Re-Balancing The Role Of Government In Standards Development

A perfect balance seldom lasts long in nature, let alone at the intersection of politics and commerce. Still, when the pendulum is found to be too far off center, it's time for it to start swinging back.

Much of the private sector in the U.S. has traditionally viewed any government participation in standards development above the working group level with concern. A new Request for Information from NIST invites the private sector to embrace a new level of collaboration, and that invitation should be accepted.

Since the passage of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995, government has by law taken a back seat to the private sector in standards development. For years, the national interest has been well-served by the "bottom up" standards development process mandated by the NTTAA. The advent of globalization and the need to implement policies dependent on the development ...

If you've never visited the Standards News Portal at ConsortiumInfo.org, you should. It's categorized, updated daily, and this month the archive of posted articles passed the 6,000 mark.

In 2004, the EU issued an "Enterprise Interoperability Framework" that included the most expansive definition of open standards ever seen in a government recommendation. Now it has issued a new version of the EIF with strong support for open source software, but a dramatically more conservative approach to open standards.

In this installment of my now-completed technology cybersecurity thriller, our hero probes the identity of the mysterious hackers that have penetrated the defenses of the Library of Congress.

Despite our inexorable march into a digital future, one hardy (and very analog) survivor soldiers on — ten yards at a time.