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Data Sharing, Government Style

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the popular-and-fun-just-like-ada dept.

rowama writes "The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department have been collaborating to develop an XML-based model for data sharing. After less than a year since the initial release, in October 2005, the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) 1.0 Beta is out. It's big, really big. There are no less than 9 namespaces and plans for future expansion. Contact your local government contractor, with resume in hand, and you may be one of the lucky developers to implement NIEM-capable software."

69 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. Bonus advantage by nizo · · Score: 4, Funny
    Contact your local government contractor, with resume in hand, and you may be one of the lucky developers to implement NIEM-capable software.


    As an added bonus you can add a wee bit of code to make sure your name never ends up in these databases.

    --
    I Am My Own Worst Enemy
    1. Re:Bonus advantage by tb3 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hey, don't laugh. This could be bigger than Ada.

      --

      www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance

    2. Re:Bonus advantage by Lally+Singh · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There are some large ethical questions programmers have to ask themselves when taking on jobs these days. After my last DoD gig, I've really started filtering what opportunities I'll consider. Mass surveillance, for example, is something most of my contacts know I won't touch.

      As for the 9 namespaces, it's actually pretty reasonable. From TFA:
      xmlns:u="http://niem.gov/niem/universal/1.0"
      xmlns:s="http://niem.gov/niem/structures/1.0"
      xmlns:c="http://niem.gov/niem/common/1.0"
      xmlns:j="http://niem.gov/niem/domains/justice/1.0"
      xmlns:emer="http://niem.gov/niem/domains/emergency -management/1.0"
      xmlns:im="http://niem.gov/niem/domains/immigration /1.0"
      xmlns:ip="http://niem.gov/niem/domains/infrastruct ureProtection/1.0"
      xmlns:int="http://niem.gov/niem/domains/intelligen ce/1.0"
      xmlns:it="http://niem.gov/niem/domains/internation alTrade/1.0"

      --
      Care about electronic freedom? Consider donating to the EFF!
    3. Re:Bonus advantage by Kesch · · Score: 5, Funny

      They need more terrorist references. I also see a distinct lack of Thinking of the Children(TM). Also, the namepsace count just isn't bloated enough. I don't believe this spec is up to government work yet.

      --
      If this signature is witty enough, maybe somebody will like me.
    4. Re:Bonus advantage by meldroc · · Score: 1

      Or better yet, think of this project in the same way you'd think of implementing an Obfuscated C Code contest entry - how horrible can you make the code, and still get paid. Make it as painful as possible for Big Brother to go data mining.

      That, or use some ethics and don't take work like this.

      --

      Meldroc, Waster of Electrons
    5. Re:Bonus advantage by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 3, Funny

      After my last DoD gig, I've really started filtering what opportunities I'll consider.

      I also go looking for the projects that have the potential to kill the most people, but then again I'm an utter misanthrope. :D

      Although I have to admit that cybernetic, remote controlled stealth shark thing DARPA announced a while back had my interest. No killing the enemy, but it's fricken stealth sharks, man! You know I'd fight for comm lasers to burst the data back to base.

      Don't worry, I'll take those mass surveillance jobs. I'll do them really well, too. Sleep tight. :)

    6. Re:Bonus advantage by Saint+Stephen · · Score: 1

      I dunno, this example from like page 2 seems up to Government standards:

              Fred Smith
         

    7. Re:Bonus advantage by Saint+Stephen · · Score: 1

      (Try it again)

      I dunno, this example from like page 2 seems up to Government standards:

      <Person s:id="P1">
          <PersonName>
              <PersonFullName>Fred Smith</PersonFullName>
          <PersonFullName>
      </Person>

    8. Re:Bonus advantage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      They missed some of the classified ones:

      xmlns:wc="http://niem.gov/niem/domains/warCrimes/1 .0"
      xmlns:t="http://niem.gov/niem/domains/torture/1.0"
      xmlns:uca="http://niem.gov/niem/domains/unConstitu tionalActivities/1.0"

      or do they just fall into the 'common' namespace?

    9. Re:Bonus advantage by Soong · · Score: 2, Insightful

      under which namespace will I find the tag?

      --
      Start Running Better Polls
    10. Re:Bonus advantage by Da_Weasel · · Score: 1

      There is no <pork/>...all government spending is necessary!  By the way where is the <sarcasm/> tag?

      --
      If you must!
  2. thank Government for databases by yagu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Meanwhile grandma is still taking off her shoes and getting wanded at the airport. Nice to know yet another debacle is launched. Here's hoping they're as successful as they have been with the new Air Traffic Control System.

    1. Re:thank Government for databases by DoubleRing · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Meanwhile grandma is still taking off her shoes and getting wanded at the airport.

      As objectionable as this is, I think the bigger problem is the racial scanning that goes on at these airports. There are large groups of Middle Eastern people living in the US. Have they attempted any massive terrorist operation? To grandma, it's just an inconvenience. To these people, this is prejudice. Why do people go crazy over some dumb psp ad (which didn't even make it to the US) and skip over these issues?

      --
      Before you die, you see DoubleRing...
    2. Re:thank Government for databases by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Meanwhile grandma is still taking off her shoes and getting wanded at the airport.

      The knowledge that she will get the same treatment as the rest of us is the one thing keeping grandma from demanding body cavity searches for the rest of us.

      I, for one, am glad that we don't live in a world where grandma gets waved through security with a smug little smile on her face while I get directed to the body cavity search room to take it in the rear to appease grandma's paranoid fears of "all those terrorists".

    3. Re:thank Government for databases by jrumney · · Score: 2, Interesting

      which didn't even make it to the US

      Yeah, well neither do the people who've been racially profiled onto the no-fly-list once they've left. (registration free link)

    4. Re:thank Government for databases by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting
      As objectionable as this is, I think the bigger problem is the racial scanning that goes on at these airports.
      No, the bigger problem is making government agents into robots. They only follow procedures and aren't allowed to think for themselves (or heaven forbid, take initiative), for fear that someone could say that they were performing racial profiling. We are more afraid of the political repercussions of a few racial discrimination cases than the repercussions of planes being bombed or flown into major landmarks.
  3. Aliens? by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 3, Funny

    Okay...I can see the need for u:SuperType->u:ActivityType->c:ActivityType->im:Al ienEncounterType...I mean, we're bound to encounter aliens at some point, right?

    But im:AlienStudentDisciplinaryActionType? Planning for Alien encounters is one thing, but planning for dealing with them in our school systems seems like bureaucratic bloat to me. I don't think the Red Staters will be down with their taxes going to teach godless little green people.

    (end humor tags)

    --
    ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
    1. Re:Aliens? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 3, Funny

      You got to account for AlienIllegal, AlienET and AlienOfTheWeirdAndPissedOffVariety to cover all your bases. Assuming that some AlienET doesn't already own all your bases.

    2. Re:Aliens? by pla · · Score: 1

      I don't think the Red Staters will be down with their taxes going to teach godless little green people.

      Godless??? How do you think the Red Staters will respond to learning that the little green people, arriving in their brand new model 6006 JHVH craft, seeded all life on Earth - Thus making them our gods?

      Enki forbid that their advanced civilization might have very neatly solved the whole abortion issue by promoting homosexual activity as a form of birth control... ;-)

      I can hear their cute little heads popping right off their cute little red necks... Pop! Pop! Popopop!

    3. Re:Aliens? by pla · · Score: 1

      If they are so powerfull, how can you know that they are not fooling you? If their technology are so superior, how can you know that they are who they claim to be?

      When a cop, or soldier, or alien overlord, tells you to believe 1+1=3 and that the sun sets in the North - You'd do well to believe the guy with the gun, whether you do or not.


      The Bible says this about idols, including your little green men:

      Idols? Ummm... Okay, I probably took a weak joke a bit too far. I think you've taken it and run from "too far" all the way back to "funny".


      Laugh - If not at my joke, at me for making such a sad attempt at one. ;-)

    4. Re:Aliens? by catworld · · Score: 1

      As an hsitorian and far less of a programmer, I must say you penetrate both worlds with the same vector clear in sight. Dry wit always most appreciated too, whoever you are my compliments. Nice to see others in numerous locales awakening to the "bloat" to which I must too often refer, historically most frequently labeled "government."

    5. Re:Aliens? by berbo · · Score: 1

      I, for one, welcome our new flonking-alien-vamipire XML standards.

  4. Use XML. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The solution to every problem begging for more markup and extra layers of abstraction.

    1. Re:Use XML. by elFarto+the+2nd · · Score: 1
      From someones comment on slashdot
      XML is like violence: if it doesn't solve your problem, you aren't using enough of it
      Regards
      elFarto
  5. TSDB by 9x320 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Neato. Maybe now they'll make less errors in that Terrorist Screening Database they have. You know, the one that has the names of over 250,000 people tagged as terrorists used in everything from no-fly lists to border crossings ever since the administration wanted all such watchlists to be consolidated into a single big one. That one the NSA probably uses. That one that, according to Department of Justice Inspector General reports, may be riddled with errors.

    Read the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security Inspector General reports. They redact sensitive information in some cases, but based on context you can identify information in some places they've failed to redact in others. Keep on reading and you'll remember things to fit together a bigger picture.

    1. Re:TSDB by 9x320 · · Score: 3, Informative

      3,673 records had been removed from the Terrorist Screening Database since its creation in June 2004 until this DOJ Inspector General report came out in May 2005. The page of the Inspector General report clarifies that when a possible misidentification of a suspect with Terrorist Screening Database records is found by the Terrorist Screening Center, the Quality Assurance team reviews the information with the agency (either the National Counterterrorism Center or a certain FBI unit) that nominated the record to be included in the database. Removal of the name from the Terrorism Screening Database is an option.

      Previously, two databases were maintained, a Terrorist Threat Integration Center database that was classified, which would have information from files removed before being moved to an unclassified Terrorist Screening Database for use by law enforcement.

      Local law enforcement centers, and certain international airports, would get a copy of the database, and if they saw a face and name that matched up with a file in their copy, they would call a phone number. The Terrorist Screening Center would advise them on what to do based on four handling codes, which were redacted by the FBI as sensitive information in Department of Justice Inspector General reports, but I have them right here. There was a computer malfunction that resulted in Handling Code 4's being tagged as "armed and dangerous" in the database due to an error in the programming language of a program that was supposed to automatically merge together a certain database into the larger one. I wonder if this resulted in any false arrests. The handling codes have been updated since they were first released.

      Handling Code 1: WARNING - APPROACH WITH CAUTION. Arrest this individual. This individual is
      associated with terrorism. Once this individual is arrested, immediately contact the Terrorist Screening
      Center at (866) 872-9001 for additional information and direction. If you are a border patrol officer
      immediately call the NTC [National Targeting Center]

      Handling Code 2: WARNING - APPROACH WITH CAUTION. Please detain this individual for a
      reasonable amount of time for questioning. This individual is of investigative interest to law enforcement
      regarding association with terrorism. Immediately contact the Terrorist Screening Center at (866) 872-9001 for additional direction. (As appropriate, the TSC will facilitate an immediate response from an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force [JTTF] or other appropriate law enforcement entity.) If you are a border patrol officer immediately call the NTC.

      Handling Code 3: DO NOT ALERT THIS INDIVIDUAL TO THIS NOTICE. The person queried through
      this search may be an individual identified by intelligence information as having possible ties with terrorism. Contact the Terrorism Screening Center at (866) 872-9001 for additional identifying information available to assist you in making this determination. DO NOT ARREST THIS INDIVIDUAL UNLESS THERE IS EVIDENCE OF A VIOLATION OF FEDERAL, STATE OR LOCAL STATUTES. Conduct a logical
      investigation using techniques authorized in you jurisdiction and ask probing questions to determine if this individual is identical to the person of law enforcement interest. WARNING - APPROACH WITH CAUTION. If you are a border patrol officer immediately call the NTC.
      Handling Code

      4: DO NOT ALERT THIS INDIVIDUAL TO THIS NOTICE. The person queried through
      this search may be an individual identified by intelligence information as having possible ties with terrorism. DO NOT ARREST THIS INDIVIDUAL UNLESS THERE IS EVIDENCE OF A VIOLATION OF
      FEDERAL, STATE OR LOCAL STATUTES. Attempt to obtain sufficient identification information to
      positively identify this individual in a manner consistent with the techniques authorized in you jurisdiction. You may be contacte

    2. Re:TSDB by 9x320 · · Score: 1

      Now, according to an August 2004 redacted DHS Inspector General report, the Terrorist Screening Center has a phone number and e-mail address where "federal and local organizations," presumably by which they mean law enforcement, can call about mistakes in the Database, suggesting there has been mistakes in this Database. A Washington Post story says an anonymous official said a 'very, very small fraction' of the names in this database are U.S. citizens.

      If these names are used by the NSA in deciding whose phone calls to track and who to look up in SWIFT, very probably they could accidentally, or "accidentally," infringe on citizens' rights. There is no way to know this, because the database is classified, and there is also no way to know for certain that this database is used in those operations, although I would guess they probably are.

      In order to get into the database, minimum information includes your name and personally identifying information, such as a birthdate, in the director of the Terrorist Screening Center's words. Coincidentally perhaps, this is the information taken when boarding a flight at two international airports. Information is sent to the Transportation Security Authority, and who knows what happens there, though they claim not to keep it forever. The length information obtained at international airports may be preserved and kept by the government is determined by the National Library and Archives in a certain file of theirs. That file is not available online, but I would suppose they'd keep it indefinitely for certain reasons. I learned this through this report. The more you know, eh?

      Anyway, hope I've not abused Slashdot karma. Thanks for reading.

  6. bah by celardore · · Score: 1

    National Information Exchange Model

    On some level, information has always been exchanged between these powers. Now they're using XML. Cool.

    1. Re:bah by deathy_epl+ccs · · Score: 2, Funny

      On some level, information has always been exchanged between these powers. Now they're using XML. Cool.

      Yes, but see... with the advent of XML, that information exchange is now more than just "Uh-uh, not gonna tell ya!"

      Now, they have a name-space that includes the ability to tack a "NYAH NYAH" on to the end of the statement.

    2. Re:bah by castoridae · · Score: 1

      Well, NIEM does incorporate and glom together some existing XML "standards" - Global Justice XML, for example. But there's nobody in gov't who's really up to speed with that either.

      I think you'd be shocked at how little information really is being exchanged currently.

  7. Wait! There's more by overshoot · · Score: 1, Funny
    The Senate is going to convene hearings on why Microsoft's new Office Open XML format shouldn't be used instead.

    Of was that a different Senate?

    --
    Lacking <sarcasm> tags, /. substitutes moderation as "Troll."
  8. How big? by erice · · Score: 1

    The National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) 1.0 Beta is out. It's big, really big.

    But that's peanuts to space.

    1. Re:How big? by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Funny
      > > The National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) 1.0 Beta is out. It's big, really big.
      >
      > But that's peanuts to space.

      I mean you think there's a long list of entities in the markup for your CSS/AJAX/Web2.0 project's folksonomy, but that's just peanuts to the NIEM," and so on.

      After a while, the spec settles down a bit and tells you things you really want to know, like the fact that the fabulously corrupt city of Washington D.C. is now so enamored of the cumulative fiscal erosion by ten billion visiting lobbyists a year that any net imbalance between the amount you donate and the amount you receive in federal contracts whilst on the take is surgically removed from your bank account when you leave: so every time you go to K Street, it is vitally important to get a receipt... and falsify it.

  9. Obvious bloat. by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just glancing at it, I can see problems. XML is too often used for databases when it shouldn't be, but there are similarities, and just looking at it I can see that it violates one of the most basic database design principles: normalization

    Just as an example, there are three different namespaces dedicated to the various FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards)...To three different STANDARDS.

    I'm no expert on government info, and I just looked at this thing for the first time, so maybe it's brilliant and I'm ust not seeing it, but it sure looks a lot like they've fallen victim to a database noob mistake, and created a monster tree with disproportionate crazy branches everywhere, and that is bound to cause relational problems, redundant data, and warped design challenges.

    --
    ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
    1. Re:Obvious bloat. by punkinabox · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well, they said data sharing, not data storage.

    2. Re:Obvious bloat. by kfg · · Score: 2, Funny

      that is bound to cause relational problems, redundant data, and warped design challenges.

      Do me a favor, don't tell them.

      KFG

    3. Re:Obvious bloat. by truthsearch · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Exactly. We're talking about data interchange between systems, not single system efficiency.

      --
      Developers: We can use your help.
    4. Re:Obvious bloat. by CuratorTom · · Score: 1

      The NIEM is for data exchanges only. It is explicitly not intended as a guide for structuring your internal data storage.

      Support for multiple standards like FIPS tables is intentional. (No one wants to try and fiat one.) A mechanism for marking one as preferred is in the works.

    5. Re:Obvious bloat. by kabocox · · Score: 1

      Just as an example, there are three different namespaces dedicated to the various FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards)...To three different STANDARDS.

      I'm no expert on government info, and I just looked at this thing for the first time, so maybe it's brilliant and I'm ust not seeing it, but it sure looks a lot like they've fallen victim to a database noob mistake, and created a monster tree with disproportionate crazy branches everywhere, and that is bound to cause relational problems, redundant data, and warped design challenges.

      I work for a local city police department. Let me tell you it takes near miracles for data to be shared among different agencies. What's really bad is that things that should be complete digital files that move around systems, have to be re-entered for 3-4 different systems that won't talk to each other. Some like this is normal for government specs.

    6. Re:Obvious bloat. by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 1

      Normalization is still desirable, just because of its efficiency. No wasted space.

      Just looking at the tree representation of the class structure, I don't know what they're thinking...Tier 1, the "Supertype" level, has two nodes (not counting the units-of-measure bits). Okay... Tier 2 has more than a hundred! More than all the Tier 3s combined! That's not moving from simple to complex, which is what the goal of structured data should be! It's just throwing stuff in a pile, and telling people what the pile looks like.

      People at government agencies all over the country are going to be writing parsers to pull data out of this train wreck of a format, and it's not going to be easy, because there is no easy way to traverse to the data that you need. You can say this is just an interchange format, but the reality of it is, some joker is out there right now putting together the code to read an "XML database" with this structure. If your goal is to create yet still more bloated systems with yet still more arcane data constructs, this is a good start. Otherwise, it's a joke.

      --
      ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
  10. Re:It's big, really big... bloatware by Ingolfke · · Score: 1

    Um, you're strange. You're not that funny... and uh... I was going to make a comment about that but then I read your website and the /. FAQ and saw your picture and thought to myself... this guys got balls and so I agree with you about "OSS Twits" and "bloatware" and if you think about it, part of MS' problem and part of the governments problem is the attempt to please end-users without much of an understanding of the consequenses, particularly long term and cumulative, of their actions. So uh... good site.

  11. War of the Worlds by Lord+Grey · · Score: 3, Insightful
    XML is, in part, supposed to make it easier to manipulate data by providing unambiguous definitions. It clarifies the data. So we throw the U.S. Government into the mix and wind up definitions like the following (pulled at random from the 'Definition' column within the niem-1.0beta.xls spreadsheet buried in the download):
    Authorized dissemination control portion mark abbreviation(s). Either (a) a single abbreviation or (b) a space-delimited list of abbreviations in the order shown in the CAPCO Register. Exception: For the REL abbreviation, omit the country code trigraph(s) and instead place the trigraph(s) in the releasableTo attribute value.
    WTF? This is perhaps a use of the word "Definition" that I am not acquainted with. It reminds me strongly of trying to decode the income tax rules while filling out those yearly forms. Possibly, those that actually understand the above will believe it to be a brilliant explanation. I guess I won't be one of those "lucky" contractors looking to implement NIEM-compliant software. Unless it's a "spook->human" translator.
    --
    // Beyond Here Lie Dragons
    1. Re:War of the Worlds by EQ · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually that statment is pretty clear to someone with domain knowledge. Like any other knowlege domain, its probably very abstruse to the outside. Remember, Feynman was not famous for only being a physicist, but for being a physicist that could make himself understood to those outside of his domain of expertise (c.f. Feynman's lectures).

      Its actually a very concise and clear explanation of that part of the data plan. The problem for you is that you do not have the context, nor subject matter expertise, so it appears to make no sense to you. I, on the other hand, have handled and created classified compartmented documents "back in the day", so its meaning is perfectly clear to me. Its also quite obvious this is from a section about how to carry across message-handling markings ("Classification" and "Dissementation" restrictions & caveats) from one agency to another, or even intra-agency stuff. This indicates to me that you probably pulled it from the Intelligence part of the namespace.

      Bascially, the part you quoted says, in more coloquial English:

      To control who gets to see this portion of data, the document is marked over-all AND portions are marked individually. To properly mark a portion of a document, (usually a paragraph), ther may be some paragraphs in a document that are "secret", some may be "unclassified", some may be US-only, some may be releasable to NATO, or various and sundry combinations of these types of things. To designate these "portion classifications, caveats and dissementation controls" and properly "mark" this portion fo the document, there is either (a) a single abreviated term, or else (b) a list of abbrevaited terms delimited by spaces. These terms can be found in a document called the "CAPCO Reigster". The only exception to this rule is the "REL" term, which means "Releasable To". Therefore, the values normally found after the REL term in a portion of a document should be put into the "releasableTo" attribute of this portion of a document, instead of the normal dissemenation control data block part of the document.

      Thats a lot of context that isnt needed by someone reading a spec, governmentor otherwise. The spec assumes a given level of subject matter and domain expertise. To dumb it down would be wrong - that is the best way to lard up and bloat a spec, or else allow a spec so loose as to be useless in constraining the data properly. And, as you mention, "XML is upposed to make it easier to manipulate data by providing unambiguous definitions". The quoted text in your post is an example of a *very* _un_ambiguous definition of a data field. And contrary to your belief, its not just goverment that created such hard-to-scan (for outsiders) documents/specs, I've seen banks, health companies, telecom companies, aerospace [and other places that cannot afford a "loose" data type] write very similar specifications that contain similar definitions.

      You'll see much of the same once you get out into the world.

      HTH.

      --
      Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo! http://goo.gl/J9bkO
    2. Re:War of the Worlds by russellh · · Score: 1

      You write as if the government hasn't been in the business of data or high tech standards. This is light years better than EDI.

      --
      must... stay... awake...
  12. the open source tool that will be being used most by Unlikely_Hero · · Score: 1

    PURGE DATABASE

    --
    Happiness does not come from having much, but from being attached to little.
  13. Re:It's big, really big... bloatware by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    Sometimes I'm funny, sometimes not, and occasionally I'm "ballsy". :) But most people think my Slashdot F.A.Q. is funny.

  14. Open source Blair-Bush conversation... by lunadog · · Score: 1

    And there I was thinking TFA was about this:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5187276.stm

  15. Re:ATTENTIONS! DO NOT MOD DOWN! +5 INSIGHTFUL by LuminaireX · · Score: 1

    You put entirely too much thought into that, despite it being completely off-topic.

  16. Re:Rhetorics by rowama · · Score: 1

    Sorry I wasn't more clear. I originally intended to say, "It's big...big big..really big" Would you then have recognized it as a Barney Fife quote? Yes, I'm a TAGS fan. No, I'm not a Yankee in the remotest sense.

    BTW, the south WILL rise again.

  17. 58 pages of spec; 3 instances of "security"... by kneecapd · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I skimmed through the 58 page spec document which was mostly filled with describing the vast levels of bureaucracy that they're putting place to manage this beast. I also did a simple word find on the word "security". I only found 3 instances of the word that weren't coupled with the word "homeland" as in the Department of. No instances of the word "authentication".

    I know this is doc isn't intended to show the exact structure of the messages to be passed, but gee whiz, wouldn't you think they would address the topic of "how do we make sure that only members with access to the NIEM can retrieve/exchange this data."????

    All I found was a quick reference to one of the committees that they're going to form - who has the responsibility of (paraphrasing) "helping member organizations handle data security".

    That's kinda scary. Or does this thing just run on the super-duper-secret world-wide government inter-network? I mean, they never have any problems with data security on that thing. (see: Los Alamos Lab, Dept. of Veteran Affairs, etc.)

    1. Re:58 pages of spec; 3 instances of "security"... by CuratorTom · · Score: 1

      Security of the payload being passed is out of scope. All transport-ish layers are. The NIEM is all about the payload, not how it gets there. (The scope is large enough as is.)

      Yes, plenty of others have complained about this, too.

    2. Re:58 pages of spec; 3 instances of "security"... by berbo · · Score: 1

      Mostly out of scope, but see this comment by another poster

  18. Lay down your arms by k1mgy · · Score: 1

    >>Contact your local government contractor, with resume in hand, and you may be one of the lucky >>developers to implement NIEM-capable software. Lucky? When are good and decent programmers and other tech folks going to lay down their arms, so to speak, and refuse to further enable these turds? In an ideal world there would be a severe shortange of people who help enable the current US mal-administrations aims through technology. I'll starve before I help them commit any more crimes. Anyone else?

  19. Besides the obvious? by tarogue · · Score: 1

    The most effective form of data sharing so far seems to have been the storage of that data on laptops leaving the building ...

    --
    Life sucks, but death doesn't put out at all. -- Thomas J. Kopp
  20. What is wrong with Comma-Delimited? by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    XML is often poorly normalized such that you have to go out of your way to remove nesting, redundancies, etc. Why not clean up comma-delimited a bit so that it offers better meta-data (column types, etc.) and multi-schemas per file. Comma-delimited is also more compact. For some ideas, see:

    http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?RelationalAlternativeTo Xml

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  21. Gotta keep the profits up for the hardware vendors by plopez · · Score: 1

    All the bloat will demand more storage, memory and faster cpus. With Vista late, XML is the only thing driving hardware sales these days. I used to say "XML is a solution looking for a problem". Now I understand the problem was flat hardware sales and XML is the solution.

    Yes, it will end up being used as database using XQuery, or worse custom implemetations of similar beasts.

    And yes, since it is not normalized data consistency will be lost leading to false psoitives and false negatives.

    And since it is so bloated wait for a plethora of stripped down 'sub' versions with varying degrees of incompatibility.

    Oh what a joy!

    --
    putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
  22. Why would security be addressed by wiredog · · Score: 1

    at this level? It's an XML data-interchange format. A stylesheet. It covers the format data has to be in to be transferred from system A in agency X to system B in agency Y, the security would be handled at the connection level, not the data level. When you log in to a website, slashdot for example, I doubt the CSS says much (if anything) about the security of the connection.

    --

    Best Slashdot Co
  23. But, but, but, I thought they ALREADY did this... by The_REAL_DZA · · Score: 1
    I thought the government already had an "information sharing" program in place. Several of 'em, in fact:
    • This (scroll down to "Other breaches revealed")
    • This (keep your stick safe!)
    • This (Yeah, I still hate the NYT... but even a bad example can be of some use...)
    • This (which has possible tie-in's to the previous...)
    • And, of course, this (just to close with a "catch-all"...)


    Either way, never understimate the power of the government to screw something up .
    --


    This space intentionally left (almost) blank.
  24. there is an error in that XML by freaker_TuC · · Score: 1

    You opened PersonName and closed it with PersonFullName ; your xml won't be parsed good like that ;)

    --
    --- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
    1. Re:there is an error in that XML by Saint+Stephen · · Score: 1

      I copied it from the document; that's why I said "it's up to Government standards."

  25. Changelog by mrogers · · Score: 1
    Here's a summary of the major changes since version 0.9:
    • Boolean property niem.gov/niem/domains/intelligence/isPrisonerOfWar has been replaced by enumeration { YES, NO, DEPENDS }
    • Likewise for boolean property niem.gov/niem/domains/immigration/isMexican
    • Namespace niem.gov/niem/domains/emergency-management/ now duplicates large portions of other namespaces - many functions appear to be documented but not implemented
    • Namespace niem.gov/niem/domains/justice/billOfRights has been deprecated in favor of niem.gov/niem/domains/infrastructureProtection/ thinkOfTheChildren
  26. No shortage of people willing to do it. by Kadin2048 · · Score: 1

    I know you're joking (well, maybe), but I often think that the Slashdot crowd fails to appreciate how many people there are in the world -- very smart people, in fact, in many cases -- who are more than willing to take the "dirty" jobs.

    Particularly if they're interesting dirty jobs.

    The fact that what you're doing can be used to kill people fades away into relative unimportance pretty quickly, if there's a cool technical challenge to be solved, and the salary is right, and the people you get to work with are similarly goal-oriented.

    There are a lot of people in the world who spend their days thinking of new and interesting ways to kill others, and I'm willing to bet that most of them probably don't lose sleep at night over it. The human mind has an amazing ability to rationalize -- if not flat-out ignore -- almost anything, and social mores regarding the value of others' lives are no exception.

    --
    "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
  27. Securing future business by Kadin2048 · · Score: 1

    If your goal is to create yet still more bloated systems with yet still more arcane data constructs, this is a good start.

    Well, it's proved to be a pretty good business model so far ... why mess with a good thing?

    --
    "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
  28. Nigga please by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

    Statistically who is more likely to carry a weapon on an airplane? Grandma or Mohammed Habib over there?

    http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0212088/tertime.ht m

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  29. Re:Less errors? by symbolic · · Score: 1


    How can less errors help with a method that was completely flawed from the start? I mean, didn't it ever occur to anyone in DHS that normal, law-abiding American citizens might have names similar to at least some of those that are on "the list," and that because of this, they'd be subject to baseless abuse by those relying on it? After all, someone would never attempt to identify themselves as someone other than who they really are...nah, that would never happen.

  30. Re:Gotta keep the profits up for the hardware vend by mshurpik · · Score: 1

    Meanwhile, the FBI is still running the story that their computer system is screwed up. They've been running this story for 10 years. Is that believable in the context of this rollout?

  31. Re:Shhhhh by symbolic · · Score: 1


    Maybe they're using the same company that cost the IRS a few hundred million a few years ago- for something that was eventually scrapped. With the current "it's fer terrism" mentality, and all the illegal spying and end-runs around various "obstacles" imposed by the constitution, I'd hope for a repeat performance.

  32. My company is currently working with NIEM by MetaJimbo · · Score: 1

    We are currently working with several government agencies that wish to expose data via the NIEM standard. The MetaMatrix product is being used to map current data sources into NIEM compliant views of that data without ever writing a line of code.

    We have a NIEM specfic example that demonstrates this capability by using a pre-fab Derby database. Our product is downloadable for a free trial for anyone who might be interested. Here is the link to the example:

    http://devcentral.metamatrix.com/products/examples /Home

  33. Re:Gotta keep the profits up for the hardware vend by CuratorTom · · Score: 1

    Having the NIEM guide database design is a danger. But, if an agency models their database on it, it won't because they weren't warned against it. (Not sure if there's the correct number of negatives there. The point is that agencies are being explicitly warned against using the NIEM as the basis for their databases.)

    Still, many make the initial assumption that the NIEM should guide their internal databases. Continual education is needed to prevent that misconception.

    Regarding stripped-down versions, there is a mechanism, and supporting tool, for doing just that. It doesn't totally prevent the problem, but tries to keep it manageable.