Know What's Happening in GovTech
Know What's Happening in GovTech
The Internal Revenue Service released its 2026 "Dirty Dozen" list, flagging 12 tax‑refund scams—including AI‑generated robocalls and sophisticated phishing—targeting millions of filers. The agency logged over 600 social‑media impersonators in FY 2025 and warned that the scams are more aggressive than a year ago.
The data on government AI adoption is striking. ✅82% of government organizations have already adopted AI agents. ✅94% believe it will fundamentally transform how government works. ✅60% of government leaders believe they are now ahead of the private sector. Government is not catching up....
My FCA celebrates its first year, offering a single sign‑on that consolidates RegData, Connect and the Online Invoicing System into one homepage. All existing links now automatically redirect to My FCA, eliminating the need for multiple logins. The platform is...
South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information Society Agency announced a call for Data Space pilot projects, pledging up to 16.8 billion won (about $13 million) for a medical initiative and additional funding for general‑field pilots. The move...
Chicago officials are investigating a series of incidents in which autonomous delivery robots collided with public bus shelters, causing property damage and sparking debate over urban robot safety. The city has ordered a review of operating permits and is consulting...
Google/YouTube announced they’d start doing ID verification to comply with state “age verification” laws last August, looks like they’re rolling it out more widely in recent days
The United States Postal Service’s Movers Guide website, run by private contractor MyMove, was slammed for deceptive “dark‑pattern” design and unclear data handling after a user‑experience researcher filed a complaint with the USPS Inspector General. The criticism revives scrutiny of...
A bipartisan coalition of 91 members of Congress sent a March 27 letter urging the FCC to establish a firm transition deadline for NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0). The National Association of Broadcasters praised the move and reiterated its push for a 2028...
New Zealand is overhauling its telecommunications regulations, with a review recommending 22 changes to replace legacy rules designed for copper networks. The reforms aim to streamline levy calculations, modernise access and fibre rules, and cut bureaucratic overhead, potentially saving providers an...
The Australian Digital Health Agency and La Trobe University have launched an online learning programme for nursing and midwifery students across Australia. The curriculum equips learners with core digital health skills—including electronic health records, telehealth, digital prescribing and data analytics—to...
Indonesia is accelerating a nationwide museum digitisation drive, urging institutions to convert artefacts into digital formats and embed interactive storytelling. Minister of Culture Fadli Zon called for virtual displays, multimedia content, and immersive experiences to attract younger, tech‑savvy visitors. The...
Cleveland City Council is reconsidering automatic traffic cameras as speeding and red‑light citations have plummeted—down 68% for speeders and 54% for red‑light violations since 2015. Council members highlighted a 2014 voter‑approved charter ban that now limits the city’s ability to...
Following the 2025 fatal crash at Reagan National Airport, the FAA accelerated deployment of the digital Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM) system, co‑developed by Leidos. TFDM replaces paper flight strips with electronic ones, adding a real‑time overhead map, touch‑based interaction...
A special audit uncovered a suspected diversion of about Sh6.3 billion (≈$42 million) from Kenya’s eCitizen digital revenue platform into an unauthorized private Equity Bank account. Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo said the account, opened in the name “Pesaflow,” was created without...
The Pentagon announced the winners of its Gauntlet I uncrewed exercise, selecting Skycutter, Neros and Nepatree to supply 30,000 one‑way attack drones. The two‑week competition at Fort Benning tested 25 companies, with drones required to hit targets up to 6.2 miles after...
The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) filed a motion to pause its lawsuit against former President Donald Trump over the suspension of Digital Equity Act (DEA) grants. The DEA, a $2.75 billion program created under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs...
The Veterans Health Administration has rolled out an agentic AI operating system across more than 150 VA medical centers and outpatient facilities, serving up to 18 million veterans. Built on Salesforce’s Slack platform, the solution unifies clinicians, administrators and caregivers, automating...
EU finance minister Makis Keravnos and Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic announced a historic customs code reform worth €90 bn, creating a single data hub and new authority in Lille. The move seeks to streamline cross‑border trade, cut compliance costs and protect the single...
In this episode, host Seth Holhouse talks with investigative journalist John Fleetwood about how governments use crises—first COVID‑19, now fuel shocks and the looming bird‑flu threat—to expand surveillance, enforce travel and fuel restrictions, and embed digital health certificates into permanent...
On March 19, 2026 the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office unveiled Class ACT, an AI‑driven tool that instantly assigns international classes, design‑search codes, and pseudo‑marks to trademark filings. The automation compresses a process that once took up to five months...
Congress introduced a suite of bipartisan bills tackling digital safety and emerging‑technology oversight. Sammy’s Law would compel major social‑media platforms—those with 100 million users or $1 billion in revenue—to provide real‑time safety APIs for FTC‑registered third‑party tools that alert parents to risky...
The FCC issued a notice of harmful interference to Pittsburgh amateur radio operator David Kundston after his handheld transceiver disrupted Allegheny County’s west EMS dispatch channel at 470.4375 MHz, a critical 911 frequency. Investigation on July 30, 2025 traced the signal to Kundston’s...
On 12 March 2026 the UK government issued its response to a July 2025 consultation, tightening the National Security and Investment Act (NSIA) rules through revised Notifiable Acquisition Regulations (NARs). The revisions break down the advanced‑materials schedule, add water to the scope, and...
The IRS is ending paper tax‑refund checks for about 1.4 million filers, meaning those who don’t provide direct‑deposit information could wait an extra six to ten weeks. Taxpayers receive a CP53E notice giving them 30 days to add or update bank...
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has set a May 2026 deadline to approve the remaining state broadband spending plans under the $42.45 billion BEAD program. California, Illinois and Oklahoma are the only states still awaiting approval, while 45 states...
Benin’s Ministry of Digital and Digitalization has issued a World Bank‑funded request for proposals to conduct a technical, economic and legal feasibility study on a secondary national data centre. The study, due by March 27, 2026, will explore locating the backup facility...
The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously (51‑0) to advance the First Responder Network Authority Reauthorization Act, extending FirstNet’s authority through 2037. The bill adds National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approval authority, appoints an associate administrator, and reserves...
The National Nuclear Security Administration is integrating artificial intelligence into its core missions through human‑machine teaming, using predictive analytics to improve equipment maintenance and cybersecurity. This approach shifts personnel from routine monitoring to higher‑value decision‑making. Simultaneously, NNSA is advancing a...
San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) secured $48.3 million from California’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIRCP) program for Phase 2 of the Orange Line Improvement Project, bringing total allocated funds to roughly $60.4 million. The Phase 2 upgrades, covering the eastern 18‑mile corridor...
The Trump administration has unveiled an AI framework that centralizes regulation under the Federal Trade Commission, barring states from governing AI development. Travel companies stand to benefit from reduced compliance complexity for chatbots, automation and other AI tools. However, the...
Palantir Technologies has secured a 12‑week pilot with the UK Financial Conduct Authority worth more than £30,000 a week—about £360,000 ($460,000) in total. The deal gives the data‑analytics firm access to flag fraud, money‑laundering and insider‑trading activity, prompting praise from...
WSP and Mott MacDonald have been hired by Great British Energy‑Nuclear to steer the planning consent for three Rolls‑Royce small modular reactors at Wales' historic Wylfa site. The project will be the first nuclear development to navigate the UK’s new Planning...
Yoti, the reusable digital identity wallet founded in 2014, has now exceeded 23 million global downloads, including 7.8 million in the United Kingdom, with 5 million added in the past year. CEO Robin Tombs discussed the platform’s evolution on Trinsic’s Future of Identity...
Ookla has entered a 12‑month crowdsourced data partnership with France’s telecom regulator Arcep. The deal adds Speedtest‑derived speed and latency measurements to Arcep’s mobile performance and coverage mapping platform. This integration broadens the granularity of network data across the country,...
In this episode, Leah Wood and Nick Nader of ISOS Technology discuss modernizing fragmented federal IT Service Management (ITSM) environments using Atlassian’s Jira Service Management (JSM). They explain how legacy ITSM setups—often a patchwork of tools like ServiceNow, spreadsheets, and...
Marshall Scholar Ben Fischer, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh, declined to sign an open letter urging a global moratorium on privacy‑preserving age‑assurance technology. While he agrees with many concerns in the letter, Fischer remains optimistic that a blend...
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued an updated ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 data exchange standard, documented in a 621‑page NIST SP 500‑290e4. The revision expands machine‑readability, adds richer metadata, and standardizes record structures for fingerprints, facial images, iris...
Devon residents are being urged to apply for the UK government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme before its August deadline. The scheme offers up to £4,500 (≈ $5,700) per eligible home or business, but vouchers require at least two premises, leaving isolated...
Ditto, formerly Uniken, launched a privacy‑first digital identity platform that delivers cryptographic certainty for customer identity access management. The solution combines reusable digital wallets, zero‑knowledge proof verification, and strong authentication across devices, positioning it for compliance with eIDAS and the...
The negotiations between the United States Department of Defense and Anthropic have highlighted who gets to make choices about AI in the military. Who should get to make these choices? https://spectrum.ieee.org/military-ai-governance
Yes. Ultimately, DoD can pay x or Palantir or someone else to develop custom AI models for them, for example. The most important part of the Anthropic - DoD conflict was elevating some of the issues to the public, the...
Virginia‑based Applied Rapid Technologies (ART), a division of Obsidian Solutions Group, has been named the prime contractor for the Defense Logistics Agency’s Joint Additive Manufacturing Acceptance (JAMA) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity pilot program. The award positions ART to supply 3D‑printed, flight‑safety‑critical...
BART is claims they always took fare enforcement seriously. Why won't they respond to kane's public records request asking them how much they paid equity consultants to argue it didn't matter (and had "detrimental effects on the community")? https://t.co/wAHE5AYPf5
House panel advanced legislation that would require the Commerce Department to demand chipmakers do more to keep AI tech from being smuggled to China Despite incessant cheerleading from some quarters, members understand the many problems with this bill... https://t.co/kBjLLxHfN9
Nigeria’s fintech surge is now being credited to a deliberate regulatory foundation built by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The 2011 launch of the NIBSS Instant Payments platform cut interbank transfer times from days to seconds, generating real‑time data that...
Just wrapped an incredible @planet On the Road in DC! Great to see our partner countries and companies. We are committed to helping Global security. Our archive, now nine years strong, along with AI enables countries to monitor large areas...
A lot of people think it would be better if we had private security with TSA just setting standards. This is true, but misses the biggest opportunity. We deserve an air travel security system that is as lightweight as for...
The European Parliament voted 311‑against extending an interim e‑Privacy derogation that lets online platforms voluntarily detect, remove and report child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The measure will lapse on 3 April 2026, stripping services of a legal basis to scan for both...
Senators Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio‑Cortez unveiled the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act, seeking to halt new AI‑focused data‑center projects until federal standards on climate impact, worker safety and consumer protection are established. The move spotlights rising electricity...
The UK Public Accounts Committee warned that tax fraud and error cost the Treasury between £55 bn and £81 bn a year (roughly $68 bn‑$101 bn). It criticised the government’s reliance on legacy IT and the absence of a clear digital strategy, despite claims...
