Data Security?

 

Data Security?

 

_____________________________________________________________

 

Throughout this semester, we have continued to discuss the recurrent concepts of open government, and open data. As citizens of this country, there is an expectation that we have access to government data and have the ability to participate in our government. This week’s case study piggy-backed on open government by suggesting that visualization tools are the “key medium” to understanding the dense amounts of data that we have access to. With so much data floating around, it seems fair to question data security; security of government data being transmitted online, as well as security of our own personal data being transmitted online.

It’s tax time, as I’m sure you all well know. Many people file their tax returns electronically to the IRS. Also the IRS maintains large data files online. The question is, how secure is our data? Unfortunately, based on the recent CNN article, “Can You Trust the IRS to Keep Your Tax Data Secure”, the answer is a flat-out NO! Every year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) monitors the security of IRS and produces an annual report. It’s not looking good for IRS security, which means all of our confidential information is at risk. The article says that the IRS is lacking basic security and it is “embarrassing” and “dangerous”.

This blatant lack of security of taxpayer’s sensitive information leaves us open to cybercriminals and at risk for fraud and identity theft. Massive theft of citizen’s personal data has occurred on many occasions and databases are being hacked at alarming rates. The government tells us that we HAVE to submit our personal data to the IRS, but the government is not making any arrangements to safeguard our information. IRS budget has been cut 17% in the last few years.

I suggest we use the visualization tools that we have learned about to start a movement demanding that Congress fund increased security of the IRS. Our livelihoods literally depend on it.  

-        Tia

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/13/opinions/is-data-you-send-to-irs-secure-opinion-schneier/index.html

 

Its Hard to Stop the Political Money-Train

Its Hard to Stop the Political Money-Train

A recent week’s Case Study was surrounding FollowTheMoney.org and efforts to bring transparency to political campaign donations. We all know that politics is big business and in this political arena money definitely talks. Recently NPR published an article where the U.S. Presidential Candidate hopefuls (Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump) discuss the issue of political campaign donations which is a bigger issue now than in any time in history.

All of the above mentioned candidates identify “political money” as a talking point, and Bernie Sanders even opened his speech with “We have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process."

The best solutions presented to correct the corruption in political finances is to 1). Elect Supreme Court Justices who will overturn the Citizen’s United Ruling or 2). Amend the constitution to empower Congress to limit political spending. Really… is that the best solution you have Presidential hopefuls? Why not just say “I am not interested in presenting a realistic solution to the political corruption of this country”. In this political climate, it is an “act of Congress” (meaning it will never happen) in order to make any political decision given the lack of cooperation between the political parties. Their best solution to this major issue can take several years to accomplish in addition to having political cooperation that we have not seen on issues in a long time.

Also, it is very funny that the candidates who benefit from huge political donations are the ones who are vowing to stop it. Now why would they stop their own money trains? Sounds like a bunch of political dodge-ball to me. Political transparency has a long way to go.

http://www.npr.org/2016/02/14/466668949/presidential-candidates-pledge-to-undo-citizens-united-but-can-they?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=storiesfromnpr

Transparency – Not as Clear as it Seems

 

Supreme Court Says “No” to Transparency in Healthcare. Hot off the presses, the Supreme Court ruled today AGAINST transparency in health care claims. Even though our government is all about transparency, there is still a long way to go to accomplish this goal. Anyone who has ever seen a medical bill is well aware that the health care costs in the United States are astronomical. For that reason 18 states in the U.S. have developed an “all-payer claims database” where all medical entities and health insurers report health care costs to the state.  This is a great stride for transparency. Medicare, the federal health insurance program, releases claims data for analytical purposes. While this offers transparency of health care costs within the Medicare population, Medicare recipients are not representative of health care recipients throughout the country. A large portion of Americans in the workforce are not on Medicare, but rather on self-funded plans with their employer. Thankfully agencies like ProPublica (an independent investigative source for the public interest) are examining the trends in health care utilization and spending to identify more efficiencies in health care costs.

To date, self-insured employers have not had to provide their medical data claim information to be analyzed and today the Supreme Court ruled that they don’t have to.

So how can we as a nation ever expect to bring down health care costs when we can only analyze a small piece of the puzzle? This article shows that doctors billing Medicare “billed ..for the most expensive type of office visits at least 90 percent of the time, compared to just 4 percent of office visits for all doctors”. With this type of outrageous overspending of taxpayer dollars, one would think that the Supreme Court would be in favor or transparency and against extorting the Medicare Program. We will have to push for increased transparency of all health care costs, both public and private insurance.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/02/468756393/supreme-court-strikes-at-states-efforts-on-health-care-transparency

 

 - Tia

 

Calling All Hackers

Open Government is not only progressing in the United States, but also in the UK. The United Kingdom recently invited 30 developers, or hackers if you will, to test their digital platforms and services including GOV.UK Pay, UK Notify, and Government PaaS. The developers were given a Hack Day to build their own mock services to integrate with the current online government products. The UK government application program interfaces (API’s) were tested to see if any glitches could be found.

This is great news for the UK because they see the value in transparency and allowing private sector web developers to sharpen their government tools. The Hackers were given the freedom to experiment and challenge the government services. Allowing web developers to play in its government “code” is a prime example of using government as a platform, where “government is a convener and an enabler rather than the first mover of civic action”. – Tim O’Reilly. The government platform allows for increased innovation, is only strengthened by citizen engagement and participation.

The good news is – these outside developers identified areas of improvement. Weaknesses were exposed, explored and ultimately strengthened. If only more agencies would open their doors and their code to the expertise of the citizens and allow them to play with these government systems, the social media and e-government tools will be strengthened. How much better would your government agency fare by using hackers to sharpen its online products? I realize government culture is slow to shift, but thankfully the change is happening. To encourage platform thinking, governments need to build simple systems and allow the users and network of application developers to help the system evolve.

https://www.publictechnology.net/articles/news/government-digital-service-calls-hackers-test-its-platform

Tia

No Trust!

No Trust!

A recent Newsmax article reads: AP Poll: Public Doubts Government’s Problem-Solving Ability! The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted a survey last month that determines over 60% of respondents have little-to-no confidence that the federal government can correct the problems facing our nation. Is this a surprise to anyone? Our communities and our country are inundated by crisis.  Just look at the news: Budget Deficit, Healthcare, Foreign Policy, Unemployment, Immigration, Gun Violence, Climate Change, National Security, Education, and Poverty – the list goes on and on. Our governing body is failing us and because of this, people have no trust in government.  

Or is the problem that citizens have too much trust in their elected officials?  Elected officials are chosen based on the vote of their constituents, and sent off to Capitol Hill to save the world. But then what? These officials are thrust into an environment of big business, big money, lobbyist, and the underlying pressure to be reelected. They have to walk a fine line of representing their voters and fitting in. The peer-pressure on Capitol Hill is often too much for representatives to withstand and they end up “Drinking the Kool- Aid”*. Citizens often do not request anything further from those elected, and implicitly trust that they will do right by their communities. This is a dangerous misconception.

Carl Malamud proposed in his chapter entitled “By the People” in Open Government that a democratic society should be open, transparent and available to the public. Many legislative bodies have closed sessions and citizens should demand access to the law-making process. Until we take the initiative and interest in what is happening in OUR government and stop being merely spectators, we will continue to feel hopeless in addressing the many crisis’s that our nation is facing. This is our challenge.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/poll-public-doubts-government/2016/01/25/id/710699/

*"Drinking the Kool-Aid" is a figure of speech commonly used in North America that refers to a person or group holding an unquestioned belief, argument, or philosophy without critical examination. It could also refer to knowingly going along with a doomed or dangerous idea because of peer pressure. The phrase often times carries a negative connotation when applied to an individual or group. It can also be used ironically or humorously to refer to accepting an idea or changing a preference due to popularity, peer pressure, or persuasion - Wikipedia