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Senate bill amounts to death penalty for Web sites

A new bill backed by movie studios and other large copyright holders takes a novel approach to curbing access to piratical Web sites: an Internet death penalty.

That's a good way to describe the approach adopted by the legislation introduced today, which specifies a step-by-step method for making Web sites suspected of infringing copyrights or trademarks vanish from the Internet. It's called the Protect IP Act.

The U.S. Department of Justice would receive the power to seek a court order against an allegedly infringing Web site, and then serve that order on search engines, certain Domain Name … Read more

Methanol Institute onboard with Open Fuel Standard Act

With gas summer prices again threatening up to $4 a gallon across the U.S., everyone is looking at alternative fuels. Research into methanol, ethanol, and biodiesel is on the rise.

The Methanol Institute today, for example, announced that it's backing of the Open Fuel Standard Act of 2011 (H.R. 1687) in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Methanol is just one of the several alternative fuels that are being researched as affordable alternatives to fossil fuel.

"The Open Fuel Standard Act is all about choice," Methanol Institute Executive Director Gregory Dolan said in a statement. &… Read more

App stores march toward shared ratings system

The wireless industry's trade group wants to put ratings on mobile apps to help parents keep inappropriate content out of their kids hands, but does a one-size ratings system fit all app stores?

The initiative (PDF), which was launched near the end of March by CTIA-The Wireless Association, calls for "voluntary self-certification of apps." The program is on track to be in place by the end of this year and seeks to have app-makers define the content within their creations based on a specific set of ratings and guidelines. The end result is a system the CTIA … Read more

How bin Laden and 9/11 attacks shaped electronic privacy

Nearly 10 years ago, Osama bin Laden changed the way many of us lived.

The coordinated suicide attacks on September 11, 2001, began what would become known as the War on Terror. They led directly to the invasion of Afghanistan and the formation of the Department of Homeland Security, and indirectly to the Guantanamo Bay prison and a rise in government centralization and secrecy.

What's not as obvious is how al Qaeda's attacks, at least in technology and political circles, shifted the discussion from protecting electronic privacy to facilitating government surveillance.

Bin Laden was killed yesterday in Pakistan … Read more

SoundExchange relies on DMCA to shutter Webcaster

Illegal file-sharing services aren't the only ones getting kicked off the Internet for failing to compensate artists.

SWCast Network, a company that hosted a platform for Internet radio stations, was recently taken offline for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The company was accused by SoundExchange, a nonprofit that collects royalties on behalf of the music industry, of failing to compensate them since 2005.

Citing the requirements in the DMCA, SoundExchange requested that SWCast's bandwidth provider cut off service to the Webcaster. SWCast went dark two weeks later, on April 17. This was the first time in … Read more

Google accused of hypocrisy on Grooveshark ban

A watchdog group that is also a longtime Google ally on copyright issues, has accused the company of being hypocritical when it recently removed a controversial music app from its app store.

Two weeks ago, CNET reported that Grooveshark, a music service that provides free access to songs by enabling users to post their own music to the site, had seen its app banned from the Android Market. It later came out that Google acted after receiving a complaint about Grooveshark from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the trade group for the four largest record companies. The search … Read more

House moves to overturn FCC on Net neutrality

Correction 4:50 p.m. PT: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the House adopted a resolution blocking Net neutrality regulations. It approved procedures for voting on the resolution. The headline and story have been changed to reflect that. Also, the story misstated the state Rep. Jared Polis represents. He represents Colorado.

House Republicans moved today to prevent controversial Net neutrality regulations from taking effect, a move that is likely to invite an eventual confrontation with President Obama.

By an almost entirely partisan vote of 241 to 178, the House of Representatives approved procedures for voting on a … Read more

Privacy lawsuits rain down on Netflix

Netflix, the Web's top video-rental service, has been accused of violating U.S. privacy laws in five separate lawsuits filed during the past two months, records show.

Each of the five plaintiffs allege that Netflix hangs onto customer information, such as credit card numbers and rental histories, long after subscribers cancel their membership. They claim this violates the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).

A Netflix spokesman declined to comment.

In a four-page suit filed Friday, Michael Sevy, a former Netflix subscriber who lives in Michigan, accuses Netflix of violating the VPPA by "collecting, storing and maintaining for an … Read more

Homeland Security bows to Real ID outcry

Americans will be able to use their driver's licenses after May 11 to travel by air after all.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security today postponed the effective date of the Real ID Act until January 15, 2013, a move that avoided causing tremendous disruptions to air travel.

The reason Homeland Security granted the delay is that, apart from some Republican stalwarts in Congress, this law creating a digital nationalized ID is hardly popular, with critics calling it a national ID card. A chart (PDF) updated last month by the National Conference of State Legislatures lists 16 states, … Read more

Republicans launch bill to ax EPA carbon rules

Republicans in the House of Representatives introduced a bill today that would permanently stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating emissions blamed for warming the planet.

President Barack Obama would veto a bill that permanently blocks the agency from tackling climate change, administration officials have said. Obama has pledged to the world the United States will cut greenhouse gases to about 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced the bill, called the Energy Tax Prevention Act.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a climate skeptic who is writing … Read more

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