Tech Blog
By Joab Jackson
Privacy and sensor networks
Thanks to the advancing science of nanotechnology, soon we will have a plethora of sensor networks surrounding us. So, maybe we should start thinking about the privacy implications of using such technology, warned Christine Peterson, head of the Foresight Nanotech Institute, a think tank focused on how nanotechnology-based products will affect the populace at large.
Peterson introduced this idea during her talk at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, held last month in Portland.
Nanotechnology is, of course, the science of building things on an atom-by-atom basis. Industry is now getting to the point where they can build a sensor that can detect a single molecule. Low-power and cheap, they could be spread across an area and networked together.
While it hasn't been discussed that much yet, the proliferation of sensor networks will bring with it a gaggle of privacy issues. Who gets this information? How long should it be kept? Who can have access? Will governments have de facto permission to place secret sensor networks out in public places?
When it comes to matters of terrorism, Peterson opined, “the folks in D.C. don't have a big tool set. What they think about is surveillance – atomic, video, biological, chemical—you name it, they want it."
Of course, we will need software for all these sensors, which is why Peterson was at OSCON, making the case for privacy issues before the open-source software crowd. Peterson said sensor network software is where e-voting software was a few years back: The e-voting debacle might have been avoided if states had relied on open source software, which would be open to inspection and perhaps less of a magnet for negative appraisal.
More importantly, the open-source crowd could simply understand all the issues involved. "We need a community that understands security and privacy how those interact, and how they affect functionality, and how they affect freedom. You're the only ones who get this," she said.
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By Rutrell Yasin
The BPM and SOA marriage
What’s the best entry point to launch a service-oriented architecture implementation? Is it through business process management, an enterprise service bus or SOA governance?
I spoke recently with Mel Greer, a senior research engineer for the Advanced Technologies Office of Lockheed Martin, about this subject. Lockheed Martin’s government clients are interested in all three approaches, but the one Greer thinks gives the most value is BPM.
“There is a value proposition associated with the marriage of SOA and business processes,” he said. SOA can be a key enabler for lining up technology with an organization’s mission function, but it is only when SOA is linked up with business processes that an agency can reap tangible benefits from a process and flexibility perspective, Greer said.
It is time to define some terms here. BPM, Greer said, is a discipline that provides the governance of a business process with the goal of improving the agility and operational performance of that process. The goal is not technical.
SOA, on the other hand, is an application architecture approach, which is comprised of reusable components and services.
In fact, enterprise architecture, BPM and SOA working in concert are the necessary ingredients required to ensure that there is a core alignment between an organization’s business and IT strategies and more effective optimization of that IT environment, Greer said.
What’s your take? Have any views on the marriage of BPM and SOA or, better yet, some lessons learned from trying to implement a SOA project that incorporated BPM? Drop me a line at ryasin@1105govinfo.com.
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By Trudy Walsh
Spy vs. spy on display at State
Government Computer News has followed technology developments in the State Department with great interest since the Reagan administration.
So we jumped at the chance to check out the pre-GCN State technology on display now in the lobby of the State Department Annex at 1400 Wilson Blvd. in Rosslyn, Va.
“Listening In: Electronic Eavesdropping in the Cold War Era” is an exhibit that pulls together spy technology circa 1955 through 1985. Produced by the Countermeasures Directorate’s Office of Security Technology in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the show displays a large array of Cold War era surveillance technology, including wired microphones and radio transmitters.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow seems like it was one big recording booth in the 1960s. One photo shows Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. in 1960 holding a listening device that had been discovered inside a large wooden carving of the Great Seal of the United States, a gift from the Soviet Union in 1945. Hidden magnetic microphones were especially popular in U.S. embassies in Eastern Europe. These were small microphones attached to long wooden tubes that could be deeply recessed into embassy walls.
Even Cold War era typewriters had countersurveillance mechanisms built into them. Included in the exhibit is an IBM Selectric typewriter. It coupled a motor to a mechanical assembly, so pressing different keys caused the motor to draw different amounts of current that were specific for each key. Close measurements of the current could reveal what was being typed on the machine. To prevent these measurements, State Selectric typewriters were equipped with “inertia” motors connected to a large flywheel. The spinning flywheel absorbed the stress of the mechanical assembly and masked the keys being typed.
Full disclosure: In my youth I worked as a clerk-typist at the State Department in the summers to earn money for college. I spent many hours typing State memos and telegrams in Foggy Bottom offices on an IBM Selectric typewriter. Machinery I used in college is now worthy of a historical exhibit. Farewell, sweet bird of youth, I am officially a geezer.
Now these old recorders and transmitters seem clunky and quaint. But how soon until our iPods and cell phones will be destined for attics of the future? Perhaps there will be an exhibit in 25 years on surveillance technology of the post-9/11 era. The winds of time will blow the dust of obsolescence on us all, including the technology that seems cutting-edge now.
For more on the exhibit, click here.
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By Rutrell Yasin
IT consolidation best practices
Like many organizations, government IT agencies are struggling to accommodate increasing user demand for more processing and data storage while, at the same time, managing costs, boosting efficiency and protecting data. As a result, many agencies are moving to an integrated and consolidated IT culture to make better use of resources.
The Veterans Affairs Department is such an agency, undergoing an initiative to centralize and standardize its IT infrastructure to better serve the VA’s business groups. Charles De Sanno, executive director of enterprise technology and infrastructure engineering for the VA, discussed the progression of the agency’s IT data center consolidation during an e-seminar yesterday.
The Veterans Affairs Department is the largest civilian agency in the federal government; its IT environment includes more than 300,000 client systems, 20,000 servers, 4,000 internetworking devices, 3,000 applications ( a broad mix of commercial and VA-developed applications), hundreds of computer rooms and thousands of telecommunication circuits. Adding to the complexity of the consolidation efforts is a history of distributed systems and independent IT projects across the enterprise.
The VA’s approach? Align the IT organization with the business groups but, at the same time, employ a unified, enterprise approach in IT; standardize by establishing a single authoritative Enterprise Infrastructure Engineering group; and consolidate infrastructure, systems and services.
De Sanno emphasized the need to develop a strategy that speaks directly to an organization’s business objectives, demonstrate success with pilot projects and frankly discuss with business groups the risks and rewards of the consolidation efforts.
To learn more about the lessons learned, best practices and course corrections listen to the GCN Insight e-Seminar “ From A to Z: VA’s IT Data Center Consolidation” at 1139.
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By Joab Jackson
Searching for the best government Web sites
This summer we're going to try something new with our editorial calendar: For the Aug. 25 print issue of GCN, we will feature a list of what we deem are the best government Web sites.
Which sites serve their constituents the best? Which ones are the most useful? The most informative? The snazziest?
We've covered how to create appealing and handy Web sites in the past; in the Aug. 25 print issue we'll highlight those agencies that have done a spectacular job of building their sites. Think of it as GCN's version of the Time Top 50 or the Webbies.
If you know of a spectacular government site—or manage one—drop us an e-mail with the Web address and maybe a few words about why you like this site. We'll check it out....
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