silicon.com : Public Sector

Bletchley Park's World War Two codebreakers in their own words

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:41:02 GMT

The work of the Bletchley Park codebreakers is credited with shortening the Second World War by two years. But for three decades, those who worked on decrypting Nazi communications could tell no one what they had done.

Such was the secrecy in which the codebreakers operated many did not even realise the true importance of their work until Bletchley's wartime activities were made public in 1974.

Europe: Brace yourself for a telecoms overhaul

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:04:01 GMT

The European Parliament and Council of Telecoms Ministers have reached a compromise over the rights of internet users continent-wide, setting Europe on course for a major overhaul of telecoms regulations.

The Telecoms Reform package, which consists of a set of new laws tackling subjects ranging from data breach notifications to faster number porting, will become law in every EU country by May 2011, it was agreed on Wednesday night.

Covert surveillance must be reserved for serious crimes, says government

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:39:02 GMT

Local authorities must cut down on using covert-surveillance techniques to investigate petty offences, the government has said.

Ripa (the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act) granted public authorities the power to use surveillance to investigate crimes such as terrorism - but councils have attracted criticism for using them to detect petty offences such as dog-fouling.

Whose IT budget has been hit the hardest?

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:58:01 GMT

While the debate over bankers' bonuses may still be generating headlines, it seems the financial services industry has found one way to cut back - slash IT budgets.

Financial services firms' IT budgets fell by 8.3 per cent between 2008 and 2009, meaning the banks have cut their budgets more than other industries, and saw spending fall by 6.8 per cent year-on-year.

Why the UK will never create a Google, Microsoft or Oracle

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:20:01 GMT

The UK will never create a software giant to rival the likes of Microsoft, Google or Oracle.

That's the sobering conclusion of the silicon.com CIO Jury which voted 10 to two against, when asked whether the UK could create a global software business to rival the technology industry's most powerful companies.

£39m boost for London Olympics' emergency comms

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:14:02 GMT

The Home Office has announced a £39m deal to help emergency services comms cope during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The National Police Improvement Agency has signed the £39m contract with Airwave, the company that provides the mobile radio network used by every UK police force and currently being rolled out to every ambulance trust and Fire and Rescue service in the country, to fund an increase in the system's capacity in time for the 2012 Games.

'Incompetent': Watchdog's verdict on prisoner database

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:28:01 GMT

Parliamentary spending watchdog the Public Accounts Committee has branded the implementation of the National Offender Management Information System (C-Nomis) a failure.

Chair of the PAC, Edward Leigh, said of the programme that was designed to implement a single database between the Prison Service and the National Probation Service: "Even we were surprised by the extent of the failure of C-Nomis", adding: "there was not even a minimum level of competence in the planning and execution of this project".

Taxman to save £110m by taking an axe to its IT estate

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:09:01 GMT

The taxman will cut £110m from its annual IT bill by trimming its IT infrastructure.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will reduce the £840m it currently spends on IT each year by ditching or shrinking the size of 40 computer systems and shutting down a number of datacentres.

'UK must up privacy safeguards following Phorm'

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:40:01 GMT

The European Commission has said the UK government doesn't have adequate communications privacy legislation and must step up its efforts.

The announcement follows complaints by UK citizens and privacy groups over the government's lack of action after telco BT conducted trials of the Phorm behavioural advertising service without getting consent from its customers.

Parking in the West End goes contactless

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:18:02 GMT

Drivers with contactless bank cards will soon be able to use them to pay for their parking.

From next year, parking meters in the West End will accept contactless payments from motorists with wave and pay functionality built into their debit or credit cards.

Full steam ahead for plans to cut off file-sharers

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:46:01 GMT

Secretary of state for business, innovation and skills Peter Mandelson has reiterated the government's 'three strikes and you're out' plan to cut off illegal file-sharers' internet access.

Speaking at a cabinet creative industries conference yesterday, the business minister said proposals made back in August will feature in the Digital Economy Bill expected before Parliament in November.

Why CIOs are saying yes to open source software

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:05:01 GMT

It's a question many CIOs are wrestling with: can open source help make your IT budget stretch a little further in these tough economic times?

While some CIOs are enthusiastic about the potential savings that can be made, others still warn of the hidden costs that can lie in wait for the unwary.

How will you use Google Wave? Recruiting, decision-making, dealing with complaints

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:40:01 GMT

It may have only been launched a few months ago but Google's Wave collaboration platform is already attracting attention from businesses, according to one of the key architects of the service.

Lars Rasmussen, Google's software engineering manager and co-creator of Wave, said unlike typical Google services, Wave has stoked early interest among both consumers and enterprises.

Photos: Top iPhone apps for business

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:45:01 GMT

Apple's iPhone might be seen by many as largely a consumer device, with games and media apps regularly topping the 'What's Hot' list on iTunes.

However, the App Store currently stocks more than 2,000 business apps and, with the iPhone currently dominating around 13 per cent of the smartphone market, the device's potential as a business tool can no longer be ignored. Here we take a look at some of the best business apps that can help turn your iPhone into a portable office.

Olympics tech team gets ready to put London 2012 IT through its paces

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:46:01 GMT

With just over 1,000 days to go until the start of the 2012 London Olympics, the team in charge of the Games' tech is poised for the real work to get underway.

After a year of limbering up, Atos Origin - the company leading the consortium of IT companies designing and building the 2012 Games' tech infrastructure - is getting ready to hit the track.

'Cross-border shopping must be made easier'

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:28:01 GMT

The EC has called for cross-border online shopping to be simplified, following research that found six out of 10 shoppers attempting cross-country purchases had their transactions blocked.

The European Commission's research found language and regulation barriers, and lack of trust to blame for the blocked transactions.

Monitoring staff email and internet: The dos and don'ts

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:50:01 GMT

Every office generates so much email, IM and internet traffic it's all but impossible for management to keep track of exactly what's being said, seen and done online.

But how can execs be confident that all these digital conversations are necessary and not just time-wasting? Or worse: the cover for data leaks, inappropriate content-sharing or other nefarious or even criminal activities.

Blocked: BBC plan to share iPlayer with rivals

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:03:01 GMT

The BBC Trust has rejected a proposal that would allow UK broadcasters such as Channel 4, ITV and Five to share the BBC's iPlayer technology.

The BBC Trust, the body that oversees the BBC, announced yesterday it thought the scheme "was not the best way to share the BBC iPlayer or to deliver increased public value to licence fee payers".

Windows 7: Who's adopting it, when and why?

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:03:02 GMT

With software spending down 16.5 per cent year-on-year, Windows 7's launch tomorrow will see it enter the market amid one of the toughest squeezes on IT budgets for some time.

The outlook from analysts, however, is a positive one.

It's a dog's life for police BlackBerrys

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:31:01 GMT

Getting chewed - and eaten - by dogs. Getting run over by cars. And Land Rovers.

It's not an easy life being a police BlackBerry out on the mean streets.

ID cards: 10,000 Brits want to sign up

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:11:02 GMT

Thousands of UK citizens have registered their interest in getting their very own ID card.

According to the Home Office, to date 10,000 people have asked for further information on applying for a card through the DirectGov site.

Virtualisation: How to get real benefits from your virtual investment

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:01:01 GMT

The mighty twin combination of cost-cutting (driven by the recession) and a desire to reduce IT power consumption (to tackle climate change) means virtualisation has become one of the hottest topics for the IT community, with a whole raft of associated terms such as bare metal hypervisors, virtual machines, and utilisation rates becoming standard parts of the vocabulary of the average CIO.

Virtualisation, is essentially about cutting the connection between the operating system and the underlying hardware it operates on.

IT tsar confirmed: Cabinet Office names Angela Smith

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:44:01 GMT

The Cabinet Office has named Angela Smith as responsible for government IT and information security.

According to the list of ministerial responsibilities released this week, Smith's will include responsibility for the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, Information Security and Assurance.

Tax-refund phishing scams hit an all-time high

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:01:01 GMT

The number of scam emails offering fake tax refunds hit an all-time high last month.

According to HM Revenue & Customs, a record 83,000 such phishing attempts were reported in September.

Next-gen IP kicks off in Europe

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:09:01 GMT

Enisa, The European Network and Information Security Agency, announced this week it's the first EU agency to offer services using version 6 of the Internet Protocol.

It's now offering website content over IPv6, following an internal network upgrade. IPv6 is seen as a way of avoiding limitations with the current set up, IPv4. By 2011 these addresses will no longer be available, according to the EU.