German online copyright law to take effect in August

A German online copyright law that will give publishers the exclusive right to the commercial use of their publications on the Internet will come into effect on Aug. 1.
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Megaupload can appeal evidence ruling in NZ Supreme Court

New Zealand's Supreme Court on Thursday granted Megaupload leave to appeal a ruling that denied it access to evidence the U.S. government holds.

NASA's planet-hunting telescope is spinning out of control

NASA's Kepler space telescope, launched in 2009 to search for Earth-like planets, is now spinning uncontrollably in space.

Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde to run for EU parliament

Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde is planning to run for the European Parliament in 2014.

U.S. agencies can't track savings from data center closings

The U.S. government's effort to close 1,253 of its data centers is falling short of its goal, and agencies haven't been able to track projected cost savings for the initiative, a government auditor told lawmakers.

Internet taxes: Is the inevitable about to happen?

Some things never happen the way that us pundits expect. Back on Independence Day in 1999 I wrote this about government taxing the purchase of goods over the Internet: "I fully believe in the ingenuity of the government when it comes to imposing taxes. We will be paying these taxes soon." Well, "soon" has not happened yet, but maybe it is getting closer.

Government CTO Liam Maxwell on C-level change

The government is scrapping the cross-government CIO role. Since the coalition took office in 2010 there has been a significant level of CIO churn in Whitehall. Liam Maxwell, currently the Government CTO, has risen through the ranks and is considered to be a major reformer. CIO UK met with Maxwell recently to discuss a wide range of issues, including the politics of his role, the Government Digital Service, G-Cloud, SME vendors and -- of course -- cuts.

Government CTO Liam Maxwell discusses centralisation

In part one of CIO UK's Liam Maxwell interview, the Government CTO discussed the C-level shake-up in Whitehall, G-Cloud and SME vendors. In part two of the series, Maxwell spoke about centralisation, exemplar services and cuts.

Our Internet privacy is at risk -- but not dead (yet)

Legislation, stealth technologies, and emerging data privacy markets are proving that the battle for our Internet privacy has only just begun

A matter of trust

It would be an understatement to say there are some New Zealanders who don't completely trust our government. There are probably more who have not yet completely overcome their mistrust of ICT.

Don't de-friend the citizen

Last year, when an earthquake hit Melbourne, Twitter was the first on the scene. Within minutes, the subject became the top Twitter-trending topic worldwide and even caused the Geoscience Australia website to crash as people went online to see what had happened.

Feds take (baby) steps to fight fraud with analytics

ID'ing fraud is a good first step, but the power of analytics won't be tapped until agencies can share data more freely. Insider (registration required)

Premier 100 IT Leader: Henry J. Sienkiewicz

This IT leader ensures the country's systems are cyber-ready through his work at the Defense Information Systems Agency.

Premier 100 IT Leader: Denise L. Stephens

This IT leader implemented Google Apps for Government, opening the gates to the use of cloud-based systems throughout the federal government.

Critical infrastructure protection: Maybe thinking good thoughts will make us safe

Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) retired in January after quite a colorful two-dozen years in the U.S. Senate. One of the major issues he pushed for during his last few years in office was protection of the U.S. critical infrastructure. Along with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lieberman put forth a series of bills aimed at requiring some level of protection for such infrastructure, the last of these being voted down in November.

Early lessons from Novopay

Several inquiries into Novopay, of varying independence, are already underway. However there are already lessons we can learn from the debacle, especially in the context of the proposed $1.5 billion IRD IT spend up.

Dr Peter Lawrence, CIO, Department of Defence

Dr Peter Lawrence, the newly appointed CIO at the Department of Defence, admits he has "one of the larger and more complex CIO roles in Australia at the moment." --