Know What's Happening in GovTech
Know What's Happening in GovTech
A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction that stops the Department of Defense from branding AI startup Anthropic a supply‑chain risk, a move the court said appears to be classic First Amendment retaliation. The ruling curtails a Trump‑era directive that would have barred federal agencies from using Anthropic’s Claude model, underscoring the clash between national‑security policy and constitutional free‑speech protections.
Tyler Perry handed out $250,000 in $1,000 gift cards to TSA workers at Hartsfield‑Jackson Atlanta International Airport after weeks without pay. The Department of Homeland Security ordered the cards returned, citing federal rules that prohibit cash or cash‑equivalent gifts to...
Melania Trump walked the White House’s red‑carpet hallway alongside a white humanoid robot, unveiling a Republican proposal to replace human teachers with robotic educators. The high‑visibility demo sparked sharp criticism from educators and tech analysts, highlighting the growing political stakes...
Europe, the United States and several Asian governments announced new regulations this week to keep sensitive AI data, models and ontologies under national oversight. The moves come as the global AI governance market is projected to jump from $430 m in...
Palantir’s UK executive warned ministers against yielding to “ideologically motivated” campaigners as they consider invoking a break clause in the NHS’s £330 million (≈ $413 million) Federated Data Platform contract. The AI‑enabled platform is projected to generate £150 million (≈ $188 million) in benefits by 2030,...
Germany’s federal government announced a sweeping mandate that all public‑sector software must be open source, effectively ending the use of proprietary suites such as Microsoft Office. The decree, slated for full implementation by 2027, includes a €2 billion (≈$2.2 billion) transition fund...
The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) will launch a Statement of Premium Account (SPA) Generator on April 1 for self‑paying members. Under the new “No SPA, No Payment” rule, members must create a QR‑coded SPA before any contribution can be processed....
From 1 July 2026, the Netherlands will replace its Eurovignette with a distance‑based truck toll covering most motorways and selected provincial roads. The scheme applies to all trucks over 3,500 kg (categories N2 and N3), both domestic and foreign, requiring an...
Google Maps mistakenly displayed a Clean Air Zone around Greater Manchester, warning drivers of potential charges for a scheme that was never implemented. The error, traced to a 2019 proposal abandoned in 2023, was reported by Transport for Greater Manchester,...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration is weighing whether to end the four‑year‑old Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS) virtual power plant program, which now supplies over 1 GW of capacity and offsets peak demand comparable to San Francisco’s load. Lawmakers and clean‑energy advocates...
The UK government, together with regulator Ofgem, has launched a consultation on revising cyber‑resilience rules for downstream gas and electricity licensees. The proposal would impose baseline cyber security requirements on all Ofgem‑licensed operators, while applying stricter standards to the most...
Alto Drones employed RIEGL’s VQ-840-G bathymetric and VUX-120 topographic LiDAR sensors on a helicopter to map Austria’s Piesting River in a single day, covering over 60 kilometers of both dry and submerged terrain. The February 2025 survey, part of a...
North Carolina Turnpike Authority has launched a pilot of Valerann’s Lanternn AI‑enabled platform on the I‑485 Express Lanes around Charlotte. Lanternn ingests real‑time feeds from NCTA’s traffic cameras, navigation systems and third‑party sources to automatically identify incidents such as crashes,...
The ACCC released a draft determination that will set NBN Co’s regulatory framework from 1 July 2026, proposing lower capital spending, reduced weighted‑average cost of capital, and tighter benchmark service standards. It also upgrades the entry‑level broadband offering to a 25 Mbps download/10 Mbps...
The Finance Ministry reports that 99.92% of Indian villages now have a banking outlet—branch, business correspondent or India Post Payments Bank—within a 5 km radius, based on Jan Dhan Darshak data as of March 6, 2026. The government’s GIS‑based monitoring system tracks coverage and highlights...
The September 2001 terrorist attacks prompted the 2002 Homeland Security Act, which created the Department of Homeland Security and spun off Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a security‑focused agency. Since then, immigration enforcement has been recast from a civil matter into...
Philadelphia is proposing a $1‑per‑ride fee on Uber and Lyft to fund its cash‑strapped school district, projecting $192 million in revenue over five years and averting 240 staff layoffs. The plan, initially a 20‑cent charge, now faces City Council skepticism and...
Illinois lawmakers are racing to pass House Bill 4442, which would extend the state’s High Speed Rail Commission through 2030 and keep the Chicago‑St. Louis corridor alive. The line, already upgraded to 110 mph on the Lincoln Service, is touted as...
Open the grid: Why Australia needs power availability maps now #energysky -- via Renew Economy: https://t.co/BpzfPP234H https://t.co/Zth59onNIo
Having served as a public safety director, I just rewatched this drone video and was struck again by how unmanned systems are transforming emergency response. Aerial awareness relies on resilient connectivity. @T_Priority is prioritizing public safety tech. T-Priority Partner https://t.co/TDgogQvOJt
The Philippines Civil Service Commission will issue CSC Resolution No. 2600005, a competency‑based HR framework set to take effect in mid‑April 2024. The guidelines require agencies—from national ministries to state universities—to adopt core, leadership and technical competencies for recruitment, performance,...
The Australian Government Department of Health has launched Medicare Mental Health Check‑In, a free online service that provides low‑intensity cognitive‑behavioural therapy tools and optional telehealth practitioner support for people with mild mental‑health challenges, starting 30 May 2026. The initiative expands...
A review of recently released federal mobile applications, dubbed “Fedware,” uncovered extensive permission requests and embedded third‑party trackers, including sanctioned Chinese components. The findings warn public‑sector CIOs of heightened privacy and security exposure.
Angela Lipps, a 50‑year‑old Tennessee grandmother, was arrested in July 2025 and held for more than five months after Clearview AI facial‑recognition software mistakenly identified her as a fraud suspect. The case, described as the longest AI‑related wrongful detention in...
On January 5 2026 the General Services Administration issued an IT Security Procedural Guide that instantly raises cybersecurity requirements for any contractor handling Controlled Unclassified Information. The guide forces compliance with NIST SP 800‑171 Rev 3, selected SP 800‑172 Rev 3 controls, and privacy controls from...
The OECD and Germany have launched a joint initiative to develop a shared reference architecture for "rules as code," a framework that translates laws into machine‑readable code. Announced at OpenFisca’s conference in Canberra, the effort aims to standardize how governments...
Australia’s under‑16 social‑media ban, effective 10 December, is facing serious compliance gaps across major platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube. The eSafety Commissioner’s report finds that platforms have built workarounds into age‑verification systems, failed to close reporting pathways,...
Australia’s regulator ACMA confirmed its draft standard that classifies signal strengths below –115 dBm as ‘no coverage’, forcing carriers to label maps with four tiers: good, moderate, usable and no coverage. The rule means Telstra could have up to one million...
Savills Property Management Group and Ricoh Hong Kong have struck a strategic partnership to roll out AI‑powered drone inspections of building façades across Hong Kong. The solution replaces scaffolding‑based checks, cuts inspection time and delivers data‑driven maintenance insights for the...
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order tightening AI procurement standards and requiring new safeguards for companies seeking state contracts. The order expands the state’s existing AI transparency framework, mandating vetting of bias controls, illegal‑content safeguards, and civil‑rights protections....
There’s a lot of noise out there about public safety technology. Random people with hot takes or half-truths. People presenting themselves as experts after watching a few clips. Some more focused on their brand rather than building safer communities I care less...
Vietnam is fast‑tracking AI integration into its healthcare system to improve early detection of non‑communicable diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory illnesses. The government and hospitals are expanding electronic health records and centralised data platforms, enabling...
The UK government’s Fuel Finder scheme has been integrated into seven leading apps and websites, giving drivers near‑real‑time access to pump prices across the country. By aggregating data from retailers, the service lets motorists compare stations with a tap, potentially...
Australian researchers at Murdoch University have created a face similarity linkage (FSL) system that quantifies facial geometry to uncover connections between crime victims and suspects. By extracting landmark ratios, the tool normalises variations in angle, lighting and scale, delivering more...
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration launched Motus, a cloud‑native, one‑stop platform that replaces five legacy registration systems for trucking companies. Motus leverages AI, automated identity verification, and auto‑scaling to streamline compliance and curb a 600%...
Americans do have the right to know exactly where our tax dollars are going. Test out a CBDC on the government https://t.co/670p3X4NoE
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is operating with roughly 60% of its workforce furloughed amid a partial DHS shutdown, forcing the agency to shift from proactive threat hunting to merely reacting to imminent attacks. Within days, Iranian-linked hackers...
The Pentagon is moving zero‑trust from policy to full‑scale execution, establishing maturity goals across the department. Recognizing that breaches are inevitable, defense leaders are adding cyber deception to actively engage attackers and gather intelligence. AI‑driven deception platforms now automate decoy...
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) decommissioned its legacy Direct To APRA (D2A) data‑submission system after a routine penetration test on March 19 uncovered unnamed vulnerabilities. The regulator took the system offline on March 20 and urged all banks, insurers and superannuation funds to...
The American Traffic Safety Services Association’s Traffic Safety Expo in Houston showcased a suite of new safety technologies aimed at reducing fatalities in road‑construction zones, which claim 50 to 150 lives annually. Highlights included the Alpha Overwatch LiDAR‑based intrusion alarm,...
Alaska’s Child Support Enforcement Division replaced its 25‑year‑old case management system with the cloud‑enabled ACSESS platform, going live in October 2025 after a two‑year, on‑budget project. The solution, built by Fast Enterprises, is the first commercial‑off‑the‑shelf child‑support system in the...
National laboratories lead multi-agency push for solar cybersecurity standards #energysky -- via pv magazine usa: https://t.co/2zCsruApti
New Zealand’s recent cyber‑security strategy follows high‑profile health data breaches that exposed over 120,000 patients’ records. The government argues that existing privacy legislation does not impose enforceable cyber standards on private IT contractors supporting public health providers. It calls for...
Charisse Snipes, Hartford’s Chief Innovation Officer, says the city prioritized AI governance before rollout, embedding data ownership, security and cross‑department training into its framework. Partnering with Google Cloud, Hartford added real‑time, two‑way translation to its 311 system, supporting up to...
Congress is moving ahead with the GENIUS Act, establishing a federal framework for dollar‑backed stablecoins that includes reserve backing, consumer protection, and cross‑border efficiency. The White House and Treasury have labeled these stablecoins as the next wave of payment innovation...
The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) has released a draft solicitation for the next‑generation Case Processing Operations Center (CPOC 2.0), expanding its workload to include Continuous Vetting for real‑time monitoring of cleared personnel. Historically, CPOC processes over a million background...
The Federal Communications Commission has appointed Farhan Khan as its new Chief Information Officer. Khan, previously the FDA’s chief digital officer, will steer the FCC’s IT strategy, focusing on modernization and information security. His portfolio spans oversight of systems that...
