Networks

What GM’s layoffs reveal about the digitalization of the auto industry

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While all of those perspectives are relevant, the most revealing aspect of GM’s announcement may well be what the layoffs say about broader technology trends. GM’s layoffs are not just incremental but existential, in that sense:

They are about accelerating the staffing changes mandated by the company’s aggressive transition from analog to digital products and from gasoline to electric power.

As such, the new layoffs (and associated future hirings) are likely an augury of much more disruption coming — in the auto sector, for sure, but also in firms all across the economy.

Central to GM’s announcement is, in our view, what we call the “digitalization of everything.”

By that, we mean that GM’s layoffs significantly reflect the talent and workforce strains associated with the diffusion of digital and electronic technologies into nearly every industry, business, and workplace in America.

Source: What GM’s layoffs reveal about the digitalization of the auto industry

White House preps to change the way agencies go online | FCW

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The policy update will help support the migration to cloud, said Federal CIO Suzette Kent. With the new TIC in place, “agencies are preparing for work in 2019 as they now have a clear policy path,” Kent said.

The federal CIO’s office recently put out an updated data center optimization policy draft and a revised policy on ID management. The Office of Management and Budget also recently released updated guidance on identifying and protecting high value assets.

Kent cited progress in cloud adoption. In the last year, she said, cloud email migration among agencies went from 40 percent to 70 percent.

Source: White House preps to change the way agencies go online — FCW

Americans Value Critical Thinking But Choose Not To Practice It | GovExec.com

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If a lack of civility in public discourse is the problem, a lack of critical thinking may be partly to blame.

A recent study by the Reboot Foundation, which was founded to fund research on critical thinking and develop resources for parents and schools, concluded that while the American public claims to engage with opposing views, people don’t actually do so in practice.

Only 25% of people are willing to regularly have debates with people who disagree with them; roughly the same share says that they regularly avoid talking to people with opposing views.

It is hard to build critical-thinking muscles when they are engaged simply to confirm one’s own existing beliefs.

Source: Americans Value Critical Thinking But Choose Not To Practice It – Management Matters – Management – GovExec.com

Where Huawei Fears to Tread | Light Reading

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It took Huawei about 28 years to become the world’s biggest supplier to communications service providers. Founded in 1987, it finally overtook the 139-year-old Ericsson in 2015.

But its loss of the coveted top spot could happen in a relative heartbeat. (See How the West Can Hurt Huawei and Huawei: New King of the CSP Market.)

Government authorities or operators in six countries, including a few of the world’s biggest economies, have now restricted Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. in some manner, supposedly out of concern that Chinese vendors are a threat to security.

Source: Where Huawei Fears to Tread | Light Reading

The Biggest Password Mistakes of 2018 | Nextgov

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On Wednesday, digital security company Dashlane released its third annual list of the “Worst Password Offenders.”

Kanye West tops the list for his iPhone passcode of 000000, which he displayed in full view of television cameras in the Oval Office. But just behind him is the Pentagon, which made the list for a GAO report that discovered the vulnerabilities plaguing U.S. weapons systems.

Coming in at number 7 is the White House. The administration made the list this year because of one particular staffer who left his email password at a Washington, D.C., bus stop.

Other high profile organizations like the United Nations and Google also made the list.

Source: The Biggest Password Mistakes of 2018 – Nextgov

Jailing Hundreds of Journalists Worldwide Is the ‘New Normal’ | The New York Times

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More than 250 journalists have been jailed worldwide in 2018, a number that has been reached for three consecutive years, an advocacy group said Thursday, calling it a sign that an authoritarian response to critical news coverage is “more than a temporary spike.”

The group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in its annual survey that the number of journalists jailed in relation to their work over the past three years is the most since it began compiling that statistic in 1990.

“Hundreds of journalists jailed globally becomes the new normal,” the committee said in a summary of its annual findings, which are based on the number of journalists imprisoned each year on Dec. 1.

Source: Jailing Hundreds of Journalists Worldwide Is the ‘New Normal,’ Group Finds – The New York Times

Behind the Pentagon’s $10 billion cloud push are big plans for data and AI | FCW

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“The enterprise cloud is going to become the foundation for which all the data and all that compute are going to reside on top of and those algorithms will use,” said CIO Dana Deasy.

Deasy’s dwelled on DOD’s need for enterprise cloud solutions in his testimony without once mentioning an ongoing $10 billion cloud procurement by name.

The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, dubbed JEDI, is the subject of ongoing criticism and protest by some in industry and is currently the topic of a lawsuit brought by Oracle in the Court of Federal Claims.

Source: Behind the Pentagon’s $10 billion cloud push are big plans for data and AI — FCW

Why Venezuelans are all over Fiverr’s YouTube prank economy | Vox

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By day, Betsy works as a dentist in her native Venezuela. By night, she freelances in Fiverr’s surprisingly lucrative stunt economy. The gig emporium has traditionally facilitated extremely utilitarian, identifiable demands — like, say, graphic design or audio transcription. But more recently, a generation of workers have realized they can get paid to do gross or messy things on camera.

The philosophy is simple and sinister: “Pay up and I’ll do whatever you ask.”

Source: Why Venezuelans are all over Fiverr’s YouTube prank economy – Vox

French ‘yellow vests’ caught up in social networks | EURACTIV.com

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As it enters its fourth week of protest, France’s ‘yellow vest’ movement continues to be active on Facebook. While the social network has allowed the movement to grow, Facebook is struggling to create a structure for the movement. EURACTIV France reports.

Posts are abounding, the number of groups is increasing and leaders are emerging here and there on Facebook. The social network creates links and not only shares information but also the stress and fake news.

So much so that Facebook contributed to heightened tension in the mobilisation on 8 December. The planned gatherings are a great cause of concern to the French government and the security forces.

Source: French ‘yellow vests’ caught up in social networks – EURACTIV.com

EU negotiators reach agreement on cybersecurity act | EURACTIV.com

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Representatives from the European Commission, Council and Parliament on Monday (10 December) evening banded together to strengthen the bloc’s Cybersecurity efforts, reaching agreement on the EU’s cybersecurity act.

The measures approved will see more resources and greater responsibility afforded to the EU’s cybersecurity agency, ENISA, as well as establishing a certification framework that will set cybersecurity standards for products during the design and development stage.

The Commission is set to draft the scope of products that require obligatory certification, with a list to be finalized by 2023.

Source: EU negotiators reach agreement on cybersecurity act – EURACTIV.com