TechWonk Blog Subsection
TechWonk Blog
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I鈥檓 in San Francisco for the first ACEEE Intelligent Efficiency Conference, 鈥淢ainstreaming Intelligent Efficiency.鈥� After attending last night鈥檚 opening reception, I can tell this is going to be a great mashup of the energy efficiency and the information and communications technology (ICT) communities.聽 These groups are traditionally unaccustomed to meeting together but will be coming together more [...]
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DATELINE BEIJING 鈥� At a press briefing this morning, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman announced a much-anticipated breakthrough in the negotiations to expand product coverage of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA).聽 Coming on the margins of this year鈥檚 summit convened by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders, this bilateral agreement between the United States and China [...]
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DATELINE BEIJING 鈥� The deadlock to expand product coverage of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) continues following conclusion today of the meeting of ministers of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies.聽 The joint declaration that emerged from the gathering was certainly supportive of ITA expansion, which suggests some progress.聽 But the behind-the-scenes negotiations to get [...]
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In July when President Obama issued the 鈥淔air Pay and Safe Workplaces鈥� executive order (E.O. 13673), he made it a point to note that the 鈥渧ast majority鈥� of federal contractors play by the rules and would likely not be impacted by it, and instead said he wanted to crack down on a small number of companies who do repeatedly break the law. It left many in the contracting community scratching their heads [...]
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DATELINE BEIJING 鈥� Following the closing of polluting industries around Beijing and strict traffic limitations, the promise of clear skies in this chronically smoggy capital runs high in the lead up to the November 10-11 summit of the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies. In addition to possible progress on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the question looming largest for [...]
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More state technology departments are considering formalizing a process for evaluating the performance of information technology (IT) vendors. The overarching goal is certainly laudable 鈥� providing the state procurement community with a comprehensive tool to reduce risk in the contract award process. And while it may identify vendors who exceed performance expectations, it also may wrongly disadvantage [...]
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The 19th Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-14) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is half over, so I thought this might be a good time to offer a few observations from Busan. The ITU is not going away: Next year, the ITU marks 150 years in existence. In spite of all its myriad financial, institutional, and administration challenges 鈥� and there are many 鈥� this institution is going to be [...]
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Washington is full of speculation about Tuesday鈥檚 election and what Congress may or may not consider in the lame duck session. With lawmakers set to return from the campaign trail soon, it is time to remind Congress of some unfinished business they could quickly act on that will go a long way in helping tech companies here in the U.S. and in the global marketplace. FISA Reform. In the Senate, we are [...]
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Earlier this week, 91快活林 submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in connection with the agency鈥檚 workshop last month that explored the impact of big data on consumers, including low income and underserved consumers. I attended the workshop, and based on the discussion at the event, there鈥檚 no doubt that there is widespread recognition that big data can yield tremendous benefits to consumers [...]
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Representatives from over 170 governments and industry, nongovernmental organizations, 聽and civil society organizations have descended upon Busan, Korea, for the 19th Plenipotentiary (PP-14) meeting of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).聽 For the next few weeks over 1500 participants are gathering to consider and debate a wide range of issues.聽 Cybersecurity is one issue, in particular, [...]
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