Six residents of China face economic espionage and theft of trade secret charges for allegedly funneling radio frequency technologies used in mobile devices from U.S. companies to a university controlled by the Chinese government.The defendants facing charges in the U.S. are connected to Tianjin University in China. The U.S. Department of Justice released a 32-count indictment on Tuesday, three days after Tianjin University Professor Hao Zhang was arrested at the Los Angeles airport while trying to enter the U.S. from China. The five other defendants remain at large.The six are charged with stealing thin-film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) technology used in mobile phones from two U.S. companies, according to a DOJ press release. FBAR technology filters incoming and outgoing wireless signals so that a mobile phone only receives and transmits the specific communications intended by the user. In addition to consumer applications, FBAR is used in several military and communications technologies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
U.S. residents have major problems with government surveillance, and six in 10 want to see the records collection provisions of the Patriot Act modified before Congress extends it, according to a survey commissioned by a civil rights group.Just 34 percent of survey respondents said they’d like to see the Patriot Act preserved as a way to keep the U.S. safe from terrorists, according to the survey commissioned by the American Civil Liberties Union. Sixty percent either strongly or somewhat agreed with a statement saying Congress should modify the Patriot Act to “limit government surveillance and protect Americans’ privacy.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A lopsided vote in the U.S. House of Representatives this week to rein in the National Security Agency’s domestic telephone records dragnet won muted praise, with many supporters calling on Congress to take stronger action.Critics, meanwhile, slammed the USA Freedom Act for extending the section of the antiterrorism Patriot Act that the NSA has used to collect the telephone records of nearly all U.S. residents. The bill, passed by a 338-88 vote late Wednesday, would end the NSA’s bulk collection of domestic telephone records, while allowing the agency to continue to collect phone and other business records in a more targeted manner.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A lopsided vote in the U.S. House of Representatives this week to rein in the National Security Agency’s domestic telephone records dragnet won muted praise, with many supporters calling on Congress to take stronger action.Critics, meanwhile, slammed the USA Freedom Act for extending the section of the antiterrorism Patriot Act that the NSA has used to collect the telephone records of nearly all U.S. residents. The bill, passed by a 338-88 vote late Wednesday, would end the NSA’s bulk collection of domestic telephone records, while allowing the agency to continue to collect phone and other business records in a more targeted manner.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to rein in the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of the country’s telephone records, while allowing the agency to engage in more targeted surveillance.The House voted 338-88 late Wednesday to approve the USA Freedom Act, a bill intended to end the NSA’s mass collection of telephone metadata within the U.S. But the bill would extend an expiring provision in the anti-terrorism Patriot Act that allows the NSA to collect U.S. telephone and business records, but with a more limited scope.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to rein in the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of the country’s telephone records, while allowing the agency to engage in more targeted surveillance.The House voted 338-88 late Wednesday to approve the USA Freedom Act, a bill intended to end the NSA’s mass collection of telephone metadata within the U.S. But the bill would extend an expiring provision in the anti-terrorism Patriot Act that allows the NSA to collect U.S. telephone and business records, but with a more limited scope.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is facing a new, novel challenge to its recent net neutrality rules: a communications law firm is arguing the regulations aren’t strong enough.The petition from Washington, D.C., law firm Smithwick and Belendiuk is a new wrinkle for the FCC, after a spate of lawsuits from broadband providers and trade groups challenging the rules for creating too many regulations.The FCC’s net neutrality rules, passed Feb. 26, fall short in several ways, firm partner Arthur Belendiuk said. The shortcomings are largely related to the agency’s decision to forbear from applying traditional telecommunication regulations to broadband even though it reclassified broadband as a regulated telecom service, he said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Mobile carriers Verizon Wireless and Sprint will pay a combined US$158 million[m] to settle complaints by two U.S. government agencies that they billed millions[m] of customers for unauthorized, third-pay text messaging services.Verizon will pay $90 million[m] and Sprint $68 million[m] to settle the so-called bill cramming complaints brought by the Federal Communications Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.Along with other recent federal and state actions targeting bill cramming, the nation’s four largest mobile phone carriers have agreed to pay $353 million[m] in penalties and restitution in recent months, with more than $267 million[m] set aside to be returned to affected customers, the FCC said on Tuesday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Mobile carriers Verizon Wireless and Sprint will pay a combined US$158 million[m] to settle complaints by two U.S. government agencies that they billed millions[m] of customers for unauthorized, third-pay text messaging services.Verizon will pay $90 million[m] and Sprint $68 million[m] to settle the so-called bill cramming complaints brought by the Federal Communications Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.Along with other recent federal and state actions targeting bill cramming, the nation’s four largest mobile phone carriers have agreed to pay $353 million[m] in penalties and restitution in recent months, with more than $267 million[m] set aside to be returned to affected customers, the FCC said on Tuesday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has denied the requests of several broadband providers and trade groups asking the agency to delay its net neutrality rules.The FCC, late Friday, denied petitions for a stay of its net neutrality rules from Daniel Berninger, founder of the nonprofit Voice Communication Exchange Committee, the American Cable Association, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, USTelecom, the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association, AT&T and CenturyLink.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The operator of a so-called revenge porn website has pleaded no contest to criminal charges, including extortion, in a California court.Casey Meyering, operator of WinByState.com, pleaded no contest Friday in Napa County Superior Court to one count of extortion, three counts of attempted extortion, and one count of conspiracy, California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced.WinByState.com encouraged users to post and trade nude photographs of women, including their ex-girlfriends and current girlfriends. WinByState.com asked uploaders to identify their “wins” by city and state, sometimes using the victim’s complete or partial name. At one point, the website claimed to have more than 60,000 members and more than 30,000 pictures posted.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A U.S. appeals court judge shredded the government’s defense of an extensive National Security Agency program targeting the phone records of the nation’s residents.Judge Gerard Lynch, writing for a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, picked apart the Department of Justice’s arguments for the phone records collection program, revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in mid-2013.The appeals court ruled that Congress didn’t authorize the massive phone records collection in the Patriot Act of 2001, the antiterrorism law the past two U.S. presidents have used as a basis for the collection. A representative of the U.S. White House’s National Security Council noted that President Barack Obama’s administration is working with Congress to create a more limited program.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A U.S. appeals court judge shredded the government’s defense of an extensive National Security Agency program targeting the phone records of the nation’s residents.Judge Gerard Lynch, writing for a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, picked apart the Department of Justice’s arguments for the phone records collection program, revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in mid-2013.The appeals court ruled that Congress didn’t authorize the massive phone records collection in the Patriot Act of 2001, the antiterrorism law the past two U.S. presidents have used as a basis for the collection. A representative of the U.S. White House’s National Security Council noted that President Barack Obama’s administration is working with Congress to create a more limited program.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. National Security Agency’s program to collect domestic telephone records in bulk was not authorized by Congress in the Patriot Act, an appeals court has ruled.The NSA’s phone records program violates U.S. law because it “exceeds the scope of what Congress has authorized,” a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled.The appeals court vacated a December 2013 ruling by a district court judge who granted the government a motion to dismiss the case, but upheld the district court decision to deny plaintiffs, including the American Civil Liberties Union, a preliminary injunction to halt the so-called phone metadata collection program.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. National Security Agency’s program to collect domestic telephone records in bulk was not authorized by Congress in the Patriot Act, an appeals court has ruled.The NSA’s phone records program violates U.S. law because it “exceeds the scope of what Congress has authorized,” a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled.The appeals court vacated a December 2013 ruling by a district court judge who granted the government a motion to dismiss the case, but upheld the district court decision to deny plaintiffs, including the American Civil Liberties Union, a preliminary injunction to halt the so-called phone metadata collection program.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Legislation intended to end the U.S. National Security Agency’s bulk collection of domestic telephone records is drawing opposition from several unlikely sources, digital and civil rights groups.The USA Freedom Act, approved last Thursday in a 25-2 vote by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, doesn’t go far enough to protect privacy, several digital rights groups and government whistleblowers said in a letter to members of Congress.The USA Freedom Act would result in “minimal reforms” to the NSA telephone records program, said the letter, sent Wednesday by CREDO Action, Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, the Republican Liberty Caucus and other groups.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Legislation intended to end the U.S. National Security Agency’s bulk collection of domestic telephone records is drawing opposition from several unlikely sources, digital and civil rights groups.The USA Freedom Act, approved last Thursday in a 25-2 vote by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, doesn’t go far enough to protect privacy, several digital rights groups and government whistleblowers said in a letter to members of Congress.The USA Freedom Act would result in “minimal reforms” to the NSA telephone records program, said the letter, sent Wednesday by CREDO Action, Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, the Republican Liberty Caucus and other groups.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A new bill in Congress would require law enforcement agencies to get court-ordered warrants before targeting U.S. residents in searches of electronic communications collected by the National Security Agency.The End Warrantless Surveillance of Americans Act, introduced Tuesday by three members of the House of Representatives, would end the so-called surveillance back door that allows the FBI and other agencies to search U.S. emails, texts and other data swept up in NSA surveillance of overseas communications.+ A REVIEW: Government can exploit loopholes for warrantless surveillance on Americans +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If the waiter was rude, your hotel room dirty or the plumber sloppy, you should be able to say so online without fear of getting slapped with a lawsuit.So said a group of lawmakers who want to make it illegal for U.S. businesses to use contracts to preemptively muzzle customers so they can’t post negative reviews.Four members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation last week that would render non-disparagement clauses in consumer contracts unenforceable. The bill, the Consumer Review Freedom Act, comes after consumer uproar when geek toy company KlearGear.com tried to charge a Utah couple a US$3,500 fee for a negative review they wrote.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Internet pioneer Vinton Cerf argued Monday that more users should encrypt their data, and that the encryption back doors the U.S. FBI and other law enforcement agencies are asking for will weaken online security.The Internet has numerous security challenges, and it needs more users and ISPs to adopt strong measures like encryption, two-factor authentication and HTTP over SSL, said Cerf, chief Internet evangelist at Google, in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.Recent calls by the FBI and other government officials for technology vendors to build encryption workarounds into their products is a bad idea, said Cerf, co-creator of TCP/IP. “If you have a back door, somebody will find it, and that somebody may be a bad guy,” he said. “Creating this kind of technology is super, super risky.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Grant Gross