Though Bob Samson was named New York State’s CIO only in April, his work in the state stretches back for more than half a decade. Gov. Andrew Cuomo during his first term put together the Spending and Government Efficiency (SAGE) Commission to examine the state’s organization and spending habits. Samson served on the commission and helped put together a recommendation for the governor on how to organize the state’s technology.
Los Angeles County has seen a steady decline in ridership in recent years–annual ridership is down by nearly 3 million in the past three years. The local government is launching a pilot program to combat that decline–free Wi-Fi on county buses.
Last week Chicago’s City Council approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s appointment of Danielle DuMerer as CIO. In an interview with 21st Century State & Local, DuMerer discussed her work with the city of Chicago and her vision for its future.
Many states and localities don’t have the resources to upgrade and protect their election systems from malicious cyber intrusion, and the Federal government should work to provide them with those resources, according to a recent Brennan Center report on election cybersecurity.
Some states refused to turn over voter data to the White House on June 30, saying that the data requested contains sensitive information and could be used for political purposes. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in May that established the Commission on Election Integrity, which investigates instances of potential voter fraud. The commission asked the states to turn over all publicly available voter data.
More than 3,000 constituents have accessed the newest iteration of Pinellas County’s open data platform, according to Bryan Zumwalt, Enterprise GIS Manager with the county’s government.
President Donald Trump announced that rural broadband expansion will be included in his $1 trillion infrastructure package, which Trump said will be released “very shortly.” The increased funding for rural broadband expansion is needed. According to FCC data, only 55 percent of rural residents have access to downloads faster than 25 megabits per second, compared to 94 percent in urban areas.
The Investigator General of the Department of Homeland Security investigated a claim that the agency hacked into the state of Georgia’s voter registration database and found that the access consisted of “normal and automatic message exchanges” from Microsoft applications.
The Federal Communications Commission last week approved guidelines it will use to evaluate network proposals for states that want to opt out of FirstNet, the wireless broadband public safety network that AT&T is developing. AT&T was awarded the $6.5 billion contract earlier this year.
This weekend, state and local websites displayed a pro-ISIS message due to a hack that is being claimed by a group called Team System DZ. The hacked sites of Howard County, Md., Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and other local governments temporarily read: “You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries”; and “I love Islamic State.”
