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The government is very hackable, and they have your data
You can probably trust the federal government to keep your data safe in the same way you trust the companies you interact with everyday. What makes the government so different, though, is that it’s a high profile target.
US watchdog rejects Blue Origin’s protest of NASA lunar lander contract
The US Government Accountability Office has dismissed a challenge from Blue Origin against NASA, clearing the way for SpaceX to continue work on the Human Landing System program.
Congress oversight body recommends GDPR-style privacy laws
Tim Cook and the Senators pushing for US version of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules have found an ally in the Government Accountability Office. In a report publishing its findings for a study commissioned by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, GAO recommended establishing a comprehensive legislation on internet privacy. The bi-partisan government agency suggests putting the FTC in charge of enforcing the rules, which would be designed give people more control over their own data.
After Math: Every robot was parkour fighting
What a week it's been! Between Google's Pixel 3 event, the lucky landing by the Soyuz crew, and Facebook's latest data breach, it feels like we almost didn't have time to talk about Waymo's self-driving cars, Amazon's new line of picker bots and Boston Dynamic's gymnastic droids. But that's where the After Math comes in.
Representatives ask GAO to investigate FCC net neutrality comments
It's not just senators calling for a review of the FCC's millions of fake anti-net neutrality comments. Representatives Elijah Cummings, Greg Meeks and Frank Pallone have sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office asking it to investigate the comments. They want to know the extent of the fakery, which would violate laws barring fraudulent representation in any subject under the executive branch's oversight. And crucially, they also want a look at the FCC's response -- they're "concerned" that it stonewalled New York's investigation by withholding information (at least, until very recently).
FBI's facial recognition database is dangerously inaccurate
Despite law enforcement's attempt to conceal its existence, it's no secret that half of Americans over the age of 18 -- 117 million people in total -- are part of a massive facial recognition database, their personal information culled from DMV files in 18 states. A staggering 80 percent of the people in the database don't have any sort of arrest record. Yet, the system's recognition algorithm inaccurately identifies them during criminal searches 15 percent of the time with black women most often being misidentified, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform heard last week.
Orion spacecraft may fall behind schedule, go over budget
Going to space is expensive. Really expensive -- which is why every now and then, Congress has the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) perform a non-partisan, independent review of NASA projects. The latest GAO report looks at the space agency's Orion crew capsule program, and the verdict isn't good. According to the study, the Orion program runs not only the risk of going over budget, but of missing its proposed August 2021 launch date, too.
State-run healthcare websites aren't as secure as you'd think
Health insurance websites in California, Kentucky and Vermont apparently aren't as secure as they should be. According to the Associated Press, based on the vulnerabilities found by the Government Accountability Office, other states' health care websites could be just as ripe for intrusions. Without naming names, the GAO reported that one state didn't encrypt passwords, another didn't have the right type of encryption server-side and the last anonymous state failed to "properly use a filter to block hostile attempts" to visit its site.
The Pentagon isn't sure who'd be in charge during a cyberattack
According to a report published Monday by the Government Accountability Office, the Department of Defense lacks clear rules on who would be in charge during a national-level cyberattack. It could be the US Northern Command, which coordinates DoD homeland defense efforts with civil authorities, or it could be US Cyber Command, which handles the government's cyber security forces -- but nobody's quite sure who should handle what, or when.
Most US rail operators won't meet deadline for train safety controls
According to a US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, as many as 70 percent of rail operators won't meet the end of the year deadline for safety controls. Operators are legally required to install positive train control (PTC) systems that slow trains traveling too fast (based on location) by the end of the year. The GAO says that only five rail companies will meet the December 31st deadline to have the safety tech in place. An automatic train control (ATC) system was only installed in one direction on the section of track where an Amtrak train derailed near Philadelphia earlier this year. As you might expect, the safety feature may have prevented that accident entirely by automatically adjusting the train's speed for that portion of the route. [Image credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
The US' drone pilots aren't getting enough training
The US is increasingly relying on drones for recon and air support, but you almost wouldn't know it from how little training those drones' pilots get. A Government Accountability Office report has revealed that both Air Force and Army crews frequently have a tough time getting enough flight hours to stay current. Many Army pilots find themselves being assigned menial tasks that keep them from their main role, ranging from guard duty to mowing the lawn. Air Force operators on the front lines have no problems getting experience at the controls, but they're often limited to whatever combat missions they can fly. The USAF only has about 85 percent of the qualified pilots it needs to be truly effective, according to the report.
Government finds the FAA is vulnerable to hacks
On the scale of extremely disconcerting government revelations, this isn't PRISM, but damn if it isn't alarming. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a scathing report on the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) air traffic control systems. The FAA is basically just asking to be hacked thanks to its lackadaisical approach to security and software updates. Things are so bad, that relying on servers that have past their "end-of-life" date is probably the least concerning revelation made by the GAO. The government also found that FAA employees were sharing passwords through unencrypted communications channels, and had failed to patch out of date software with three-year-old security flaws.
Congressional report says you 'may' owe taxes on your WoW income
If you're a World of Warcraft or Diablo 3 player, the federal government would like to have a word with you. Congress's U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), at the request of Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT), just wrote and filed a 23-page report on the tax implications of earning gold in MMORPGs. Seriously. The report, titled "Virtual Economies and Currencies," focuses on buying, using, and selling virtual currencies like WoW gold. The key takeaway for World of Warcraft players is that the in-game economy is a "closed-flow system" -- because you can't exchange your gold for U.S. dollars, you don't need to worry about claiming those 26 gold pieces from completing a quest on your 2013 income taxes. If, however, you decide to sell your accumulated WoW items through a third-party exchange (Don't do it! It's against the Terms of Service and could get you hacked!), then you "may have earned taxable income from the sale of these virtual goods."
FCC confident in its mobile phone radiation limits, seeks second opinions
Cast your memory back to last summer. Sweep away memories of iPhone 5 leaks galore, and you might remember that the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) asked the FCC to reevaluate its radiation limits for mobile phones. Now a few seasons later, the FCC has finally wrapped up a report that responds to the GAO, and there are no changes to its RF radiation levels in sight because it feels comfortable with its current caps. "We continue to have confidence in the current exposure limits, and note that more recent international standards have a similar basis," reads the report. However, given that its guidelines were adopted in 1996, new research on radiation and the proliferation of mobile devices, the FCC would like some feedback regarding its restrictions. It's put out a call for comments from concerned parties and even federal health and safety bodies. Though the freshly-released document didn't rock the proverbial boat, it made one change worth noting. The pinna (outer ear) is now classified an extremity, which means the FCC allows devices to hit the tissue with more radiation. Feel like poring through 201 pages of regulatory minutiae? Click the source link below for the commission's full dossier.
Air Force says that GPS situation is 'under control,' urges you to 'chill out'
Responding to a Government Accountability Office report that warns of major GPS failures as early as next year, U.S. Air Force Col. Dave Buckman has responded, saying: "No way! As if! The issue is under control." If anything, he said, "there's only a small risk we will not continue to exceed our performance standard." Whew, that's a relief... we don't know what we'd do without our Knight Rider GPS to keep us company on those long, lonely car rides.[Via Pocket-lint]
GPS System might begin to fail in 2010, Government Accountability Office warns
Get all of your geocache games in while you can, kids... if the Worst Case Scenario® goes down, the nation's GPS system could begin to fail sometime next year. According to a Government Accountability Office report, the Global Positioning System has been so mismanaged that when aging equipment starts to fail, there may be no new satellites to take their place. "If the Air Force does not meet its schedule goals for development of GPS IIIA satellites," the report states, "there will be an increased likelihood that... the overall GPS constellation will fall below the number of satellites required to provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government commits to." All we can say is that between this, Internet Doomsday, and the imminent Robot Apocalypse, it's gonna be a fun couple of years. [Via Fox News]
