Government IT

I first wrote about government IT when working at Computing in the late 1990s, covered it often as a freelancer, then worked as news editor at Guardian Government Computing from February 2008. I edit In Our View, the magazine of the society for innovation, technology and modernisation (Socitm).

Blackpool’s Silicon Sands vision and how AI supports social work in Coventry – six things we learned at Socitm President’s conference
PublicTechnology.net, 21 June 24

Designing services for all (with additional reporting by Benjamin Hughes)
Socitm In Our View, June 2024. The magazine’s main feature on ensuring local public services are open to everybody, both by providing alternatives to digital channels and by making digital ones more accessible.

Socitm Says podcast on Generative AI with Kurt Frary and Sam Nutt (carried out interviews and presented)
Socitm, 15 January 2024.

Socitm In Our View, June 2022. Including article by me on how local authorities and the Welsh Government work together, p16.

Socitm In Our View Daily, 8-12 June 2020. Rapid coverage of Socitm’s online President’s Week event, written by me and published on the same day. Individual editions available here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Socitm In Our View, May 2020. Including article by me on what local government can learn from other sectors on homeworking, p14.

Governing by data: Limits and opportunities
ComputerWeekly.com, Mar 25, 2020

Did the Government Transformation Strategy point the way to the future?
Civil Service World, Mar 20 2020

How software can support public involvement with democracy
ComputerWeekly.com, Dec 11, 2019

How tech leads local government innovation in Vienna, Helsinki and Belfast
ComputerWeekly.com, Jul 19, 2019

Socitm In Our View, June 2019. Including article by me on ways to encourage more women to work in IT, p12.

Which government department suffers the most data breaches?
PublicTechnology.net, May 10, 2019 and Civil Service World, May 2019

Socitm In Our View, April 2019. Including article by me on social care use of home technologies, p12.

‘I feel in control of my life’: Alexa’s new role in public service
Society Guardian, Feb 7, 2019

Socitm In Our View, Autumn 2018. Including article by me on local authority use of disruptive technologies, p12; and news article researching popularity of council apps.

National ID cards might not mean much when up against incompetence of the UK Home Office
The Register, Jun 19, 2018

Socitm In Our View, Spring 2018. Including article by me on ethics, automation and artificial intelligence in local public services, p14.

UK government’s cloud spending hits saturation: Love of Microsoft endures
The Register, May 10, 2018

How the Parliamentary Digital Service is working to keep the Commons secure
PublicTechnology.net, Apr 20, 2018

Cut off: Big government IT wallets snap shut on BT’s fingers
The Register, Feb 7, 2017

Big tech’s grip loosens on UK.gov IT spend
The Register, Jan 13, 2017

Infosecurity – the GCHQ way
ComputerWeekly.com, Sep 29, 2016

Ireland’s govt IT: Recession and job cuts forced us to adapt
The Register, Aug 24, 2016

MI5 staff repeatedly overrode data surveillance rules
ComputerWeekly.com, Aug 10, 2016

How MI5 and MI6 gather your personal data for surveillance
ComputerWeekly.com, Jun 17, 2016

Investigatory Powers Bill: Spooks willingly entering the light?
The Register, Mar 1, 2016

Brits learning from the Continent? Authority, digi gov wheezes and the Autumn Statement
The Register, Nov 26, 2015

Shadow state? Scotland’s IT independence creeps forth
The Register, Nov 12, 2015

Councils explore options for online mapping tools
ComputerWeekly.com, Aug 20, 2015

How spies spy (what recent reports reveal about GCHQ)
The Register, Jul 24, 2015

Every man, woman and child in the UK paid HP £21 last year (details of big suppliers to government, using Freedom of Information and open data)
Channel Register, Nov 12, 2013

Thought you didn’t need to show ID in the UK? Wrong
The Register, Nov 6, 2013

Why Bletchley Park could never happen today
The Register, Oct 25, 2013

UK.gov’s e-Borders zombie still lurks under the English Channel
The Register, Sep 24, 2013

One year to go: Can Scotland really declare gov IT independence?
The Register, Sep 18, 2013

UK gov’s smart meter dream unplugged: A ‘colossal waste of cash’
The Register, Jul 19, 2013

Cornwall council’s privatisation compromise
Guardian Society, Jan 23, 2013

Roadside cameras suffer from large gaps in coverage, police admit
The Guardian, Aug 27, 2012 (with Rob Evans, on ANPR Freedom of Information case)

MI5 makes 1,061 bugging errors
Guardian Government Computing, Jul 1, 2011

Privacy groups take Royston’s ANPR plans to ICO
Guardian Government Computing, Jun 10, 2011

Open up the numberplate recognition camera system
Guardian Comment is Free, May 17, 2011

Minister destroys national identity register (with gallery of Damian Green feeding hard drives into an industrial shredder)
Guardian Government Computing, Feb 10, 2011

A tale of two cameras (council CCTV in Wandsworth and West Oxfordshire)
Guardian Government Computing, Sep 23, 2010

The ANPR secret (Thames Valley Police and the M5)
Guardian Government Computing, Feb 3, 2010

Devon and Cornwall Constabulary divulges police ANPR cameras in Torbay
Guardian Government Computing, Aug 19, 2009

Oxfordshire reveals ANPR traffic camera sites
Guardian Government Computing, Aug 3, 2009

The myths of the fingerprints (ID cards and biometric passports)
Guardian Government Computing, Jun 26, 2009

CSC and IBM win ID contracts (which are already ready for the abolition of ID cards)
Guardian Government Computing, Apr 7, 2009

Pushing the button (e-democracy in Bristol)
Guardian Society, Mar 23, 2006

Image control (Labour’s battle with extreme pornography online)
Guardian Online, Jul 28, 2005

In the name of the law (Charles Clarke’s plans for tackling crime with ID cards assessed)
Guardian Online, Jul 14, 2005

Your life in your hands (how the emergency services track mobile phones)
Guardian E-public, Dec 1, 2004

Private pain, public gain: learning from the private sector
Public Service Magazine, October-November 2004

Knowing me, knowing you (the database state, featuring comment from rising MP David Cameron)
Guardian Online, Jun 24, 2004

Eyes on the child: should you use mobile phone tracking?
Guardian Online, Jan 29, 2004

Image problem (David Blunkett’s plans for biometrics and ID cards)
Guardian Online, Nov 20, 2003

Video ring to unite islanders (Orkney Island Council and videoconferencing, picture above)
Government Computing, Sep 2002

You can ring, but you can’t hide (what mobile phone companies hold on customers)
Guardian Online, Nov 29, 2001

Smallest post office gets net (Dores in the Highlands of Scotland)
Guardian Online, Jul 26, 2001

In sight of the law (how the authorities track citizens)
Guardian Online, Mar 1, 2001