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Submission + - Former White House spokesman joins Facebook (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: Facebook has hired former White House press secretary Joe Lockhart to serve as vice president of global communications, the company announced late Tuesday. Lockhart is currently the founding partner and managing director of the Glover Park Group, a Washington-based communications firm. He will join Facebook July 15 and start off splitting time between D.C. and California before eventually moving to the West Coast full-time. He is the latest high-profile Washington insider to join the social networking giant, which has drawn increasing scrutiny from lawmakers ahead of the upcoming debate on consumer privacy legislation. He will manage the corporate, policy and international communications teams.
Crime

Submission + - Senators wants answer on Playstation Network (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote to Sony Tuesday calling the firm's lack of updates or disclosure on the attack that took down the Playstation Network last week "troubling." Blumenthal wants Sony to pay for free credit reports and insurance for affected consumers for up to two years.
Google

Submission + - Sen. Kerry: Online privacy bill coming soon (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: The settlement announced Wednesday between Google and the Federal Trade Commission underscores the need for legislation that outlines how businesses can use consumer information collected online, according to a statement from Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).

“Baseline privacy protections in law remain common sense and this case proves it,” Kerry said. “Google has admitted error, but Google is far from alone in the collection, use, and distribution of immense amounts of our information.

Kerry, who heads the Senate Commerce Committee's Communications subcommittee, is currently working on a privacy bill that he has promised to deliver this year. The White House has signaled its support for online privacy legislation as well, while the FTC has recommended firms take voluntary measures to protect consumers, such as adding Do Not Track tools to Web browsers.
Blackberry

Submission + - RIM will remove drunk-driving BlackBerry apps (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: The maker of the BlackBerry line of smartphones has agreed to remove applications that assist drivers in evading DUI checkpoints after pressure from Senate Democrats.

Research in Motion said it would comply by Wednesday with a request from Senate Democrats that it get rid of the application. Democrats who had pressed for the action quickly hailed the move.
The Internet

Submission + - More than half of adults get political news online (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: A new survey from the Pew Research Center shows more than half of U.S. adults used the Internet for political reasons during the last election cycle. According to Pew's Internet & American Life project, 54 percent of adults (73 percent of adult Web users) went online to get news or become involved in a campaign during the 2010 midterm elections. Thirty-two percent got most of their news on the campaign from online sources. In addition, 22 percent of online adults use Twitter or another social networking site for political purposes in 2010.
Government

Submission + - Bill would mean free WiFi in all federal buildings (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) introduced legislation on Friday that would require all public federal buildings to install WiFi base stations in order to free up cell phone networks.

The Federal Wi-Net Act would mandate the installation of small WiFi base stations in all publicly accessible federal buildings in order to increase wireless coverage and free up mobile networks. The bill would require all new buildings under construction to comply and all older buildings to be retrofitted by 2014. It also orders $15 million from the Federal Buildings Fund be allocated to fund the installations.
Privacy

FTC Proposes Do Not Track List For the Web 173

Posted by samzenpus from the don't-follow dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Federal Trade Commission proposed allowing consumers to opt out of having their online activities tracked on Wednesday as part of the agency's preliminary report on consumer privacy. FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz said he would prefer for the makers of popular web browsers to come up with a setting on their own that would allow consumers to opt out of having their browsing and search habits tracked."
Businesses

FCC To Vote On Net Neutrality On December 21 319

Posted by CmdrTaco from the get-your-voice-on dept.
GovTechGuy writes "The FCC just released its tentative agenda for the December 21st open meeting, where the Commission will vote on whether to adopt rules to preserve net neutrality. According to the agenda the FCC will consider 'adopting basic rules of the road to preserve the open Internet as a platform for innovation, investment, competition, and free expression.' House Republicans have already promised to oppose any solution put forth by FCC chairman Julius Genachowski."
Businesses

Submission + - FCC to vote on net neutrality on December 21 (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: The FCC just released its tentative agenda for the December 21st open meeting, where the Commission will vote on whether to adopt rules to preserve net neutrality. According to the agenda the FCC will consider "adopting basic rules of the road to preserve the open Internet as a platform for innovation, investment, competition, and free expression." House Republicans have already promised to oppose any solution put forth by FCC chairman Julius Genachowski.
Crime

Submission + - Bill would let government shut down more websites (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a controversial bipartisan bill on Thursday that gives the Department of Justice more power to shut down websites that sell counterfeit or pirated goods. The bill would create an expedited process for the Justice Department to shut down website or domain name that is found to be trafficking in pirated movies, goods, or music. But privacy advocates including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology have slammed the bill, claiming it gives Justice too much power and amounts to government censorship of the Web.
Government

Submission + - Bill would put DHS in charge of private networks (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: A new bill unveiled Wednesday by House Homeland Security chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss. would give the Department of Homeland Security the authority to enforce federal cybersecurity standards on private sector companies deemed critical to national security.
Government

Submission + - Traffic to government websites hijacked by China (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: Web traffic to several U.S. government websites including the Commerce Department and Pentagon was hijacked and re-routed by a state-owned Chinese telecom firm in April, according to a new report from the federal government.
Television

Submission + - Parents group says Hulu hurting kids (thehill.com) 2

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: Online video services such as Hulu are failing to protect kids from explicit content, according to a new report from the watchdog Parents Television Council. The PTC gave Hulu a grade of "D" on protecting children from harmful content, the highest grade out of the four services evaluated. . All three sites apart from Hulu received a failing grade on content rating, while parental controls also drew poor marks across the board.
Google

Submission + - GOP could make trouble for Google - TheHill.com (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: Saddled with the perception that it is a darling of the Obama administration, Google may have it tough with Republicans. The company whose chief executive campaigned for President Obama stands to become a target of investigations by multiple committees.
Crime

Submission + - Palin e-mail hacker sentenced to a year in halfway (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: The former University of Tennessee student that hacked into Sarah Palin's e-mail account has been sentenced to a year and a day in custody. Federal Judge Thomas Phillips recommended that David Kernell, who was 20 years old when he guessed the correct answers to security questions and breached Palin's e-mail account, be allowed to serve his time in a halfway house rather than prison.

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