Monday, January 27, 2003

More Tech News The New York Times reports that crime is soaring in cyberspace. The Utah Attorney General is defending Utah's new internet predator law. Bill Gates is seeking cures for the world's ailments. Simon Moores discusses information security in the eGov Monitor. The recent Senate funding package includes $728,000 for the Intermountain Region Digital Image Archive and Processing Center at Utah State University and $291,300 for a wilderness mapping initiative.  According to Senator Bennett: Currently no centralized Geologic Information System (GIS) database of wilderness inventories for the USFS or BLM exists. This program would involve the compilation, analysis and integration of GIS related information into a user-friendly package that could be accessed by public and private entities for the purposes of land use planning. The state of Utah will receive the funds from the BLM and distribute them to the appropriate counties in the state. 6:00:53 PM

Interactive Map / Interactive Democracy The Provo City Council and School Board have worked with BYU to create a great interactive application that allows citizens to provide input in the creation of school board and council district boundaries.  The application uses Adobe's SVG viewer.  Users can create their own district alignment proposals for the Council, the School Board or both by creating their own simple map of the city.  Once a map has been created that works on a proportionate population basis, the proposal can be submitted to the Council and entered into the official record, "the same as if you commented in a council meeting." 12:36:54 PM

Governmental Internet Information Privacy Act State Representative Wayne Harper has filed a bill entitled Internet Privacy and Security Amendments.  In addition to providing controls on what ISPs can do with personally identifiable data, it enacts the Governmental Internet Information Privacy Act which also regulates what the state and its contractors can do with personal data and makes requirements pertaining to privacy policy and notification to consumers. In another House resolution entitled Resolution Urging Federal and State Action Against Internet Abuses , Rep. Dana Love urges the Federal Government to address abuses of Internet technology that deceptively expose Internet users to objectionable material and illegal activities and urges states to join in recommending federal action. The resolution also urges Utah and other states to study ways states can address these threats to their citizens. 10:24:25 AM

Public vs. Private Broadband Here's an MSNBC article that discusses the issue. 9:21:44 AM

LegalXML A big attack on the internet (did it originate in Asia?), including damage to the Bank of America ATM network and security news over the weekend.  OASIS has formed a committee to develop a global technical framework for the searching and sharing of suspected criminal and terrorist evidence by law enforcement agencies. From the press release: "As the ability for criminals and terrorists to access technology increases, the challenge for law enforcement to detect, comply with legal process, and implement evidence discovery tools also grows," noted Anthony M. Rutkowski of VeriSign, chair of the OASIS LegalXML LI-XML Technical Committee. "Government agencies as well as providers of electronic communication services worldwide will benefit from uniform XML schema that facilitates fully electronic receipt, authentication, and implementation of lawful process." I need to have our development team check out XMLBeans to see if it is something we want to use. Ted Ritzer is regularly pointing out interesting stuff like SimHouston, a suite of powerful Web-enabled office productivity tools available to all Houstonians for FREE. Bill Gratsch discusses the potential for RSS and blogs in government. 8:04:32 AM

© Copyright 2003 David Fletcher.