Law

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

In the span of only a few days, Rep. Anthony Weiner has firmly ensnared himself in what is fast becoming Capitol Hill's first Twitter sex scandal of sorts.

What began with a photo of grey underwear revealing a certain distinctive outline has mushroomed into a full-fledged obsession among bloggers who have engaged in spirited bouts of digital forensics--and among political reporters who have, so far unsuccessfully, pressed the New York Democrat for specifics.

Weiner's Twitter account was used last weekend to address that rather intimate photo to Gennette Cordova, a 21-year-old college student in Seattle who says she … Read more

Adrian Lamo, the ex-hacker who became notorious for turning in alleged Wikileak-er Bradley Manning, says he has no regrets about his role in aiding the U.S. Army's criminal prosecution of the young soldier.

"Sometimes you need to consider the good of the many versus the good of the one," he told CNET in a recent interview. Lamo says he's scheduled to talk with prosecutors in Manning's case today for the first time and expects to be called as a witness in future proceedings.

In April, Manning was declared fit to stand trial on a … Read more

news analysis The U.S. Congress has approved a four-year extension of the Patriot Act despite warnings from senators that the Justice Department has twisted the 2001 law into a "secret" surveillance mechanism far broader than Americans realize.

"I believe that when more of my colleagues and the American public come to understand how the Patriot Act has actually been interpreted in secret, they will insist on significant reforms too," said Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who tried to block the renewal. Sen. Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat, offered a similar warning.

The cautionary note … Read more

Microsoft, Yahoo, and InterActiveCorp have accepted advertisements for overseas pharmacies that sell drugs to U.S. customers without requiring prescriptions, a practice that made Google the target of a federal criminal probe, CNET has learned.

An offshore pharmacy called GoMedStore.com, which advertised on Yahoo and Microsoft's Bing.com Web site this week and appears to be based in Vietnam, boasts that it ships pills "from our India facility" in unmarked packages designed to clear U.S. Customs without raising suspicions. "Nobody will know what is inside the package," the Web site says.

Another, the … Read more

Wireless providers won't have to comply with extensive requirements in a new bill that would force Internet companies to log data about their customers.

CNET was the first to report this exemption for wireless carriers in an article a few weeks ago. That legislation was publicly announced today by U.S. Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the head of the House Judiciary Committee, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).

That appears to be the result of lobbying from wireless providers, which don't want to have to comply with any new governmental mandates. But the exemption has already drawn the ire of the U.S. Justice Department, … Read more

The Transportation Security Administration appears to have pulled off an Internet first: hiring the U.S. government's most controversial spokesblogger.

All federal agencies have spokesmen. Some have blogs. But it's the pseudonymous Blogger Bob who, more than anyone else, has come to represent the online voice and personality of his employer--not always with entirely successful results.

Internet fact checkers have accused Blogger Bob of eliding relevant facts about disputes involving the TSA. A Forbes.com column noted that Blogger Bob had curbed critical comments (and then subsequently permitted them). Reason Magazine has dubbed Blogger Bob someone who's … Read more

The U.S. Congress took the first major step today toward updating 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 mobile phones, Web e-mail, and services like Google Docs, Flickr, and Picasa.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the chairman of the Judiciary committee, introduced sweeping legislation that would, in many cases, require police to obtain a search warrant to access private communications and the locations of mobile devices.

"Updating this law to reflect the realities of our time is essential to ensuring that our … Read more

The White House today sent Congress a proposed cybersecurity law designed to force companies to do more to fend off cyberattacks, a threat that has been reinforced by recent reports about vulnerabilities in systems used in power and water utilities.

This proposal seems designed to prod the legislative branch to enact by the end of the year some variety of cybersecurity legislation, which has been stalled by concerns about privacy, Internet "kill switches," and overreaching regulation. One proposal from Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.), for instance, would have explicitly given the government the power to "order the disconnection&… Read more