Politics

New chat logs provide a detailed look at what may have motivated hacker-turned-Army enlistee Bradley Manning to allegedly turn over hundreds of thousands of sensitive documents to WikiLeaks.

The logs, released by New York magazine, show that Manning was becoming frustrated with the military's daily regimens and came to treasure his weekends off, especially the time he could spend with then-boyfriend Tyler Watkins. He maintained a sense of humor, though, and believed the Army was a "diverse place" where even a self-described "gay, libertarian, atheist, computer nerd" like himself could find a home.

The online … Read more

President Obama will host a Webcast at the White House at 11 a.m. PT (2 p.m. ET) today to answer questions submitted via Twitter. We're covering it live.

The White House and Twitter are billing the event as a "town hall," but it's not exactly going to be an exercise in open-microphone democracy. Instead, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey will select a handful of questions submitted through the #AskObama hashtag.

Among the #AskObama questions: immigration, taxes, gigabit Internet speeds, and whether it's possible to win re-election if the unemployment rate is 9 percent or … Read more

President Obama will host a live Webcast at the White House next week to answer questions submitted via Twitter.

The White House and Twitter are billing the July 6 event as a "town hall," but it's not exactly going to be an exercise in open-microphone democracy. Instead, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey will select a handful of questions submitted through the #AskObama hashtag.

Among the #AskObama questions so far, topics include: immigration, taxes, gigabit Internet speeds, and whether it's possible to win reelection if the unemployment rate is 9 percent or above next fall.

Obama's appearance … Read more

commentary WASHINGTON--It was inevitable that Google, one of the world's largest technology companies, would find itself in the crosshairs of the Washington antitrust establishment. But what is, or should be, a little surprising is how enthusiastic the establishment became about pulling the trigger.

Take an event I moderated last week in the U.S. Capitol building organized by the free-market group TechFreedom, a nonpartisan think tank.

In theory, members of Congress and their staff carefully craft public policies that encourage the development of new technologies and benefit the entire nation. But the reality of the questions asked was less … Read more

The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Senate appear to be stepping up their antitrust investigations of Google, a development that could prove perilous for the Mountain View, Calif.-based company, which is already fending off a formal investigation in Europe.

The FTC is planning to serve Google with civil subpoenas as part of an examination of market power in Google's search advertising business, according to a report this morning in The Wall Street Journal.

A Google representative declined to comment on any discussions with the FTC or the possibility of a broad antitrust investigation.

Google has shed market share to Microsoft … Read more

WASHINGTON--Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, said today he is optimistic that Congress would update a 1986 law, crafted in the pre-Internet era of telephone modems and the black-and-white Macintosh Plus, to protect the privacy of Americans who use the Internet and mobile phones.

The Vermont Democrat said that in his previous career as a prosecutor he had to obtain search warrants to search someone's house. "I question whether it should be that much different if I'm going to search all your files" in electronic form, he said in a keynote speech at … Read more

WASHINGTON--Police would no longer be able to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans' whereabouts, according to legislation introduced today that would require search warrants to monitor the locations of cars or mobile devices.

Bills drafted by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) provides new legal protections for "geolocation information," meaning data that can locate a person through a wireless device or a GPS tracker placed on a vehicle. In March, CNET was the first to report on an earlier draft of the measure.

These rules "will foster the effective use of geolocation data while protecting … Read more

Technologists are warning that the practical effects of a controversial copyright bill backed by Hollywood will "weaken" Internet security and cause other harmful side effects.

As more Internet engineers, networking professionals, and security specialists have evaluated the so-called Protect IP Act that was introduced last month, concern is growing about how it will change the end-to-end nature of the Internet in ways that could do more harm than good. (See CNET's previous coverage.)

The Protect IP Act would give the U.S. Department of Justice the power to seek a court order against an allegedly infringing Web … Read more

An embarrassed Rep. Anthony Weiner acknowledged this afternoon that a "deep personal failing" led him to conduct sexually explicit online chats with women over Facebook and Twitter.

During a press conference in New York City that veered between the acutely embarrassing and mildly lewd, the New York Democrat said he had exercised "terrible judgment" and lied to his family, his constituents, and the press about using Twitter to send a photo of his underwear revealing a certain distinctive outline underneath. (See previous CNET coverage.)

Weiner said he would not resign--unlike former Rep. Christopher Lee (R-N.Y.), … Read more