Microsoft accused Google of lying about its Google Apps not meeting government standards for security and today at a U.S. Senate hearing a government official said that it was a little more complicated than that.
A preliminary version of Google Apps was Federal Information Security Act-certified said Doug McClure, associate administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration, according to Business Insider. But McClure also said the agency is in the process of re-certifying an advanced version of the software now, wrote NextGov.
Was Google lying? Hardly. If anything, they were caught in the middle of something they didn't engineer themselves.
After reading both accounts, I found that both stories differ greatly in headline and, one could argue, intent. On Business insider, it's "Google In Trouble Over Lying About Security Of Apps To The Government," which aside from a mouthful, may be a little disingenuous. At NextGov, the headline is, "GSA Official Downplays MS Charges on Google Gov. Apps," which is probably realistic.
Google said they weren't misleading anyone because they had been certified by the GSA in July 2010. McClure, who didn't use words like dishonest or misleading, just stated what he knew -- yes, Google Apps were once certified and the new version is likely to be. There are no scandals or lies.
