yeah, right...
...and it'll take a hacker 2 minutes to discover that their way of 'removing' the 'start a nuclear war' option was to change it to white text on a white background...
goodnight Vienna.
The crack coders assembled by the Cabinet Office have a new mission: making an iPad app for David Camerons. The app will contain the latest figures on NHS waiting lists, crime, unemployment and other public sector data according to a report by The Times. It will also allow him to read Civil Service documents on the tablet and …
It'll probably be an unsecure webpage pretending to be an app. Which will be found by enterprising hacks or members of the public and extensively discussed long before the PM sees it. Anyone willing to wager a beta version with amusing test functions like "Nuke Canada" also gets found and causes a stir?
So, forgive me if this hasn't already occurred to them... but there are actually 3 separate requirements here, all of which can be fulfilled by existing technology.
'contain the latest figures on NHS waiting lists, crime, unemployment and other public sector data'
Put those stats into an off-the-shelf business scorecard package, many of which have an associated app
'read Civil Service documents on the tablet'
I believe the requirement for reading documents (even double super-secret ones) has been addressed once or twice...
'pull in "real-time" information from Google and Twitter among other news sources'
Many off-the-shelf offerings here also
The only potential requirement not addressed by the above approach is for having one, rather than 3, icons on the home screen, for people who are challnged by complexity.
Is an app needed for any of this?
Surely it is information that is already available over the GSi / xGSI / whateverSI so all they need is to set up his DeviceofChoice to run a secure tunnel into the network (which, I assume is going to be needed anyway....) and then let the magic of the existing internet technologies do the rest.
While I am all in favour of spending money on tech - is this the best use of limited government resources? Spending money so DC and a few chums can do things they already do?
Or have I missed something..?
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Just let me know what Tube line his personal secretary frequents and we'll have that iPad in no time...
(For those who are not aware, civil servants have gained quite a reputation for leaving laptops filled with sensitive information on seats within the public transport system, taxis and the like).