Politics and Law- Page 176

Report: Palin, Obama lead in election-related spam

Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Sarah Palin are both winners when it comes to spam.

The amount of spam that mentioned Obama beat out that of his rival, Sen. John McCain, by a ratio of 6 to 1 during the month of September, according to a study released by Secure Computing. Likewise, Palin outranked her opponent, Sen. Joe Biden, by a ratio of 6 to 1. The results were published Friday in a PC Magazine report.

The numbers don't mean much in terms of who actually wins the election, but they do show that spammers are staying on top … Read more

Congressmen finally allowed on YouTube

Members of Congress can finally use Web sites like YouTube, after committees in both the House and Senate adopted new rules allowing members to post content outside of the .gov domain, as long as it is for official purposes.

The House Rules Committee approved the change for the House of Representatives on Thursday, while the Senate Rules and Administration Committee adopted the new rules on September 19.

"In addition to their official (house.gov) Web site, a member may maintain another Web site(s), channel(s) or otherwise post material on third-party Web sites," the new House rules … Read more

Craigslist founder criticizes telecoms for 'artificial' Net neutrality debate

WASHINGTON--For someone not interested in politics, Craigslist.org founder Craig Newmark spends quite a bit of time these days working with people in Washington.

"Most people, including myself, don't want to be bothered with politics," Newmark said Friday at Google's Washington, D.C., headquarters. "They just want to call 311 to get a pothole fixed."

Yet as a proponent for policy ideas like Net neutrality and government transparency, Newmark has found himself an unlikely advocate for career lobbyists--just the good kind, though.

While lawmakers should embrace the online tools to make democracy more widespread, … Read more

Bailout bill loops in green tech, IRS snooping

Bailout type Cost to taxpayers (Source: Reuters) Financial bailout package approved this week up to or more than $700 billion Bear Stearns financing $29 billion Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac nationalization $200 billion AIG loan and nationalization $85 billion Federal Housing Administration housing rescue bill $300 billion Mortgage community grants $4 billion JPMorgan Chase repayments $87 billion Loans to banks via Fed's Term Auction Facility $200 billion+ Loans from Depression-era Exchange Stabilization Fund $50 billion Purchases of mortgage securities by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac $144 billion POSSIBLE TOTAL $1.8 trillion+ NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS PER U.S. CENSUS … Read more

CBS Webcast: Examining the Biden-Palin debate

The first and only debate between the two vice presidential candidates, Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin, covered a broad array of subjects, including the economy, war, taxes, and their readiness to help govern the country.

Neither technology nor the tech industry came up in the 90-minute debate, which took place Thursday night at Washington University in St. Louis. However, the issues of alternate energy and oil dependence were brought up several times.

Although many pundits had predicted a verbal battlefield and the possibility of gaffes from Palin, the two were generally cordial to one another, and Palin made … Read more

Senate calls for FCC to consider content-blocking technologies

The Senate on Wednesday unanimously voted in favor of providing parents with more control over the content their children receive through various technologies.

The Child Safe Viewing Act, introduced last year by Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., requires the Federal Communications Commission to issue a notice of inquiry to examine what advanced content-blocking technologies are available for various communication devices and platforms. It also calls for the FCC to consider how to develop and deploy such technologies without affecting content providers' pricing or packaging.

The bill defines "advanced blocking technologies" as technology that enables parents to protect their children … Read more

Pro-IP senators concerned anti-counterfeiting treaty may be too broad

Two senators known for their support of stringent intellectual property enforcement expressed concern on Thursday that an anti-counterfeiting treaty currently being drafted may be too far-reaching.

Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) sent a letter on Thursday to U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab saying that the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement currently under negotiation "could limit Congress's ability to make appropriate refinements to intellectual property law in the future."

The speed of the negotiations and their lack of transparency compound the risk that the treaty will unnecessarily constrain Congress, the letter says.

Leahy and Specter authored … Read more

People can do more to guard against ID theft, says group

As the federal government makes efforts to protect citizens online, it is encouraging people to look out for themselves as well.

To kick off its fifth annual "National Cyber Security Month," the National Cyber Security Alliance, an organization of government, academic, and industry representatives, paired with Symantec to release the results of a national poll on Thursday showing Americans do not feel very safe online, yet they believe they are more protected than they actually are.

Just 26 percent of respondents said they felt their computers were "very safe" from viruses, and 21 percent felt their … Read more

CBS live Webcast: Palin-Biden debate

The sole vice presidential debate of the 2008 election season takes place Thursday night, pitting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin against Sen. Joe Biden.

The debate kicks off at 9:00 p.m. EDT, and you can follow it live online at the CBS News Debate Webcast site. Immediately after the debate, stay with the site for Web-only analysis and commentary with Katie Couric, the CBS News political team, and guests.

You can also submit your own questions, now or during the event, at the Debate Webcast site.

The 90-minute debate will take place at Washington University in St. Louis and … Read more

Obama releases iPhone recruiting, campaign tool

Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign launched an iPhone application on Thursday that turns the vaunted device into a political recruiting tool.

The most notable feature "organizes and prioritizes your contacts by key battleground states, making it easy to reach out and make an impact quickly," according to the software.

On my phone, the application ranked contacts in Colorado, Michigan, and New Mexico at the top; at the bottom was a friend whose cell phone has a Texas number, though she actually lives in California.

The application anonymously reports back the number of calls made this way: "… Read more