Politics and Law

Shakeup at FCC: Chairman Genachowski to step down

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski will announce his intention to step down tomorrow, according to The Wall Street Journal which cited an "FCC official."

Earlier this week, the announcement that Republican FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell was leaving gave Genachowski, a Democrat, more political leeway to leave his post. As The Washington Post noted, even with Genachowski gone the Democrats would retain a 2-1 voting advantage. If he had left before McDowell, the votes at the FCC would be 2-2.

In recent weeks, rumors have circulated regarding Genachowski's plans, with the White House interviewing several candidates. The … Read more

Police: Why we reacted to Facebook pic of boy with rifle

We tend to react with feelings first and thoughts a little later.

Many in the last 24 hours have reacted with feeling (and the occasional thoughtfulness) to the visit paid by police to the New Jersey home of Shawn Moore.

Should you have been hospitalized after accidentally impaling yourself on a deer antler at your local gun club recently, here's the back story: Moore posted a picture to Facebook of his 11-year-old son, Josh, clutching (very properly) a .22-caliber rifle that looked like a little more than a .22-caliber rifle.

It was his birthday present.

As is ever more … Read more

Microsoft opens up on law enforcement requests

Microsoft said today it received 75,378 law enforcement requests worldwide last year for customer information, but disclosed "content" in only 2 percent of those cases.

Those are just a couple of the details laid out in Microsoft's "2012 Law Enforcement Requests Report," the first-ever such disclosure from the software giant.

The report covers all of Microsoft's major online services including Hotmail, Outlook.com, SkyDrive, Xbox Live, Microsoft Account, and Office 365. It separately discloses similar data from Skype.

In releasing the information about law enforcement requests, Microsoft follows the lead of online heavyweights … Read more

Internet tax proposal up for a vote in Senate this week

Internet tax supporters are hoping that a vote in the U.S. Senate as early as today will finally give them enough political leverage to require Americans to pay sales taxes when shopping online.

Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wy.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) are expected to offer an amendment to a Democratic budget resolution this week that, by allowing states to "collect taxes on remote sales," is intended to usher in the first national Internet sales tax.

"We're working overtime in pushing this, talking to our members, activating our grassroots," says Stephen Schatz, a spokesman for … Read more

Congressman endorses data retention law, then backs away

A historic lobbying effort today to update U.S. privacy laws for the 21st century seemed to be in danger of derailment by a law enforcement-backed proposal to require Internet companies and e-mail providers to keep records of what their users are doing online.

Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, the chairman of a key House of Representatives subcommittee, said this morning that it was time to resuscitate the idea of the government mandating data retention. Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, had drafted a mandatory logging proposal seven years ago that included prison terms for company executives who failed to comply. A law … Read more

MIT to release redacted documents in Aaron Swartz case

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology will release a trove of documents related to the prosecution of Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who committed suicide in January at the age of 26 as he awaited trial on hacking charges.

Critics had faulted MIT's compliance with federal prosecutors planning the case against Swartz, but university President Rafael Reif said in a Tuesday announcement that MIT was "not afraid to reexamine our own actions" and that he was ordering the release in "the spirit of openness, balanced with responsibility."

The documents will be redacted to protect privacy and … Read more

Samsung responds to Ericsson patent suit with its own lawsuits

Samsung has taken out its big guns against Ericsson in a lawsuit deep in the heart of Texas.

Late yesterday, Samsung responded to a patent violation suit that was filed by Ericsson in the Eastern District of Texas last November. In its suit, Ericsson accused Samsung of patent infringement after the two companies failed to reach an agreement over the renewal of certain patent licensing deals.

In December, Samsung fought back by filing a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission over the licensing deals and several patent infringement claims. Now Samsung has fired the next shot with its … Read more

Samsung, LG may battle over eye-tracking technology

Samsung and LG Electronics could find themselves in another patent squabble, this time over eye-tracking technology.

Samsung's Galaxy S4 and LG's Optimus G Pro both will offer an eye-recognition feature that automatically reacts to the movement of the user's eyes.

The Galaxy S4 already comes built with Smart Scroll, which lets people scroll through the screen and trigger certain actions by moving their eyes up and down. The phone also includes Smart Pause, which pauses a video when a person looks away from the screen.

LG will add a Smart Video eye-recognition feature to its Optimus G … Read more

Cops: U.S. law should require logs of your text messages

AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and other wireless providers would be required to capture and store Americans' confidential text messages, according to a proposal that will be presented to a congressional panel today.

The law enforcement proposal would require wireless providers to record and store customers' SMS messages -- a controversial idea akin to requiring them to surreptitiously record audio of their customers' phone calls -- in case police decide to obtain them at some point in the future.

"Billions of texts are sent every day, and some surely contain key evidence about criminal activity," Richard Littlehale … Read more