Archive for the ‘Google’ Category

FCC Official: Internet Freedom Threatened | Vision to America

visiontoamerica.org12/22/11

The United States is unprepared for an international fight that's brewing over whether the Internet will remain free from government regulations or fall increasingly under the control of emerging global powers, Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell warned Monday … When obama told Joe the Plumber that "it's time to spread the wealth around," he didn't mean to just spread it in the U.S. He meant to spread it WORLDWIDE. And that's where the …

Dell's Bottom Line: Obama Assumes Personal Control Of Your Internet

dellsbottomline.blogspot.com11/10/11

What the above report fails to mention is the fact that President Obama made a personal decision to hand control of the Internet to the FCC, which he controls by way of political appointments, and a matter that is of very serious …

Does The Obama Administration Now Want Companies Such As Apple, Microsoft and Google Under Its Control?!

Several members of Congress who claim to be concerned about the poor quality of cyber security at government and critical technology web sites, are now proposing that the Department of Homeland Security should have the power to force private networks to secure themselves more effectively.

A number of cyber security experts have stated however that the broadly worded bill that has been referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security could also impact many ordinary tech firms that merely play a role in infrastructure.

And Michael Gregg, chief operating officer of the cyber security firm Superior Solutions is on record as saying, “If the bill becomes law, even firms like Apple, Microsoft and Google could come under DHS’s thumb .They are stepping forward to regulate a potentially huge amount of the Internet. It’s up to DHS to decide who they want to fall under this umbrella and I have little doubt that large tech companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Microsoft, Google, Apple and Cisco could all find themselves being heavily regulated, and given the DHS’ record on security, they should have reservations about granting the agency such sweeping oversight”.

What Would The Bill Do?

The Homeland Security Cyber and Physical Infrastructure Protection Act of 2010 (HR 6423, proposed by Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss.) would empower DHS to set security standards for the networks at various private facilities and would authorize penalties against any web sites it deemed to have lax security.

At the time of writing, almost every headline is now reflecting the public’s anger at pat-downs and scanners and an amazing 70% of Americans that were just polled said that they are now in favor of Israeli style profiling and quick fire questions, so just imagine having the DHS in charge of cybersecurity!

The bill would create a new department within Homeland Security, called the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications, and a new Cybersecurity Compliance Division that would measure and rate how effectively certain private companies respond to network security risks.

But Jeff Bardin, who’s a chief security strategist and a cyber terror expert with XA Systems says, “The bill would most likely also end up regulating utilities and telecoms and a wide array of software firms. Anything that critical infrastructures depend upon, which is pretty much all information security companies, major and minor Internet hubs, the networks, database companies, software companies, etc. could fall under the umbrella of HR 6423, he told FoxNews.com. and it could run the gamut depending upon interpretation”.

An aide for the House Committee on Homeland Security said the bill wasn’t intended to be as broad as industry experts fear it may be and pointed out that there would be medium for voicing concerns, “In those cases where a company wants to challenge its designation, the bill calls for DHS to make a reconsideration process available”.

The committee aide noted that the private sector wouldn’t be included in the panel establishing the rules, “For the private sector regulations, the bill provides for an open regulatory process with notice and comment”.

But Gregg argued that even with the help of the private sector that, “The DHS isn’t in the best position to offer cyber security advice. The real problem is that DHS and other government agencies don’t have a great record of protecting their own critical assets. As recently as 2008, DHS did not have its own cyber crisis plan. Also in 2008, a DHS [internal phone system] was hacked using an attack vector that was at least 10 years old”.

Where Would The Power Come From

The power to regulate private networks comes from the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7, which was established in 2003 and who’s goal was to prioritize critical infrastructure, and to protect it from terrorist attacks.

And The Danger?

The bill was originally a public-private relationship based upon cooperation and collaboration, but the intended changes would force compliance.

The real concern lies in the breadth of the new bill, which would mean that any technology company that sold to key infrastructures could potentially be regulated by it, including such companies as Oracle, Symantec, EMC, Cisco, HP, Dell and others.

And the list would be potentially endless!

The Top Ten List: Tips and tools for managing a civic engagement …

www.susanmernit.com2/25/12

Here's a very useful list of cloud-based tools: The Top Ten List: … There are so many different tools and resources available to help plan projects, manage virtual teams, and tap into open source civic engagement projects that figuring out what's useful for you and your projects can be an overwhelming job. To streamline … Google Apps for nonprofits, free tools for site operators and project teams, http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/nonprofit/index.html. o Google Apps …

Google+ circles now accessible via Google Voice for easier …

amazingadgets.com2/26/12

In an attempt to further improve the Google experience, the Search Giant has integrated Google+ circles to Google Voice. This would make it easier for you to manage and organize your settings based on your circles of friends …

Is Google Coming Of Age?

An article in the Wall Street Journal last week explained at length how Google intends to build a process to make sure that the high priority ideas that it develops receive the right resourcing.

The article was perhaps spawned by Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt who said, "We were concerned that some of the biggest ideas were getting squashed".

It appears that Google intends to create "innovation reviews" at which department heads will share their promising ideas with Google’s top leadership, in the hope that it will help executives focus their attention, and their resources on promising ideas as early on as possible.

The personal benefits that Google employees receive are legendary, and the company actively encourages;

• Engineers to dream up their own pet projects in their spare time.
• Teams to self-form around the best ideas.
• Focus on market-based principles, so that the best ideas will receive funding.

Gary Hamel, who is considered by many to be a management guru praised Google in his book ‘The Future of Management’, and recommended that more and more companies adopt Google’s market-based system.

And Why Not?

Google’s approach is interesting to say the least, because it ensures that ideas, and even those that aren’t suited to Google, get attention and consideration.

But Does Google’s Modus Operandi Work?

Sadly, it would seem that it doesn’t.

More than 95% of Google’s income still comes from web-based search advertising, and the company hasn’t moved into anything new, and it is now being challenged by Microsoft’s "Bing" in the one area where it presently dominates

Google did create innovation however, but at its own expense.

Twitter was created by former Google employees!

So What Is Google’s Problem?

Until now, it did not discipline the innovation process.

Many people think that constraints inhibit innovation, and they can, but they can also stimulate it.

How?

They can force people to focus creativity, where it’s needed most.

I don’t believe that Google is giving up on its ground-breaking ideas, but it does seem that it’s trying to create a happy marriage between innovation and discipline.

We will wait, and the future will reveal the market’s judgment.