legislation

Killing legislation that would enable the government to shut down Web sites accused of piracy was a top priority for many technology trade groups today.

Last week, a Senate committee stunned the tech sector by announcing it would try to fast-track a bill designed to grant the U.S. Department of Justice wide authority to combat illegal file sharing and counterfeiting.

The bill, which was introduced in the Senate Judiciary Committee and backed by the committee's chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), could go to a vote in the Senate as early as tomorrow.

Critics say the proposed legislation, known … Read more

A group of senators want to hand the U.S. Department of Justice the power to shut down Web sites dedicated to the illegal sharing online of film, music, software, and other intellectual property.

"The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act will give the Department of Justice an expedited process for cracking down on these rogue Web sites regardless of whether the Web site's owner is located inside or outside of the United States," according to a statement from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and committee member Sen. Orin Hatch (R-Utah).

Under … Read more

Senate Democrats said on Thursday they would wait until the fall to take up climate-change legislation, setting the stage for a pitched battle in the weeks before congressional elections.

The delay would give Democrats a small window to advance the complex legislation amid intense political pressure in the weeks before the November elections.

"We will fight that out in September," said a Democratic senator who did not wish to be quoted by name. "It will be tough to win."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he plans to bring up a narrower energy bill next week … Read more

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a cybersecurity bill that calls for beefing up training, research, and coordination so the government can be better prepared to deal with cyberattacks.

The Cyber Security Research and Development Act of 2009, which passed by a vote of 422 to 5, authorizes the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop a cybersecurity education program that can help consumers, businesses, and government workers keep their computers secure.

It also creates cybersecurity scholarship programs for college students and research centers, and asks NIST to boost development of identity management systems used to … Read more

Many governments, particularly those in developing nations, are increasingly legislating preferences for open-source software. A much smarter approach may be that recently adopted by Hungary, however, which has mandated the use of open standards.

Smarter, because for all the noise about open-source mandates in places like Latin America, I've been hearing from contacts in these markets that government IT workers have continued to use the software they prefer, not the software mandated by legislation.

And smarter, because it focuses on creating real competition in government IT, which arguably is a much better way to keep vendors honest and citizens … Read more

Harriet Pearson once joined a petition signed by Facebook users, urging the social-networking site to do more in terms of privacy.

But the privacy expert considers herself a moderate when it comes to protecting her personal information.

Pearson, IBM's chief privacy officer for the past nine years and also its security counsel since last year, says each person needs a mental model to assess the benefits or risks associated with providing personal data. In the same way, she said, governments ought to be thoughtful when drafting policies and laws on data protection.

In town recently for Singapore's annual … Read more

CNET News editor Michelle Meyers talks with reporter Stephanie Condon about how a difference of opinion over carbon cap-and-trade systems is complicating the debate over two proposed energy bills. Also in this podcast: Mozilla releases a Firefox 3 update; Microsoft unveils its answer to Google AdSense; and Second Life gets a new continent devoted exclusively to adult-oriented content. Get those stories and more on today's daily news podcast.

Today's stories:

Partisan discord weighs down energy policy

Bartz lights fire under Yahoo engineers

AMD reports loss, cautious on PC sales

Firefox 3.0.9 targets 12 security vulnerabilities… Read more

Google's advice on sidestepping a South Korean law against anonymous YouTube video postings and comments doesn't seem to be sitting well with some of the country's authorities.

Google, citing free-speech concerns, on Monday said it will comply with the Korean law--but by prohibiting uploads and comments rather than by requiring people to verify their identities. And it told people they could work around the constraint by visiting another country's version of the video-sharing site.

Now the backlash is beginning to set in, according to one Korean media report.

"Korea Communications Commission network policy official Hwang … Read more

Caroline McCarthy and Tim Geisenheimer join The 404 today, while Jeff pretends to celebrate the Passover with his family. The ace reporter brings in cupcakes made with bacon cream-cheese frosting and beer. Sounds incredibly healthy. Here's the recipe.

On today's show, we cover the news that Yelp is finally letting businesses respond to negative reviews that users write. Did you know that The 404 has a Yelp page? Wilson discovers that you can actually write reviews for almost anything, including homeless people. In the same vein, feel free to write Yelp reviews for your favorite 404 hosts.

In more outrageous news today, PETA is holding an animal protest rally in World of Warcraft. WoW players are slaughtering baby seals in the "Howling Fjord." We think PETA should spend its time trying to stop Tim from killing baby seals on the weekends, rather than virtual seals. Also, a man in Texas got stabbed for farting in the room with his buddies. This happens on a daily basis in Wilson's office. More from Texas: a state legislator says that Asian American names are too confusing. And South of the border, Mexican drug dealers are sending blatant death threats on YouTube.

Thanks for sending in your survival stories. Keep them coming. E-mail them or call us at the usual number. And be sure to RSVP for the upcoming 404 meetup on April 16 next week. Here's the link. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Megan Fox will be there! (Not really, but Natali Del Conte will be.)