Government

Discover Government News

The US Military Wants to Understand the Most Important Software on Earth

data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20100%20100%22%3E%3C/svg%3E

Open-source code runs on every computer on the planet—and keeps America’s critical infrastructure going. DARPA is worried about how well it can be trusted.

Brittany Day
Jul 14, 2022

Red Hat gets RHEL 8.2 certified for high level US government security

Linux slinger Red Hat has achieved Common Criteria certification for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2, making it suitable for high level US government security.

Brittany Day
Apr 07, 2022

Google: Here's how our $10bn investment will boost US cybersecurity

Google has outlined its efforts to shape the US government's zero-trust initiative based on President Biden's Executive Order on cybersecurity. "Its contributions will see the company leverage initiatives that have been underway at Google for many years, spanning open-source fuzzing tools to funding Linux kernel developers to work on security, and pushing for the use of memory-safe languages in Linux. "

Brittany Day
Aug 30, 2021

Critical Update: Do You Know What’s In Your Software?

In the wake of several major cybersecurity incidents - the most recent being the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, the government wants to shore up its software supply chain. There’s no silver bullet, but Open Source shows significant promise in meeting this challenge.

Brittany Day
May 19, 2021

Ethical hackers swarm Pentagon websites

Hackers are crawling all over the US Department of Defense’s websites. Don’t worry, though: they’re white hats, and DoD officials are quite happy about the whole thing.

Brittany Day
Mar 05, 2020

Lindsey Graham’s new bill would end the internet as we know it

If Sen. Lindsey Graham gets his way, the federal government will launch another attack on online privacy. The South Carolina Republican will ask lawmakers to give Attorney General William Barr and the Department of Justice unchecked access to all of your messaging, file-sharing, and video-sharing tools. That is bad news for just about everyone and a nightmare for those who value digital privacy.

Brittany Day
Feb 20, 2020

A new senate bill would create a US data protection agency

Europe’s data protection laws are some of the strictest in the world, and have long been a thorn in the side of the data-guzzling Silicon Valley tech giants since they colonized vast swathes of the internet. Two decades later, one Democratic senator wants to bring many of those concepts to the United States. What is your opinion on this bill?

Brittany Day
Feb 13, 2020

South Korea's government explores move from Windows to Linux desktop

In what may prove to be the biggest migration from Windows to the Linux desktop, the South Korean government is looking into shifting from Windows 7 to a trio of Linux desktops.

Brittany Day
Feb 11, 2020

How the Iowa caucus app went wrong and how open source could have helped

Opinion: It was incompetence, not politics, that led to the Iowa caucus app misfiring. Above all, it was poor programming. Open-source software techniques could have prevented this blunder.

Brittany Day
Feb 07, 2020

Washington State Lawmakers Introduce Legislation Regulating Data Privacy, Facial Recognition

Following in the footsteps of their West Coast neighbors, Washington state legislators have introduced legislation to regulate consumer data privacy and the government’s use of facial recognition software. The data privacy bill would give consumers the right to access and delete data collected about them, while the facial recognition legislation would regulate government use of the software.

Brittany Day
Jan 17, 2020

6d735a61796a7b6002985a1eb375e259 L Esm H200

US military loves Linux

The US government is increasingly using open-source software as a way to roll out advanced, highly secure technology in an economical manner. So chances are if you get hit by US munitions chances are the software is open source – which should make you feel better. Learn more:

Brittany Day
Dec 23, 2019

Defense Department To Congress: 'No, Wait, Encryption Is Actually Good; Don't Break It'

As Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham has continued his latest quest to undermine encryption with a hearing whose sole purpose seemed to be tomisleadingly arguethat encryption represents a "risk to public safety." The Defense Department has weighed in to say that's ridiculous. As you may recall, the DOJ and the FBI have been working overtime to demonize encryption and pretend -- against nearly all evidence -- that widespread, strong encryption somehow undermines its ability to stop criminals. Learn more in an interesting TechDirt article:

Brittany Day
Dec 12, 2019

Sen. Cantwell Leads With New Consumer Data Privacy Bill

There is a lot to like about U.S. Sen. Cantwell’s newConsumer Online Privacy Rights Act(COPRA). It is an important step towards thecomprehensiveconsumer data privacy legislation that we need to protect us from corporations that place their profits ahead of our privacy. What is your opinion on this bill? We support it! Learn more in an informative EFF article:

Brittany Day
Dec 04, 2019

Ibm Id 19577771 Tomasz Bidermann Dreamstimecom 1 Esm H200

IBM urges review of Australia’s anti-encryption laws

IBM has spoken out against Australia’s controversial ‘anti-encryption’ laws, claiming they undermine previous work to strengthen the country’s defenses. The vendor giant has urged the federal government to review the Telecommunications (Assistance and Access) Act 2018, which passed last year and effectively compels technology companies to build ‘backdoors’ into their encrypted data. What is your opinion on these anti-encryption laws? Learn more:

Brittany Day
Nov 26, 2019

New Bill Would Require Federal Law Enforcement To Obtain Warrant Before Using Facial Recognition

A new bill introduced by Sens. Chris Coons and Mike Lee would prevent “abuse” of facial recognition technology by federal authorities. Learn more in this Security Today article:

Brittany Day
Nov 21, 2019

Shutterstock 751493287 Compressor Esm H200

NSA won’t collect phone location data, promises US government

Are you concerned that the collection of phone location data is compromising your privacy? Have you heard that US intelligence agencies haven't been harvesting US residents’ geolocation data since last summer and won't be doing so in future investigations? What are your thoughts on this? Learn more:

Brittany Day
Nov 18, 2019

Technology and Policymakers

Technology should not be separated from policy; however, in reality there is very little intersection between the two. "Policymakers need to recognize this danger, and to welcome a new generation of technologists to help solve the socio-technical policy problems of the 21st century. We need to create ways to speak tech to power -- and power needs to open the door and let technologists in." Read more about this issue and how it can be remedied in a great Schneier on Security article:

Brittany Day
Nov 14, 2019

Report: The Government and Tech Need to Cooperate on AI

America’s national security depends on the government getting access to the artificial intelligence breakthroughs made by the technology industry.So says areportsubmitted to Congress on Monday by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.It also warns that AI-enhanced national security apparatus like autonomous weapons and surveillance systems will raise ethical questions. Learn more in an interesting Wired article:

Brittany Day
Nov 06, 2019

35a82f3a 7098 4ede B527 B6da43b48700 Esm H200

Mozilla Urges Facebook and Google to Pause Political Ads

The Mozilla Foundation and a group of rights groups and non-profits have penned an open letter to Facebook and Google urging them to halt political advertising until after the upcoming UK General Election due to concerns about disinformation, lack of transparency and the data that is being used to target these ads. What is your opinion on this? We'd love to have a discussion. Learn more:

Brittany Day
Nov 05, 2019

Pentagon publishes AI guidelines

As the specter of killer warrior robots looms large, the Pentagon has published a set of ethical guidelines for its use of artificial intelligence. It’s a document designed to guide the use of AI in both combat and non-combat military scenarios. Learn more about these guidelines for the use of AI:

Brittany Day
Nov 04, 2019

German State Abandons Microsoft for Linux and LibreOffice

White House Warns: Move to Memory-Safe Languages

European Court of Human Rights Declares Backdoored Encryption Illegal

ArchLinux Linux Distribution