Regulation

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday narrowly approved an electronic surveillance expansion without immunization for any telecommunications companies that illegally opened their networks to intelligence agencies.

The 213-197 split, with most Democrats voting in favor of the bill (PDF) and most Republicans opposing it, hardly means that the political tussle over retroactive immunity is over. It now shifts to the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said he was "encouraged" to see the House vote.

But the primary obstacle remains President Bush, who has threatened a veto. The White House circulated a statement after … Read more

The State of California has for years been a supporter of Real ID, if not an altogether enthusiastic one. Now that may be about to change.

California State Assembly member Pedro Nava, the influential Democratic chairman of the transportation committee, has introduced an anti-Real ID resolution. It asks the state's congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., to "support measures to repeal Real ID."

"I quite frankly think the Legislature will support this measure, my resolution, because there are too many unanswered questions," Nava, who represents part of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, said in an … Read more

q&a SAN JOSE--T.J. Rodgers is an unapologetic capitalist who happens to be the chief executive of San Jose, Calif.'s, Cypress Semiconductor. The two roles, as you'll soon see, are deeply intertwined.

Cypress' product catalog includes things like programmable logic devices, USB controllers, and SRAM chips--the basic building blocks of modern gadgets and computers.

Today in Silicon Valley, though, Rodgers is just as well-known for his role in buying and building up SunPower, which sells rooftop solar systems that provide power at prices competitive with utility rates. SunPower's market capitalization is more than $5 billion, … Read more

q&a SAN JOSE, Calif.--T.J. Rodgers is an unapologetic capitalist who happens to be the chief executive of San Jose's Cypress Semiconductor. The two roles, as you'll soon see, are deeply intertwined.

Cypress's product catalog includes things like programmable logic devices, USB controllers, and SRAM chips--the basic building blocks of modern gadgets and computers.

Today in Silicon Valley, though, Rodgers is just as well known for his role in buying and building up SunPower, which sells rooftop solar systems that provide power at prices competitive with utility rates. SunPower's market capitalization is more … Read more

In theory, Hillary Clinton should have been the perfect tech-friendly candidate in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination.

Practically from the moment she was sworn into office in 2001, the New York senator began wooing technology firms and their executives in preparation for her presidential bid.

She introduced five different broadband bills. She showed up at roundtables with chief executives like Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, Adobe Systems' Bruce Chizen, and Symantec's John Thompson. She spoke at a board meeting of the Information Technology Industry Council, whose members include Apple, Cisco Systems, Dell, eBay, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft. She … Read more

A seemingly odd phenomenon is occurring among some U.S. states that have flatly rejected the Real ID Act.

Even though officials in these states have publicly assured privacy-conscious voters that they steadfastly oppose Real ID's requirement of nationalized driver's licenses and ID cards, these same politicians and bureaucrats are quietly asking the Bush administration for more time to comply with the law.

The latest example is Oklahoma. In our special report published last month, we listed five states that--at the time we wrote the articles--indicated that they would not comply with Real ID. Those were Maine, South … Read more

Using the Internet to steal someone's account information by masquerading as a bank, brokerage, or credit card company has been illegal for many, many years.

Back in 2004, the Justice Department won a criminal conviction against a phishing scammer who pretended to be AOL's billing center. The Federal Trade Commission has been busy filing civil lawsuits.

At least seven states have enacted antiphishing legislation, and companies including Microsoft and Amazon.com have used those laws to target Internet scammers. Plus, fraud has been prohibited for hundreds of years at common law. In short, there's no obvious lack … Read more

Newt Gingrich's conservative advocacy group, American Solutions, is coming to the modern home of American liberalism: the San Francisco Bay Area.

American Solutions' David Kralik told me Tuesday afternoon that the group is opening a technology office in Menlo Park to be close to companies like Google, Yahoo, and unnamed Web 2.0 firms. It's all about "embracing the latest technology and being there," he said. (American Solutions is a "527" political research and advocacy group.)

Right now the office is just Kralik, who says he may live in downtown San Francisco, but American … Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a Maine law that slapped severe restrictions on sales of cigarettes via mail order and the Internet.

In their opinion (PDF) on Wednesday, the justices said a 1994 federal law trumped the Maine statute restricting sales and shipments of tobacco.

The 1994 federal law in question says that no state may enact a law "related to a price, route, or service of any motor carrier...with respect to the transportation of property."

That seems pretty clear: cigarettes are property, and the Maine regulations targeted motor carriers transporting them. But Maine … Read more