Tag: SENATE

Republicans in Congress are pushing for a new data retention law that will require anyone providing access to electronic communication to keep records of users for at least two years. Europe has similar requirements for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telephone providers, but the new proposal in the U.S. legislature goes far beyond the European regulations. The proposal requires all ...

We knew it was bound to happen, and sure enough, it's happening. For the millions of Americans still waiting for their $40 voucher before buying one of those newfangled DTV converter boxes, the US Senate has just given its stamp of approval on providing them a four month reprieve as it attempts to get its act together. Oddly, there's no mention of Congress looking for new sources of funding, ...

It was just a few months ago that members of Congress were officially allowed to start posting content to YouTube -- something that the citizens of the U.S. have been doing in droves for years. Now our government's support for the site is getting rather more official. Both the Congress and the Senate have launched their own YouTube video channels, giving you two portals for all the online ...

Rising text messaging costs are annoying, but it turns out they might also be criminal. Senator Herb Kohl (Democrat, Wisconsin), a prominent member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who heads up the subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, has targeted the cell phone companies for suspiciously anticompetitive practices. A couple of years back in 2005, just about every ...

Border patrol and customs agents can search not just your bags but your laptop, mobile phone and any other electronic device you carry across the United States' border when returning from a trip abroad, and that's got some senators a bit rankled on your behalf. Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, says the open-ended ability to search and hold data or devices is troubling, considering privacy ...

Senate majority leader Harry Reid is ruffling some feathers in higher education circles. He has proposed an amendment (PDF) to the Higher Education Act, which is up for reauthorization, that would place tougher standards on colleges for fighting illegal file sharing. The amendment would require that all colleges report their policies on illegal downloading, and how they are effectively ...