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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.
Google

Submission + - Probe coming of Obama's ties with Google (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a group that advocates for a smaller and more ethical government, wrote to leaders of the House Oversight Committee this month urging them to investigate a major privacy breach by Google. It wants to know if the company's ties to the administration helped it dodge penalties after the incident.

The group also urges a look at Google's ties to the administration more generally, pointing to what it calls "a growing body of evidence" that shows the administration's "unusually close relationship with Google has resulted in favoritism towards the company on federal policy issues."
Social Networks

Submission + - Twice as many men as women on Foursquare, Gowalla (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: The number of men who use location-based services such as Foursquare or Gowalla is double that of women, according to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which examines online trends in the United States.
The Internet

Submission + - Tea Party win spells doom for net neutrality (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: Experts say the Republican takeover of the House means a likely end to the campaign for rules to enforce net neutrality. FCC chairman Julius Genachowski could still reclassify broadband as a telecom service, but doing so may cost his agency now that the GOP is holding the purse strings.
The Internet

Submission + - Every candidate supporting PCCC's net-neutrality p (thehill.com)

Submitted by GovTechGuy
GovTechGuy writes: Every House and Senate candidate who signed a pledge to support net-neutrality rules lost his or her election on Tuesday, according to an analysis by Scott Cleland, a net-neutrality opponent. Ninety-five Democrats signed the pledge, released last week.

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