The compromise fiscal 2013 national defense authorization bill unveiled by conferees Dec. 18 excludes language from the Senate version that would have required the use of a repository for all software code owned by the government or to which it has use rights and an official designation of DoD collaborative software development environments, "such as Forge.mil managed by the Defense Information Systems Agency."

Recognizing the advances of commercial practices and technology over the past decade, including smartphones, the Federal Trade Commission has adopted final amendments to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act to reflect the growing presence of websites geared towards kids. Among the changes to the COPPA Rule, the new regulations expand the list of personal information that cannot be collected by websites without parental notice and consent, clarifying that this category includes geolocation information, photographs, and videos.

A newly released White House strategy for federal information sharing lists among its top priorities adoption of metadata standards and the further extension of the Federal Identity Credential and Access Management framework. Information, the strategy says, is "a national asset." Federal agencies have an "unprecedented ability to gather, store, and use information," it says.

Congress' unanimous opposition to oversight of the Internet in the International Telecommunication Regulations played a major role in the refusal of the United States and other countries to sign the revised ITRs at the Dec. 14 conclusion of a treaty-writing conference, said David Gross, a member of the U.S. delegation.

Compressed sensing, the use of sensors for imaging (or other sensing) of an object in a manner that uses a limited subset of the available data in order to improve efficiency or conserve resources, holds potential benefits for Defense Department systems, according to a new 124-page report (.pdf) from the JASON scientific advisory group.