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Daily Archives: March 11, 2014

Volkswagen: Big Data Doesn’t Have to Mean Big Brother

Ina Fried: “Given the vast amounts of data that will be collected by the cars of the future, strict protections are needed to prevent government intrusion, the chairman of Volkswagen Group said on Sunday. “The car must not become a data monster,” Martin Winterkorn said, at the start of the CeBit trade show in Germany. Car makers already protect drivers from hydroplaning, fatigue and traffic. They must also protect against government misuse of data, he said. “I clearly say yes to Big Data, yes to greater security and convenience, but no to paternalism and Big Brother,” Winterkorn said, according to an English translation of his prepared remarks. He called for a voluntary commitment from the car industry to protect customer data and said his company stands ready to join such an effort. The data protection concerns voiced by Winterkorn were echoed by government and industry speakers at the lavish opening ceremonies for CeBit, an event that also featured German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron. Merkel called on international efforts to ensure data is protected. “We are only at the beginning of that road,” she said. “National policies will not suffice.” Privacy issues are likely to loom large at CeBit, which takes place in Germany, one of the most privacy-concerned countries in the world.”

Cross-Agency Priority Goals

“Cross-Agency Priority goals address the longstanding challenge of tackling horizontal problems across vertical organizational silos. 15 Cross-Agency Priority Goals were announced in the 2015 Budget, these include 7 mission-oriented and 8 management-focused goals with a 4-year time horizon. To establish these goals, OMB solicited nominations from Federal agencies and several Congressional Committees. Established by the GPRA… Continue Reading

The Highly Educated Federal Workforce in Two Charts

“The federal workforce is getting smarter. Or at least it is spending more time in school. In supplementary budget documents released Monday, the White House said federal agencies employ between half to two-thirds more “highly educated workers” than private sector firms, depending on the size of the company. The Obama administration went as far as to note the increase… Continue Reading

Politico – Judge orders NSA to preserve call data

Josh Gerstein: “A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered the National Security Agency to preserve all metadata from its monitoring of U.S. phone traffic, setting up a potential clash with the Washington-based surveillance court which oversees the NSA-run counter-terrorism program. U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White issued the order Monday afternoon California time in response to requests… Continue Reading

New GAO Reports – Federal Rulemaking, FY2015 Budget, Nuclear Safety

FEDERAL RULEMAKING: Regulatory Review Processes Could Be Enhanced, GAO-14-423T: Published: Mar 11, 2014. Publicly Released: Mar 11, 2014. FISCAL YEAR 2015 BUDGET REQUEST: U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-14-429T: Published: Mar 11, 2014. Publicly Released: Mar 11, 2014. NUCLEAR SAFETY: Countries’ Regulatory Bodies Have Made Changes in Response to the Fukushima Daiichi Accident, GAO-14-109: Published: Mar 6, 2014. Publicly Released: Mar 11, 2014. Continue Reading

Why the Federal Reserve Failed to See the Financial Crisis of 2008

Why the Federal Reserve Failed to See the Financial Crisis of 2008:  The Role of “Macroeconomics” as a Sensemaking and Cultural Frame. Neil Fligstein, Jonah Stuart Brundage, Michael Schultz; Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, CA.February 2014. “One of the puzzles about the financial crisis of 2008 is why the regulators were so slow to recognize the impending collapse of the… Continue Reading