W. David Stephenson

Two controversies currently in the news illustrate the need for a fundamentally new, technology-based approach to regulation that would both help the regulated industries and protect the public. I refer to it as Regulation 3.0 (3.0 because it would capitalize on the so-called "Internet of Things,"...

The Internet of Things (IoT) is already changing our lives in many dramatic, and subtle ways, including the first wireless pacemaker, the IntelliStreets "smart" light post I wrote about recently and the new city-wide nerve center IBM has built for Rio.

But something important...

I'm tired of hearing that the public can't be full partners in preparing for or responding to disasters because we're prone to panic and/or we can't provide specific information that first responders can act upon.

With a modicum of preparation, we can in fact provide accurate information that can make...

I'll admit it: streetlamps have had a hold on my imagination since I was a little boy, visiting my grandmother in Baltimore. Coming from the suburbs, where there were only occasional streetlamps tacked on to utility poles, streetlamps were an elegant aspect of urban life to me.

Now I've fallen...

One of the easiest targets for budget cutters in a recession is governmental initiatives to make data both accessible to the public and easy to work with. For example, the budget for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget's Electronic Government Initiatives was cut from $34 million in...

No matter what savings result from the current deficit reduction negotiations, there's little hope for long-term, structural savings if we continue to run the government using 20th-century management. That's why the final package should also include a management package building on similar innovations that both the GOP and White House...

I can't think of a major economy that has suffered two massive disasters in a century other than Japan. Given the way Japan rebuilt after World War II to amass the world's third largest economy prior to the recent earthquake/tsunami/nuclear catastrophe, there is certainly room for optimism that the Japanese...

One way of lowering the tone of rhetoric on political issues would be to make it more fact-based.

If the White House wants to try to find any kind of common ground with Rep. Issa and his Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Investigations, and to achieve its own...

Two years ago I wrote in this space that a simple technological tool, automated, "structured" data feeds, could allow for "smart" regulation of banks to cut down on the abuses and fraud that led to the mortgage meltdown and continuing recession.

The latest debacle in that industry,

For most, the Semantic Web (or, as some call it, Web 3.0), remains a future vision whose uses and value are still questionable. Instead, I suggest we should accelerate the transition to the Semantic Web, because it offers pragmatic, affordable solutions to many of our most pressing problems....

From my vantage point in Boston, I prefer to look to an earlier period in Bay State politics, before Scott Brown's election, for a possible model to deal with the new realities the Obama Administration faces.

Back in the 1970s, two young state legislators who also went on to prominence...

Several weeks ago DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced DHS has decided to emulate the widespread World War II strategy of actively involving the public in terrorism and disaster planning and response. As the Secretary said, "For too long we've treated the public as a liability to be protected rather...

The Obama Administration created Recovery.gov as a critical stimulus component, taking a "don't trust us, track us" approach to assure funds are distributed quickly and fairly and "recipients and uses of all recovery funds are transparent." It will also provide clues about how serious the Administration is about campaign...

There's been a lot of talk in recent days that what we need isn't more regulation of banking and business in general, but "smart" regulation. It seems to me that we also need more regulation, but we certainly need to make sure whatever is imposed is also as technologically sophisticated...

Whoever wins in November faces record voter skepticism about whether "government is on the right track," while record deficits will make it difficult to add new programs that might rebuild public confidence. The new administration must simply get more from less.

One novel solution, which I'll address...