Senators introduce bipartisan bill to lift ban on cellphone unlocking

Amazing but true — commonsense ideas are still capable of getting bipartisan support. A bipartisan coalition of senators this week introduced legislation that would lift the current ban on consumers unlocking their cellphones without permission from their carriers. The bill, which was proposed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and cosponsored by Sens. Al … Continue Reading

Court: 4th Amendment Applies At Border, Password Protected Files Not Suspicious

An anonymous reader sends this Techdirt report on a welcome ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals: “”Here’s a surprise ruling. For many years we’ve written about how troubling it is that Homeland Security agents are able to search the contents of electronic devices, such as computers and phones at the border, without any … Continue Reading

Apple, Amazon Looking To Sell Used Digital Content

(KitanaOR) When you purchase a digital download, do you actually own it? Some say yes, others say you’re just licensing its use from the copyright holder. This argument is only going to get more heated with news that both Apple and Amazon are looking into how to go about re-selling “used” digital content. Amazon was … Continue Reading

Minnesota City Fights Back Against Comcast Rate Hikes

(u2acro) Following Comcast’s decision to start charging $1.99/month for previously free converter boxes and a nearly 10% rate hike for some customers, the mayor of Eagan, MN, has written lawmakers and regulators asking for the right to rein in what the city’s residents pay for cable. Eagan, a city of around 65,000 people, located just … Continue Reading

White House Agrees, You Should be Able to Unlock Your Smartphone

After receiving over 100,000 signatures in an official petition over the legality of unlocking smartphones, the White House has responded to a change made by the Librarian of Congress that made it illegal as of January 26 to unlock a carrier-tied phone without approval. We knew a response was coming thanks to the petition hitting … Continue Reading

Chrome for Android build may tout a proxy-based speed boost

A fast smartphone will only go so far toward improving browser load times if the connection isn’t there to back it up. If a discovery within a recent build of Chrome for Android is any hint, Google may have its own solution to that bottleneck. New code flags reference Google-run proxy servers that would squeeze … Continue Reading

Kim Dotcom’s defense will not be allowed to view U.S. government’s evidence against him

Kim Dotcom could be packing his bags and heading to a U.S. courtroom in the near future. The accused Internet piracy king has been fighting an extradition motion seeking to move him from New Zealand to the United States to face trial. New Zealand’s Court of Appeal on Friday overturned an earlier decision that required … Continue Reading

Canada Launches ACTA Bill

TrueSatan writes “In an utterly craven move, the Canadian government has launched a bill to bring Canada into full compliance with the discredited, U.S.-led ACTA agreement — an agreement to which most of the world does not agree. To further pressure the acceptance of this awful bill, the U.S., on the same day, released their … Continue Reading