February 2012

A White House spokeswoman said the Administration is pleased with the "comprehensive approach" of the Senate's cybersecurity bill.

"While we are fully reviewing the bill introduced by Sens. [Joe] Lieberman [(I-CT)], [Susan] Collins [(R-Maine)], [Jay] Rockefeller [(D-WV)] and [Dianne] Feinstein [(D-CA)], we are especially pleased with the bill's comprehensive approach and the Senators' work to address the core national security requirements and economic interests laid out in the Administration’s legislative proposal," said Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council. "We fully support the fact that the bill provides [the Homeland Security Department] the authority to address critical infrastructure risks and to enable greater sharing of cybersecurity information while preserving privacy and civil liberties. We look forward to continued engagement with the Congress as this vital legislation moves forward."

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) plans to block President Obama's two nominees to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) despite the agency nixing LightSquared's high-speed wireless network.

Sen Grassley placed the hold on the nominees to try to force the FCC to release internal records on its review of the company. He questioned why the FCC allowed LightSquared to get as far as it did in the regulatory process despite tests that showed its network could disrupt GPS devices. “The FCC’s action seems to acknowledge the point I’ve been making since April," Sen Grassley said. "Prematurely granting a conditional waiver in a rushed process is not the way to get the right result. Now that the interference issue is settled, we need to find out more than ever why the FCC did what it did." "The agency put this project on a fast track for approval with what appears to have been completely inadequate technical research," Grassley said. "After all of this time and expense, still, no one outside of the agency knows why. That’s not the way the people’s government should work. The public’s business ought to be public." FCC officials have declined to meet with Sen Grassley on several occasions, saying the usual order of the Senate is to only meet with lawmakers who serve on committees with jurisdiction over their agency. Although Sen Grassley is the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, he does not sit on the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the FCC.

"Now that the FCC has backtracked on LightSquared, I’d like to see my Senate colleagues join my document request, especially the chairman of the only Senate committee that the FCC is willing to answer," Sen Grassley said, referring to Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV). "If we don’t find out how and why the FCC failed to avoid this controversy, then it will keep operating as a closed shop instead of the open, publicly accountable agency it should be.”

Working conditions at Chinese manufacturing plants where Apple Inc's iPads and iPhones are made are far better than those at garment factories or other facilities elsewhere in the country, according to Auret van Heerden, president of the Fair Labor Association which is investigating the plants.

He offered no immediate conclusions on the working conditions, but he noted that boredom and alienation could have contributed to the stress that led some workers to take their own lives. After his first visits to Foxconn, van Heerden said, "The facilities are first-class; the physical conditions are way, way above average of the norm." He spent the past several days visiting Foxconn plants to prepare for the study.

Apple asked a bankruptcy judge for permission to sue Eastman Kodak over allegations it’s infringing patents that Apple says cover technologies used in printers, digital cameras and digital picture frames.

Apple said in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York that it intends to file a complaint against Kodak at the International Trade Commission and a corresponding suit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan based on patent-infringement claims. The suit will seek an order blocking Kodak’s infringement, according to the filing. Apple previously claimed it is the true owner of the image-preview patent that is the subject of infringement claims lodged against Apple and Research in Motion Ltd. The Cupertino, California-based company contends that it developed a digital camera in the early 1990s that it shared with Kodak, and that Kodak then sought the patent on the technology. Kodak has denied the allegations.