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FBI: We need wiretap-ready Web sites - now

The FBI is asking Internet companies not to oppose a controversial proposal that would require firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google, to build in backdoors for government surveillance.

In meetings with industry representatives, the White House, and U.S. senators, senior FBI officials argue the dramatic shift in communication from the telephone system to the Internet has made it far more difficult for agents to wiretap Americans suspected of illegal activities, CNET has learned.

The FBI general counsel's office has drafted a proposed law that the bureau claims is the best solution: requiring that social-networking Web sites and … Read more

House calls go mobile via Online Care 6.0

Once upon a time, people saw primary care physicians -- and often in the comfort of their own homes. These "house calls" are rare enough today to conjure Rockwellian images of doctors with stethoscopes leaning over little Junior's sweaty brow.

While these intimate visits are largely a relic, the ability to reach a caregiver quickly is getting easier and more sophisticated thanks to video chat technology. And now, online care provider American Well is joining a burgeoning number of providers (TelaDoc, Hello Health, and 3G Doctor, to name a few) that are bringing their online services to mobile devices.… Read more

Microsoft backs away from CISPA support, citing privacy

Microsoft is no longer as enthusiastic about a controversial cybersecurity bill that would allow Internet and telecommunications companies to divulge confidential customer information to the National Security Agency.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved CISPA by a 248 to 168 margin yesterday in spite of a presidential veto threat and warnings from some House members that the measure represented "Big Brother writ large." (See CNET's CISPA FAQ.)

In response to queries from CNET, Microsoft, which has long been viewed as a supporter of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, said this evening that any law … Read more

How CISPA would affect you (faq)

It took a debate that stretched to nearly seven hours, and votes on over a dozen amendments, but the U.S. House of Representatives finally approved the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act on April 26.

Passions flared on both sides before the final vote on CISPA, which cleared the House by a comfortable margin of 248 to 168.

CISPA would "waive every single privacy law ever enacted in the name of cybersecurity," Rep. Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat and onetime Web entrepreneur, said during the debate. "Allowing the military and NSA to spy on Americans on … Read more

House approves CISPA despite last-minute push by opponents

The U.S. House of Representatives today approved a controversial Internet surveillance bill, rejecting increasingly vocal arguments from critics that it would do more to endanger Americans' privacy than aid cybersecurity.

By a vote of 248 to 168, a bipartisan majority approved the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, which would permit Internet companies to hand over confidential customer records and communications to the National Security Agency and other portions of the U.S. government.

CISPA would "waive every single privacy law ever enacted in the name of cybersecurity," said Rep. Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat, … Read more

Homeland Security Internet monitoring dropped from CISPA

Rep. Mike Rogers, the author of a controversial Internet surveillance bill and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, isn't exactly a card-carrying civil libertarian.

The Michigan Republican has called for the execution of accused Wikileaker Bradley Manning. His CISPA bill, which passed the House of Representatives this afternoon, has been savaged as obliterating "any semblance of online privacy" for Americans and, by fellow Republilican Ron Paul, as "Big Brother writ large."

But Rogers strode onto the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives this afternoon to invoke the same Big Brother epithet to denounce … Read more

Congressional task force to study government's wireless spectrum use

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives have formed a bipartisan task force to figure out how the government can more efficiently use wireless spectrum.

The Federal Spectrum Working Group was announced Wednesday by Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chairman of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), the Democratic ranking member on the subcommittee. And it will be led by Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Doris Matsui (D-Calif.).

The purpose of this new group will be to study and come up with a possible action plan for making more efficient use of wireless spectrum used by the … Read more

White House takes aim at CISPA with formal veto threat

The White House today escalated its opposition to a cybersecurity-related surveillance bill with a formal veto threat.

In a new statement, the White House's Office of Management and Budget said that the CISPA bill endangered Americans' privacy and inappropriately shielded private companies from liability.

The statement suggests that CISPA -- also known as the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act -- goes too far by giving the National Security Agency too much power:

H.R. 3523 effectively treats domestic cybersecurity as an intelligence activity and thus, significantly departs from longstanding efforts to treat the Internet and cyberspace as civilian … Read more

Proposed CISPA amendments do little to appease critics

The good news for foes of a controversial surveillance bill is that House of Representatives members have proposed 44 amendments in advance of a vote later this week.

The bad news is that yesterday's flood of amendments won't do much to address the major criticisms of CISPA, also known as the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act.

"A lot of them aren't substantive," Michelle Richardson, legislative counsel for the ACLU, told CNET. "They just put the veneer of privacy protections on the bill, and will garner more support for the bill even without making … Read more