(8/17/2007) When David Behen became IT director for Washtenaw County, Mich., the department was little more than an order-taker. And not a very good one. Behen, now Washtenaw County's deputy county administrator and CIO, says he has reinvented his job, transforming it from enabler to "policy-maker and community engager." | (8/17/2007) When David Behen became IT director for Washtenaw County, Mich., the department was little more than an order-taker. And not a very good one. Behen, now Washtenaw County's deputy county administrator and CIO, says he has reinvented his job, transforming it from enabler to "policy-maker and community engager." | (8/16/2007) A plan to tackle privacy and security issues that continue to hamper the launch of the Australian Government's A$1.1 billion Access Card was released by the Biometrics Institute recently. The plan follows continuing parliamentary debate which has stalled the Access Card legislation with members of the Senate seeking additional privacy safeguards. | (8/16/2007) The U.K. government has admitted that fresh delays have hit its scandal-hit Libra project to provide a case management computer system and infrastructure for magistrates courts. It is the second recent blow to justice system IT projects, following the announcement earlier this week of a review of the C-Nomis offender management system. | (8/15/2007) The Transglobal Secure Collaboration Program (TSCP), an IT security standards consortium that includes heavyweights such as the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and many of the largest government contractors in the world, is looking to broaden its ranks. | (8/14/2007) When it comes to privacy, Australians are left to choose between garbage, trash or junk, says Gartner's vice-president of research, Rich Mogull. There is no legislative protection in Australia and no market forces pushing organizations to do better, he explains. Mogull believes legislation should include strict penalties and a built-in mechanism that allows consumers to take legal action themselves. | (8/14/2007) According to a recent study by IDC Canada, the Canadian version of the American Sarbanes-Oxley legislation has figured more prominently among Canadian firms this year. Bill 198, which was enacted in 2002, has been top of mind for many Canadian executives especially as the timeline for compliance started kicking in last year for some companies. | (8/13/2007) A proposed revamp of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's air passenger screening program offers improved personal privacy, but still falls short of acceptable protection standards, according to a leading privacy advocate. The Transportation Security Administration, part of DHS, will maintain direct control of checking domestic passenger lists against terrorist watch lists. | (8/10/2007) Advanced biometrics and nationwide databases containing information on DNA will be used to beef up Australian law enforcement agencies as part of an effort to tighten department collaboration investigations by July 2008. | (8/9/2007) Service-oriented architecture (SOA) may be the hot button of the moment in enterprise application development, but at the Ontario government, it's really nothing new. "For us, SOA is more a re-branding of an approach we've had in play since about 1999" says Ron Huxter, chief technology officer. "We referred to it then as a common components approach." |
  | |  | | Blog Spotlight: Sandford Borins |  | As Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Toronto, Sandford Borins brings InterGovWorld.com readers exclusive insights into how and why the public sector is changing. You'll find new perspectives and questions, observations and objectives, lessons and answers. Cover to Cover, the blog by Prof. Sandford Borins, appears every Thursday. Inside Cover to Cover | |
| | | Unified Communications |  | Unity is a word often heard in the public sector, with myriad agencies and departments looking to foster collective thinking around some of today's most pressing issues. The word, however, doesn't usually get mentioned in the same breath as technology. That's a situation, though, that might soon be changing, thanks to a new software platform known as unified communications.
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