USA.gov Not Enough? Now GovInfo.gov Tries to Mind the Gap
February 15, 2016
I love it when US government indexes proliferate. The consultants enjoy the fruits of their duplicative labor. The folks looking for information have another choice. I thought that USA.gov, produced by the ever reliable GSA outfit, was the portal to US government information. There are some caveats; for example, classified information is not on USA.gov and there may be some servers’ content which is either not indexed or scrubbed. Where are the public documents related to health care contractors who assist the various agencies in rooting out fraudulent medical claims? Good question.
I learned that I can “discover US government information” at www.govinfo.gov. I did a quick check of the site, ran a couple of queries, and browsed documents in alphabetical order. I like alphabetical ordering.
Several observations:
- The query “CIA budget” returned an eclectic list of documents. The top hit was a privacy act. I expected no less.
- The browse list revealed a category approach. Clicking the “plus” sign allows drill down. Lots of drill down.
- A number of links directed me to another Web site so I could order documents.
- I ran the federal budget query on USA.gov and was directed to yet another US government Web site, not the GPO Web sites.
When I browsed the site, response time seemed a bit sluggish. A small banner reminded me that the site was in beta. At some point the GovInfo.gov site will replace the Government Printing Office site.
I have no strong opinion about these government “find information” sites. There are a number of them. Redundancy is good for jobs, good for contractors, good for consultants, and good for those who know which US government site to consult for which specific document.
Now about those vendors supplementing investigations of medical fraud? I know the documents were available. I downloaded them from www.cms.gov a couple of years ago. Poof.
Stephen E Arnold, February 15, 2016
The UK Government Invests in Secure Startups
February 15, 2016
The UK has been criticized as being one of the most invasive countries when it comes to monitoring individuals and having security cameras everywhere, even on garbage cans. While the question, “how much is too much?” runs around people’s heads, there is also a concern about the lax of security developments. The UK is much like its former colony the United States in that is interested in beefing up security technology InfoSecurity says in the article, “Government Start-up Support Creates A ‘Very Exciting Time.’”
Government support for UK security tech start-ups is one of the main driving forces in the industry. It demonstrates that the UK government is invested in advancing new ideas and help new companies get the leg up they need to develop the best possibly product before it is delivered to a bigger market. It also proves that the government is taking cybersecurity as a very serious risk that needs bolstering to counteract actions taken by terrorists and rogue nations.
“This week, the UK government announced a £250,000 Early Stage Accelerator Programme to help start-ups in the space get advice, support and funding to develop their products and services and bring them to market. It will be run by Cyber London—described as “Europe’s first cybersecurity accelerator and incubator space”—and the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at Queen’s University Belfast.”
While venture corporations are usually the first place start-ups turn to for investments, the government plays a crucial role in regulating the technology and helping companies grow beyond their initial roots. It also allows the new security start-ups to make important connections with the right government officials to build strategic relationships.
It is wonderful that western governments are taking cyber threats more seriously and take preemptive action against dangerous threats. It would be even better if smaller law enforcement agencies at the city and state level in the US were more capable of handling cyber attacks.
Whitney Grace, February 15, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
EasyAsk Unveils Mobile Shopping Solution Through Semantic Search
February 15, 2016
The announcement on PRWeb titled EasyAsk Introduces EasyAsk Voice Shopper Uniting Voice and Mobile for a Revolutionary Shopping Experience pairs shopping with semantic technology. According to the article, users will be able to hold a conversation with the EasyAsk search engine that will lead to the relevant and ideal product for the user. The article says,
“EasyAsk Voice Shopper creates a new paradigm for mobile shopping by allowing customers to have a conversation with a mobile commerce site or app, just like speaking with a sales associate. Having evolved from over 15 years of natural language research and development, the EasyAsk conversational search engine powers the conversation with the customer, combining an understanding of the shopper’s intent with the deep knowledge of retailer’s products and merchandising objectives to deliver the right products.”
The emphasis on mobile shopping is due to the research showing the low mobile shopping conversion rate of only 0.80%, most likely due to the pain-in-the-neck that is mobile shopping! Who hasn’t switched from their phone to their computer after clicking an email link for a cute pair of sneakers? In a perfect world, this new service would be like speaking to a real person. But unless I am mistaken, it will probably feel more like any number of voice menus that people find themselves shouting at to be understood.
Chelsea Kerwin, February 15, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Dark Web Crime Has Its Limits
February 12, 2016
The Dark Web is an intriguing and mysterious phenomenon, but rumors about what can be found there are exaggerated. Infomania examines what is and what is not readily available in that murky realm in, “Murder-for-Hire on the Dark Web? It Can’t Be True!”
Anonymity is the key factor in whether certain types of criminals hang out their shingles on the TOR network. Crimes that can be more easily committed without risking identification include drug trafficking, fraud, and information leaks. On the other hand, contract assassins, torture-as-entertainment, and human trafficking are not actually to be found, despite reports to the contrary. See the article for details on each of these, and more. The article cites independent researcher Chris Monteiro as it summarizes:
The dark web is rife with cyber crime. But it’s more rampant with sensationalized myths about assassination and torture schemes — which, as Chris can attest, simply aren’t true. “What’s interesting is so much of the coverage of these scam sites is taken at face value. Like, ‘There is a website. Therefore its contents must be true.’ Even when mainstream media picks it up, very few pick it up skeptically,” he says.
Take the Assassination Market, for example. When news outlets got wind of its alleged existence in 2013, they ran with the idea of “Murder-for-hire!!” on the Internet underground. Although Chris has finally demonstrated that these sites are not real, their legend lives on in Internet folklore. “Talking about the facts — this is how cybercrime works, this is how Tor and Bitcoin work — is a lot less sexy than saying, ‘If you click on the wrong link, you’ll be kidnapped, and you’ll end up in a room where you’ll be livestreamed, murdered, and you’re all over the internet!’” Chris says. “All I can do is point out what’s proven and what isn’t.”
So, next time someone spins a scary tale about killers-for-hire who are easily found online, you can point them to this article. Yes, drug trafficking, stolen data, and other infractions are big problems associated with the Dark Web, but let us not jump at shadows.
Cynthia Murrell, February 12, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Google Aims Beyond Search
February 11, 2016
I read “Alphabet’s Google: Looking Forward at a Future Beyond Search.” For a moment, I thought Google was going to ignore this blog. After reading the article, I breathed a sigh of relief. The Alphabet Google thing wants to diversify its revenue stream. I also concluded that Google wants to eliminate a human’s annoying habit of running queries the human thinks are important to the human. Pesky humans!
The write up reveals:
Google’s attempt at switching from traditional search queries to streaming other apps right within their search app can be interpreted both as Google’s drive towards the future and a sure indication that the current ads model is crumbling. The pressing need to innovate is further instigated by the arrival of companies like InMobi who have a dedicated mobile only strategy and Google’s closest competitor Facebook who seem to be heading towards contextual ads with their Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp platforms.
The write up is enthusiastic about Google’s money losing bets on the future. I learned:
The big question which remains to be answered is if Google can innovate fast enough to remain relevant in the search industry and fund one of its moonshot projects into a major revenue source. And if this quarter is any indication, the answer to that question is a resounding yes.
Yep, but I want to think up my own queries. I also do not want ads displacing substantive information. I want to be a semi sentient human no matter how much the Alphabet Google thing wants to put me in a self driving car so I can be exposed to information that someone else wants me to view.
Stephen E Arnold, February 11, 2016
To Search the Dark Web
February 11, 2016
If you have wondered how, exactly, one searches for information on the Dark Web, take a gander at “The Best TOR Search Engines of 2016” at Cyberwarzone. Reporter CWZ writes:
“On the TOR network you can find various websites just like you find on the ‘normal web.’ The websites which are hosted on the TOR network are not indexed by search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo, but the search engines which are listed below, do index the TOR websites which are hosted via the TOR network. It is important to remember that you do need the TOR client on your device in order to access the TOR network, if you cannot use a TOR client on your device, you can use one of the free TOR gateways which are listed below in the web TOR providers tab.”
The article warns about malicious TOR clients, and strongly suggests readers download the client found at the official TOR website. Four search engines are listed— https://Ahmia.fi, https://Onion.cab, https://onion.link/, and http://thehiddenwiki.org/. CWZ also lists those Web TOR gateways, through which one can connect to TOR services with a standard Web browser instead of using a TOR client. See the end of the article for that information.
Cynthia Murrell, February 11, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
The History of ZyLab
February 10, 2016
Big data was a popular buzzword a few years ago, making it seem that it was a brand new innovation. The eDiscovery process, however, has been around for several decades, but recent technology advancements have allowed it to take off and be implemented in more industrial fields. While many big data startups have sprung up, ZyLab-a leading innovator in the eDiscovery and information governance-started in its big data venture in 1983. ZyLab created a timeline detailing its history called, “ZyLab’s Timeline Of Technical Ingenuity.”
Even though ZyLab was founded in 1983 and introduced the ZyIndex, its big data products did not really take off until the 1990s when personal computers became an indispensable industry tool. In 1995, ZyLab made history by being used in the OJ Simpson and Uni-bomber investigations. Three years later it introduced text search in images, which is now a standard search feature for all search engines.
Things really began to take off for ZyLab in the 2000s as technology advanced to the point where it became easier for companies to create and store data as well as beginning the start of masses of unstructured data. Advanced text analytics were added in 2005 and ZyLab made history again by becoming the standard for United Nations War Crime Tribunals.
During 2008 and later years, ZyLab’s milestones were more technological, such as creating the Zylmage SharePoint connector and Google Web search engine integration, the introduction of the ZyLab Information Management Platform, first to offer integrated machine translation in eDiscovery, adding audio search, and incorporating true native visual search and categorization.
ZyLab continues to make historical as well as market innovations for eDiscovery and big data.
Whitney Grace, February 10, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Jargon Watch: De-Risking
February 8, 2016
“De-Risking Technology Projects” presents some interesting factoids; for example: “Fewer than one in three software projects present successful outcomes.”
The factoid comes from a mid tier consulting firm’s “Chaos” report. The diligent folks who did the research analyzed 50,000 projects.
But the hook which snagged me was the use of the term “de-risking.” The idea is that one takes an assignment at work, works on it, and keeps one’s job even if the project goes down in flames.
How can this state of regular paycheck nirvana be achieved? The write up offers some advice which is obvious and probably has been embraced by those who crank out a collapsing bridge or a search and content processing system which cannot locate information or keep pace with inflows of content.
Here are the tips in case you napped during one of your business school lectures:
- Balance scope and time available
- Figure out how and what to deliver
- Design and implement the solution
- Prioritize simplicity and performance.
Now how does one get from high rates of failure to success?
Let’s consider implementing a search, content processing, and discovery solutions. Most of the information access systems with which I have examined deliver disappointment. Years ago I reported on the satisfaction users of enterprise search systems reported. The rate of dissatisfaction fell somewhere between 55 and 75 percent of users.
This means that if one third of enterprise software projects like search and content processing fail, the two thirds which survive crank out astounding users who are not happy with the deployed system.
The question “How does one make an enterprise search and content processing?” a success calls into question the products, interfaces, and functionality of many vendors’ work.
My view is that users cope. The belief that information access technology is making corporate work a joy is widely held. Like some other beliefs, reality may not match up.
Wonder why vendors are embracing open source technology? It is part of the de-risking approach. Let others figure out how to fix this stuff.
Does de-risking deliver excellence? In my experience, nope. Jargon is a means of closing a deal. Making something work for its users is a different challenge.
Stephen E Arnold, February 8, 2016
How Often Do You Use Vocal Search
February 8, 2016
Vocal search is an idea from the future: you give a computer a query and it returns relevant information. However, vocal search has become an actual “thing” with mobile assistants like Siri, Cortana, and build in NLP engines on newer technology. I enjoy using vocal search because it saves me from having to type my query on a tiny keyboard, but when I’m in a public place I don’t use it for privacy reasons. Search Engine Watch asks the question, “What Do You Need To Know About Voice Search?” and provides answers for me more questions about vocal search.
Northstar Research conducted a study that discovered 55% percent of US teens used vocal search, while only 41% of US adults do. An even funnier fact is that 56% of US adults only use the search function, because it makes them feel tech-savvy.
Vocal Search is extremely popular in Asia due to the different alphabets. Asian languages are harder to type on a smaller keyboard. It is also a pain on Roman alphabet keyboards!
Tech companies are currently working on new innovations with vocal search. The article highlights how Google is trying to understand the semantic context behind queries for intent and accuracy.
“Superlatives, ordered items, points in time and complex combinations can now be understood to serve you more relevant answers to your questions…These ‘direct answers’ provided by Google will theoretically better match the more natural way that people ask questions in speech rather then when typing something into a search bar, where keywords can still dominate our search behaviour.”
It translates to a quicker way to access information and answer common questions without having to type on a keyboard. Now it would be a lot easier if you did not have to press a button to activate the vocal search.
Whitney Grace, February 8, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Bing Searches for Continuous Development
February 5, 2016
I read “Microsoft Shifts Bing Search Engine To ‘Continuous’ Development Cycle.” Frankly I had never considered the frequency of Bing updates. I do pay attention when Microsoft relies on Baidu or Yandex for search. I may or may not notice when Bing “hides” its shopping service. I have given up trying to locate Microsoft academic search and trying to figure out how to eliminate pop culture references from a Bing results set. In short, I know about Bing, but I don’t think about Bing unless I read articles like “Bing Search for Android Gets New Design and Lots of Bugs in Latest Update.”
Recently Bing realized that it was not making modifications to the site quickly enough. I learned:
The Bing team has openly stated that it was finding its deployment cycle was limiting innovation.
The idea is that Bing will just get better more quickly. Okay, that sounds good. I learned also:
Some people call this learning to fail fast i.e. get features tested and only keep the stuff that works.
I took another look at the write up. The author is a “contributor” to Forbes. Does this mean that the write up is an advertorial? That’s okay, but the conclusion left me scratching my head:
Quite why Bing isn’t the new Google is another topic altogether. Microsoft may never challenge the search giant’s simplicity, functionality and query intelligence – or it might, we don’t know. What we do know is that software updates have to work a whole lot faster than they used to and only the successful ‘code shops’ will now follow this pattern.
My thoughts on why Bing lags behind Google boils down to:
- The Bing index strikes me as less robust than Google’s
- The Bing system does not deliver results that give me access to content on sites which are smaller and often quite difficult via the Bing tools.
Google is not perfect, so I rely on Ixquick.com, Yandex, Unbubble.eu and other systems. Bing is not a second choice for me. Speed of code changes is, like many of my Bing search query results, irrelevant.
Stephen E Arnold, February 5, 2016
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