:54:16 -0500

Everyone is worried about the economy. But surprisingly, the economy isn't the subject of the top three questions people are asking online at an "answer center" run by Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Visitors are most interested in whether Obama is a Christian and a patriot, and they want to know his position on women's issues.

Could Health Care IT Get A Boost Next Year?

By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:26:48 -0500

There's a lot of uncertainty out there in general when it comes to the economy, next week's elections, and other unknowns, but when it comes to the health care sector, the uncertainty runs a bit deeper, especially when it comes to investments in IT.