Disqus - Latest Comments for digiphile

Re: Why we support net neutrality and the open Internet

digiphile — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 12:59:31 -0000

Mrs. Newsom,

The FCC's Open Internet rules are already in place: https://www.fcc.gov/consume...

They are not a new policy. What's being proposed are changes to these rules, which, as the FCC itself still states on its website, as of July 2017, "protect and maintain open, uninhibited access to lawful online content. The rules specifically prohibit:

Blocking: Broadband providers may not block access to lawful content, applications, services or non-harmful devices.
Throttling: Broadband providers may not deliberately target some lawful internet traffic to be delivered to users more slowly than other traffic.
Paid prioritization: Broadband providers may not favor some internet traffic in exchange for consideration of any kind. Internet service providers are also banned from prioritizing content and services of their affiliates."

The current rules, which are based upon a reclassification of Internet service providers as common carriers, protect consumers. https://arstechnica.com/tec...

They are not "government deciding which sites are fake news" or the FCC instructing an ISP to make a viewpoint-based decision regarding which websites its consumers can access.

In fact, what the most recent iteration of the Open Internet rules did is to lay out the principles that the FCC would regulate Internet service providers under -- including transparency regarding any blocking or throttling of a given service or website, including conservative, progressive, libertarian news outlets.

Re: NY attorney general probes Trump nonprofit, turns a blind eye to Clinton Foundation

digiphile — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 14:13:05 -0000

The Clinton Foundation is located in New York City, as both its website and tax filings to the IRS demonstrate. https://www.clintonfoundati...

We are committed to factual reporting. If you or other readers find errors in our stories, we welcome your feedback.

Re: ‘Do-Nothing Congress’ Poised to Enact Historic FOIA Reform

digiphile — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 11:03:35 -0000

Hello, Mr. Right: I understand why you might be cynical and angry; you are part of the public that doesn't trust government that I described above. This is no joke: this is about actual transparency, along with accountability. The Freedom of Information Act is a key lever for journalists and citizens to make the executive branch of government more transparent to the people they serve. When federal agencies deny requests, journalists and media companies sue government in courts to release requested information. After years, in some cases, "they," the government, do have to reveal what they've done or said. This reform would improve the status quo. --Alex

Re: TransparencyCamp

digiphile — Thu, 29 May 2014 17:23:50 -0000

Are you going to go to Transparency Camp this weekend and tell the hundreds of people there that they aren't a movement? That point aside, sure: a tool built by the Sunlight Foundation flagged a part of the Farm Bill that would have restricted FOIA at factory farms for OpenTheGovernment.org, which then activated its network, myself included, and advocated for that aspect of the legislation to be amended. It was, and the final version does not weaken the people's right to know how about how industrial feedlots are being regulated, nor is the ability of the press to report on the same hindered.

That's one example, but there are many others, particularly coming out of the media using data and open source tools to hold government accountable and find corruption. I'd encourage you to poke around and look for them, instead of slamming decades of work by open government advocates fighting secrecy, opening up data (hello, Carl Malamud & the SEC, now IRS -- look up CitizenAudit.org) and getting legislation passed, from The DATA Act to city and state laws around the USA and beyond, or advocating for policy changes in schools, hospitals and industry.

Re: TransparencyCamp

digiphile — Tue, 27 May 2014 15:40:55 -0000

Also, evidence of "little impact" from the "open government and civic technology movement," per @JoshData.

Re: Esri To Enable Thousands Of Government Agencies To Open GIS Data To The Public - by Alexander Howard

digiphile — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 21:18:18 -0000

Followup: the ArcGIS open data feature went live today: https://opendata.arcgis.com
Short post on it: http://e-pluribusunum.com/2...

Re: Esri To Enable Thousands Of Government Agencies To Open GIS Data To The Public - by Alexander Howard

digiphile — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 10:18:38 -0000

Richard Greenwood Well, I haven't read many marketing articles that acknowledge widespread angst in a developer community regarding the product being described. That said, you're always entitled to your opinion and I do welcome and appreciate the feedback.

What Andrew Turner is saying is that governments with an ELA can spin up an open data site on the ArcGIS platform and offer GIS data in "accessible open formats, including CSVs, KML and GeoJSON."

My understanding of this feature is that anyone who wanted to consume that data through an API call or direct download. Andrew is saying that ESRI has and will make open source code available for translations and other uses: http://blogs.esri.com/esri/...

That should not require owning an ESRI product nor writing your own translator; if it does, I'll update this article and make sure readers know that there's been a "bait and switch" and openwashing.

You and other folks can see the truth or fallacy of the company's promised support for open source and activity around repositories on Github: http://esri.github.io/

Re: Esri To Enable Thousands Of Government Agencies To Open GIS Data To The Public - by Alexander Howard

digiphile — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 12:41:05 -0000

Perhaps you meant April Fool's Day?

Re: Esri To Enable Thousands Of Government Agencies To Open GIS Data To The Public - by Alexander Howard

digiphile — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 12:40:32 -0000

@Richard Greenwood So we're clear, I've been constructively critical of Esri on this count for many years. You'll note the lede acknowledges the issue around proprietary formats for government data. When I saw that they were shifting to enable open data exports, I wrote it up because the move was important.

Re: Esri To Enable Thousands Of Government Agencies To Open GIS Data To The Public - by Alexander Howard

digiphile — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 12:38:28 -0000

@Richard Greenwood @Andrew Turner I agreed, and I asked the editor to change "allow" to "enabled." RWW has done so, because it is both more accurate and I think reflects the spirit and reality of the action.

Re: The Big Fix

digiphile — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 19:58:29 -0000

I am not trying to mislead anyone. Just the opposite, in fact.

If you read the piece that you're commenting upon, you'll see numerous, substantiated concerns about various components of the software *not* being fixed yet. I'm well aware that people are there to browse plans, apply and get enrolled. In January, we'll learn whether the marketplace enabled that successfully or not.

In the meantime, my point stands -- you confused uptime with enrollment errors -- and the only person focused upon pretty colors is you.

Re: The Big Fix

digiphile — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 13:04:05 -0000

Where do you think the PII in question is "filling up?" Have you examined how the data hub works, in terms of personal data being at rest or in motion? The security issue referenced in the article refers, for instance, to the potential of Web application problems due to issues in the code there, not to a breach or backend interception of PII in plaintext that was not encrypted.

Re: The Big Fix

digiphile — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 10:12:34 -0000

You're confusing the front end of the Healthcare.gov website staying online with the backend of the marketplace functioning and providing proper 834 data.

Re: The Big Fix

digiphile — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 10:11:17 -0000

Have there been any confirmed data breaches or other security intrusions? Until then, these kinds of reports remain claims or, at their best, risk assessments by IT security professionals.

Re: The Big Fix

digiphile — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 10:08:52 -0000

You can learn more about the Ash Center here: http://www.ash.harvard.edu/

The queuing system you referenced was added and implemented on Monday. Some users who reported being unable to log in in the morning were alerted when the system was available later in the day and successfully completed an application.

Re: The Big Fix

digiphile — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 10:06:05 -0000

Perhaps you've commented on the wrong article? Or didn't read this one?

From the second page of this feature:

"Security could very well be the next shoe to drop. The administration's political opponents in Congress, like Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), continue to voice serious concerns about data security in the marketplace, a focus that is backed up by independent reports on security issues at HealthCare.gov. For instance, a report by TrustSec warned that users could be vulnerable to a type of scheme where attackers redirect visitors to another domain to be phished. While there has not been a confirmed compromise of HealthCare.gov or the data hub behind it, Vermont has disclosed a data breach of its state exchange."

2 more paragraphs follow.

Re: Healthcare.gov: Code Developed by the People and for the People, Released Back to the People

digiphile — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 15:08:48 -0000

The relaunched site described here worked perfectly in June and early fall. The software for the marketplace that launched in October did not. If you or others are having trouble understanding the difference, read Paul Ford: http://mobile.businessweek....

Re: Healthcare.gov: Code Developed by the People and for the People, Released Back to the People

digiphile — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 20:45:21 -0000

I don't know who "everybody" is, Catherine Fitzpatrick, but open source software runs the majority of the world's web servers (Apache), forms the kernel of OS X, and is now on more than a billion smartphones (Android.) Hardened versions of open source software are used throughout the U.S. Department of Defense, including the Navy's newest battleship. http://arstechnica.com/info... Open source wasn't touted Healthcare.gov because the rest of the software behind it is anything but -- and the code described in this article was taken offline, when CMS made their account inactive after the issues on Github filled up with angry, ignorant comments.

Re: Healthcare.gov: Code Developed by the People and for the People, Released Back to the People

digiphile — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 20:41:36 -0000

If there was a problem with Jekyll or prose.io, CMS could call on Development Seed to help. To date, there have been no reported issues with the part of the site. http://developmentseed.org/...

Re: Healthcare.gov: Code Developed by the People and for the People, Released Back to the People

digiphile — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 20:40:42 -0000

As reported here, this part of the site was built in Washington, DC, in the offices of Development Seed & CMS. The other components of Healthcare.gov were built by more than 50 contractors. The two responsible for substantial amounts of the code, CGI Federal and QSSI, have offices all around the beltway surrounding DC, in Virginia and Maryland. No hidden answers, if you care to look.

Re: A Look At the Open Government Summit After 'Peak Open'

digiphile — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 09:16:24 -0000

You're welcome -- and thank you for the comment.

Re: U.S. Commits to Modernizing Administration of Freedom of Information Act

digiphile — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 13:34:19 -0000

You are 100% right. FOIA was passed in 1966: http://www.foia.gov/about.html and then, in the wake of the Watergate scandals, Congress overwhelmingly supported expansion of the Freedom of Information Act. Writing "after" was inaccurate without adding "and expanded" before it.

Re: Healthcare.gov: Code Developed by the People and for the People, Released Back to the People

digiphile — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 11:36:33 -0000

Simple: I don't like people impugning my integrity or questioning the veracity of my writing.

Re: Healthcare.gov: Code Developed by the People and for the People, Released Back to the People

digiphile — Thu, 24 Oct 2013 12:45:37 -0000

Thanks, TJ. The part of the site that the people in the article built continues to work well today. Unfortunately, people have taken what they said to apply to _all_ of the site as it stands today, as opposed to how text and images are being served. The code that they built and the way that they did it remains an important, notable example of agile development, open source and mobile-friendly Web development in government. Unfortunately, the furor over the rest of the site is obscuring that reality. I'm not sure that this project has failed irretrievably yet, though it certainly hasn't worked out of the gate.

Re: Healthcare.gov: Code Developed by the People and for the People, Released Back to the People

digiphile — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 16:36:32 -0000

I can't say it was my favorite comment section to wade into but I thought it was important to address readers directly. I appreciate the comment and compliment.