congress

Congress just made Huawei and ZTE's goal of winning over U.S. consumers a whole lot tougher.

A report released by the House Intelligence Committee today claimed the two Chinese telecommunications manufacturers pose a risk to national security and urged U.S. companies to avoid working with them.

While the report deals mostly with the companies' large-scale networking equipment and corporate customers, the trickle-down effect on their consumer-facing handset businesses can't be good. Huawei and ZTE have long been dogged by concerns that they could snoop on companies and individuals, and today's report only solidified those fears. … Read more

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The House Intelligence Committee released a report this morning, accusing two Chinese makers of telecommunications gear of posing a national security threat and discouraging American businesses from buying their equipment.

In a 52-page report, the committee said that neither Huawei or ZTE addressed concerns raised repeatedly by lawmakers over their ability to snoop on American companies or individuals. And neither company was able to convince the committee that they could not be persuaded by the Chinese government to aid its espionage efforts if enlisted to do so.

"Neither company was willing to provide sufficient evidence to … Read more

The House Intelligence Committee investigating national security threats posed by two Chinese telecommunications-gear makers is set to release a report Monday that seems likely to ratchet up pressure.

The committee held a three-hour hearing last month, during which lawmakers repeatedly criticized Huawei and ZTE for being vague in answering questions about whether their networking equipment could be used to snoop on American companies and individuals. At the end of the hearing, committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) expressed some consternation that the companies hadn't been more forthcoming in addressing his concerns.

"I can say that I am a little … Read more

Police must get warrants to access Americans' e-mail and track their cell phones, according to new privacy legislation that promises to spark a political spat between high-tech firms and law enforcement.

The bill, introduced today by Rep. Zoe Lofgren -- a Democrat who represents the heart of Silicon Valley, including the home turf of Apple, Google, and Intel -- would generally require law enforcement officials to obtain a search warrant signed by a judge before they can access cloud data or location information.

It's backed by a phalanx of companies, including Amazon.com, Apple, AT&T, eBay, Google, … Read more

In 1988, when President Reagan signed a video privacy bill into law, computer users were sipping bandwidth through the tiny straws of 2400 bps modems, IBM was selling mainframe databases for over $200,000, and musician Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" was topping the charts.

Well, it turns out that politicians are no better at prognostication than the rest of us are. The clutch of lawyers and their aides on Capitol Hill failed to anticipate the rise of Netflix and Facebook, and their well-intentioned but brittle video privacy law is now at odds with modern … Read more

The House Intelligence Committee brought executives from two Chinese telecommunications gear makers to Capitol Hill today to press them on potential threats they pose to national security, but came away with little satisfaction.

"I can say that I am a little disappointed today," committee chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said at the end of the hearing investigating Huawei and ZTE. (CNET viewed the hearing via Webcast.) "I was hoping for a little more transparency... Other inconsistencies worry me greatly."

Rogers and his fellow committee members pressed executives from the two Chinese companies repeatedly, raising allegations that the … Read more

Netflix users may be getting closer to being allowed to disclose to friends what videos they're watching.

The Senate could vote on an amendment next week to the Senate Cybersecurity bill that would allow this kind of sharing, according to a report in the TheHill.com. Right now, because of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), Netflix users can disclose what other kinds of media they're enjoying but not videos.

The VPAA was implemented after reporters from the Washington City Paper obtained a list in 1988 of the videos rented by then Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork. His … Read more

The bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus has sent inquiry letters to several companies regarding their practices in so-called data brokering.

Caucus co-chairmen Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joe Bartin (R-Texas), as well as six other lawmakers, yesterday contacted credit reporting agencies Experian and Equifax; marketing services firms Acxiom and Epsilon; and background check provider Intelius, on how they collect, analyze, and then sell consumer information. The lawmakers are particularly interested in the information the companies collect and how they go about it.

The New York Times was first to report on the letter.

Consumer information is floating around both online … Read more

In a move to get cybersecurity legislation approved before the Senate recess, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and four colleagues introduced a modified version of their proposed cybersecurity legislation that adds privacy protections for consumers and removes government mandated security standards.

Republicans had opposed the initial version of the Democrat-backed bill, introduced in February, because it called for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to assess power companies, utilities, and other firms that operate critical infrastructure for security problems and create performance standards -- provisions that were considered too regulatory and restrictive on businesses by Republicans in the Senate.

The new … Read more