Digital Government

Technology key to tracking down Internet crime

A recently formed working group focused on rooting out Internetrelated crime may model technologies that law enforcement agencies use to sift through the Internet to keep tabs on online illegal activity. President Clinton this month established the working group, made up of top government official

Digital Government

NRC site offers nuclear plant info; online licensing

If you have ever passed a nuclear power plant and watched puffy clouds of steam rise into the sky, you may have thought with some trepidation 'How safe is this place?' Now you may be able to use the Internet to find out. This year, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission changed the way it goes a

Digital Government

Spinning a Web of information

It probably helps that Rich Kellett spends his free time whipping around pommel horses, sprinting across mats, launching into handsprings and folding his spinning torso around parallel bars. As the head of the General Services Administration's Emerging Information Technologies Policies Division, Ke

Digital Government

NRC site shares evaluations of nuclear power plants

As part of a pilot test of new way to inspect nuclear power plants, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this month began posting on its World Wide Web site the evaluations of nine nuclear power stations.

Digital Government

Clinton names scientists to lead panel

President Clinton has appointed two scientists to be cochairmen of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee, a group that provides executivelevel guidance on computing issues.

Digital Government

WebGov still suffers delays

After more than a year of work, a project to organize and centralize all federal government information on the Internet is still at least months away from completion. But the government's intentions to some day launch the megasite called WebGov has not stopped private companies from moving in, org

Digital Government

SSA offers Web training to site staff

The Social Security Administration plans to hire a vendor to develop an inhouse World Wide Web training curriculum and teach Internetrelated classes to agency employees who contribute to the SSA Web site. The six classes would be offered sporadically for a year and would be open to all 43 employe

Digital Government

Plugging into application services

Renting software applications via the Internet is poised to become a booming business in the fastpaced Internet economy, but the practice undoubtedly will take longer to filter down to government than to the private sector, where it is starting to bloom in small and midsize companies, experts said

Digital Government

Bill reopens encryption access debate

Renewing efforts to allow law enforcement agencies to access and read suspected criminals' encrypted electronic files, the Clinton administration has drafted a bill that would give those agencies access to the electronic 'keys' held by third parties. The Cyberspace Electronic Security Act, the draf

Digital Government

Clinton sets up group to find how to pinpoint illegal Internet activity

President Clinton on Wednesday set up a working group that will be made up of federal managers to study unlawful conduct on the Internet.

Digital Government

Agencies banned from buying 'incidentals'

A ruling last month by the comptroller general that made illegal a widely used method for buying products that are not listed on the General Services Administration schedule could change the way government agencies go about making purchases, according to procurement specialists. Many federal agenci

Digital Government

Agencies to build PC skills database

Two federal agencies have teamed up to develop a database that would include an outline of the computer skills that all federal employees must have to do their jobs and a storehouse of online computer training courses. The Education Department and the Interior Department's Minerals Management Servi

Digital Government

Agencies asked to post Web docs

At least two federal organizations chastised in a new report for failing to make information widely available to the public via the Internet say they are working toward placing the targeted material online. The Washington, D.C.based Center for Democracy and Technology last week unveiled its '10 Mo

Digital Government

NIMA declassifies images for climate study

The National Imagery and Mapping Agency this week declassified 59 satellite images of the Arctic Ocean that will be used by scientists interested in understanding connections between polar ice caps and global warming.

Digital Government

Institute to put mediator resources online

The federal government is sponsoring the development of a World Wide Web site that will help find common ground for people who disagree over what should or should not be done with natural resources. The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, an executive branch agency created by

Digital Government

New GSA schedule draws Web designers

The popularity of a new General Services Administration schedule for marketing and media relations a schedule that also contains a category for World Wide Web design has 'exceeded expectations,' with 10 companies already on the schedule and many more expected to be placed on it in coming months

Digital Government

USGS to track training via Web

To better organize employee training records and to make signing up for classes easier, the U.S. Geological Survey plans to develop a World Wide Webbased system that would track training for its 12,000 employees. Virginia Miles, an ethics program officer in charge of training for USGS, said the sy

Digital Government

Feds mull approaches to stop spam

Federal employees have begun to discuss ways to stop the increasing load of spam directed at their government email boxes, but federal information technology policy groups have yet to decide what the best course would be. How the government should deal with spam surfaced this month on a federal li

Digital Government

Hill slams Interior's trust fund system

Senators, trust fund experts and American Indians last week blasted an Interior Department plan to spend as much as $60 million on a new computer system to track and compensate American Indians for commercial mining on Indian property and leases of tribal land. Interior acknowledges that it has poo

Digital Government

Hill, Indians slam Interior's trust fund system

Senators, trust fund experts and American Indians today blasted an Interior Department plan to spend as much as $60 million on a new computer system to improve the collection, tracking and disbursement of money from the Indian trust fund program.