Government & Public Sector

Besides the incredible shock of learning that governments in power actually dole out favourable contracts to friendly corporate supporters, we learned something else from the recent Auditor General's report. Namely, that Canada's reputation as an online government leader isn't as secure as it once was.

The future of French computer company Group Bull SA will depend on a favourable assessment by the European Commission of the French state's involvement in Bull's latest effort to avert bankruptcy, a commission spokesman said Thursday.

Indians voting to elect federal and state legislators next month will press buttons on electronic voting machines (EVMs), rather than use the traditional procedure of stamping ballot papers to indicate their preference.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has filed criminal charges against the former policy director of recalled California Governor Gray Davis in connection with a 2001 database contract scandal.

The European Commission has reached a settlement with Deutsche Telekom AG over its anticompetitive practices in the market for cheap high-speed Internet services in Germany.

In a move certain to worry IT vendors, the federal government will retain its two most powerful internal IT advisory bodies, the Information Management Strategy Committee (IMSC) and the Chief Information Officer Committee despite the almost certain closure of their coordinating arm, the National Office of the Information Economy (NOIE).

The European Union (E.U.) struck back at tax breaks given to U.S. exporters Monday by slapping trade sanctions on the U.S. in a move that could potentially cost U.S. firms, including IT vendors such as Microsoft Corp., millions of dollars.

Bernard Ebbers, the former chief executive officer of WorldCom Inc., will be indicted on federal fraud charges related to his former company's US$11 billion accounting misstatement, according to news reports.